Former NFL head coach JERRY GLANVILLE, after learning that Joe Paterno had just donated $350,000 to Penn State for a new library: "Is that for playbooks or books with hard covers?"

LAVELL EDWARDS, legendary Brigham Young head coach, on why his best passer was playing behind two sophomore quarterbacks: "Because of his unusual brain. It starts working the moment he gets...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Winning+the+close+matches.-a0191020220We have all encountered the one or two point matches that make even the best of us tense. It is, however, up to the coach to prepare wrestlers for these kinds of matches. If he does an effective job, his wrestlers should triumph most of the time.

Here are my general instructions to my wrestiers when the score is close:

VIDOVICH: When 1 grew up in Detroit, I played all of the spoils; played on the streets. And soccer was not part of that until I was 10 years old. In 1970, I moved to Brazil with my family. My...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Clarifying+athletic+program+objectives%3a+the+foundation+for+coach...-a0191020215Coach evaluation and retention are two fundamental issues that continually challenge athletic administrators. Whether the administrator is the singularly assigned athletic or activity director in a larger school, the multi-tasking principal/ activity director/teacher-coach in a rural environment or the club director in the private sector, the task of finding, hiring, and retaining qualified...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+in-season+athlete%3a+who+is+the+strongest+when+it+means+nothing%2c...-a0191020214Many in-season athletes find themselves at their weakest strength point when tournament play comes along at the end of the season. So how do we as coaches, work together to prevent this negative transformation?

First, let's look at the common con-cerns and comments expressed to strength coaches by our head coaches and athletes:

During my eight years of coaching, I've observed that poor fielding is usually the result of a lack of confidence on the part of the fielder...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Defending+quarterback+scrambles.-a0191020212A commonly overlooked yet potentially devastating aspect of defensing an opponent's passing game is defensive reaction to a quarterback scramble.

The late Bill Walsh wrote that one in five drop-back passes ends up with the quarterback scrambling. Depending upon the quarterback, this can be disastrous to a defense. Obviously, some quarterbacks are more of a threat than others. A well...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Supplementing+the+NBA's+newest+cuts+into+high+school+and+college...-a0191020211It seems like the NBA has created a new and different type of cut that is becoming very popular and used by almost every team in the league. Some Division 1 coaches have already implemented it into their offensive arsenal.

This cut, called by at least one college team as the "Iverson Cut," is a fundamentally sound offensive move that can and should be integrated into offensive plays at...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Defensive+rehearsal.-a0191020210Fabio Capello, the current manager of the English National team, has a long history of winning, capturing seven championships in Italy and Spain. He has coached at Roma, Madrid, Milan, and Juventus. And he once led AC Milan to a run of 58 games without a loss.

While you certainly do more things online in your position, often you have to backup these efforts with hardcopies, and you probably haven't gotten to the...]]>Mon, 1 Dec 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Power+tools%3a+choosing+strength+training+equipment.-a0191020207The evolution of strength training equipment is taking place at such a breakneck pace that if you blink, you might miss something. Conversely, a cadre of items from the past has been spruced-up, cosmetically enhanced, given a catchy moniker, and recycled.

With college basketball season underway we can't help but feel that some big part of the game is missing. His name: Lute Olson.

The venerable and classy Arizona coach's retirement prior to the season, after an illustrious 24 years on the bench in Tucson, AZ, took us a bit by surprise, but we had suspected Coach Olson's coaching days were numbered dating back to...]]>