Jan. 13, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -
By Leigh Torbin
UCFAthletics.com
With over 5,700 attendees representing the sport of football from the youth to professional levels, the annual American Football Coaches Association wrapped up today at Orlando's Marriott World Center with a series of lectures that included a chalk talk by UCF defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable. UCF offensive line coach Brent Key held a similar session for the AFCA on Monday.
Huxtable addressed a large crowd of coaches about UCF's stellar run defense which has led Conference USA two years running and ranked fourth in the nation in 2009 behind only Texas, Alabama and TCU. UCF was also first in the league, and amongst the national leaders, in both sacks and tackles for loss this past fall.
Huxtable's talk was partly tactical but was mostly about how the right attitude is the key to any successful defense. He discussed how UCF's success is due to the mental ability of the student-athletes as much as their physical ability along with the essential trust that the Knights have in the dependability of each teammate to execute their role on a certain play. He discussed how the coaches drill the minutia of the game in an effort to gain every last advantage, such instructing linemen to save time during a play by getting off of the ground using your hands and feet like a pushup as opposed to going to a knee to get up.
Along this line, he included the words of Super Bowl winning head coach Tony Dungy, who had addressed the AFCA convention on Tuesday, in saying that "champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else." Huxtable talked about how heavily UCF teaches tackling in practice, the single most important fundamental of defense.
Later on was tactical talk and Huxtable demonstrated how UCF schemes for the run against two back sets and also on the zone read option plays that are in vogue nationwide and particularly within the Conference USA ranks. He showed UCF's main philosophy for defending those plays out of both "11" and "10" personnel groups (the former including a tight end and the latter without), including when teams line up a tight end as a slot receiver, giving standard "11" personnel a "10 picture."
An hour was not nearly enough time for Huxtable who was swarmed by inquiring coaches after the session ended. After a lengthy discussion with a few coaches, he talked about the experience with UCFAthletics.com before heading back across town to campus.
How did this all come about?
"The AFCA contacted coach O'Leary about having someone from our defensive staff speak. He asked me if I would and I was honored to do so."
You spoke about being a young coach at the 1982 AFCA Convention and listening to Bo Schembechler speak and listening to talks by Lou Holtz, Tony Dungy and others over the years at the AFCA Convention. Does that make doing this more meaningful to you?
"I loved doing this. It was an honor and a great privilege to do it. I love talking football with other coaches and learning from each other. That's how you get better as a coach. I really enjoyed doing this. I enjoyed being able to help mentor some of the younger coaches here today. There are good football coaches everywhere at AFCA. We continuously steal things from each other, exchange ideas and learn from each other. That's what makes this all so much fun."
You talked a lot about how the mental game and attitude is possibly more important than the physical game. Why is that so?
"Attitude is huge. Football all starts with an attitude. You want guys with great ability, size, strength and quickness, but it all starts with the right attitude. That's what made Cory Hogue such a good player for us this year. When he stayed healthy, Cory had a great love and passion for the game. He had that `coach me, coach' attitude every day and was so successful because of it."
What do you like most about your role as defensive coordinator?
"I like being in a room with a group of coaches, putting our heads together and coming up with a winning game plan. Then, I enjoy being up in front of the room with a great group of defensive players and being a teacher and seeing that game plan come to life on the field each and every week."
So, what does success on defense all come down to?
"The key to playing good a defense is recruiting the right players and being a good teacher to them."