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Agreed!!! I love this stuff...

I've never seen a better CFB coach at getting across to his players that football was a "team" game. You have to have great talent, but it's wasted with great teamwork.

I remember the speed USC's defense would practice at. McKay's team ran and ran and ran. And they ran to the right place together.

When I was at the Hawaii game in 2010, it was horrifying watching the USC defense open the season by not going where they needed to go the entire game. You can do what you need to do without being where you need to be. Then your technique has to be right.

A player like Taylor Mays has struggled so much in the NFL with both aspects of where and what.

Drew McAllister does both right. He knows where to be and what to do. His struggle has been with durability. It's not ability or ball awareness.

Tony Burnett is very good at getting to the ball and tackling. Where he struggled as a CB or S in coverage shouldn't keep him from being a good backup OLB for Dion Bailey.

Good points. Burnett to LB is a great move

Coaches had their shortcoming in the old days. McKay wasn't too excited about lifting weights. The didn't let you drink water back in the old days here. Read the Junction Boys.

But not a lot has changed in tackling since Howard Jones. Blocking rules have changed. What hasn't changed is blocking and tackling are still what makes a team successful or not.

I got to go to practice with my grandpa and dad growing up. I used to get to see the Rams practice as well. I've always been interested in leadership and developing people and teams.

Most of all I read Loel Schader. McKay lauded Loel as a reporter for his hard work and understanding of the game. Loel paid attention at practice. I paid attention to what he wrote.

A lot has changed in preparation. Practice is not as different as you might think because the fundamentals of blocking and tackling and teamwork stay the same. Football is a team game as much as any sport that's played.

There are so many more plays in a CFB game today. The clock kept running in the 30's. Teams ran the ball. Players are bigger and faster and the game is far more wide opened and specialized.

Zone defenses can be harder to read and disguised.

USC's players went both ways when McKay first came. USC had three units. But a player like Willie Brown who went both ways put in a lot more time on offense than he did on defense. Things have changed so practice has to make room for it.

But nothing happens if you can't block or tackle. You still have to be where you can make a tackle. And you have to have the right technique in tackling. if you wrap up properly help should be on the way.

I'm not an expert. I've just watched and listened to some experts. McKay has to be judged against his own time. But certain principles carry through the years.

The old saying is:

Methods are many
principles are few
methods often change
principles never do

It's hard to find time to write books when you are also such a fine reporter like Loel Schrader was. He didn't pass things down 2nd hand. He put you at practice, in a player's home. You got to hear who the toughest Trojan WR was from the USC secondaries point of view. Nobody could share how USC coaches saw things like Loel.

Loel was a hard worker. And he could also write. And he wasn't afraid to share his convictions. His reporting had flavor. Loel had a lot of fizz. His stuff was carbonated.

Everybody today is standing on his shoulders on the recruiting message boards. You went to the Independent/Press Telegram for the first and best recruiting news.

I grew up in Long Beach as a USC fan and a Long Beach fan. When Loel showed up in 1966 Long Beach had the Roy Hobbs of Long Beach and Southern California sports writers.

Loel just knew the right questions to ask. And then he knew where to go to find the answers. Plus he knew how to put it in writing. He was a 5 star hall of famer.

Maybe books were just too much old news to Loel to take too much time writing them. He always had the next story. Scott's like that too. And Scott has the same edge that makes them both Schraders. Why not. Again, both of Scott's name start with SC.

Schader's?
I think we have a new nickname...

They just don't make sports writers like Loel anymore. Want proof...check out the LA times.

Newspapers don't give reporters the space to write anymore. Newspapers are about making ad money. It's rare to see the kind of relationships Loel had with coaches and programs.

I was reading what JK McKay had to say about Loel and his dad coming home late together after a session at Julies. How many reporters have that kind of trust. Loel knew what to say and what not to say.

I think that ability to edit set him apart.

When I was a kid i used to watch coaches like Woody Hayes and Bud Wilkinson. Wilkinson was a great coach, and he was also a gentleman. Jess Hill USC's head coach in the 50's was like that. Woody Hayers never grew up. It's okay to be childlike but not childish.

Bear Bryant spoke once of Wilkinson coming into his locker room to congratulate his team after Bear's team had beat OU. He said Wilkinson manner cause him to want to be a different and better person after that. It made him think about the example he had set with the the boys who played for him.

Wilkinson knew how to work and how to love his players. Those are important lessons we all need to pass on if we are going to leave a legacy. Loel care more about the coaches and players he reported about than a story. Amost all we read today is black and white. Loel wrote in color.

My dad and grandpa and Loel were people that made you want to be a better person. They truly were the greatest generation.

My dad used to read Loel at the breakfast table, and we would talk about USC or Tarkanian and the Long Beach St basketball team.

My dad's talking football with all those guys now. He's been gone 13 years now. But i still wait for the phone to ring after a game.

Thanks for the posts, Paul, love hearing about the old times in Long Beach!

It is more caught than taught. Every time I walk into exposition park I think of my dad and grandpa. When my grandpa died my dad would always mention him. 1996 was my dad's last Rose Bowl. He always got a pennant afterward.

We all need good memories and things to look forward to. My dad and USC have given me those things. I don't live with regret about the past or dread about the future. And that makes today pretty good. I caught that from my dad and grandpa.

After tOSU beat USC in the Rose Bowl 20-7 my dad and grandpa were talking about the 1955 season and how good it was going to be. They were plotting revenge after the 51-0 loss to ND in 1966. My grandpa would have been my age then. My dad was 45 years old. I was 19. USC beat ND 24-7 the next year in South Bend.

I'm sure they would have been really excited about 2011 and looking forward to 2012. I know all of us are.