Overall rating: (3.6 of 5.0 possible)

Available through: www.amazon.com

I've elected to review Bud Wilkinson's book, Winning Defense, which unfortunately has some similar characteristics as his book on offense. Of course, both books have good points, and I'll try to point these out.

To begin with, I fully agree with one of the first things Coach Wilkinson says, on page nine of the introduction, when he states,

"An offensive team may be good and score scads of points, but if the opponents score more points, the inadequate defensive team has been responsible for a loss."

This is another way to say one of my favorite aphorisms from Vince Lombardi, "A good offense will win you games, but a good defense will win you championships." I believe this.

Coach Wilkinson also mentions on page eleven in this chapter the three problems of playing defense. They are: 1) Where to line up against the offensive formation to counter its strengths. 2) The defense is handicapped at the start of every play by not knowing the snap count or the point of attack, and 3) Offensive plays are designed to mislead the defense. (Especially for anyone trying to stop the Double Wing.)

Chapter one begins with a discussion of the history of football and the evolution of the defensive player. In the early days of one-platoon football, most teams used the same defenses, and defenders covered their offensive counterparts, generally the same position they played while they had the ball, much like basketball.

This section also contains my favorite quote from any football book I have read so far: "A forward pass is not only cowardly-- it is immoral" ~Jock Sutherland, University of Pittsburgh, 1931.

Coach Wilkinson continues this chapter with a discussion of the evolution of the passing threat with the invention of the "T" formation by Clark Shaughnessy in the early '40s. From the "T", teams began splitting the ends, and the wide receiver was born.

Further into this chapter Coach Wilkinson begins to give us a basic breakdown of the types of defensive positions in most defenses, and starts to discuss a few of the player traits necessary in the athletes that play these positions along with the fundamental skills they must have in order to be successful.

Chapter two begins to discuss the fundamentals of defensive football, making the start with the 'key'. I'll let Coach Wilkinson explain:

"Men who take their position farther than 1 1/2 yards from any offensive player-- linebackers and secondary men-- must 'read' or 'key' as the ball is snapped. These terms mean watching one or two offensive players whose movement at the start of the play usually indicates the type of play to be run." (p. 25)

Coach Wilkinson moves from this concept, to discussing the footwork necessary when keying an offensive lineman. His description is adequate, but I caution youth football coaches of just a few relatively minor things. First, that keying offensive linemen is only effective against opponents that pull them to trap or lead block. Most youth football coaches seem to feel unable to pull linemen below certain levels. (Honestly, there are more than a few high school coaches that think their players can't pull, either.) As a result, teaching this recognition technique may be a waste of time in your league.

Second, Coach Wilkinson describes the lead/dive (linemen fire straight ahead), sweep/off tackle (linemen pull to lead block), and pass blocking (linemen dropping back to form a pass pocket.) He neglects to mention recognition of the trap play, which is simply that one lineman (typically a guard) fires out, aiming for the nearest linebacker, and the other guard pulls inward.

Coach Wilkinson also does not describe fold or cross blocking in this short list.

The tackling forms described in the book are adequate, and I enjoyed the caption on one picture of arm-tackling that described the tackle attempt as an "unpardonable sin" (p. 37).

Probably the best part of this chapter is the section describing how to properly recover a fumble. Many injuries occur each season because coaches don't take the time to describe this skill. Allow me to point out that it is not intuitive, and incorrect technique can get a player seriously injured when the pile lands on him.

Chapter three discusses the interior linemen. I did feel that his descriptions of the necessary players for these positions was heavily biased towards the Oklahoma 5-4, but then, that's only fair: he did invent that defense after all.

As should be expected from one of the greatest defensive coordinators in the history of college football, Coach Wilkinson does a marvelous job of explaining the responsibilities of the defensive line. In fact, he mentions one concept so utterly simple that I've only seen it in this book, and yet it is the basis for all defensive line play: defensive linemen must fight through the pressure of the block. (p. 45) They must never attempt to go around or give ground to pressure.

Coach Wilkinson discusses in detail loop charges, stunting, shooting the gaps, and other aspects of defensive line play. In my opinion, this chapter is the strength of the book.

Chapter four is given over to linebacker play, beginning, as all great works of architecture, with the foundation: correct stance. Following this is a description of the four offensive keys of linebackers that will truly help you make your defense more successful.

I don't agree with Coach Wilkinson's description of the linebacker's pass coverage duties, only because he again fell into the trap of thinking too much about his 5-4. In reality, the pass defense responsibilities of a linebacker will be a function of the specific defense you run, your personnel, and even his alignment to an interior or outside linebacker position. I don't think you can simplify things to the extent that Coach Wilkinson did in this chapter.

The defensive backfield is covered in chapter five. Unfortunately, my position as defensive backfield coach at Tomales High School and my previous history as a defensive back in high school probably make me more critical of this chapter than I should be. Too many important things were left out of the chapter, like footwork, trail/cutoff position, and defensive back discipline, which was mentioned only briefly. Coach Wilkinson's bias towards the Oklahoma 5-4's zone-based pass coverage also shows, in that he devotes several pages to zone coverage, describing backfield rolls, cornerback responses to backfield movements, and play in a four deep secondary, but only one half page is devoted to man-to-man coverage, with no mention of correct technique. This chapter was probably one of the weakest in the book.

Chapter six discusses a few random defensive alignments. I was not greatly impressed with the author's lack of description of many of the formations. For example, the 7-Box is shown, but there is no description of responsibilities. Oddly, Coach Wilkinson makes this same mistake with his own defense, the "Okie 5-4", explaining only that "It was a natural extension of the 7-Box." (P. 88)

I think that Coach Wilkinson is overly-enamored of the odd defensive front. Even his version of the 4-3 "Over" is in reality a 5-3 look with the defensive line shifted one man to the strong side and the weak side linebacker playing defensive end. This turns the entire defense into what is really a 5-2-4, so there's no real change in alignment from his base 5-4, only his personnel have shifted.

The only discussion of an even defense in the book is the 6-5, described as a goal line defense in three paragraphs on page 96. With more detail, effective alignment rules, and proper pass coverage rules, this defensive alignment shows a great deal of potential for the youth game, but alas, that detail is absent from this book.

I advise in the strongest possible terms that youth coaches avoid the 3-5-3 and 4-5-2 "Prevent defenses" described on page 100. I have heard of teams that do run these fronts at the youth level (although, mercifully, I have never seen one). Please don't do that. While you are avoiding those fronts, stay away from the nickel and dime defenses described briefly on page 103. Wrong age group.

Like his book on offense, Coach Wilkinson added special teams to the scope of this book, concentrating on the defensive groups. Chapter six begins with a discussion of the importance of field position to the success of your team. The kickoff coverage on page 107 is very similar to the cover-one described in the special teams section of this site.

Chapter eight discusses defensive strategy. Coach Wilkinson is still caught up in the Oklahoma 5-4, and it taints his descriptions of defensive policy. I do agree with him for the most part, but, by its nature, the 5-4 is a bend but don't break defense that allows an opposing offense to make its own mistakes.

This is difficult for youth football teams to pull off. Generally, the best defenses at the youth level are the ones that try for (and get) big plays. Defenses like the 4-4, with its hidden linebackers and myriad of stunts and pass coverages have the advantage over systems like the 5-4, that lock players into "read and react" roles. Of course, this is my opinion, but I thought there was little in this section that could apply to the youth coach beyond the most basic description of defensive philosophy.

Chapters nine and ten are devoted to the defensive plan, and the defensive practice plan. Like his book on offense, Coach Wilkinson includes a basic practice plan that can be adapted to the youth level with not much effort.

Generally, I was pretty happy with this book, but many of the same mistakes were still there. Pagination was atrocious, leaving it up to me to count from the last numbered page to the page I was looking at while trying to write this review. There was no index. There was no defensive playbook.

Again, while I was satisfied with this book, I expected a little more. With the wisdom of thirty years of coaching, there's no reason at all why Coach Wilkinson couldn't have added a 5-4 primer to this book, especially considering his bias towards this defense. It's almost as if he wanted to discuss the 5-4, but the publishers wanted the book to be more general.

I was satisfied, but not overwhelmed.

I give the book the following scores:

Readability: 4

Once again, the reader's knowledge was not taken for granted, but neither was he insulted by being treated as an idiot. The book took a little longer to get through, taking about three hours of solid reading, but that might have been interruptions breaking my concentration.

Usefulness: 3

There were not a great number of drills in this book. For the most part, the author describes a particular skill, and then leaves it up to the reader to determine an effective drill to teach and refine the skill in question. This didn't bother me overmuch, because he did an overall excellent job of describing the skills.

Practicality: 4

Once again, Coach Wilkinson came close to perfection, but fell short by not having a cohesive playbook for the reader. I really wish he had followed his initiative and written this book as a manual for the Oklahoma 5-4.

Overall score: 3.6

For the most part, I think you'll enjoy this book and get a lot from it. Coach Wilkinson's credentials are unmatched, and his skill descriptions, except where noted, are generally of amazing quality.

Coaches who know me will recognize that I am a big proponent of who versus how in football. A poor block on the right defender can keep him out of the play, while a perfect block on the wrong guy still leaves the original defensive player free to make the tackle. This philosophy also applies to defense as well.

I don't mean that how isn't important, though, and coaches looking to expand their knowledge of that portion of defensive football will be well served with this book.

Good luck.

~D.