Chasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way

Dedication

To Lissa, Suzy, Cathy, Tom, Liz, Pat, Greg, Jake, Olivia, and Brooke, and my children—Jennifer, Danny, Michael, and Sophia. I love you all. Thanks for being my inspiration.

Strange is our situation here upon Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of other men.

—Albert Einstein

Contents

Foreword by John Madden

Introduction by Bob Ladouceur

De La Salle Coaching Staff

1. Laying the Foundation

2. Motivation and Team Building

3. Practicing, Scouting, and Gameplanning

4. Offense

5. Defense

6. Special Teams

7. Offseason Conditioning

8. Sports Medicine

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

Foreword by John Madden

I was so interested in De La Salle High School’s football program and coach Bob Ladouceur’s success that I found a way to get an advance copy of Neil Hayes’ book When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football’s Longest Winning Streak back in 2003. My entire family read it.

We were so inspired by what we read that my son, Joe, and I decided to make a documentary about the program in order to share Ladouceur’s story of success with as many people as possible. The result was 151: The Greatest Streak, which aired on ESPN in 2004. And then Hollywood producer David Zelon was so impressed with Hayes’ book and our documentary that he made it his mission to make When the Game Stands Tall into a major motion picture in 2014 starring Jim Caviezel, Michael Chiklis, Laura Dern, and Alexander Ludwig.

In some ways, however, the story still wasn’t complete. The book, our documentary, and the movie focused on the important life lessons such as commitment, dedication, responsibility, and brotherhood that serve as the foundation of the program. But it wasn’t until Ladouceur, with the help of Hayes, put his own words to paper that a more complete picture was revealed.

As everybody knows, football is a game fueled by paranoia. Playbooks are guarded, and gameplans are top secret. That’s what makes the pages that follow such a treasure. Ladouceur pulls back the curtain on the game’s greatest dynasty, revealing everything he learned during a 33-year head-coaching career that produced an astounding 399–25–3 career record.

In this book Ladouceur not only outlines everything from hiring a staff to his philosophies on discipline, motivation, leadership, player development, offense, defense, and special teams, but also explains the specific drills, techniques, and conditioning regimens that have resulted in De La Salle playing the game at what I consider to be the highest level in terms of execution, discipline, and effort.

That’s right. I have been a professional coach or broadcaster for more than four decades, but when it comes to the fundamentals of blocking, tackling, and getting off the ball, Ladouceur’s teams at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, play on a level that often exceeds college and pro teams. That’s why I consider Ladouceur one of the greatest coaches of any sport.

We often think of football as a complicated game. If there’s one thing to take from this book, it’s that it doesn’t have to be. There’s nothing complex about how Ladouceur teaches the game. His genius is in his ability to reduce the game to its essence.

This book offers an incredible, time-tested blueprint for aspiring coaches and is a great contribution to the coaching profession. It should be required reading for anybody who wants to coach football—or any sport—for that matter. His valuable lessons about leadership, motivation, commitment, accountability, integrity, hard work, and teamwork will also resonate in the business world.

—John Madden

Introduction by Bob Ladouceur

I give Neil Hayes’ book, When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football’s Longest Winning Streak, a lot of credit for ending our national record 151-game winning streak. Butch Goncharoff, the coach at Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington, defeated us in the 2004 season opener by emulating us. He read Hayes’ book, and they matched our offseason work ethic, our explosion off the ball, and, most importantly, our commitment to each other, and his team reached a never-before-approached level of performance. Afterward, I couldn’t help but think: Good for them.

I want everybody to play good football—not just us.

I’m frequently asked how I was able to take over a football program at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, that had never had a winning season and then post a 399–25–3 career record by the time I stepped down 34 years later. I’ve heard that question even more frequently since When the Game Stands Tall became a movie.

I never knew how to respond. Even after all these years, it has remained somewhat of a mystery, even to me. From now on, however, I will refer people to this book because its pages contain everything I learned while compiling the highest winning percentage (.934) in history, winning 19 state championships and five mythical national championships.

I don’t believe you can be truly successful if you focus solely on winning. In my opinion, a successful program must be about more than outcomes. Kids will fight for you and will achieve amazing things if you stand for more than that. It’s about getting kids to play together, work together toward a common goal, and mature into adults. We were never fighting for wins. We were fighting for a belief in what we stood for, the way we believe life should be lived and people should be treated. Winning is a by-product of how you approach life and relationships.

I’ve learned that creating a culture of commitment and accountability is the best way to help young men mature into respectful, responsible, productive adults who are better equipped to overcome adversity in their private lives. I can’t stress this enough.

The knowledge gained from excelling in this type of environment is burned into the hearts and minds of everyone who fully participates. We measure our success by how well we have embraced the essence of accountability and commitment and the relationships that spawns.

It creates a passion because wherever our players go they know they are connected to a group of people who love, respect, and accept them. I stand on our sideline sometimes in utter amazement as I watch our players push themselves far beyond what they previously thought was possible all because they felt connected to others who care.

(Photo by Bob Larson)

My first piece of advice for anybody who teaches, coaches, or manages others in the business world is a lesson I was fortunate to learn early in my career. As a young coach, I thought winning games and championships would give me a greater sense of self-worth, but I was still unfulfilled. My program didn’t reach its potential, and I didn’t find self-satisfaction until I quit focusing on what I was getting out of it and began focusing on how the kids were benefitting.

I always wanted to make a difference, not only with my own players but on a larger scale, which is why we have always had an open-door policy at De La Salle. If there’s something you can take from us that helps you as a coach, or benefits a player or your program, that’s a win-win situation to me. But there’s one point I want to make clear: we’re not telling you how to run your football program. I’m just telling you how I operated mine, and how my successor, Justin Alumbaugh, and longtime defensive coordinator and special teams coach Terry Eidson, continue to do it today.

The release of the book When the Game Stands Tall brought a lot of attention to our program, and the movie by the same name brought more. We already field hundreds of emails every year asking how we motivate players, how we run our offseason conditioning program, and how our offensive line gets off the line so quickly. I’ve done my best to explain it all here.

I can honestly say that while looking back on my career I have no regrets. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it exactly the same way I did it and the way I’ve outlined it here.

—Bob Ladouceur

De La Salle Coaching Staff

Bob Ladouceur—former head coach

In 33 years at De La Salle High School, Ladouceur established himself as one of the most successful high school coaches in the country. His 399–25–3 record includes the most victories in California history, 29 North Coast Section Championships, and 19 California State Championships. His team’s 151-game winning streak between 1992 and 2004 is the longest in the history of high school sports. Both USA TODAY and FOX Sports voted De La Salle the No. 1 team in the nation on five different occasions with the Spartans finishing in the top 20 every year for the last 21 years of his head coaching career. Ladouceur was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations’ Hall of Fame in 2001. Ladouceur has been a full-time instructor of religious studies and physical education at De La Salle. In 1998 he was awarded the Warren Ukel Educator of the Year Award for Contra Costa County. He has a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State, a master’s degree from Saint Mary’s (California) College, and an honorary doctorate from San Jose State.

Justin Alumbaugh—head coach

Alumbaugh assumed the head coaching position when Bob Ladouceur stepped down after the 2012 season. He began his coaching career shortly after his graduation from De La Salle, where he was a three-year starter and captain of the 1997 team that broke the national record of 73 consecutive victories. Alumbaugh has a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a master’s in history from San Francisco State. He teaches English and social studies.

Joe Aliotti—quality control coach

Aliotti has coached at Boise State, Oregon State, and Pittsburg (California) High School and has been an assistant at De La Salle since 1998. Aliotti, who also serves as De La Salle’s dean of students, quarterbacked Boise State to the Division I-AA national championship in 1980.

Doug Bauman—assistant athletic trainer

A Sonoma State University and University of North Carolina-Greensboro graduate, Bauman started working at De La Salle in 2008. He is also a member of the school’s faculty, teaching courses in beginning sports medicine, advance sports medicine, sports medicine 3, and health/first aid.

Donnie Boyce—secondary and special teams/kicking coach

Boyce has been a De La Salle assistant coach since 2004. Before that he was an assistant at Rio Vista (California) High School for five years.

Chris Crespi—scouting coordinator and scout team coach

Crespi played linebacker and guard during Ladouceur’s first two seasons at De La Salle. He returned to his alma mater in 2013 after a 10-year career as a Wall Street research analyst. The former University of California-Davis captain and honorable mention All-American earned an MBA from Northwestern University and is a substitute teacher at De La Salle.

Tony DeMattei—video coordinator

DeMattei, who works as a CPA and is a partner in a real estate company, has a passion for film and video. He began videotaping games while his son was playing at De La Salle and was later asked to assist in the program’s transition from analog to digital video. He has been taping De La Salle practices and games since 2010.

Terry Eidson—defensive and special teams coordinator

Eidson has been an assistant football coach at De La Salle since 1981. He has been the varsity special teams coach since 1982. Since taking over as defensive coordinator in 1992, De La Salle has gone 291–12–2. His defenses have allowed an average of 11 points per game during that time while recording 74 shutouts. A religious studies teacher, Eidson received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA and a master’s in theology at Saint Mary’s College.

Steve Jacoby—defensive line coach

A former Saint Mary’s College player, assistant coach, and associate athletic director, Jacoby has been at De La Salle since 2007. Before that he was at Skyline High School in Oakland, California, for three seasons.

Kent Mercer—head athletic trainer

Mercer was an assistant athletic trainer at De La Salle from 1998 through 2001 and has been head athletic trainer since 2001. He also has served as director of rehabilitation of the Muir Orthopedic Specialists since 2001.

Mark Panella—quarterbacks coach

Panella was the quarterback on Ladouceur’s 1984 team and has been quarterbacks coach since 1993. He designed the numbering system for the passing game. The De La Salle Hall of Fame member graduated from the University of Denver where he pitched on the varsity baseball team.

Dr. Charles Preston—team physician

Dr. Preston completed his orthopedic training at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases after earning both his undergraduate and medical degrees at University of California-Irvine. While in New York, Dr. Preston was the house physician at Shea Stadium for the Mets and Madison Square Garden. He is the founding medical director of the Sports Performance Institute at San Ramon Regional Medical Center.

Blake Tuffli—mental skills and receivers coach

Tuffli has been coaching receivers at De La Salle since 2006. Before that, he was an assistant coach at California High School and at Diablo Valley College. Tuffli has a master’s degree in sports psychology.

Mark Wine—strength training and conditioning coach

Wine has been the head strength and conditioning coach at De La Salle since 2012 while also serving in the same capacity for Team USA Synchronized Swimming, the Walnut Creek Soccer Club, and the Haiti Polo team. The owner of Functional Muscle Fitness in Concord, California, Wine has also worked with the Oakland Raiders and Texas Longhorns football teams.

1. Laying the Foundation

The game of football is about defeating the man in front of you. Everything else plays out from there.

—Former De La Salle head coach Bob Ladouceur

I believe football is in my DNA. I understood the game from the get-go, even as a small child. I can remember back to my days growing up in suburban Detroit, Michigan, wearing a plastic Lions helmet and shoulder pads and running around the front lawn playing football. I loved it. I never lost that passion for it. In a lot of ways, I felt I was meant to do this.

I have tried to figure out why that was true for me. There were two subjects in high school that I really excelled at. One was physics, and one was geometry. The game is about physics and geometry, and I truly believe that helped and aided me throughout all those years. The only math class I ever excelled in in high school was geometry. It was easy for me. In every other mass class, I struggled. Geometry was the only science class I excelled in was physics. I just understood leverage, how to move mass, and things like that. I really think there’s a strong connection between those two subjects and the game of football.

I have always been able to see where defenses are vulnerable and how you can layer a defense. I’ve always understood the angles and steps required to properly execute a trap block, when a quarterback should throw and at what angle, and the physics and body position involved to move a guy bigger than you.

Know the Game

I was fortunate to have great high school coaches in Fred Houston and Pete Villa. I had great college coaches in Daryll Rogers and Dick Mannini. These guys taught the game well. I understood the game. I understood how the pieces fit together. I wasn’t a great player in college. I was a good player in high school and in college I was a role guy. I played special teams. I played offense until I had two knee surgeries, and then they switched me to defense. I was willing to make the transition. I backed up guys and I learned. So at 24 when they put me in charge of this program, I thought, I know this game. I can teach these kids something.

That’s what carried me when I started. I had a good working knowledge of the game and I could tell what was working, what wasn’t, why our defensive line was playing poorly, why our offensive line was blocking so well, why our receivers could or could not run a good route. I understood it all. I had no experience, but that first year in 1979, those kids looked at me and said, This guy knows something about this game. They felt like I could teach them something and they liked that. They trusted me and gave me the benefit of the doubt as I fumbled through my early years.

Because I was a running back before being a defensive back at San Jose State, I knew the running back and quarterback positions. I knew all the defensive back positions and I knew some stuff about linebackers. I was less sure about the offensive and defensive lines, the receivers, and special teams, but as I went on, I schooled myself until I felt like I could coach every position on the field.

We had a great offensive line coach in Steve Alexakos, and the technique we currently use was his idea. He left in 1992 to coach at San Jose State. I loved what he was doing, so before I took over his spot as offensive line coach, I worked with him for two weeks. I knew a lot about what he was doing after working with him for three years and calling the offense and watching his guys work, but I wanted to know the minutiae and the methodology of what he was teaching. He was a good teacher. He taught me everything, and for the next 10 years, I personally coached the offensive line. I felt really shaky going into it that first year, but I got used to it, and that stretch of coaching was the most rewarding and most fun I ever had. A head coach should be able to step in for any position coach, and that group should not miss a beat.

There’s an adage that Alexakos used: you have to inspect what you expect. You have to know when things are breaking down and why they’re breaking down if you’re a head coach. You have to know it all down to the minute details. A good coach has to know exactly what he’s looking for and what his expectations are. There’s a lot kids don’t know, but they do know whether you know the game. You can’t fake it. You can’t fool them. They will respect you and listen to you if you know what you’re talking about and they appreciate it most when you work with them to correct their bad habits and reinforce their positive ones. They think, This guy wants me to be a better player and he’s working with me to do it. I’ll give him the effort.

The Game Remains the Same

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the game is always the same. It will never change. No matter what offense you’re running, it’s always going to boil down to old-school building blocks. Can you block? Can you tackle? Can you run? Can you get off blocks? Can you get your guys in the right spots?

That’s exactly what we work on. We pour all our energy into technique and developing our players. We teach our kids how to