Harbaugh - Spending every minute of practice on the field
"Under the previous coaching regime, a fair amount of the time allotted by the NCAA for practice work in the spring was spent in team meeting rooms.
Under Harbaugh, if Michigan's on a practice day, it spends its full four countable hours on the field -- non-stop."
The players seem to be impressed.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/03/michigan_players_wow_by_jim_ha.html
It's nice to hear that Harbaugh is hands on and maximizing the time alotted for real, physical work. The thought that Hoke had them spending all that time in meetings makes me want to puke in my mouth. Unbelievable. Things can only get better.
You only get what, 15 practices?
Just space them out so that guys can recover...but why wouldn't you have a 4 hour practice?
That's not going to work every day when you're in season, but in the spring? Shit, use every minute possible.
March 13th, 2015 at 11:33 AM ^
March 13th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^
I disagree. You can see things on film that you can't see on the field, and you can correct things in film that you can't correct on the field. There is a reason that coaches use film to teach players. You can't just throw the whole thing out and say "We're not going to watch any film until the end of August."
I think the team meetings that the previous staff were holding are countable, since the coaches were present. But your larger point—that it's nuts to spend precious hours in meetings when on-the-field fundamentals are lacking—is dead on.
Remember that the Rosenberg/Snyder hatchet job made Michigan the "poster child" for what does and doesn't constitute "countable hours." Hoke was probably being as conservative as possible about it.
March 13th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
I said before, but I think we'll see an obvious and immediate difference in the team right from the moment they kick-off against Utah. Hell, we might even see it in the Spring Game.
March 13th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^
but I can't believe Urban is taking time away from the practice field for meetings. Also, I know that Oregon (and their deciples) didn't waste a second of practice time.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:37 AM ^
This was my thinking ... the programs that compete at the highest level must really push the envelope about maximizing practice time.
I always liked Hoke, but I suspect he was a product of the 1990's and his experience with Ball State. Times have changed, but he did not.
Was probably Tommy Boy & Dominos Pizza
EDIT:
While your sentiment is probably true, the details are probebly a little bit of a stretch, because the NFL and NCAA have different protocol when it comes to practice time... at least thats my understanding, maybe I'm wrong?
I read this last night too and started thinking, when do the players watch film then? Maybe that's why Jack Miller made the decision he did... if meetings and film are on the players own time now, that's more pressure in the already time-strapped life of a student-athlete.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:15 AM ^
As someone stated above I think a meeting with coaches counts toward the countable hours.
But your overall point rings true...only so much time in a day and it's a time commitment that isn't for everyone. Have no issues whatsoever with Miller realizing it was time for him to devote that time to academics and business opportunities.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
March 13th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
My guess is that players are expected to watch film by themselves or with their position groups or with other representatives of the program, sans the coach. That could be a huge constraint in players trying to get involved in other things, including their studies. It would be doable but also you have to be 100% locked in to football, academics, and virtually nothing else. That might not be hard for someone as intense as Harbaugh, but not everyone is wired that way.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^
Jack Miller had accomplished all of the goals he set for himself at Michigan. He says this explicitly in the interview with Baumgartner. When you have accomplished your goals you dont linger, you set more goals and work towards those.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
March 13th, 2015 at 11:12 AM ^
It will probably not be every day. There will be some times when the coaches do need to review with the players in meetings and filmrooms.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^
Just win games
March 13th, 2015 at 10:27 AM ^
For Conditioning & Evaluation. Spring Cleaning is Underway. More than enough time to study schemes between now and August. Drills For Skills is the Harbaugh Way.
March 13th, 2015 at 10:32 AM ^
March 13th, 2015 at 10:50 AM ^
Harbaugh has come to a program that most people would say has decent talent, but that was sloppy, soft, and tended to fade late in games. Proper execution was normally lacking.
"I came in and instituted an extremely rigorous summer training program there had been none and everyone told me it wouldn't work, that people wouldn't go for that in Ann Arbor. The team had a reputation for having good talent, but being soft. I did have some attrition, but the real football players stayed. I was harder on that first Michigan team which included Dan Dierdorf than I ever was on any other group, partly because I was so driven by my own ambition. I killed them. I ran them into the ground." — Bo Schembechler on his first UM team in 1969
March 13th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^
last year when nussmeier came from Alabama that there were more reps. That of course is always subject to how the HC does things. College football time constraints reminds me of hockey coaching clinics 20 years ago that began to use European approaches stressing that coaches optimally use ice time to develop skating and not dwell on long winded explanations about position with players standing around on the ice. This just seems obvious and common sense, as why doesn't everybody do it this way. Clearly the top programs-Oregon, bama, fsu run practices this way.
March 13th, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
March 13th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
"When I first saw him (on the ground like that), I was like 'why is he doing this?' But I asked the centers the next day if that helped them and they said it did, they said that was the first time anyone had showed them something like that.
That sort of struck me, that you have players on the team that are more or less saying that this hands-on, demostrative approach is new to them . If that was also one of the things lacking before, I am definitely glad that it is being done now.
Our opponents over the last few years are damn lucky we couldn't challenge them to who could hold the best meetings about football instead of actually a game of football. What a missed opportunity.
This was awesome:
And even recently, during a family vacation at a resort, there were the two Harbaugh brothers, wrestling on the beach to decide who the tougher person was.
"That was crazy to me," senior corner Blake Countess said. "That they were still fighting as grown men."
My brother and I still get into scuffles and end up laughing ourselves to tears while the rest of the family watches in horror. Love to hear the Harbs share the same bond and deep competitive streak.
Seem like JH is actively and intently rebuilding this Program and team from the ground up. He knows what it takes and is leaveraging all of his experience to build a winner.