11-man to 6-man

[coachbronk]

I have a couple questions:

1). Wondering how many coaches we have on here who have moved from 11-man to 6-man?
2). How has the transition going and do you miss coaching 11-man?
3). Have you tried to merge concepts or are you all in?

I was thinking back to my 1st year of coaching six-man back in 2006. I was coming from a head coaching position in college to the six-man game. I think it took me almost 2 months to adjust but maybe 3 years for me to get over my stubbornness of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and go all in.

Curious to hear from others who are making that transition themselves.

 

[Jones26]

I have a couple questions:

1). Wondering how many coaches we have on here who have moved from 11-man to 6-man?
2). How has the transition going and do you miss coaching 11-man?
3). Have you tried to merge concepts or are you all in?

I was thinking back to my 1st year of coaching six-man back in 2006. I was coming from a head coaching position in college to the six-man game. I think it took me almost 2 months to adjust but maybe 3 years for me to get over my stubbornness of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and go all in.

Curious to hear from others who are making that transition themselves.

1) I did

2) Transition was very tough...for coaches and kids. None of us had any experience in 6man, but I had a few really good friends that I went and talked to (Toby Goodwin, Vance Jones, and Shannon Williams...can't express enough how thankful I am for their help). It was tough on kids for the simple reason of "starting all over". We were at a school with not a lot of success, but we had two pretty decent years in 11man leading into that first year. I think our kids expected to be a lot better than we were, but it took a lot of adjusting to this game, especially on the defensive side. I do not miss coaching 11man at all. I like watching it, and talking about it with friends, but I'm loving the sixman game...and so is my family.

3) My first year, I tried to merge some of our 11man stuff (we were a spread/TFS/Air Raid team), but we couldn't get very good at it. We relied a lot on screens in 11man, and we couldn't get a sixman version of them down (although, now I have seen and worked on a few that would have helped). So, we pretty much scrapped the spread, and went tight (Vance Jones and Shannon Williams type stuff in unbalanced...Toby helped me with some balanced shotgun T stuff that we had success with) and we were a much more successful team which built confidence. Defense has been the toughest thing to adapt to for the players. The third year saw the most strides in getting better, and they are still improving (I am now gone....that probably helped also).

 

[coachsatcher]

I did, and when I came to 6-man, I didn't know anyone to lean on for help. I was stuck trying to learn everything from film. I had an assistant coach who was a wonderful man, but our philosophies were very different on the offensive side of the ball. I honestly don't miss 11-man at all. I fell in love with this craziness from the get go. It's not easy to break in to the 6-man fraternity, and get some people to forget my 11-man past; but slowly but surely the walls come down. I definitely merged the 11-man offense we were running at Hempstead. Same route-combinations, and same running sequences. Now, I have learned a ton this year from Coach Hinkson about defense and the JBird; so hopefully I'm becoming a more versatile coach, who will one day more than just a one-trick pony. LOL

 

[reddogblitz]

Great, question and answer's also thanks for your candor coach many coaches don't want to talk about having to re-learn how to coach the game again, I have coached professionally arena 8 man football coach is correct you can bring 11 man concepts over but they have to be adjusted.
Also certain types of players fit the sixman game better than 11 man, a quick player can thrive in 6 man while being mediocre in 11 man, its a different kind of game no 11 man coach can make the transition without changing if his ego is big he will be humbled pretty quick in sixman, as he discover he has something's to learn about a game many misunderstand until they get between the lines and get a lesson of which they assumed they already had answers .....

 

[coachbronk]

Some great responses so far. I appreciate all of yalls thoughts.

I guess one of the biggest adjustments I'm now having to make is getting into the six-man coaching inner circle after being out of six-man the last 4 years. I have been blessed to have forged relationships with Coach Satcher, Coach Fudge, Coach Avants, Coach Williamson and Coach Burkhart over the last year. The next step for me is to start attending six-man coaching clinics more and 11-man clinics less. I need to do a better job of getting involved in out Coaches Association, etc.

 

[jnewt208]

I'm writing this from an assistant coaches viewpoint, but I saw this posting and thought I would chime in. I came into 6-man football from 11-man in 2013. I have been with our head coach since I came into coaching in 2004. Our first season to play 6-man football at the Varsity level was in 2013. Our head coach had coached the jr. high team the season before, so we had an idea of what we might see, but we were still flying blind for the most part. Speaking for myself here, I think the biggest adjustment/learning curve we had to make as a staff was how to manage practices, and on the defensive side of the ball. Being at a private school we've been very limited on numbers, so being able to line up and scrimmage in practice was problematic at best. Now that we are a few years in, we have found an identity defensively, but it was a struggle at first. Offensively was the easiest transition for us. We run the same style offense we ran at the 11-man level. Same terminology, route combinations, running game, etc, just modified to be run with 6 players. We had to tinker with blocking assignments, and timing to make some aspects of our offense work, but that was definitely the smoothest transition we had.

I was very hesitant going into our first season, but I have fallen in love with the 6-man game. I coach part time, and even when I was a full time coach it was at the private school level. I decided long ago that I wanted to stay in private schools instead of coaching at a public school. But now that I love the 6-man game I might be open to coaching at a public school one day. I have started trying to convince my wife that a move from our glorious urban paradise to a dot on the map 6-man town might be a good move. Not so sure how she truly feels about that though! Over the past few years I have met a lot of 6-man coaches and it's a great fraternity to be in. I enjoy spreading the word about our game to anyone who will listen.

 

[coachbronk]

I'm writing this from an assistant coaches viewpoint, but I saw this posting and thought I would chime in. I came into 6-man football from 11-man in 2013. I have been with our head coach since I came into coaching in 2004. Our first season to play 6-man football at the Varsity level was in 2013. Our head coach had coached the jr. high team the season before, so we had an idea of what we might see, but we were still flying blind for the most part. Speaking for myself here, I think the biggest adjustment/learning curve we had to make as a staff was how to manage practices, and on the defensive side of the ball. Being at a private school we've been very limited on numbers, so being able to line up and scrimmage in practice was problematic at best. Now that we are a few years in, we have found an identity defensively, but it was a struggle at first. Offensively was the easiest transition for us. We run the same style offense we ran at the 11-man level. Same terminology, route combinations, running game, etc, just modified to be run with 6 players. We had to tinker with blocking assignments, and timing to make some aspects of our offense work, but that was definitely the smoothest transition we had.

I was very hesitant going into our first season, but I have fallen in love with the 6-man game. I coach part time, and even when I was a full time coach it was at the private school level. I decided long ago that I wanted to stay in private schools instead of coaching at a public school. But now that I love the 6-man game I might be open to coaching at a public school one day. I have started trying to convince my wife that a move from our glorious urban paradise to a dot on the map 6-man town might be a good move. Not so sure how she truly feels about that though! Over the past few years I have met a lot of 6-man coaches and it's a great fraternity to be in. I enjoy spreading the word about our game to anyone who will listen.

Great post Coach, appreciate you sharing. I sent you a DM.

 

[coachsatcher]

Almost forgot, and can't believe I didn't mention it before. The most fun transistion was due to the lower numbers in 6-man practices, I had to become a, dare I say, formidible scout QB. Sometimes, a scout defensive lineman. That part made it so much fun.

 

[Texman301]

I coached 11 man for 8 years before getting into 6man. I love it, and as far as going back, I never want to. I will probably never get to the level of the coaches listed above but I love what I do, I love sixman football and I will retire only coaching sixman if I have anything to say about it.

 

[Jacket15]

I was an 11 man Head coach for 16 years . I oversaw the transition to 6 man of an 11 man school through the Jh for two years
I did not want to coach 6 man in 1990 due to my youthful perception of 11 vs 6 man Head Coaching jobs
I went out of State for 10 yrs and got a Hd job because my resume said "Texas High School Football" on it.
I came back to Texas after ten years. Coached for eight, went into administration for two years. A friend invited me to come and coach a dwindling 6 man program. I agreed and never enjoyed anything more in my life.
The biggest adjustment I had was my 11 man bias I grew up with. The game is virtually the same, blocking, tackling, passing, running ect.
My biggest problem is putting too many player on defense in my scouting reports.
I will retire proudly as a Sixmania Football Coach

 

[SiXmAnMaDnEsS]

I have an extremely limited view here so please bare with me while I voice an opinion that may seem uneducated and biased.
I came from an eleven man school playing football and was doing fairly well. It wasn't a small school either. I played MLB and was in no way a "great" eleven man player but I did have some success. My father moved me to a six man school when I was sixteen and I had a large struggle with it at first. All of the basics transitioned well but the game play was completely foreign to me. In my day crowded field ball was all run and most six man programs were as well, but it was still a hard transition. Down the road I coached sixman (two years only) and enjoyed it very much. The only thing I integrated from an eleven man background were the basics, tackling, blocking, catching, etc.
I had a less than desired pool of athletes so I had to get crafty with some of my trick plays.
I now have little desire to even watch eleven man. I love the six man game and where it is headed. In my opinion, the playing level is constantly increasing in competitiveness due to coaches who grew up playing 6 man and the up tempo of the spread schemes.

coack bronk, how did you enjoy your college coaching experience? Was it a big college?

 

[coachbronk]

I have an extremely limited view here so please bare with me while I voice an opinion that may seem uneducated and biased.
I came from an eleven man school playing football and was doing fairly well. It wasn't a small school either. I played MLB and was in no way a "great" eleven man player but I did have some success. My father moved me to a six man school when I was sixteen and I had a large struggle with it at first. All of the basics transitioned well but the game play was completely foreign to me. In my day crowded field ball was all run and most six man programs were as well, but it was still a hard transition. Down the road I coached sixman (two years only) and enjoyed it very much. The only thing I integrated from an eleven man background were the basics, tackling, blocking, catching, etc.
I had a less than desired pool of athletes so I had to get crafty with some of my trick plays.
I now have little desire to even watch eleven man. I love the six man game and where it is headed. In my opinion, the playing level is constantly increasing in competitiveness due to coaches who grew up playing 6 man and the up tempo of the spread schemes.

coack bronk, how did you enjoy your college coaching experience? Was it a big college?

Great thoughts and observations.

I really enjoyed my college coaching experience a lot and miss it to this day but I made a conscience decision to choose my family over my college coaching career. My son and daughter were very young and the amount of time I spent on the road recruiting, etc was just too much for them. It wasn't a big school, but it was an incredible experience nonetheless.

 

[dogs2001]

Just to add on what others have said here...but two key points.

#1-Some of the best coaches in Texas coach Six Man ball. Don't assume because the population is low, that their knowledge is low. You will be humbled quickly.
#2-You better teach kids to tackle or those suckers are going to score every time.