Dan Casey and Seth Howard have done an impressive job connecting with some of the top offensive coordinators in college football this off season with the Left Hash Call podcast.
One of their latest sit downs was with first-year Penn State offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser, who left a job at Little Ceasars 14 years ago when Matt Campbell was the only coach to offer him an opportunity to coach at the college level at Toledo, and Mouser has been at Campbell's side each year since and has taken the reigns of the offense the last several years after Nate Scheelhaase and Tom Manning left the Cyclones staff for opportunities in the NFL.
Both now hold roles with proud NFL franchises, Manning with the Colts and Scheelhaase is stepping into his first season as the Rams offensive coordinator under renowned offensive mind Sean McVay.
There are a number of awesome nuggets to come out of the interview, but as coaches fine tune their systems for the fall over the next several months, it was Mouser's answer to a question about their game planning process that really caught my attention.
Below, Mouser takes you through the timeline of their game planning process, and how they delegate responsibilities, and then I share how that can be creatively adjusted to coaches at the high school level who don't have the same resources as Mouser has at his disposal.
"Yeah. So, Saturday postgame, depending on when it is, like I'll watch the game either on the bus or while traffic's clearing out and just kind of get like a rough idea of like what it looked like from our standpoint. And then I'll go home and I like to watch like some Seinfeld episodes and just kind of like get my mind back level where I'm not wearing the win or wearing the loss too much the next day. Uh, so stay up, watch some Seinfeld, watch some Curb. I'm a big Larry David guy. I love I love him and then Sunday be able to come back watch it one more time and then we meet with all of our guys with coach Campbell."
"Then we we grade everybody. So who grade it out? What's it look like? Watch the game again as a staff and talk through the corrections. Campbell will come in with his cut up and you know why' this happen? Should we call it something different? What was the thought here? D. So have your grades, have your answers ready to talk to him.
"Then, once he leaves, we had a guy named Coach Steeples who's at Wisconsin now. He was a QC for us the last two years, which was having a defensive guy on your offensive staff. I can't recommend that enough. He did a great job of presenting the DNA to us. This is what we're going to see. This is the wrinkle. I think they would present to us with our personnel grouping. This is who they're trying to protect."
Circling back to the idea of players, formations, plays, that they had talked about earlier in the podcast, Mouser goes on to share how that's a great start on the game planning process, but adds how there are additional layers to that approach.
"I think like players formations plays is great because that starts with you, but every defense has a guy that they're worried about also. So, how can we play in our strength to go against their weakness and things like that? And Steeeps did great job for me the last two years. So he would present the DNA to us, to our whole offensive staff, kind of get a baseline plan of attack."
"We watch the last game together and then we split up and then it's all deviated with assignments, like our running back coach and offensive line coach go off and do 11 personnel 12 personnel game plan. We have a Google doc that we all type you know stuff into as we're going and then those guys will present the run game on Monday. our wide receiver coach. So, [former receivers coach Noah] Paulie and [quarterbacks coach Jake] Waters would have presented the pass game on Monday after the run game. Then we're building the the first and second down menu, which is pretty extensive. Then that night, Coach Campbell takes the run game guys, O-line coach, the guy that helps me coach the tight end, Sam Buckner, and they go kind of fine-tune the run game in Coach Campbell's office."
"They kind of break down the run game and try to get it down to where it's like our head coach obsessed with run plays. We have way too many on the call sheet, but they do a good job of of trying to get that thing down and then they're highlighting stuff that they know they love and we're putting it on the script for tomorrow. So, we'll card, you know, the whole practice while they're finalizing the run game. And then once we get done with that, we'll get a little bit of some situational third down stuff going between myself, our quarterback coach, receiver coach, and the other guys once practice is all done cuz we're a morning practice team."
Mouser shares that Monday is all their base downs (1st and 2nd downs), then Tuesday is filled with situational stuff, and the same goes for Wednesday. Tuesday is their late night in the office, and they get out a little earlier on Wednesday's, with Thursday's as the night they get home to their families early.
"We've went back and forth between the no sweat Thursday thing and the fast Friday thing. Thursday is like a good go for us and then Friday is like true walk through which we have like 'call it walkthroughs' with coach Clinton playing linebacker and defense and we move the ball around and get some situational stuff and then we take off."
"We do a good job of I think of just delegating it all and giving responsibilities to our guys and having coaches on your staff that you trust. I really want it to be very much like a a cumulative go at it, everyone together."
During the games on Saturday's, when the bullets are firing, a lot of coaches refuse to get bogged down with suggestions from others (and for good reason because a lot of guys don't understand when to chime in with that), but Mouser shares that he's open to anything that helps them be at the their best and encourages guys to speak up (when the time is right).
"I want I don't care if you're the GA or whoever it is. Like if you got something that'll help us, let me know or say it out loud. Doesn't mean that we're going to do it or not, but I don't want to get to Sunday and there's a coach that's like we should have done this or that. I'd rather everyone be on the same page and then we run it or don't run it and there's no egos and no entitlements on the staff and we could all be on the same page and win together, lose together and be able to to go through it. But I think when you do it that way, it helps everybody have equity in the game. It helps everybody feel like their voice matters.
"That's a big deal to me."
While you may read / hear some of that and naturally come to the conclusion of, "Must be nice to have FBS resources for a staff to tackle that," there's takeaways from Mouser and Campbell's game planning approach that could be easily adapted to the high school level.
Here are a few quick ideas:
WEEKLY STRUCTURE
If you've fallen into the trap of simply running plays during the week and not preparing for situations, Mouser lays out a template that can be adjusted for the high school level.
SUNDAY: Everyone should have graded the film. Go over grades and who played well, and who didn't. Staff meeting to review cut up of mistakes. Watch it together as a staff. Meet with the head coach to discuss thought process during the game's most critical situations and calls. What went well? What went wrong? What would you have called if given another opportunity?
MONDAY: Plan for base downs.
TUESDAY: 3rd down situations (3rd and medium, 3rd and short, Gotta Have It)
WEDNESDAY: Off schedule situations (2nd and long, 3rd and long, Red Zone)
THURSDAY: Choice of "Call It Walk Through" or "No Sweat Thursday"
GAME PLANNING
If you're able to, split up game planning in one of a few ways amongst your staff.
By Formation: Each coach becomes an expert on one formation. They own the defensive alignment, tendencies, coverages, situations. Great if you've got an experienced staff>
Run / Pass: Run game plan headed by the OL and RBs coach, and pass game plan owned by the WRs and QBs coach.
By Situation: Each coach is assigned a few situations. OC / QBs handles base downs with help of another position coach you want to groom for a future coordinator opportunity. OL coach owns 3rd and short, and 3rd and medium pass, Red Zone / Goal line runs. WRs coach handles off schedule 2nd and long and 3rd and medium pass and 3rd and long along with favorite Red Zone pass concepts. RBs takes 3rd medium run and assists with OL coach run assignments.
QUALITY CONTROL
Few coaches reading this are going to have the budget for a quality control role, so here's a creative answer to that. Chances are you know of a head coach or coordinator in your area. Maybe it's someone you coached against and admire, or perhaps it is someone in another state just taking a break from the sidelines. A lot of these guys want to still be involved without the daily practice commitment, so connect with them and just ask them to share their thoughts on the next week's opponent and get them on your Hudl account and provide a Google Sheet with some prompts on things you are looking for. This allows for some early scouting to get done while you and your staff stay focused on the week's opponent, and also gives you the added valuable perspective of some fresh eyes. All you're really looking for is an overview of the opponent and their DNA on O/D/ST, things you have to stop, players you have to be aware of, alerts for trick plays / formations, etc. You'll be suprised the value both sides can get out of it.
On a much different note, Mouser talked about making pizza at Little Ceasars for a while before landing his break in coaching early on in the interview with coach Casey and Seth Howard, and referenced refreshing The Scoop every 30 seconds, and sending emails to colleges who had posted opportunities on FootballScoop before Matt Campbell became the only coach to reach out to him with an opportunity well over a decade ago. Catch that part of his journey here.