GREENSBURG, Penn. — When COVID-19 shut down the world within the spring of 2020, Kevin Could was like most coaches. He was bored.
He’d been employed because the defensive coordinator at Division II Seton Hill a 12 months earlier to match his distinctive scheme — the flex — with a group in want of an enormous improve.
The preliminary outcomes had been predictably combined. There was some delicate success, however the system was new, and gamers usually struggled to get a deal with on it. Then COVID-19 put all of it on hiatus, and Could, an avowed soccer nerd whose spouse, Shelby, jokes that the game is his lone ardour, discovered himself needing one thing to do.
“So we went to Lowe’s,” he stated, “and acquired a bunch of white boards.”
If necessity is the mom of invention, boredom is likely to be its father, and what Could invented throughout COVID may now be probably the most dynamic, aggressive and confounding scheme run by any group within the nation.
The flex is run by only some different groups at any stage nowadays. Could discovered it at Wyoming from longtime coach David Brown within the early 2010s. It is complicated, it is complicated for offenses, and, as Brown and different originators of the system usually scolded, it is to not be modified.
“I used to be at all times advised,” Could stated, “by no means to mess with grandma’s recipe.”
However within the spring of 2020, there was no soccer, Could’s home was plagued by playbooks and drawing boards, and there was grandma’s recipe, simply ready for some new substances.
At its core, it is a system designed to disguise the defensive entrance, usually with one or no down linemen, and almost at all times extra defenders within the field than the offense can match. However the flex, because it originated, additionally had its weaknesses, significantly a reliance on man protection on the again finish. Could figured he may add some layers to the bottom system, so he began finding out. He devoured textbooks, talked with offensive coaches about their blocking schemes and watched on-line clinics on YouTube, typically at 4x velocity, searching for any small element he may exploit in his new system.
Briefly, Could discovered the foundations everybody else adopted, then designed a protection that broke almost each one in every of them.
“The neatest guys we have now within the room go towards this for 4 years,” stated Daniel Day, Seton Hill’s head coach and O-line coordinator, “they usually nonetheless say, ‘I do not know what they’re doing.'”
Since getting back from the COVID shutdown, Could’s protection has taken Seton Hill from the dregs of Division II soccer to one thing a minimum of approaching competition.
Seton Hill is a small Catholic college about 35 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, with an enrollment of lower than 1,700. In 2018, the 12 months earlier than Could arrived, the Griffins ranked 157th in Division II in scoring protection, 159th in rush protection and 152nd in sacks. After the group returned from COVID in 2021, Seton Hill completed the season twenty seventh in scoring protection, ninth in rush protection and almost tripled its sack complete. Three years later, Could’s protection has had back-to-back convention defensive gamers of the 12 months, an All-American linebacker, and in 2023, was fifth amongst all D-II colleges in sacks and tackles for loss. Within the two years earlier than Could arrived, Seton Hill had a mixed 1-21 report. Final season, the Griffins completed with a profitable report for the primary time in 15 years. Extra astonishingly, the majority of gamers accountable for this success started their careers at Seton Hill as walk-ons.
And but, getting into his sixth 12 months at Seton Hill, Could’s system largely stays relegated to this sleepy outpost in Western Pennsylvania, as larger colleges calculate the risk-reward of making an attempt one thing so outside-the-box and proceed to choose the established order to an enormous swing.
“It blows my thoughts that folks do not wish to run this,” Day stated. “Should you ran this at Alabama, with the very best of the very best, I do not know the way you’d cease it.”
MAY IS CERTAINLY not the primary teaching savant to attempt to disrupt the mainstream method to Xs and Os.
Mouse Davis and June Jones created the run-and-shoot at Portland State within the Nineteen Seventies, then noticed the system flourish within the NFL a decade later. Hal Mumme and Mike Leach refined the Air Raid at Iowa Wesleyan and Valdosta State earlier than it turned an offensive staple at each stage 25 years later. Extra lately, Zach Kittley took Air Raid rules to develop his personal scheme at Houston Baptist, then helped Bailey Zappe rewrite the NCAA report e-book at Western Kentucky.
“You must have folks above you which have some concept what they’re searching for and brave sufficient to truly undergo with it,” stated Hal Mumme, the originator of the Air Raid offense who spent the early years of his profession toiling in Division II, ready for an opportunity to show his system may work anyplace. “I needed to do it at decrease ranges like that as a result of no person would rent me to do it at a better stage.”
Even those that have not rewritten the e-book at increased ranges — Kevin Kelley (by no means punt) and Bob Stitt (West Coast offense with a twist) — have seen a minimum of parts of their playbook copied within the fashionable sport.
What’s distinctive about Could is that he has gotten little fanfare regardless of a scheme that begs for consideration and, not like all these different coaches, he is doing it on protection.
“There’s been revolutionary guys,” Mumme stated. “There’s simply not fairly as many as there are on offense. Defensive guys are typically extra conventional.”
Conventional, on this case, is likely to be a synonym for threat averse. On offense, taking photographs for giant payouts is solely a part of the DNA of most coaches. If it hits, the replay finally ends up on SportsCenter. If it does not work out, nicely, there’s at all times the following play or subsequent collection. On protection, the system is normally reversed. It is the busts that get talked about by offended followers and proven on the opposite group’s spotlight package deal.
However Could disagrees with the complete premise. His model of the flex is not excessive threat, excessive reward. He prefers to think about it extra just like the triple choice, however for protection — a plug-and-play scheme that just about anybody may run with success, however but nonetheless so exterior the norm that different groups wrestle to organize for it.
“That is the primary defensive system I’ve ever seen that does dictate [to the offense],” Day stated, “as a result of it simply breaks so many guidelines.”
A model of the flex was popularized within the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties by former Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry, whose personal gamers usually complained about its inscrutability regardless of the group’s dominant efficiency. Dick Tomney’s Arizona Wildcats ran a flex with Tedy Bruschi within the Nineties with nice success, too. However the flex had largely fallen out of favor on the highest ranges as a result of it inverted almost all the pillars of typical soccer Xs and Os.
That is precisely what Could preferred about it.
“We’ve non-traditional gamers aligned in spots the place they usually do not align, they usually have the power to do a whole lot of non-traditional issues,” Could stated. “Each offense has a playbook with all totally different appears to be like they’re more likely to see. They don’t seem to be going to see an image of our protection in there.”
Of their base alignment, the nostril sort out has his hand on the bottom, and two different defenders are standing simply off the road of scrimmage with two “flex” linebackers standing a couple of yard again. These are the wild playing cards who can do just about something. Two extra linebackers are standing about 5 yards off the ball. Three DBs are lined up throughout from a receiver, and one security is deep. Any one of many seven gamers close to the road may blitz. Six of them may drop into protection, too. And Could will present that very same entrance and run an array of performs out of the identical look. Typically, he’ll name a play he is aware of will not work early within the sport simply to see how the offense reacts, setting the stage to name one thing totally different from the identical package deal later within the sport. It is chess when most offenses are caught following the foundations of checkers.
Hardly ever a sport goes by, Day stated, when some opposing offensive coach does not method him within the handshake line, shaking his head and muttering about how glad they’re to not face Could’s protection once more till the next 12 months. One O-line coach final 12 months admitted in pregame warm-ups that he had completely no clue the way to block Seton Hill’s entrance.
“And we hadn’t even performed the sport but,” Day stated.
In his first season as QB coach at Mercyhurst in 2022, Eric Acciani thought he had a great plan to beat Could’s flex. The system depends on a whole lot of man protection ideas, and Mercyhurst had its share of receivers Acciani thought may win a one-on-one match-up. He schemed that week fully round exploiting these mismatches on the skin.
Mercyhurst was sacked eight instances and failed to attain.
A 12 months later, Acciani had fully reconsidered his method. He’d spent hours in the course of the offseason targeted solely on Seton Hill, and after being battered within the trenches the final time, he was now sure the important thing to a win was taking away the Griffins’ move rush. The sport plan was constructed round 10 personnel — with 4 receivers on the sphere — and prioritized getting the ball out of the QB’s arms as shortly as potential.
“We thought we had a very good deal with on it,” Acciani stated, “however Kevin made a pair changes and, once more, we did not rating.”
Two years, two fully totally different approaches on offense, and two shutouts.
That is, maybe, the true genius of the scheme. The offense retains the phantasm of dictating the motion, however Could’s already thought three strikes forward.
THE QUESTION POSED to Seton Hill rover Quinton Posey is pretty simple. Could’s scheme is all about disguising fronts and adjusting on the fly, so what, precisely, goes by way of Posey’s thoughts pre-snap as he makes his reads and decides what changes to make?
“Nicely, we have now a whole lot of keys,” Posey stated. “I imply, I additionally cowl lots, too. I’d line up on a receiver enjoying man. Additionally, I blitz lots.”
In different phrases, it is likely to be simpler to ask Posey what he is not excited about pre-snap.
And herein lies one of many key considerations with Could’s system: It is just too sophisticated. Posey says when he first arrived as a freshman, coming from a highschool system he known as “fairly easy,” it was a water-from-a-firehose scenario. It was a 12 months, perhaps 18 months, he stated, earlier than it began to click on.
Could slots every of his gamers into classes: One-, two-, three- and four-dimensional gamers. The bottom stage guys are nonetheless determining the nuances of their particular place. The 2-dimensional gamers perceive their complete place group. Three-dimensional guys grasp the complete protection, and the highest tier are the important thing veterans, who not solely know all the things Could’s protection needs to do, however nearly all the things the opposing offense is making an attempt to do, too.
When Could first arrived at Seton Hill, Day requested for a listing of peak and weight necessities at every place group for recruiting functions. Could did not have one.
His purpose on protection is not to get guys who look the half. He needs guys who can play the half, guys who, after a 12 months or two, will probably be three- or four-dimensional.
At its core, Could’s protection features like an algorithm, stuffed with if/then instructions that normally depend on the identical fundamental underpinnings however with minor adjustments based mostly on the look the offense presents. Every participant has his algorithm and responses, refined over time, and when it is all clicking, these gamers who barely sniffed a Division II provide elsewhere appear to be absolute superstars.
“Watch all 11 guys one after the other and also you in all probability would not really feel so frightened about it,” stated Ancini, now the offensive coordinator at Tennessee Tech. “However then you definately watch them execute collectively and the way they play off one another, they simply do such an unbelievable job and it is totally different than anybody you play towards. It is actually easy for them however as an offensive coach, you’ve got acquired to spend so much of time on them.”
Take that age-old drawback of leaving your DBs in man protection. That is the half that terrifies most DCs. A nook alone is a nook ready to get beat.
However that is not how Could’s system works. The protection usually presents as man protection, however in actuality, gamers within the field can drop into protection, and a minimum of two defenders will at all times have eyes on the QB, providing assist beneath or excessive. Each DB understands the place his leverage is and when to move off a protection to a different defender, that means he is normally simply accountable for masking half the route tree. And, maybe simply as importantly, the defenders dropping into protection, the leverage, and the route tree a DB must cowl — it varies from snap to snap, and the opposing QB can by no means be fairly sure what he is seeing earlier than snapping the ball.
“He is acquired such an unbelievable understanding of what offenses do,” Ancini stated. “Offenses are constructed to discover a weak spot, so this is how we play it. A number of coaches have that data however he does the very best job of getting his youngsters know that as nicely. They’re at all times very dialed in. Everybody on that protection is at all times on the identical web page. A number of coaches have actually good concepts however they can not talk with their gamers like Kevin can.”
If there is a secret ingredient that makes the entire thing work, that is it. Could is an Xs and Os nerd, however greater than that, he is a coach who merely loves his gamers.
Seton Hill’s signature set piece on protection is a battered trash can — “the takeaway can.” The can is emblazoned with the phrases “Code Pink,” the defensive mantra that applies to all place teams. It was Could’s spouse’s concept. She donated it to the group in 2019, and it has been by way of some wars.
“It is damaged and battered and sharp, and we have to place duct tape on it,” Could stated. “However I adore it.”
After each takeaway in observe or a sport, a participant will get to dunk the group’s particular “code purple” soccer, then indicators his identify onto it. Whoever has probably the most signatures at 12 months’s finish will get to maintain the ball on the group’s awards banquet. The group loves it.
However it’s not only a takeaway gimmick like Miami’s turnover chain or Oregon State’s chainsaw. It is half of a bigger philosophy of group constructing. Watch the sport movie, and it is easy to see how a lot enjoyable the gamers are having on protection, however what’s missed from the all-22 copy is what occurs when a play ends.
After a defensive participant makes an enormous play in observe, Day has instructed his digital camera crew to remain skilled on the protection and seize the aftermath: Gamers dancing, celebrating, leaping into one another’s arms. It is a social gathering. Day remembers just a few early practices with first-year offensive coordinator Blaise Holzer when he needed to hold his new coach from going ballistic in frustration from the protection’s seemingly overzealous celebrations, reminding Holzer, “you are going to love this on Saturdays.”
“You will not see anybody observe the way in which we do anyplace at any stage,” Day stated. “However it’s all as a result of Coach Could’s largest facet to the gamers is you have fun collectively. It is not simply the performs, however how we observe, the tradition he is constructed to permit these dudes to have some enjoyable.”
MAY IS SKIMMING by way of some movie, displaying off just a few of his favourite performs. There’s one the place he has seven defenders within the field, however solely his nostril sort out has his hand within the dust. Each Seton Hill’s flex defenders are lined up on the identical aspect of the ball. The offense is clearly flummoxed. The QB appears to be like to the sideline then checks into a brand new play. Could’s D instantly checks, too. The middle turns round and yells to the quarterback. Neither has any clue what’s taking place. The ball is snapped. Two field defenders drop into protection. The middle and guard pull — within the flawed course it seems. The nostril sort out has a free line to the QB for a sack.
“My favourite image in America,” Could stated, “is 2 or three offensive linemen blocking no person, and the quarterback getting sacked.”
He freezes the movie and, positive sufficient, there are three offensive linemen doing the soccer equal of the mime-in-a-box routine.
There are drawbacks to all this, after all. Day notes that observe may be tough, as a result of his offense cannot merely work towards his D, as a result of the offense won’t ever see something that appears like this protection all 12 months. For Seton Hill, the scheme has been a boon for recruiting as a result of the Griffins do not want stars. The scheme could make anybody a star. However on the increased ranges, distinctive schemes can scare away high recruits. That was at all times the knock on the triple choice. And whereas it is a pleasure to look at opponents strive to determine what they’re seeing every week, there is a real problem in making certain all the blokes enjoying D at Seton Hill know precisely what they’re doing always.
And but, draw up a listing of execs and cons, and Day eagerly pronounces a transparent verdict for his group. Seton Hill is healthier — a lot better — due to Could’s protection.
It is not not like what Mumme and Leach confronted early of their careers. They had been totally different, and it was safer to lose trying like everybody else than to roll the cube on one thing fully new.
However the Air Raid stored working, and finally, extra folks started to consider.
That is Could’s hope. The movie speaks for itself, and all the danger aversion on the earth cannot trump the underside line. The system works. Finally, others will observe.
How can Could make certain?
Means again when Could first acquired to Wyoming as a graduate assistant, he was a skeptic, too.
“The primary time I opened the playbook, I believed it was configured flawed,” he stated.
Then he noticed the outcomes.
“The extra I discovered it, all the things else I knew about soccer was out the window,” he stated. “This was totally different, and it was profitable.
“There’s nothing like the joys of studying soccer and evolving.”
