Day II of the UW Husky Coaching Clinic

Saturday, April 16, 2016:

Day II of the Husky Coaching Clinic started at 9:00 a.m. and it was only a brisk, ten minute walk from Mark Johnson's home on the southern bank of the Montlake Cut to the UW's Alaska Arena (nee Hec Edmundson Pavilion) where the first two sessions were to be held.

The Montlake Cut

Casa Johnson is about even with the second or third watercraft seen this morning as I crossed the Montlake Bridge.

The first order of business upon arriving at the clinic site was coffee, Top Pot donuts and a quick tour of the Husky Sports Hall of Fame.

Those were the days . . .

Loved those facemarks and the distinctive jersey numbers.

 Ode to Coach Jim Owens'

1960, 1961 & 1964 Rose Bowl Teams

Rose Bowl Champs in '60 & '61

Lost to Dick Butkus' Illinois club in '64

1926 UW Football Poster

8 wins - 2 Losses

Instead of playing two Navy Teams on September 25th as advertised, the 1926 Huskies only played the squad from the USS New Mexico winning the sailors 20-0 on that day.

On October 2nd though they DID play two games on the same day in front of 3,316 spectators. The Dawgs beat Willamette 28-0 before beating Puget Sound 33-0.

Men were men in 1926 it would appear.

Al Worley

1968 All-American DB

Al was one of the best, most humble people that I met at the UW during my days on the team.

His 14 interceptions in one season is still the NCAA record even though we only played ten games in those days.

Well Deserved

And completely renovated

again in 2013 

Dave Williams was a

remarkable athlete

A decathlete in track, he was a great WR for the Huskies and the St. Louis Cardinals' #1 Draft Pick in 1967.

 Dr. Joe Kearney

He was the Athletic Director at the UW for many years and just a good hearted man.

Top Pot . . . YUM!!!

I limited myself to only two donuts.

Stunning upset.

During the first hour of Saturday's Clinic, I attended another good lecture/demonstration by Loyola H.S. (Los Angeles) Head Coach Marvin Sanders on "DB Skills and Drills."

This was followed Gonzaga Prep (Spokane) Head Coach Dave McKenna's excellent talk on "Integration of the Entire Program." It was all philosophy but once again, it is more about the Culture than it is the Schemes.

At 11:00 a.m. we headed out through Husky Stadium's famous tunnel and into a two hour Husky practice.

A walk down The Tunnel allows one to relive great moments in Husky Football History such as . . .

 The Dawgs second ever Rose Bowl

Great Win for ALL of

West Coast football

Another Big Win

The first UW Rose Bowl

that we attended

Thanks, off course, to Mark Johnson, Ticket Broker to the Stars!

Husky Stadium sits 70,083 fans

 DL Get-Off

DL Hand-to-Hand Combat

 It really is a BIG stadium

Scrimmage Time

Husky Offense with Head Coach

Chris Petersen

A tough situational scrimmage, First and Ten, coming out from our own one yard line. We got out of the hole with a crisply blocked off-tackle run.

Unlike many college Spring Ball practices, the Huskies allowed coaches to video tape drills. This will be of great help when I start coaching the Wäsby Warriors in Sweden next week.

A sampling of the many videos that I recorded:

Fighting the Cut Block

Getting off a "block"

Double Escape Move

Another Cut Block Move

Pass Rush Hands & Footwork

Keeping the Head OUT of Tackling

Inside-Out Pursuit Footwork

 Fighting Hands

Spin Move

Strip the QB

Lions and Gazelles

Scrimmage

After practice, it was off to the Don James Center high above the field for a delicious BBQ pork lunch.

Back to the clinic for two final sessions

The Day II, after lunch speakers are always facing an uphill battle with tired, well fed coaches who need a nap.

Coach Jason Mohns of Saguaro H.S. in Scottsdale, Arizona did a good job in his presentation about "Single Back Power RPOs."

With all of the negative publicity surrounding American football in recent years, the final talk of the day by Rex Norris of the Atavus Company on "Rugby Tackling." Coach Petersen had mentioned that this was probably the most important issue facing the future of our sport and I have to agree. The Atavus Rugby style tackling system, see the Seattle Seahawks tackling video on YouTube, is what our sport needs.

All in all, it was a great clinic that left me with lots of new ideas for Sweden and the Wäsby Warriors.

Once back to Mark Johnson's home, there was only one thing left to do . . . EAT!

 A Seattle Institution for

all things fishy

The fried clams and french fries were as good as I remembered.

Ivar's had its own Totem Pole

The things you see at Ivar's

I repeat,

the things you see at Ivar's