O Line Skills

Leadership is about setting a personal example (on and off the field!)

St Johnsbury Academy quarterback, Jake Cady, was a star on the football field and is a star in the community.  After his record-setting senior season which saw him pass for 3,350 yards and 36 touchdowns and run for 645 yards and 15 touchdowns, he was named as Vermont’s Gatorade Player of the Year.  That award comes with a $1,000 prize to be donated to a non-profit.  Jake chose to donate his prize money to the St Johnsbury Recreation Department for the creation of a youth flag football program that will be open to players in grades three and four.

While participation numbers in tackle football are declining nationwide, the number of children ages six to 12 playing flag football has increased by 38 percent over the past three years.  St Johnsbury Youth Flag Football will follow USA Football’s development model of instilling solid fundamentals, developing better players, providing multiple entry points and game options, and create developmentally appropriate skill instruction.  By teaching the game in a fun and engaging way, we can more effectively meet players’ developmental needs based on their individual stages of growth and development.

I’ve written a number of blog posts commenting on team culture and the importance of leadership on and off the field. Of the willingness to sacrifice and importance of putting the team ahead of oneself. If we build the culture we aspire to and create the true sense of team we’ve worked and hoped for, we produce student-athletes who exemplify the character traits necessary for success on and off the field. There’s no doubt this young man brings extraordinary talent to any team he chooses to contribute to and our players, staff, and school are proud of all he’s accomplished. It’s been a privilege to see him grow as a player, student, and leader.

Jake benefited from participating in youth athletics and the impact those programs, teammates, and coaches had on his life.  Now he is investing in the next generation.  Maybe one of these kids will become the next scholarship quarterback and Gatorade Player of the Year.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

If people think you are crazy for driving 6 hours to attend a 1 day clinic, they think you are even crazier when you leave in the middle of a winter storm dumping two feet of snow….

The only downside was missing the championship games on TV but thanks to satellite radio, we were able to listen to every play.  The plus side was being able to drive 3 hours on Interstate 91 without seeing another car!

The clinic began with Coach Fred Stengel introducing me and promoting my OLine Clinic at the Hun School on March 24.  Fred is a true “OLine Guy” and loves to attend my clinics.  Although he has coached with great success for decades at the highest level of high school football, he continues to seek opportunities to learn.  He also referenced the number of times he has called me to discuss a protection scheme or how to block a certain play.  I love to discuss X&Os and am honored when true Pros like Coach Stengel choose to call and pick my brain.  The greatest thing about our profession, 2^nd only to the impact we have on so many young lives, is the universal willingness to share our knowledge with each other.

I chose to share the emphasis we place on Feet, Eyes,  and Hands in Run Blocking with our Heel-Toe philosophy, Visual Targets, and Strike Points. I was lucky to have our defensive coordinator volunteer for the long drive and to stand in as my demonstration assistant.  Apparently, the audience got quite a kick out of how physical I got with him in demonstrating the strike points, but he and I both share an appreciation for enthusiasm!

The impressive list of speakers continued with Nunzio Campanile from Rutgers stepping in at the last minute and excelling while discussing 5-man pass protection.  Bob Surace, Princeton, followed with game planning against top D-Lines and shared some great ideas on how to pass protect or run read vs the DL you just can’t block 1-on-1.

I then took advantage of the lunch break to meet up with my son who attends college at FDU-Florham Park in NJ but unfortunately did not get back in time to see Villanova’s Sean Devine speak on Game planning to attack the 3-3 Stack, but my DC did a great job in sharing the information on the long drive home.  I will follow up with Sean to see if he is willing to share the information.

Brian Gabriel, Monmouth University, also discussed point pass protection & blocking overload blitzes. Again, each of these coaches willingly shared their time and talent with the same community that so generously invested in them. Such a philosophy of giving makes me proud to be part of the coaching fraternity

The last thing I asked John Lovett, our DC, and my travel companion, as we pulled on to campus was “was it worth it? (Drive…time…snow?)”  His answer was an emphatic “yes!”  It was for me as well.  The clinic was a great opportunity to learn and share information, a chance to see so many coaching friends that I do not see often enough, to spend some time with my son, and to share some quality windshield time in 1-on-1 conversation with a loyal assistant coach and a very good friend.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

When I tell most people that I drive from Vermont to New Jersey every Martin Luther King Day to attend an Offensive Line Clinic, they think I am crazy.  When I tell OLine guys, it makes perfect sense.   They know where I am going and why I go.   For 20 years, legendary NJ high school football coach Fred Stengel, has hosted an offensive line clinic on MLK Day and I have attended most all of them.  If you are an OLine Guy in the northeast, you are in Bergen, NJ on MLK Day.  It is almost a rite of passage to be an OLine guy much like me driving from East Stroudsbury, PA to Cincinnati OH in the summer of 1992 to attend the C.O.O.L. Clinic.

When I think back on the great OLine coaches I have listened to and learned from at Fred’s clinic, I am honored that Coach Stengel continues to invite me back to present.  I look forward to gathering with my long-time coaching friends, to sharing the techniques that have allowed my players and teams to have so much success and to learning from the other presenter and side conversations throughout the day.

I usually make the trip solo.  Who else in their right mind would make the 6 hour drive to attend a 1-day football clinic?  This year, I will bring my defensive coordinator who wants to begin learning OLine play from some of the best OLine guys in the region.  He will also serve as my demonstration assistant as I clinic on the steps, visual targets and strike points we use in our run blocks.

Any success I have had in my career is a direct result of those great OLine guys who have spent time teaching me.  I relish the opportunity to pay it forward on MLK Day in Bergen NJ and at my Alercio OLine Clinics at the Hun School of Princeton on Sunday, March 24 and St Johnsbury Academy, Sunday, April 7.  Get your brochure here: 2019 OLine Clinic

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

November is the month for Thanksgiving.  December is the Season of Giving… Giving is the secret to success in life and football.

This post marks the start of my third year writing this blog and I hope it’s given you as much as it’s given me. Thanks for following along over the last 24 months, and if you’re new, thanks as well for joining the journey.

In a social media-soaked world often highlighting consumption, greed, and near instant gratification, I think it’s important to begin the New Year focused on others. While attending the AFCA convention 20 years ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a presentation by Zig Ziglar.  He entertained and inspired a room of 1,000 coaches for over an hour; but there was one line he said that has stuck with me for the past two decades, “You can have everything you want in life if you start by giving others what they want.”  Soon after, I began using the Eugene Sue quote, “The hand that gives, gathers.”

Arm yourself with these two quotes as you enter the New Year.  Do not focus on what you want.   We all want to win a state championship.  We all want to go undefeated.  But that cannot be your focus.  Success in coaching comes from providing your players with what they want.

To know what your players want, you need to understand the Millennial Generation who make up today’s teams.  If you are coaching your players the way you were coached, I feel confident in saying that you are not giving them what they want (or candidly, what they need.)

Today’s generation of football players is team oriented.  They want to be a part of something and they want to understand the big picture.  While pride in belonging remains consistent, the Millennial generation’s respect must be earned.  My generation gave deference to the position of coach and respect, at times, out of fear.  This generation of kids often raised by helicopter parents does not share the same degree of deference, respect or fear for positions of authority common to earlier cohorts.  They tend to trust individuals over institutions.  To quote a Marine Corps General and close friend, they (today’s generation) do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.  Today’s players want to be part of a team that is challenging but fair, and builds traits of confidence and self-reliance. A team with a culture of character, and aspirations of confident achievement.

Give them what they want, and you very well may get what you want.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

This week’s blog comes in response to last week’s post about my trip to Canada.  Frank Francisco, long-time friend, colleague, avid olineskills blog reader, and author provides his feedback:

Coach Alercio,

To get an idea of the true impact that Canada had on the growth of our American football,  I would refer you to an excellent history of the game (he (the author) said with tongue in cheek),  Evolution of the Game. Page 5, the Boston Game mentions the influence the Canadians had on Harvard as they began to formulate their version of the game.   Page 7, Harvard- McGill speaks to the first Canadian-US games between Harvard and McGill.  

In all seriousness after doing the research for my book, I came to the conclusion that the Canadian/Harvard version of the game (often called The Boston Game) is much closer to our present game of football than was the Rutgers-Princeton contests of 1869, widely considered to be the birth of college football.   We often hear coaches refer to Canadian football as “a version of the American game”.  The Canadians, if they wished may have just as strong a statement in referring to our game as being “a version of the Canadian game.” 

Thanks for the perspective and insights Frank! Whichever game one considers the birth of football as we know it today, I’m thankful for my association with the game, the people I’ve encountered and the lessons I’ve learned since I first put on the cleats and helmet four decades ago. Teambuilding brings out the best in us regardless which side of the border the game originated.

One last thought this week as the Christmas Holiday will pass before I post the next installment: Whatever Holiday, event, or sentiment you celebrate this time of year, please take the time to share your thoughts, feelings, appreciation for the many gifts you’ve received this season, this year, and over a lifetime. Savor time with family and friends… and consider your intentions for 2019; a new season for us all.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

I made a recent visit north of the border to Bishops University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada with one of our international players looking to play college football in the US or Canada.  Here in St Johnsbury, we are only about 45 minutes from the Canadian border, and folks in this area like to make the joke that “It’s like another country up there.”  It may be another country, but we quickly discovered football is football.

During the visit, our player, who is from Finland and whose father is from Africa, met with the head coach whose parents immigrated to Canada from Egypt.  Joining us was the defensive coordinator who though he played his college football at Central Michigan, his family came to Canada from Haiti. It was truly a multicultural group.  Since I was the only person in the room not fluent in multiple languages, I was happy to hear that both classes and sports at Bishops are taught in English.

After touring their very impressive campus and athletic facilities, we sat down with the defensive coordinator to discuss their philosophy and schemes.  Other than the 12^th “X & O” on the board, there was nothing different from any conversation happening in any coach’s office in the States.   Over lunch, we discussed the similar issues of coaching the millennial generation, dealing with the impact of social media, changing a losing culture into a winning program, and the impact coaches have on our players lives both while we have them, and beyond.

It may be “like another country up there,” but football is football and coaching our sport, building teams, and cultivating young leaders is the same no matter where you are, where you are from, or what language you speak.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

I was privileged to be invited back to present at USA Football’s National Coaches Conference in Orlando, FL. early next year. USA Football’s National Conference is the largest annual gathering of U.S. high school and youth football coaches and administrators. As I’ve mentioned on the blog previously, it is a privilege to be a member of the football coaching community, and I amazed every year by coaches’ willingness to share ideas, schemes, and philosophies. Though we may compete tooth and nail on game day, this fraternity has for decades found ways to extend hospitality and wisdom regardless of the level of play.

USA Football’s conference is a premier education and networking opportunity for administrators and coaches to gain insight on best practices, innovation, and smarter play. More than 1,500 football leaders attended the event in 2018, including international participants from Canada, Mexico, Scotland, and Sweden.

Attendees have gained insight from leaders across football, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Tony Dungy, Bill Polian, and Mike Singletary; Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden; Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis; XFL Commissioner and CEO Oliver Luck; and Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy.

It would be difficult to conceive of a small business owner receiving counsel and mentorship from a Fortune 100 CEO, yet Coaches and staffs at ranked NCAA Division 1 schools regularly open their playbooks, film rooms, and practice sessions to help junior high, high school and other college coaches broaden their knowledge and understanding of the game. Somewhere along the way, each member of this fraternity was a beginner or novice and we’ve all benefited from a culture of sharing and learning. I’m privileged to present at a conference like USA Football’s and hope to do for others what so many did (and still do) for me.

USA Football’s conference dives deep on every aspect of the game and affords attendees the opportunity to specialize on topics most important to them. I present on our offensive scheme and describe both concepts like using tempo and pace to our advantage during a game, as well as the nuances of our run-pass options, blocking schemes, and teaching young athletes to make split-second tactical decisions mid-play.

At the same time, I’m often struck by some of the side-bar conversations I encounter. While there are plenty of X’s & O’s to be discussed, coaches approach topics like culture and character with equal fervor, and it’s not uncommon to hear heartfelt conversations about how coaches support athletes and families contending with personal challenges off the football field.

I look forward to posting pictures and sharing some of this year’s lessons learned upon my return from Orlando. In the meantime, I wanted to share this news and wish you all well as thoughts turn from gear inventories and end of season statistics to Holiday preparations.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!

If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting….

If you are achieving desired outcomes, maintain your course.  If not, adjustments need to be made.  This is true for every aspect of life as well as in football games.

Halftime provides coaches an opportunity to make those adjustments.  Our defensive staff takes a great deal of pride in their meticulous preparation for games, but sometimes teams just don’t do what you prepared for or they add something that your players have not been trained to defend.  Our defensive staff at St Johnsbury Academy has done an outstanding job of making adjustments at halftime and communicating them to our players in a manner that allows them to rapidly and successfully implement those changes with great success.

During our recent Vermont North v South Senior Bowl, playing under rules heavily favoring the offense, the North squad, coached by our coaching staff and a few coaches from another area school, scored with 1 second left in the first half and went into the locker room up 35-28.    We were in need of some adjustments to stop a few plays our opponents were having success with.  We discussed adjustments as a staff, communicated them to our players, even demonstrated them in the gym, then went out and executed them.  The result…we held the South squad to only one second-half touchdown on a drive that was aided by two 15-yard penalties.  Final score, 56-35 in favor of the North.

Football games allow for a scheduled time to evaluate success.  The scoreboard and first half statistics provide a clear picture for you to measure whether you are achieving objectives.  Measuring success in life is often not so clear.

The measure of success in life is not your job title, size of your house, or car you drive. You need to define success with what holds real meaning in your life. For me, it’s relationships and making a difference in people’s lives.  I don’t say this to suggest yours should be the same as mine, but rather to show I have priorities and think we all should take stock of what is important to us.

In my opinion, chasing material things, even when they are successfully acquired, do not necessarily lead happiness.  Disappointment will inevitably come when the newness wears off.   I firmly believe making an impact on lives and having good relationships at work and in personal life are the greatest measures of success.  If you are not achieving your goals and objectives, make adjustments now and don’t wait until halftime. Unlike a football game, our lives don’t offer a clock on the scoreboard.

What this coach is thankful for…

1. A wife who loves, supports, and encourages me to do what I do while she takes care of everything else and loves me along the way.
2. A supportive administration who understand the important role athletics plays in the development of our students.
3. Loyal assistant coaches who do all that is asked of them and more without ever concerning themselves with who gets the credit.  (And they deserve a lot of the credit!)
4. Committed players who understand games, and championships, are not won on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons in the Fall.
5. Former players who gave of themselves on and off the fields to create memories to last a lifetime and build a legacy of what it means to be a teammate.
6. Teammates who are now life-long friends with bonds forged on the gridiron decades ago and yet ready to respond over hundreds of miles as quick as a referee’s whistle.
7. A community who embraces its team, student-athletes, and school
8. The opportunity to be part of this team
9. The teachers, coaches, and mentors who invested in me and lit a fire for me to first be worthy, and second, to pay forward investments in others.
10. The privilege of leadership, and the opportunity to build a culture returning student-athletes to our society who are better citizens for having shared the experience.

And last but not least, for God’s grace… His gifts reflect His love for us, and the challenges He lays before us remind us of His belief in our strength.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for your time!