Inside Football: Plays and How to Make Them
By Coach Frank W. Cavanaugh
Coach Frank W. Cavanaugh
Francis William Cavanaugh was an American football coach of the old school. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 28th, 1876, to Patrick Cavanaugh and Ann O’Brien Cavanaugh, both Irish immigrants. A star football player in high school, Cavanaugh later attended Dartmouth where he continued to excel at the game. In 1898 Cavanaugh left Dartmouth to accept a job at the University of Cincinnati, the first in a series of increasingly successful coaching positions he would hold until his untimely death in 1933.
Cavanaugh’s life and career were depicted in the 1943 Hollywood film, “The Iron Major,” starring the popular 20th century Irish-American actor Pat O’Brien in the title role. Coach Frank W. Cavanaugh was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.
Plays and How to Make Them
A coach will shift his offense from year to year, although his basic system may remain the same. He adapts his changes to his material, but even if he have a veteran team it is well to make alterations. New plays and formations renew the enthusiasm of blasé seniors, as well as increase the labors of rival scouts, thoroughly familiar with the strategy and tactics hitherto employed.
But whatever changes in his style of attack a coach may find it necessary or advisable to order, the offense that scores is the offense which, whether familiar to the opponents or not, has unanimity of start, fundamentals carefully worked out and a strong punch. There is no great mystery about plays, or the making of plays.
A brother coach or a schoolboy captain writes and asks for a play. You cannot respond intelligently unless you know at least the basic formations which his team is using. There are certain individual, specific plays, good for one try or perhaps for two; but the play your correspondent wants is one that can be put on without changing materially his style of offense. The trouble with most offense is that there are insufficient check plays, any kind of play that has a natural tendency to prevent the defensive players from taking chances by early and immediate reinforcement of what appears to them to be a danger spot.
For example, you have a shift formation to the right, with every indication that the attack will be on that side. A strong check play or two will prevent the defensive team from taking advantage of your shift and charging madly into the threatened area.
Most teams have too many offensive formations, with too few plays from each formation. The plays they use are generally the more obvious ones, with insufficient checks and delayed bucks. It is far better to pick out the weakness of a general offense, so that it can be corrected, than to make a picture book of plays which cannot possibly avail unless the coach knows the little niceties of attack and the general idea of proper assignments. Specific plays explained in this book are of little value unless they fit into the general scheme of offense of the team considering them.
Most coaches should be able without difficulty to devise numberless ground-gaining plays. The chief points to remember are these:
Start at center, wherever the hole is to be built; as you need reasonable protection for your quarterback if he is playing under center. Furthermore, this is the place to start in order to make sure that you have overlooked nothing in developing the hole at the desired spot.
Second, give every man a job. There is more to do than you have men to do with.
Third, never send a man around behind his own line merely to give him an assignment. If he cannot be of material assistance there, shoot him through the opposing line to take down secondary defense; doing which he will incidentally interfere with players of that line who are cutting across to stop plays. Or send him to assist the runner should he succeed in breaking through. This assignment, also, will include interference with hostile linemen who are cutting across.
Fourth, figure out carefully the most convenient man who can be spared from the task of opening the hole and send him against the defensive quarter, who is a tower of strength in your opponents’ defense. Sometimes the player so assigned will be a forward, sometimes a backfield man.
Fifth, do not neglect to make the best use of your backfield. Some coaches work plays in which the only backs engaged to bring the attack to the desired point of attack are the quarter to make the pass and a man to carry the ball. They dispose of the two remaining backs without much thought; and this tends to create a certain amount of doubt as to the effectiveness of the play and the efficiency of the coach.
These men may well be used to conceal the attack by making false charges at other points in the line, with the distinct intention, however, of crashing into opposing linemen, both to keep them out of the play and to tire them. Also, the extra backs may be used as fake interferers around the end. To be sure, this hoax is very quickly discernable, but it lays the foundation for a real play from the very same formation, with the quarterback faking the pass and following the other two backs. Do not imagine that you are wasting your backs by sending them on their fake errands. These contradictory moves by backs not directly involved in the attack arouse the deep concern of a first-class football team, and oftentimes very seriously divide the attention of one or more of the best defensive players. Make your backs work all the time. They are strong enough to stand it.
The coach who plots out a play for a team which has a fast start and the necessary punch knows at once, if he knows his opponents’ general style of defense, what men must be removed to make the play go. If they cannot be removed, the plays must be avoided, at least for the time being. Many plays are strong against one team and weak against another, according to the caliber of individual players or the defensive methods encountered. The coach must make up his mind what are likely to be the effective plays for a given day, and advise his quarterbacks accordingly. He will not tie the quarterbacks’ hands by so doing, although he may, for a sufficient reason, the secret of which he need not necessarily share, advise against, or even prohibit, the use of some particular play. In general, his advice to the quarterbacks as to the plays they ought to use constitutes a tip, based on his knowledge of opponents.
The one last touch that gives permanent distinction to a well drilled football team of all-round strength is its possession of an outstanding star player, a giant among strong men. But I would rather have a fine team of well distributed ability than a star surrounded by mediocrities. If the coach does have the dangerous and fascinating custody of a genuine star, the temptation to build an entire system of offense around him becomes almost irresistible. Certainly he should frame his plays to give the star man his best chance. But the coach ought not to sacrifice sound football, as injuries or the faculty may cause the star to set. By using the star player as a threat, ordinary plays can be given additional effectiveness, his own part in them being merely deceptive. But unless these plays are serviceable enough for everyday wear and tear, they cannot be relied upon if for any reason the star is lost to the team. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
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