Tips and Tricks

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1. Question: I've been trying to print out some of the articles on your web site, but the black background uses too much ink. Could you email me the following articles... ?

In this new incarnation of Football for Youth! I have chosen to use the standard white background with black text specifically to eradicate this problem. Using File>>Print or using the print button on your browser should work normally now.

I'm sorry that I cannot email articles. This creates an entire host of new problems for me, since I then spend an enormous amount of time trying to do this copy and paste procedure for every coach that emails me, when the information is already online. I leave it up to the individual coach to copy and print the material as he sees fit.

2. I'm interested in running the Double Wing. Can you help me find more information on it?

You're in luck. The Double Wing is probably the best supported offense out there right now. In addition to Jerry Vallotton's excellent book, The Toss~ A New Offensive Attack for High Scoring Football, www.coachwyatt.com, a site maintained by Double wing expert and one of the fathers of the offense, Hugh Wyatt offers a videotape series on the Double Wing that features in-depth explanations of expanded formations, a myriad of plays, and coaching techniques. For starters, I recommend Coach Vallotton's book. This will give you a basic overview of the offense without tying up large amounts of your wallet space. You can use the book as your playbook successfully, and then if you decide the offense is for you, increase your knowledge and your opponents' frustration with Coach Wyatt's material.

You may also consider www.coachmarkham.com, which is a site developed by the original creator of the current Double Wing, Don Markham. Coach Markham's material is excellent, but geared more towards the intermediate to advanced coach.

Additionally, there is a great deal of information on the system to be gleaned at the message board, and also at sites like Jack Gregory's.

Of course, the offensive section of this web site also has some information on the Double Wing. See the menu bar above.

3. You're everywhere, I was on amazon.com and I was looking for the book The Toss and I saw your comment that's great. This book is hard to find Amazon and Barnes and Noble had it on back order for 3 months. Do you know of any place I can purchase this book.

You're still in luck. Jerry Vallotton has a new web site I just located the other day. The URL is www.doublewing.org. He offers instructional videotapes, highlight tapes, and a "kinko's copies" version of his book for sale. I can't speak for the quality of the tapes, since I haven't ordered them personally, but the book is a direct reproduction of his original material.

I've spoken with Coach Vallotton through email, and he's trying to get the book republished. Hopefully this will happen soon, but Prentice Hall is stonewalling. You can help by writing them an email and requesting a re-print of the book. Contact them at:

4. Does the Gap-Air-Mirror still work well if used at the 11-12 year old level? I am thinking about using it instead of the 5-3 or 6-2, but am concerned about what age level this defense stops being as effective.

I used the G-A-M in Kodiak Alaska at that age level with astonishing results. For the season we allowed 168 total yards of offense, only one earned touchdown (the refs gave one freebie to our opponents, and I made two coaching errors that resulted in touchdowns, but only one team managed to cross our goal line by its own effort.) We also pitched four shutouts in six games and scored three times on defense (one touchdown on an interception return and two safeties.)

The thing you need to be aware of is the triple option. The only thing about the triple that bothers me is the outside veer, which generally sends the tight end on a pass route to run off the outside linebacker. This puts the linebacker in a conflict, 'Do I cover the tight end, or do I stay home to take the quarterback?' No matter what he does, it's wrong. If he goes after the quarterback, the tight end is free to take a little blooper pass over his head, a pass that is nearly impossible to miss. If he covers the tight end, the quarterback can run off tackle for between 4-8 yards every snap... if your opponent decides to risk his option-trained quarterback by running that play every down (Which most competent option coaches will do.)

But, I'm not that concerned about it, because a) the odds of seeing the triple option are fairly low below high school. b) the odds of a coach running that specific option attack in his triple option are even lower, and c) there is NO likelihood that a non-option team will be able to install the option just to attack that apparent weakness in the defense.

So, the bottom line is that I feel the defense would be successful at that age group, provided the coach knows his league and understands what types of offensive systems will be faced. If you're facing a league of triple option teams, you might want to consider another defense, at least as a backstop to the G-A-M.

5. I may disagree with you on the selection process used for your players in the Gap-8. I am of the opinion that the two best players should be your ends. The next two players should be the Sam and Willie linebackers. Maybe this could be tempered with a mixture of age dependence. Good linebackers need to read and pursue inside-out. The defensive ends have to insure containment via whatever means is necessary, including taking on more than one lead blocker on the sweep play.

I really caution you not to swap the defensive ends and linebackers. While this sounds good on the surface, the most important quality a defensive end needs is discipline. I have run some real pork chops at that position and been successful despite their lack of athleticism, simply because they did the right thing, the right way, every play. By contrast, I've had great athletes foul up that position like you wouldn't believe.

Outside linebacker in the Gap-8 is the toughest position on the field. They are expected to be able to cover the largest gap (Measure the distance between the defensive tackle and the defensive end at its widest point; you'll find that it's about three yards, and that's a hell of a lot of territory to cover.) plus, they are expected to be able to cover a tight end downfield, and be able to beat tight end's block even though they are inside alignment, which means that the tight end has the mechanical advantage. The down block is one of the easiest blocks in football, and even a water boy can pull it off against that linebacker unless the linebacker is one of your best athletes. If you were going to swap anything, I'd recommend swapping my assignments for the free safety and Sam linebacker. I used the system I did because I knew my opponents were strongly right handed, so I wanted my best athlete in the teeth of the offense. I put number two at free safety, and number three at Willie. This modification I made only after studying my opponents. Reed does advocate picking the defensive ends first, but, he also selects them on the basis of discipline, not athleticism.

Of course it's up to you, but this isn't a change that I would make.

6. I read your objection to the stiff arm and I am wondering why this is so? I asked a few coaches on Toby's board and they state that it can be helpful and that its a personal choice. Can you elaborate your dislike for me please?

I don't like the stiff arm much for two primary reasons. The first is a high school game I was at in 1995 where I watched a kid miss-time the technique and fold his arm backwards at the elbow. Hideously painful, although not serious (elbows heal pretty well, unlike knees, which are load bearing.) The second reason I don't like the stiff arm is simply because I want to have that damn football at the end of the play. If you're about to make any kind of body contact you should be wrapping up the ball to protect it. I am an absolute monster for fumbles. The stiff arm can be an effective technique, but I don't teach it, and don't want my players using it. That's just my opinion, though.

7. I'm reading Coach Reed's book now and I'm actually looking forward to the new season. I'm curious to know why you're using the double wing as opposed to the single wing that Coach Reed suggests? There must be some added advantage or you wouldn't be using it over the Single-wing. I'm just wondering if I should concentrate on the double wing instead of the single wing.

Jack himself recommended the Double Wing to me. I prefer it because there's a lot more information out there on the system. Jack Reed used to be the primary source of published information on the Single Wing. He's a fantastic coach, and knows his stuff, but if you're not perfectly aligned with the way he runs things (such as, what if you don't want to use a flanker position to hide a minimum play player?) then you're going to have to make alterations yourself. It can be very difficult to locate modern information about the Single Wing. There's a crapload of information on the Double Wing out there, so if you're thinking of making any changes, you can probably a) find the change somewhere in a book or video and avoid common mistakes and pitfalls or b) find someone that has already tried that change and get advice from them. I also prefer the Double Wing's balanced formation. I like forcing the defense to cover all ten gaps. It's very true that in order to take away something from the Double Wing, you have to leave something else open. Because of the heavy formation, this isn't entirely true of the Single Wing. It's mostly opinion. I would encourage you to research both, and pick the one that's best for your team and coaching style.

8. On page nine of 'The Toss' Coach Vallotton states the wings should be lined up as close to the line as legally possible and then he states on page 67, the rules state you must have seven but there is no maximum. Which is true? I asked a buddy who refs. and he said you had to have seven and only seven. Who's right?

Your buddy the ref knows not of where he speaks. I don't want to insult him, but he needs to read his rule book again. There is NO prohibition against eight, nine, ten, or even all eleven men on the line of scrimmage, although the latter would make snapping difficult. My rule book is packed somewhere or I'd cite the specific rules. Seven is a minimum, not a maximum. Of course, local league rules might prohibit such formations. Check before you install them.

9. I have one follow up question: what is the rule book and where can I find one?

The rule book is just that: a list of the National Federation of High School Associations rules for the game of football. In most states it is the Bible under which the game is officiated. At the youth level, most leagues use this as a base, and then add additional rules for their players, governing size restrictions and scoring changes (some leagues, for example, give two points for a PAT field goal and only one for a run or pass to encourage youth kickers.) Of course, some leagues also add those asinine coaching restrictions like "All teams must run the 6-2 defense."

The case book covers specific rulings and examples that referees might have to make on the field. For example, "1.5.1 Situation E: Player of team "A" is detected wearing wrestling knee pad that covers the knee and meets all of the requirements for knee pads except that it extends below the pants. Ruling: Legal. The rule does not require the pad to be attached to the football pants."

The rule book and case book can be obtained from:

National Federation of High School Associations
PO Box 690
Indianapolis, IN46206

Additionally, you can order one online from www.nfhs.org or by calling (317)972-6900. Fax is (317)822-5700. They'll run you about $19.00 after shipping.

10. You're right about the amount of information available on the Double Wing. There is so much out there that you can go blind looking at all of it. What do you recommend I buy first? I don't have a lot of money for football materials.

You can coach the Double Wing quite well with free materials. The most you should have to spend in your first season is about $35 if you decide to order a copy of Jerry Vallotton's book. I generally recommend materials in the following order:

1. Go to the Message Board and do two things. First, register for a free account. This will give you access to some of the top Double Wing football coaches in the world. Second, on the start page look for the link that says "Forum Playbook" and download that. Now you have two similar and yet different styles of the offense to learn from, and a common frame of reference for you to interact with the coaches on the message board. You'll be able to ask questions and understand the answers.

2. Go to www.gregorydoublewing.com and download Jack Gregory's free playbook.

3. Go to www.doublewing.org and order a copy of The Toss from Jerry Vallotton. This will run you about $35 including shipping, but it gives you a manual of installation along with a third idea of how to run the offense.

In the next season, I recommend looking into purchasing some video of the system. Selected video clips are available in the Offense section here at Football for Youth!, however, for a more complete understanding of the offense, I recommend checking out Hugh Wyatt's website at www.coachwyatt.com. You don't need to go berserk ordering his materials. his Dynamics of the Double Wing I and playbook are about all you'll ever need, and are less than $100. You can also order Kevin Thurman's materials from www.the-endzone.net. Kevin uses a very similar system to Hugh Wyatt's, and his videos are slightly cheaper.

The most important part of this tip is this: don't go hog wild installing cool plays and piecemealing together an offense from all these systems. Pick one style of the offense and learn everything you can about it. There are vast differences between the Wyatt, Vallotton, Gregory, and Thurman systems, and it can be very easy to "just one more play" yourself to death. If you have more than fourteen plays to start, you might consider cutting back, especially in your first year of coaching the offense.