Football's West Coast Offense

Rating:
Summary: It got me to the state playoffs
Review: As a head football coach for a high school in Louisiana, I highly recommend this book to others in the same profession. The biggest asset of the West Coast Offense in High School football is one is not required to have a "Steve Young, Brett Farve, Peyton Manning type of quaterback to run the offense.

The basic quarterback fundamentals can be taught to any quarterback at any level with the proper coaching and insight. The quick release is a God given talent that a young quarterback must be born with and cannot be taught, but the training of the quarterback, in regards to his ability to properly and accurately read a defense, his throwing accuracy and power can all be taught to him, and this wonderful book supplies one with the corner stone for the teaching and training of young quarterbacks in these all to important fundamentals. Receivers need not be the fleet of foot and agile receivers in which we are blessed with seeing on any given saturday or sunday afternoon. A receiver, properly taught and drilled in the fundamentals of catching the ball and drilled heavily in route selection ( primary, secondary and and alternate routes) is the perfect compliment to the quarterback being brought up in the West Coast system.

The very nature of high school football, especially in the lower classifications, dictates that one needs to run the old reliable 5-2 or 5-3 defensive packages. A properly executed West Coast game plan enables a coach to literally take apart and break down the "old school" defense. I have seen time and time again the 5-2 and 5-3 as well as 4-3 defensive fronts crumble under our West Coast attack. The West Coast structure gives us the advantage, by allowing us to release 5 receivers out on routes and stretch the defense on a 3 axis plane; horizontally, vertically and a third axis ,which we developed, diagonally. By careful study of this book, I was able to draw up numerous plays, which allow our constant release of no less than 5 receivers, in pass plays to stretch the defense on both the horizontal and vertical axis simultaneously, thus causing a diagonal stretch to one side of the field.

I have made several purchases of this book and have made it required summer reading for my players and coaches. It serves as a reference and a useful guide to understanding my "constant attack" philosophy. Though, this book contains no running plays, the pass plays in the book (which I use only as a basis for desigining our plays)and our own devised pass plays can be tweaked to allow me to include many run oriented plays in our play book. Also, by making adjustments to the receiver's routes and blocking patterns I can further develop the all important and potent play action pass part of the game.

This book is technically written, and the arm-chair quaterback may at times find himself scratching his head in confusion, however; I do recommend this book to any coach who is wanting to break out of the old run of the mill "block the man in front of you" type of game strategy. This book provides powerful insight to the single most devestating offense ever devised and a look into the wonderfully creative minds of LaVell Edwards, Mel Olsen , Frank Henderson, Bill Walsh Mike Holgren and other offensive geniuses that have taken football to the next level.

If one desires a brilliant insight to the defensive side of football, must reads include; "Coaching Football's 46 offense" by Rex Ryan and Jeff Walker and "Complete Linebacking" by Lou Tepper. Again two wonderfully but very technically written books by the best in their respective fields. These two books serve as the corner stone of my "constant attack" defensive philosophy.

Last but not least, I HIGHHHHHHLLLLLYYYYY recommend this book as a must read for any sports writer who feels it necessary to blast, ummmm excuse me, question the coaches in their columns the following day. (come on guys give us a break)

Rating:
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY !!!
Review: I have been a FOOTBALL COACH for over a decade. And I have never purchased a book that has not help me until now. If you are looking for the old JOE MONTANA SAN FRANCISCO 49"ER'S OFFENSE THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU. If you are new to coaching and you want to buy a book that will help you, THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU. THIS BOOK WAS NOT WRITTEN BY AN N.F.L. OFFENSE COACH OR HEAD COACH. THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN BY TWO COLLEGE COACHES WHO HAVE A FRIEND THAT COACHES OFFENSE IN THE N.F.L. (NO COACHING SECRETS HERE).

Rating:
Summary: Good info.
Review: In terms of best book, this is not. But it is a must read. The small chapter on how his protection works is different from Ron Jenkins The multiple West Coast Offense.(Which is a better book). But this book will increase your knowledge about the west coast offense, you can implement the offense with this book, so it's not a bad book.

Rating:
Summary: Football's West Coast Offense
Review: This book is a must read for anyone interested in learning about the West Coast offense. It goes over every essential part of this difficult-to-learn offense and gives helpful insight into the strategy. As a quarterback, it helped me a great deal in understanding the offense and my role in it. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is serious about football and learning this offense.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, but...
Review: Warning to HS coaches...

The West Coast Offense, like any other offense, requires a certain type of athlete at certain positions. Just as the wishbone quickly degenerates without a power fullback to draw 4 - 5 defenders at the point of attack (Bear Bryant's recommendation, not mine!), the WCO requires a QB who is accurate within a given range (in the HS environment, 30 - 50 yards accurately and consistently) and mobile, receivers who have the native speed to force DBs into a 10 - 15 yard cushion and are capable of executing the occasional deep route. You run the WCO at your own risk if you lack those athletes, with predictable results.

Defensive coaches run 6 - 7 man blitzes, DBs congregate in the short zones (since they conveniently aren't forced to worry about the bomb), and unless your QB is exceptionally mobile (think young Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, etc.), you can count on him taking a pounding w/multiple interceptions, rushed throws, and sacks. Furthermore, most HS QBs lack the experience and maturity to avoid locking onto primary targets, which means that if the DBs hang in the short zones, you'll increase the opportunity for blitzing lineman/linebackers to take out the QB w/delayed throws.

Offensive lineman generally have an easier time in the WCO, since they are not forced to try to move defensive lineman/linebackers through drive blocking, but instead become amateur sumo wrestlers (another warning: Pro and College lineman routinely get away with blatant holds that will result in penalties at the HS level, so if you are counting on using WCO blocking techniques like the pros, think again).

The primary attraction of the WCO at the HS level is that many districts are composed of teams running offenses from the 1970s (the wishbone being the main example), and you may find success simply because your opponents aren't preparing to defend against a WCO every week.