As a life long Cincinnati Bengals fan, I have listened to Marvin Lewis speak several times in clinics and other coaching conventions. He has a sound concept of defense, and what it takes to be successful at the highest level. I also appreciate what he has done for the team I root for, as we were mired in a decade long of embarrassing seasons before his arrival. He has brought stability, consistency, and pride back to our franchise.
I have coached at both the high school and middle school level, and have spent time as the offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinator at the high school level at some point in my career. I stepped away from coaching three years ago to spend more time with my family. I have two children, Mackenzie is 7 and Andrew is 5. The time it takes to be a successful coach even at the high school level was just far too much for me and my family. This past season I decided to get back into coaching, and I took over the middle school program in the district I teach. I had a great time getting back into it, but didn't have to spend my summer coaching football, or 100+ hours a week breaking down film, preparing offensive scripts, evaluating our players, attending booster and coaches meeting, as well as practicing and games. It was just enough for me to get my competitive fix, but not so much that I felt like it was taking me away from my family.
While watching the video Winning with the Three T''s (Tackling, Third-Downs, and Takeaways),I felt by far the most important “T” is tackling. As a middle school coach, I can't stress how important tackling is for the kids at our level. This is probably be the single most important skill skill in Jr High football. With a great tackling team, opposing offenses will struggle to run the ball, and with limited passing and pass blocking ability of most middle school teams, their offense could really