Losing

1 Coach;

First off, I'm curious about where your information comes from. Despite the numerous books I have read and coaches worldwide that I have interviewed, I have yet to find even one that can unequivicably state that he can stop the Double Wing offense, first time, every time. In fact, most of the coaches I've met haven't the slightest idea how to defeat the DWing, and hope furvently that their opposing coaches never figure that out.

Second, the average life expectancy of a football offense is about fifteen years. That's about how long it takes for the offense to spread across the US, and for the collective brains of defensive coordinators across the nation to figure out how to stop it. Since the Dwing didn't really approach prominence until 1994-1996, we have a number of years left if it follows the traditional cycle (Some offenses don't. Look how long the Wing-T has been winning games.) Not only that, but the offense isn't even done spreading across the nation. I just observed at a high school practice where not one of the five coaches of a high school team had even HEARD of the DWing. I had to explain it to them. (And on an aside note, the OC was intrigued enough to ask for my playbook. Perhaps next year he'll put it in. How novel that a youth coach was able to teach a high school coach something that he didn't know.)

Third, I have never met a coach who, after installing the DWing using Hugh Wyatt's methods, or Don Markham's ideas, has failed to have consistent winning seasons with it. Not one. Consider that I post on several message boards and have my own web site that has generated email conversations with coaches around the WORLD. Not ONE.

Fourth, almost every one of the coaches I've met that made the decision to install the DWing averages drives of five plays or longer, and nearly every one of them manages average scores of 30+ per game. The measure of an offense is how well they manage to move the ball on consecutive downs. Any jackass can score on a long play, but teams that average four or more yards every time they snap the ball demonstrate clear, effective, and good coaching. More DWing and Wing-T teams seem to be able to pull this off than any other.

Fifth; Jack Reed told me once that one of the teams in his league ran the Wishbone, and they didn't lose so much as one game for five years. What evidence do you have to support the assertation that the offense is obsolete? Some people probably think the Single Wing is also obsolete, since it was developed in the early days of football, but I can find at least three high schools, and probably fifty youth teams that run it, and win with it. If the offense suited my personnel, I would definitely consider using the Wishbone, but I don't know enough about teaching the option to use it effectively, so further study is definitely required on my part. I certainly am not foolish or vain enough to think it's day is over before I do that research, however.

Lastly, I have never seen you post on this board before, and judging from the way in which you attempted to make your point, with no supporting evidence or statements, and your rather inelegant and arrogant nickname, I would doubt very strongly that you even are a coach. If you are, then I doubt you have ever faced the double wing, or run it yourself.

So why did I waste the time writing this response? Because there are new coaches hitting this board all the time. They deserve the most accurate information we can give them, and the most help we can offer them to make their teams successful. Inaccurate and ignorant statements such as yours may potentially turn a rookie coach off from an offense or defense that could have saved his season. I would hope that they wouldn't make a value judgement based on one gramatically incorrect and badly spelled sentence, but they might, especially if they're new here and aren't familiar with the normal quality of coaching and writing in this forum.

~D.