FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DuffMan]

Of course, at SJU, we never wore more than helmets & shoulder pads, and contact was limited.  I know 2-a-days have been more regulated the past years than when I was there.  Part of me opposes the change because of nostalgia--August = 2-a-days.  Limiting injury is a good thing, but IMHO, that should be on the coach, not the NCAA.  Of course, with the lawsuit(s) the NCAA is facing, I'm sure they want to be very proactive.

In summary, the game is changing.  We no longer have leather helmets.  I guess I'll just roll with the punches.  Plus, I can tell my kids stories about when we practiced 2x per day.  "Your dad was so tough!" 

[retagent]

So reasonable?  That sucks.  We need some controversy to stimulate a spicy discussion.

After Sean 'Spicy' Spicer tried to justify the attack on Syria by saying that even Hitler never gassed his own people , there has been plenty of spicy discussion!

Oh, that's not the sort of spicy discussion you meant?

To be accurate, (Isn't that important?) Spicer said he never dropped (or maybe he said used - I'm too lazy to look that up) "chemical weapons" on his own people. Do you really think he doesn't know about the gas chambers? Really?  As dumb as it was to utter that statement, I don't think he deserves the cascade of  crap he got. It actually led all three network's news.

[OzJohnnie]

[BDB]

R.I.P  MIAC Post Patterns. Political discussion will kill this and every other board on this site. There are many websites to argue political points. This isn't one of them.

[jknezek]

R.I.P  MIAC Post Patterns. Political discussion will kill this and every other board on this site. There are many websites to argue political points. This isn't one of them.

Good point. I have removed my post and apologize. My bad.

[badgerwarhawk]

I've removed mine as well and I apologize for posting it.  The rationalization that prompted it is absurd and it got the better of me.  Responding was a not well thought out impulse.  Next time I will try to engage my brain before I engage my fingers.

[emma17]

Of course, at SJU, we never wore more than helmets & shoulder pads, and contact was limited.  I know 2-a-days have been more regulated the past years than when I was there.  Part of me opposes the change because of nostalgia--August = 2-a-days.  Limiting injury is a good thing, but IMHO, that should be on the coach, not the NCAA.  Of course, with the lawsuit(s) the NCAA is facing, I'm sure they want to be very proactive.

In summary, the game is changing.  We no longer have leather helmets.  I guess I'll just roll with the punches.  Plus, I can tell my kids stories about when we practiced 2x per day.  "Your dad was so tough!" 

Duff,
I really like your post here.
There is so much nostalgia associated with two-a-days.  Rightly or wrongly, I often credit "perseverance accomplishments" I have today to the perseverance learned from doubles (and for some, triples) from high school and college.   
That said, I'm a big fan of the changes being made in technique through the Heads Up program.  Although I appreciate the Big Hit in a squared up situation, I'm heavily in favor of doing away with the de-cleaters from blind-side hits, which were a big part of the game in the past.
So I'm with you, I'll roll with the changes and continue to appreciate the strategy and beauty of 11 individuals synchronizing to execute specifically designed plays. 
It's still a great game IMO.
   

[HansenRatings]

Of course, at SJU, we never wore more than helmets & shoulder pads, and contact was limited.  I know 2-a-days have been more regulated the past years than when I was there.  Part of me opposes the change because of nostalgia--August = 2-a-days.  Limiting injury is a good thing, but IMHO, that should be on the coach, not the NCAA.  Of course, with the lawsuit(s) the NCAA is facing, I'm sure they want to be very proactive.

In summary, the game is changing.  We no longer have leather helmets.  I guess I'll just roll with the punches.  Plus, I can tell my kids stories about when we practiced 2x per day.  "Your dad was so tough!" 

Duff,
I really like your post here.
There is so much nostalgia associated with two-a-days.  Rightly or wrongly, I often credit "perseverance accomplishments" I have today to the perseverance learned from doubles (and for some, triples) from high school and college.   
That said, I'm a big fan of the changes being made in technique through the Heads Up program.  Although I appreciate the Big Hit in a squared up situation, I'm heavily in favor of doing away with the de-cleaters from blind-side hits, which were a big part of the game in the past.
So I'm with you, I'll roll with the changes and continue to appreciate the strategy and beauty of 11 individuals synchronizing to execute specifically designed plays. 
It's still a great game IMO.
   

Something my college coaches and guys I coached with harped on with practices and drills was "quality over quantity." Doing away with (full-contact) two-a-days is a logical extension of that line of thinking. If your legs are jelly and you're mentally exhausted the second practice of the day, you're not getting quality reps.

[OzJohnnie]

Of course, at SJU, we never wore more than helmets & shoulder pads, and contact was limited.  I know 2-a-days have been more regulated the past years than when I was there.  Part of me opposes the change because of nostalgia--August = 2-a-days.  Limiting injury is a good thing, but IMHO, that should be on the coach, not the NCAA.  Of course, with the lawsuit(s) the NCAA is facing, I'm sure they want to be very proactive.

In summary, the game is changing.  We no longer have leather helmets.  I guess I'll just roll with the punches.  Plus, I can tell my kids stories about when we practiced 2x per day.  "Your dad was so tough!" 

You're smart twice over, duff.  ("Of course," he says.  "Um... How?")  Well, let me tell you.  First, I agree that good practices can be had without contact.  I also think this isn't a decision the NCAA should have to make.  Next thing you know this will be required reading for every coach: https://sites.google.com/site/coachjohngagliardi/home/list-of-no-s

[Boys of Fall]

This is going to sound like a pro-Johnnie post, and I guess it is, but the direction the game of football is going shows how far ahead of the curve Gagliardi was.  While most other coaches were concentrating on the physical part of the game, Gagliardi was focusing on the mental part of the game.  His teams traditionally had fewer injuries because of their practice techniques, and many times made fewer mistakes in games and had fewer penalties because that is what they worked on in practice.  Athleticism plays a (big) part of the game, but more times than not if you can teach a player to be in the right place at the right time he will make the play.  It isn't always a brute force game.  If football does survive, I suspect Gagliardi will get even more recognition for his practice philosophies as the game moves in that direction.  Getting all eleven players to think and work together leads to success.

[sfury]

This is going to sound like a pro-Johnnie post, and I guess it is, but the direction the game of football is going shows how far ahead of the curve Gagliardi was.  While most other coaches were concentrating on the physical part of the game, Gagliardi was focusing on the mental part of the game.  His teams traditionally had fewer injuries because of their practice techniques, and many times made fewer mistakes in games and had fewer penalties because that is what they worked on in practice.  Athleticism plays a (big) part of the game, but more times than not if you can teach a player to be in the right place at the right time he will make the play.  It isn't always a brute force game.  If football does survive, I suspect Gagliardi will get even more recognition for his practice philosophies as the game moves in that direction.  Getting all eleven players to think and work together leads to success.

As a homer myself, I of course agree with this, but I think this is already happening. Last year the Ivy League voted conference-wide to ban tackling in practice (which of course gave me an excuse to write a feature on John).

But speaking of how the game has changed, here's a story from 1953 when college football eliminated the two-platoon system.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9120940/gagliardi_platoon/

It was supposed to help smaller schools with smaller rosters. But it was also put in to ENCOURAGE two-way players. Player safety...ehh...not so much of a concern back then! Of course my favorite part of it is that of all the famous coaches quoted -- Stagg, Wilkinson -- John Gagliardi of Carroll says it doesn't really matter because if you're going to win, you'll win with two-platoon or one.

[OldAuggie]

Two a days were brutal in my day. Late 70's early to mid 80's. One water break per practice and hitting was a big part of practice. With all teams converting to the new type of practice schedule we are just seeing the evolution of football. We survived, like many on this board, and it probably did make us tougher. But really, it was dreadful. In my Auggie days, as a senior, we had lower numbers than they do now so as the injuries piled up, the coaches backed off on hitting in practice and basically took a page from the SJU playbook. Of course this did not change our athletic ability so really, we were the same team but not as banged up and we still had a tough time with the big programs at SJU and UST. When I think about those days, Gagliardi seemed to be "stingy" with his healthy guys, not wanting to waste them on injuries in practice. Ahead of his time for sure, but I don't see it as anything more than a very rich man who pinches his pennies. Maybe that is the point.

[OzJohnnie]

I have to say, I thought the 2-a-day rule change would stir up more of a hornets' nest.  If it were unimportant, I thought, then people would have stopped doing it on their own long ago. They were just sitting around waiting for the NCAA to say it's ok?  Pretty lame.

[badgerwarhawk]

Perhaps if it had eliminated all two a day practices there would have been more of a reaction. 

[emma17]

I understand your point Oz- I think part of the answer is that many programs have already implemented non-contact practices in one or both sessions of doubles. I'm assuming BW is accurate in that doubles are still allowed, just not contact in both sessions.
If doubles are not allowed at all, I would strongly disagree with that ruling.