This was from his interview with Fisch. CCC is certainly an outlier in that he doesn't take advantage of every practice opportunity. Flies in the face of conventional wisdom and is instead has a "more is less" philosophy and has been successful with it...so far. When I played during the Cameron years, the thought of not utilizing every available hour to practice was heresy.
"Never used all 15 spring practices, never used all 25 fall camp practices and never used 20 hours/wk during the season."
- Thread starter nugget_release_lever
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What are your thoughts about the current spring football format that ended with what was essentially a touch football game.
Im for using all the time allowed on a practice field! It’s just what is being taught during the practices! The amount of time spent in pads going full boar vs light pad/no pad work(2-3 a days). How much time do coaches spend working on the upcoming game plan in scrimmages/film room vs heavy workout practices/weightlifting sessions, etc.
The kids class schedules can take a lot of these hours away being that they all can be different. It’s what they are doing between these times, is what IUs issues have been.
How many players spend their off time partying late night at the villas/bars/taco bell…? Instead of studying school and their playbook or watching film. I’m not sure what there is to do at James Madison, but i’m sure there is a lot more outside distractions in Bloomington than at JMU that CCC will have to deal with! I just hope he knows what he is getting himself into!
The kids class schedules can take a lot of these hours away being that they all can be different. It’s what they are doing between these times, is what IUs issues have been.
How many players spend their off time partying late night at the villas/bars/taco bell…? Instead of studying school and their playbook or watching film. I’m not sure what there is to do at James Madison, but i’m sure there is a lot more outside distractions in Bloomington than at JMU that CCC will have to deal with! I just hope he knows what he is getting himself into!
It sounds like coach Cignetti has a plan for what needs to be done at Spring practice and doesn't need more time to get it done. I saw that as when in Ft Wayne I started study table to help players with classwork. Most rode the bus home and it left at 4:45 so I was cutting into practice time. I adjusted by increasing the pace of practice, running drills that combined skills such as running offense fast paced to improve the offense and teach 2 minute offense at the same time plus it improved conditioning.
We will see the results on the field with coach Cignetti so we will find out if his ideas work.
We will see the results on the field with coach Cignetti so we will find out if his ideas work.
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I'm sure Coach C has seen it all in his many years of coaching. He knows.
I played bball, not football...so its definitely not apples to apples. But our college coach always said, "we'll practice as long as it takes to accomplish today what I want to accomplish" As the season wore on, it wasn't uncommon for us to have 30-45 minute practices...where as early on, we'd have 3+ hour marathon practices.
My very strong guess is Coach Cig operates under a similar philosophy. This is what we need to accomplish today, when we've done that, no point dragging it on. Also...I'm sure he sets the expectation ahead of time with the staff and players. "You have 60 minutes in a game to figure it out and make plays. So we don't have "all spring" to figure it out. You need to figure it out and execute now! There is no tomorrow. I'll find people that figure things out now, and don't need tomorrows, if you can't."
Did he ever practice defense?? That's the million dollar question...goodness.
He was at Alabama with Saban so I'm guessing with his success record he has figured some things out. Of course playing a B1G Boy Schedule may adjust his thinking going forward but I feel that he is sharp enough to make adjustments. I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like to have a Coach on the sidelines that can out maneuver the other side.... we are over due.
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James Madison's was one of the leading defenses in the country.
I was a lowly preferred walk-on wide-out and had a collision with a linebacker (Justin Smith) on a slant route during the spring game that resulted in a fractured wrist and concussion that ended my playing days (and a wrist that is still f'd up today). I think the current format is good thing but I'm obviously biased
.The coaches philosophy at the time was "we want to see who can play at full speed, who has mental toughness and lot of you are going to get injured but you'll have time to recover before the season". Every practice was full pads and physical. The team that won the spring game ate a steak dinner and the losing team ate beanie weenies. To encourage us to play through pain, Cameron rewarded those who participated in all 15 practices with a shirt that said "15/15" as a badge of honor. To my surprise, guys would wear those shirts until they had holes in them. He also gave the team pillow cases that had the word "soft" on them as a reminder that when our heads get up off the pillow in the morning, the softness stops.
Classes are scheduled in the AM to avoid conflict with film/practice/study table in the afternoon. I can't exactly recall the latest they would allow a player to schedule a class to end but I think it was 1:30pm or 1:45pm. Academic advisors usually handled scheduling anyway to avoid any conflicts.
100%. The big one when I was on the team was during Little 5 when Curtis Randle El and some other players got into a knife fight with an off-campus fraternity. He almost died due to an abdomen stab and some other players were charged with assault and battery. Cameron then punished everyone by having several brutal conditioning sessions. We were required to say "Nothing good happens after midnight" while running high sides and having assistant coaches, strength staff, advisors etc. patrol campus at night looking for players doing naughty things. It seemed to work as there weren't as many incidents afterwards.
IIUC, football players and basketball players (and likely other athletes) got first dibs on classes so they could accommodate their practice schedules. If you needed a certain class and it was only offered at 10:30 or 2:30 you were guaranteed a seat in the 10:30 class before it filled up with regular students.
Well IU has tried the work harder approach … work smarter … seems worth a try.
