I’m back again with the head coach of the Harrison High School Raiders, and longtime writer for Hammer and Rails, Kyle Holderfield. Coach Holderfield’s squad took care of business on the road last week
in a conference win over Lebanon in a crucial conference game, knocking off the Lebanon Tigers 26-7 and entering sectional play with momentum. The Raiders and Coach Holderfield get a week to recharge before getting the opportunity to shock the world (ok, world may be a little much, but at least central Indiana High School Football) against Carmel High School on Halloween. We’re sure Coach Holderfield’s game plan will be a house of horrors for the Greyhounds.
Instead of breaking down a play this week. I want to change things up and talk a little coaching philosophy.
Drew
Coach, I wrote a long summary of the game last week, but I decided to spare everyone the trauma of reliving one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever suffered through as a Purdue fan. Needless to say, things haven’t gone the way Coach Odom and company hoped, especially over the previous two games that appeared winnable on paper.
As a coach, you’re inevitably going to run into this type of season on occasion. Things are clearly circling the drain, and everyone is looking to you for solutions that you may not have.
How do you keep your team focused on the task at hand instead of dwelling on a bad loss in the midst of a bad season?
Coach Holderfield
Sometimes when things are trending in a direction you don’t love, you get back to the basics. What is that you hang your hat on offensively? What about on Defense?
As a coach you start questioning yourself, did you make things too complex, have you been too lax at practice, etc.
Getting back to the basics sometimes goes a long way. Tackling, catching passes, and being more efficient in what you do well can go a long way, rather than throwing more stuff at the wall to see if it fixes the issues.
Drew
In addition to losing the game, the Boilermakers may have lost their quarterback, at least for this week. Malachi Singleton replaced Ryan Browne during the first drive of the second half after Browne took a big hit on a quarterback run. Singleton had his moments, and the offense looked slightly more dangerous in the second half but ultimately could not get out of their own way.
As an offensive coordinator / play caller, what’s the week in practice like after going to your backup? Does the way you go about practice change to get him up to speed with the first unit, or is it business as usual?
Coach Holderfield
It is a game of chess, at my level a lot of the times a single injury causes a ripple effect. For Purdue, while it stinks, you move on with the next guy on the depth chart.
They probably don’t want to change a million things because of one injury. So, trying to keep things as routine as possible is probably best.
Drew
Singleton is more of a running threat than Browne, at least in terms of called runs. How does having a quarterback who can run like Singleton change how you call a game?
Coach Holderfield
I think it should give them confidence. Sometimes having an additional running threat can stress the defense out even more so.
Not to mention, it may help with sustaining drives and keeping the defense off of the field. Something that Purdue hasn’t exactly excelled at this season.
Drew
Moving over to the defense. It wasn’t a terrible performance, but it was terribly frustrating. That’s been the story of the defense against both Minnesota and Northwestern. Just when it looks like they’re going to get a stop, a defensive back has a sure interception bounce off his hands, or a corner gets a little too physical with a receiver, or a running back’s second effort pushes the ball just past the sticks.
As a long-time coach advocate, I always say that it doesn’t matter if the coaches put the players in the right spot if the players don’t make plays. That said, how do you address a unit that refuses to make a play?
Do you shuffle the deck in terms of personnel and hope to find something?
Do you change your defensive calls even when guys are in the right place?
Do you stay the course and hope things eventually even out? There’s no way Purdue can keep dropping interceptions…right?
Coach:
The defense is far better than whatever was on the field in 2024, but the lack of turnovers is alarming at this juncture. They’ll happen… eventually, and, like I said, you don’t want to make wholesale changes mid-season; that is just a recipe for disaster.
Subtle changes are okay. Again, you look in the mirror, have you focused on what you can control? If you’ve got the players in the correct spots on the field, that’s like 3/4 of the battle. The other 1/4 is making the play. The players need to be in position to make plays before they can make (or not make) them. As a coach, you do what you can to focus on the 3/4 of the battle you can win, and hope you recruited and developed your players well enough that they handle the last 1/4 of the battle for you.
Drew:
I’d once again like to thank Coach Holderfield for taking some time out of his busy schedule to help me better understand the inner workings of football.
Now it’s time for Coach to lock himself in his office until he figures out a way to beat Carmel.
