Dowling Football: Creating Champions 3-Pack

with Tom Wilson,
Dowling Catholic (IA) High School Head Coach;
Has led Dowling to seven straight Class 4A State Championships (2013-19) with an 87-6 record during that run - the only team in Iowa history to win seven state championships in a row at the 4A level

Program organization is one of the most important aspects of establishing and maintaining a championship program. In this video, Tom Wilson walks you through his keys to a successful program, focusing on three main objectives: planning, communication, and organization.

You will learn his methods for developing people, building relationships, building trust, and developing the student-athlete.

Point System

Coach Wilson shares a point system he's created to hold student-athletes accountable for their athletic and academic development. This system rewards academic achievement and consistency of effort with participation in multiple sports and training programs both in and out of season. Athletes can also lose points for conduct violations.

Unified Training Program

In the era of specialization, Coach Wilson counters this trend by sharing the benefits of a unified approach that promotes multi-sport athletes. The unified training program requires all athletes train in a similar manner, and also makes it easier for coaches of sports that depend on off-season weight training to recommend their athletes to participate in other sports.

Give your school a better chance for overall success by making it possible for the best athletes to participate in multiple sports. Not only is this a great video for any football program looking to take it to the next level, this is a blueprint for success in high school sports in general!

Improve Communication Within the Program, and Out

You'll learn several methods for improving your communication with coaches, players, parents, community, youth feeder systems and college recruiters. Coach Wilson explains how he sets up various committees and councils and what their roles are. He explains how he uses social media to promote his program, as well as how he invites members of the community to meet with coaches on occasion. He shares examples of newsletters, social media posts, postseason player meetings and more. See how this level of planning and organization can help you outperform your competition

Coach Wilson describes a system of evaluating and recommending players to colleges based on their potential to play football at the next level. Coach Wilson also explains that it's important to be realistic with your athletes and their parents about what their chances are at the next level and what to expect in the recruiting process.

Organizing a Championship Season

Coach Wilson shows you his in-season organization, giving you a comprehensive list of what it takes to consistently remain on top. This includes:

• Practice schedule examples
• An outline of his daily practice schedule, including what the focus for each day should be
• How to adjust the practice schedule in the case of having to rely on a large number of two-way players
• Game day and Saturday schedules are described for a typical game week
• An overview of coaching assignments for film study, game day, and pre-game activities
• How he organizes sideline communication and how he constructs his offensive installation schedule

Coach Wilson concludes this video with his thoughts on the key differences in coaching at small schools as opposed to large schools and how coaches can adapt their approach to be successful in any situation.

This video gives you the tools necessary for building a championship program. Start fostering relationships, developing trust, and sharing strategies that allow your academic and athletic community to work together in the pursuit of excellence.

56 minutes. 2017.

with Craig McClain,
Dowling Catholic (IA) High School Assistant Coach/Quarterbacks;
Has helped coach Dowling to seven straight Class 4A State Championships (2013-19) with an 87-6 record during that run - the first team in Iowa history to win seven state championships in a row at the 4A level

The run pass option has been of the most talked about concepts in offensive football over the past few seasons. Coach McClain gives you in-depth look at many different RPOs that you can implement into any offensive scheme. By utilizing simple reads and taking what the defense gives you, RPOs can give you the advantage you need to energize your offense, move the ball consistently, and put points on the board.

Coach McClain describes the RPOs they use at Dowling Catholic, including the quarterback's read progression and decision making process, routes, and adjustments. He gives you access to over 16 different RPOs broken down into three distinct categories. With diagrams of each RPO, over 25 minutes of accompanying video footage, and McClain walking you through it all, understanding and implementing these powerful weapons into your offense couldn't be any easier.

Categories of the Run Pass Option

Coach McClain begins by explaining the three categories of RPOs: pre-snap, motion, and post snap. The RPOs are categorized according to when the quarterback makes the decision to run or pass. Also, McClain describes what the quarterback reads on each category of RPO. He presents a brief overview of their offensive philosophy and how RPOs fit into their overall scheme and philosophy.

QB Read Progression

On all pre-snap RPOs, McClain instructs his quarterbacks to either count the number of defenders in the box or to count the number of defenders covering down on a three receiver set, depending on the play called. You'll also learn about the free access concept they utilize when a defense gives you an easy throw and catch to a single receiver side.

Motion RPO Package

Motion forces a defense to adjust. Coach McClain diagrams his motion RPO package in which he will use shifts or motion and have his quarterback read how the defense reacts in order to make the decision to run or pass. The motion package can be a great way to design plays to get the ball to your playmakers.

Post-Snap RPO package

Coach McClain's post-snap RPOs are designed to read a specific defender after the ball has been snapped. The philosophy behind the post-snap RPO is to put a particular defender in conflict as to whether he should play run or pass in order to slow him down. McClain diagrams several post-snap RPOs and, using game footage, details the quarterback read progression and coaching points for each play. He also shares some easy adjustments to specific routes that he utilizes with his offense to take advantage of what the defense is doing.

This is an excellent and complete example of an RPO system that details pre-snap reads, motion reads, and post-snap reads to create a user friendly system for the entire offense. This package, when utilized with the spread offense, can give your offense an advantage no matter what the defense tries to take away.

46 minutes. 2017.

with Grant Bousum,
Dowling Catholic (IA) High School Defensive Coordinator;
Has helped coach Dowling to seven straight Class 4A State Championships (2013-19) with an 87-6 record during that run - the first team in Iowa history to win seven state championships in a row at the 4A level

The up tempo offense is designed to create confusion and cause mental errors by aligning and snapping the ball as quickly as possible. With the Dowling Catholic Over Front 4-2-5, you can align your defense quickly with simple rules, allowing your team an opportunity to defend against any speed.

The Dowling Over Front 4-2-5 is a read and react defense in which positions mirror each other so substitutes can fit in and play fast with confidence. Coach Grant Bousum uses a PowerPoint and game video to cover each position in the scheme. You'll see how to defend against the six top running plays in football today: Zone, Outside Zone, Blast, Power, Counter and Veer. How to defend the strong side and weak side run plays are also shown.

Basics and Philosophy of the 4-2-5 Defense

Coach Bousum discuses his keys to building a great defense, which are important from a philosophy standpoint in terms of what you should try to instill in your defense. Bousum details each position and the type of player that he tries to put in each spot, as well as alignment, keys, and responsibility for each player. As an added bonus, Bousum shows video of a "2 whistle drill" and describes his methods for teaching tackling.

Each defensive position has one clear key, which determines run and pass, getting the defense to the ball with proper leverage quickly. Minimal adjustments are needed to formations that make this defense great at the high school and lower levels.

Defending the Run

Learn how to use this scheme to defend some of the most common one- and two-back run schemes in use today. Bousum explains that defending every two-back play begins with establishing that defensive players outside the tackle box are box players that must keep the ball inside of them and the defenders inside the tackle box are spill defenders that must force the ball laterally towards the sideline. The two-back schemes covered are: Iso, Power, Counter, Veer, Inside Zone, and Outside Zone.

Coach Bousum also demonstrates how he defends the zone read play both to the weak side and strong side.

Split Safety Coverage System

In this scheme, both deep safeties are independent of each other and will make calls to communicate the coverage to their side of the ball. The coverages used are primarily Cover 4 vs closed sets with a tight end, and a version of Cover 2 versus a two wide receiver side. By utilizing this system, the defense can be in multiple coverages based on the number of receivers aligned on each side of the ball. It's much easier for players to make these coverage checks because they are only looking at half of a formation rather than looking at the entire formation.

Coach Bousum goes into the pass responsibilities for the linebackers and defensive backs in both Cover 4 and Cover 2.

This is a simple, but highly effective defense that can be utilized against modern offenses that utilize multiple formations and personnel groupings.

63 minutes. 2017.