Simple and Engaged: Verducci is a Teacher
The Biscuit - 11:57 am
More and more, I love The Duche. I loved his background back when he was hired, I’ve loved the results on the field (158 yards/game rushing, only 6 sacks, Jimmy has all day back there, and 4.2 yards per carry), and I love his approach. This article gets to the heart of it.
The two things that stand out to me most:
The Duche keeps it simple. Even in Zone Blocking schemes, you can be relatively simple. Don’t get me wrong, Zone isn’t simple itself. But a coach can make it more complex, or try to keep things simple, and get their players to do a smaller set of things right, and then build from there. This is The Duche’s approach, and it appears to have worked for the ND o-line.
The second part is bringing the players into the problem-solving process.
“If we have a question he’s like, ‘All right, figure it out.’ So he makes us figure out what we think is the best idea. If he agrees with it, then he lets us do it,” Duncan said. “I think that’s a great feeling, just to be able to come up with something you think is a good way of doing it.”
When players have an opinion, input, into the process, they feel ownership. Whether their idea is used or not, they know they have a voice. Just like in any classroom, or in any business meeting – getting engagement and input from an audience you’re trying to persuade or teach is a classic tactic for getting results.
It appears that The Duche has the right formula. Hopefully this line can continue it’s improvement under Frank’s guidance.
Love The Duche.
