Folks familiar with the Huey board will know him as the Outlaw Josey Wales (great movie by the way). His new age name has been shortened to OJW, or as I prefer to call him OJ Dub. Anyhow, in recent years this great man has opened his home up to complete strangers to talk about the game you can tell he dearly loves. Most of us that go are young, in our 30's or so, while OJW has been coaching football since Moby Dick was a minnow. He's the group historian. He gives us perspective as we are discussing packaged plays, the read option and Wide Stinger 5 Jam Lock on the grease board. He reminds us where this game has come from, when we pull up Hudl, there's the friendly reminder of 8mm film and film cans. He may not know it, but for all of us in this little football clique, he gives us perspective. He keeps us grounded and allows us to remember our roots.
The reason I'm writing this little blurb, is that there are only a handful of folks in this world that would open up their houses to complete strangers, feed them like kings and provide fellowship that makes the 12 month wait to do it again seem like an eternity. We have fun, laugh, joke, get valuable information and add to our already growing waistlines in the process. All of us that attend our little "mini-clinic" generally take something away from it. What's really cool, is it's just some dudes talkin' ball. There's no agenda, there's no "pound-my-chest my system is the shit" type attitude. There is really good dialogue that I have truly benefited from.
The point to all this is, you don't have to pay the big bucks to go to a Glazier, or Nike clinic (although there's nothing at ALL wrong with those clinics) to learn football. The Internet and 10 years of the Huey board has brought many coaches together who might not otherwise have known each other. I have met these other coaches for various reasons from helping them attack the flexbone offense to needing help stopping the wing-t and needing help starting my blog. It all ended up leading us to a small town in North Central Florida where we've started a bit of tradition of meeting every year around the holidays. It has truly been great due to sites like Coach Huey.
I joined the Huey board around 2005. I enjoy talking ball and his site was a way to do that. Little did I know it was going to be like a self help seminar! I really honed my learning of the Under front, learned LB reads, the TCU 4-2-5, helped coaches defend certain offenses, got help defending offenses, got job advice, and gave job advice. In all, the Huey board without a doubt has made me a much better coach. Keep up the good work my man, I know I really appreciate it.
Some others that deserve shout outs on the board, are:
- vassdiddy- Dude knows his shit and is a damn good coach that's humble enough to ask questions and is willing to share information and experience. Vass has given me tons of insight into the "G" defense and both Quarters and Robber coverages. Can't tell you how many hours I've spent on the phone giving help and receiving help from this guy.
- gunrun (Coach Hoover)- I did not know it was possible to own as much film as this guy has! Hoov, has been instrumental in me getting this blog up to where it's at. He's given me so much stuff I'm not sure how I'd ever repay him. He is an absolute technology wiz, and does some great video work as you can see when you visit his site. Ol' boy can tear up some BBQ too!!!
- brophy- Cripes! He and I didn't hit it off real well, but then again, some of my best friendships have started out this way. The main reason is we're both blunt in how we describe something and we don't under any circumstances "sugar coat" stuff. Brophy has gathered a ton of information and much like Coach Hoover, has helped me develop this blog by giving me ideas and material to share based on what I was writing about.
- dcohio- DC, like Brophy, is blunt and straight to the point. His colorful language, and sayings will leave you in stitches, however this cat knows his stuff. Like I said in a post on the Huey board, having a beer with DC is on my bucket list.
- bigduke6- Duke has helped me with the 4-2-5 over the years, and given me many an idea for the defense at the high school level. Again, another dude that knows his stuff, and ain't afraid to tell it like it is.
- jgordon- J, is my Under front guru. Guy gave me a signed copy of his book on the Under front (if you don't own this, either go buy it or jump off the top of a really tall building). I have to say, he's the one that inspired me to write the flexbone book. I feel though I probably let him down by not publishing it, however I'm just not into selling my stuff. I'd rather share it with you guys to help coaches grow. It isn't like I'm going to give anyone anything that's revolutionary or anything, just my perspective on it. No need to pay money for that (although if somebody would like to buy me a beer at a clinic, I'll totally take that). J has really helped me in one way or another over the years, and I really appreciate it.
- cqmiller- This guy has given me TONS of 4-3 stuff from coverages to blitzes that have all helped me streamline the defense that I'm currently running. I have to admit, I've probably stolen more of cq's stuff than he realizes. This guy is another class act that's willing to share with anyone so long as they'll listen.
I'm sure there are many more, but the little "mini-clinic" got me to thinking about good people and what they mean to me, the game and this world. I figured it was high time these folks knew what they had contributed to and how they'd helped me over the years. Why not start off 2015 by thanking those around you that have helped you along the way. I'm sure I've missed some, I don't know if my fingers could stand typing them all out, nor does Blogger have enough bandwidth to support a post like that. Anyways, my start to 2015 is with a hearty "thank you".
 |
| Here's to you guys! Good luck in 2015! |
Duece