This was a great read and will be very informative for those wondering if Mark Richt made the right choice in hiring Coach Searels to replace Coach Kehoe. There have been very valid points made for and against Coach Searels returning next year.
Link to article
https://lbolineperformance.com/hs-recruiting-top-5-college-ol-coaches-to-avoid/
Link to article
https://lbolineperformance.com/hs-recruiting-top-5-college-ol-coaches-to-avoid/
The recruiting process for high school football players is the least transparent undertaking a young athlete has endured thus far in his career. Kids from all over the country are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to sign their names along the dotted line of a National Letter of Intent. This will be a dream come true for families and student athletes across the country, and rightfully so. Earning the opportunity to participate in collegiate athletics is a tremendous blessing and should not be taken lightly. Unfortunately, many young players won’t know exactly what they are getting themselves into. The recruiting process is like Hollywood, a lot of bright lights but very little truth.
The recruiting process can be daunting for an offensive lineman, similar to a quarterback. Offensive line is a position where what you are “eating” literally and figuratively will play a heavy role in your success or failure. Figuratively speaking, what your offensive line coach is feeding you is key. The coaching you receive and style in which it’s delivered is the lifeblood of offensive line development. Sadly, recruiting is like dating, you never meet the real person, you meet their “representative.” The “representative” is the person they want you to believe they are, when in reality they are someone different. It takes years of practice and prayer to develop a high enough level of discernment to see through the screen door and into the heart of a person. With that said, the representative isn’t ALWAYS on the job. At some point throughout the recruiting process you have met the real person but they’re wrapped in a bull**** bow called recruiting.
If you’ve met this offensive line coach, this is who he will become once you sign.
1. The Name Dropper
The offensive line coach always dropping the names of players he has “put in the league.” Stay away from this clown. First, NFL players are generally created when the sperm meets the egg. Second, it’s a good chance this particular coach is coaching in the Power Five conferences. Major division one programs are going to recruit the top one percent of your peer groups’ genetic gene pool. The kid who is 7-foot-14 and 392 pounds at the age of 17 is going to capture the attention of those coaches. There is a higher probability for those kids to play in the NFL, with or without great coaching. I say this for two reasons. One, the seven offensive linemen drafted in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft were all from Power Five conference schools. The same can be said for 2014, with the exception of Notre Dame, an independent (though a Power Five caliber program). This is generally the trend. My second reason for standing on such a bold statement is that each year at OLP I have an opportunity to personally witness how little some of these “big school” players know. Is it all their fault? No. Many of them have gotten by being the biggest, strongest and fastest. But the further up the food chain you go, the less your genetic gifts have to do with success. It becomes much more what you know! The coach that stands on his resume of “putting guys in the league” is the guy who will be constantly looking for the next genetic marvel to walk through the door so he can sit back and say, “look what I did.” If you want to be truly developed, find the coach who doesn’t give a **** about the NFL, but cares about you becoming the best college player you can be.
A “big school” coach who truly develops players – Harry Hiestand, Notre Dame
2. The Aspiring Offensive Coordinator
Players are always scrutinized when they have other interests outside of football. Well, offensive line is a lifestyle and coaches who aren’t committed to evolving the art of offensive line play deserve the same side eye players get when they have passions outside of football. Coaching is a business and offensive line coaches aren’t the highest paid birds in the tree. I vehemently disagree with this practice but it’s the reality. What’s been created is a culture within football where coaches are operating like employees within corporations. The guy who is in the mail room wants to be the CEO one day. There are offensive line coaches who don’t LOVE the position and that’s a major problem. They see coaching the offensive line as a “stepping stone” to their next vertical move to offensive coordinator or coaching the water walking quarterbacks. This guy may be the worst of the bunch because he generally has no freaking clue as to what he’s talking about because he’s too busy watching routes and not your bad footwork. With that said, are there offensive line coaches who have a very broad knowledge base of football? Yes. Those guys are generally a bit older and have been around the game long enough to have a high level of total football acumen. If you meet a young offensive line coach who can’t educate you on the history of all-time greats like Dwight Stephenson and tweets more than you, run the other way.
An offensive guy who loves offensive line play – Ed Warriner, Ohio State
3. The Measurable Guy
When you’re 6-5 and a coach says to you, “I see you as a guard because I like my tackles 6-6 and up,” tell him to tie a T-bone steak around his neck and swim with sharks. I get it, some coaches are afraid to be different and go with the guy who can play football but doesn’t “look the part.” I believe those coaches generally are lazy and can’t coach worth a ****. We live in an athletic climate that loves “microwave talent,” the talent that you have to rush into service and not cultivate. Some of this is rooted in the lack of job security for coaches. Many don’t have the time to add 30 pounds to a player over three years and allow him to physically mature. I’m not making excuses for them. I get it. They have bills to pay and being unemployed doesn’t help with that. The way I see it, when a player isn’t good enough, what does he have to do? The player has the responsibility to get better. Coaches should be held to the same standard. When a coach has a small window to develop players … well … become a better coach! It doesn’t help the coach by narrowing the pool of potential talent to fit an “ideal” that has no bearing on performance. I was a 6-3, 270-pound left tackle at Ohio State my true freshman year, and I played. My senior year of high school I was told by a college coach that I was “too short” to play for that particular university. Fast forward four years and that same coach was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In that four year time span I had become a consensus All-America, Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year, twice All-Big Ten, Rimington Trophy winner, second round pick and kicked Warren Sapp’s *** in my first NFL start as a rookie … in Tampa Bay! The coach who’s hung up on measurable’s will limit you, just as he’s limited his ability to discover talent in unlikely bodies.
A coach who doesn’t care about measurable’s – Nick Saban, Alabama
4. The Fake Tough Guy
Offensive line is a position where physical and mental toughness is needed. What’s not needed is a coach espousing the virtues of toughness when he’s probably never been in a fight, or at least one he’s won. The fake tough guy is the one who will throw your *** under the bus behind the scenes. It takes true toughness to stand up for your guys when the doors are shut in private coaches meetings. When you’re struggling as a player and the coach has to privately stand on his merit as a coach in front of his peers, it’s not easy. You think Nick Saban wants to hear why the LT is struggling? No. He wants results. Your offensive line coach is going to have to be the guy to “buy you some time” while you work your way out of a slump. The fake tough guy is going to show his true colors when you aren’t looking. In your face he’s going to throw a bunch a snazzy tough guy quotes at you, scream nonsense and make you feel like YOU are the one not being “tough enough.” When you meet a bad *** you know they are bad *** because you can feel it. The man that has to talk the talk, he can’t walk the walk.
A real tough guy who loves offensive line play – Tom Manning, Iowa State
5. The Non-Progressive
There’s not one offensive line coach who hasn’t learned something from somebody. A big issue with offensive line play as a whole is many coaches don’t continue to learn, or they only subscribe to a single “philosophy.” Offensive line coaches have to be the most open minded of all. We all understand that offensive line play is going to throw MANY different realities at you that are going to be problematic. A great offensive line coach is a problem solver. It’s not possible to solve problems when you live in a narrow-minded state. If you want to be a great fisherman and catch the world’s largest fish, you have to adventure out in to the deep waters of the world’s oceans. You can’t fish from the docks or at the same body of water. These narrow minded coaches will often describe themselves as “old school.” What the **** does that mean? I will tell you what it means: “Old school” is code word for ‘I don’t want to grow or help you grow because I’m lazy.’ The phrase “old school” used to be another way of saying “tough.” It’s OK to hold onto a few “old school” ideals but it’s not ok to brandish “old school” as a badge of honor. We live in a world full of information at the tip of our fingertips. There’s no excuse to not evolve and elevate! Every position on the football field has taken an evolutionary step, offensive line is lagging. It’s lagging because the cesspool of “old school” thinking has stunted the development of players. If a coach doesn’t have a level of social media savvy, present innovative ways to develop players or has no clue what OLP stands for…. move on.
An “old school” coach who’s a progressive thinker – Adrian Klemm, UCLA
Conclusion
Are there more coaches than I have mentioned that will do great by you? Absolutely. I continue to network with coaches on a daily basis. Some of them are young and open minded, while others are more seasoned and looking for fresh concepts. There are a few that are complete frauds and couldn’t coach a dead dog to play dead. You’re making a big choice, trust your instincts. Don’t fall prey to all of the bogus recruiting propaganda. Select the school that you feel best suits you, but understand that your experience will be shaped by the coaches you are surrounded by.
