I t is very humbling and an honor to be
selected by the AFCA as the 2000
Division II Assistant Coach of the Year. I
would like to thank the AFCAfor the oppor-
tunity to speak at the 2002 national con-
vention. I would also like to thank Dale
Lennon, our head coach, for all his support
throughout the years. It is equally important
to thank our outstanding staff; Chris
Mussman, Tom Dosch, Tim Tibesar, Curt
Sienkiewicz, Tim Belmore, Cooper Harris,
Greg Lotysz, Mike Mannausau, and Jon
Young for their continued support. It is a
special privilege to represent the University
of North Dakota and the Fighting Sioux
football staff at this year ’s convention.
At the University of North Dakota we
have one major goal for our defense to
attain each season. That goal is to lead the
North Central Conference in fewest points
allowed. This is not an easy task in one of
the most balanced and powerful Division II
conferences in the country. Yet, we have
reached our goal by allowing the fewest
points in our league in seven of the last 10
seasons. During seven of the last eight
seasons we have also been first or second
in our conference in total defense. While
we are proud of the fact that we have not
allowed many yards when compared to
other teams in our league, we are most
proud to be the team that has allowed the
fewest points in league play during seven
of the last 10 seasons.
Our defensive staff, like all coaching
staffs, feels that we must be great at the
fundamentals to be able to reach our sea-
sonal goal. There are four basic defensive
fundamentals that we stress to our defense
throughout spring ball, fall camp, and the
regular season. The four fundamentals that
we stress to our team are:
• Pursuit
• Tackling
• Creating Turnovers
• Defeating Blocks
We constantly talk to our defense about
executing these fundamentals at a high
level to help us attain our defensive goal.
But talk alone does not emphasize these
fundamentals enough. We must constantly
practice these fundamentals to stress their
importance.
Similar to most staffs, we are faced
with the challenge of planning practices
to get players the maximum number of
repetitions on fundamentals in the least
amount of time. With the exception of pur-
suit drills, we practice our defensive fun-
• Proceedings • 79th AFCA Convention • 2002 •
damentals by using a circuit drill (station
to station) concept. Circuit drills are used
to practice tackling, shedding blocks, and
Tackling the Teaching
of Tackling
creating turnovers. We believe that circuit
drills stress the importance of these fun-
damentals to our defense and they are
the most efficient way to practice these
fundamentals.
Circuit Drills
Our defensive practice will start with a
five-minute block of pursuit drills following
team warm-up and stretch. Immediately
following the pursuit drills, we devote 10
minutes of practice time to a tackling cir-
cuit, take-away circuit, or shed-a-block cir-
cuit. We want this 10-minute block of prac-
tice time to be high energy with very little
transition time between drills so each play-
er gets a high number of practice repeti-
tions. Therefore, it is important to take the
time to organize the circuit drills to use the
practice time efficiently. It is also important
to take enough time to design drills so they
properly prepare the defense for game-like
situations.
Four stations are used for our funda-
mental circuit training, with one coach per
station. The coach stays and teaches at his
station during the entire circuit. The players Kyle Schweigert
are divided into four groups and the groups
will rotate from station to station. Defensive Defensive Coordinator/
linemen, outside linebackers, inside line- Assistant Head Coach
backers, and defensive backs make up the
four groups. Ideally, we want 12-14 players University of North Dakota
in each group, so it may be necessary to
move some players to even the numbers in Grand Forks, N.D.
each group. For example, we may put
some of the safeties with the outside line-
backers or inside linebackers to get the
numbers we want at each station. Players
are at each station for two minutes and 15
seconds and are expected to rotate to the
next station and be ready for the next drill
within 15 seconds.
Each group of players starts with their
position coach to begin the circuit, except
for those players that need to join another
group to balance out the numbers. After a
short yet precise explanation of the drill,
players rotate in and out of the drill as
quickly as possible. It is important to
remember not to be in too big of a hurry
that fundamentals are sacrificed. We need
to coach technique and give feedback on
the run so repetitions are maximized at
each station. A coach or assigned time-
keeper will blow a whistle to indicate to the
groups to rotate to the next station. At the
whistle, all players will sprint to the next
station, receive instruction for the next drill,
and begin to execute the drill at the next
station. This process is repeated until each
group goes through the four stations.
Although we feel that all the circuit drills
are important to our defense, the focus of
this talk will be the four station tackling cir-
cuit. Members of our staff were introduced
to the Air Force Academy’s tackling circuit
by the late Bill Johnson when he spoke at
the North Dakota State High School
Coaches Convention in the mid 1980’s. We
began to use a four station tackling circuit
as a part of our practice in the spring of
1990, when Dale Lennon, our current head
coach, was named defensive coordinator.
The tackle circuit is the first circuit we
implement into practice plans each spring
and each fall. These tackle circuit drills
have been an essential part of our spring
ball, fall camp, and regular season prac-
tices for the last 12 seasons.
Tackle Circuit
Before we ever do a tackle circuit, all our
players are taught the proper, safe way to
tackle during a 10-minute tackle progres-
sion teaching session. The proper place-
ment of the head, use of the hands, and hip
rotation is emphasized during each teach-
ing progression station. This 10-minute
session is held during our first practice in
the spring and during practice No. 1 in fall
camp. During this teaching progression,
players are put into their circuit groups and
rotate to each station to learn the funda-
mentals of tackling. The big difference
between our circuit drills and our tackle
progression teaching is that all coaches are
teaching the same thing, at the same time,
at each station. Therefore, it is not neces-
sary to rotate groups from coach to coach,
but we feel it serves as a practice run for
the circuit drill rotation.
The general philosophy for the tackling
circuit is to have one station a sideline
tackling drill, one station escaping from a
block to make a tackle, another station to
practice a running game open-field tackle,
and a station to practice a passing game
open field tackle. We use about 15 differ-
ent drills throughout the year to practice
all different types of game-like tackles.
The concept of the drill at each station
remains the same yet the actual drill
could change when a different group gets
to the station. For example, the defensive
backs, outside linebackers and inside
linebackers may practice an open field
passing game tackle by pass dropping
and breaking up to a receiver, while the
defensive lineman will practice tackling a
scrambling quarterback at the open-field
passing-game station.
There are certain points of emphasis
that are common at each tackle station. All
coaches will emphasize the proper place-
ment of the head to promote safety and so
the tackler is able to see his target. Each
player is also encouraged to lower his hips
into the hitting position before contact so he
can roll his hips through the ball carrier to
make a powerful tackle. The use of the
hands to rake through the ball and grab the
ball carrier is also stressed at each station.
It is important to note, the ball carriers are
not taken to the ground during the tackle
circuit. We believe tackling can be prac-
ticed at a high tempo without taking the ball
carrier to the ground and putting the play-
ers at a higher risk for injury.
Summary
The circuit drill concept has been a part
of our defensive practice philosophy for
over 10 seasons. We began using this con-
cept in 1990 by implementing a tackle cir-
cuit into our practice plans. The tackle cir-
cuit is always the first circuit drill that we
use in the spring and fall workouts. It is also
the most frequently used circuit drill.
During the 2001 spring practices, we
used the tackle circuit in seven of the 14
practices. During two-a-day practices in
the fall, the tackle circuit will be imple-
mented into every other practice. During
game week, preparation circuit drills
remain a part of our practices to stress the
fundamentals. The tackle circuit will
always be used during our first practice
each week. As practice time shortens late
in the year we may decrease the length of
the tackle circuit from ten minutes to five
minutes.
Each position group will, at times, prac-
tice tackling during their individual time, but
our staff believes using circuit drills is the
best way to stress tackling fundamentals.
There are several reasons we like the tack-
le circuit to be a part of our philosophy. We
believe the circuit stresses the importance
of tackling because the entire defense
practices tackling at the same time. Doing
tackling circuits early in practice further
emphasizes its importance. The rotation
from station to station helps to break the
monotony of practice and creates a high
energy, exciting tempo during practice.
Finally, we feel tackling circuits build team
unity because every defensive player will
have contact with all the defensive coaches
during the tackle circuit.
At the University of North Dakota we
believe that tackling circuits have played a
major role in the success of our defense.
By designing drills to be position specific
and creating drills to be as game-like as
possible, we feel the tackle circuits are the
best and most efficient way to practice
tackling. The strengthening of tackling fun-
damentals has allowed us to attain our
number one defensive goal seven of the
last 10 years, which is to lead the league in
fewest points allowed.

Adopt Safety-First Coaching Techniques

According to legal experts, “failure to warn” usually is one of the primary accusations made against those in the
coaching profession in litigation which involves catastrophic injury to a player.
To help prevent what could result in the destruction of a coaching career, as well as massive financial loss, adopt
“safety first” coaching techniques:
1. Have a clear and complete understanding of the intent and correct application of safety rules.
2. Make graphically clear to players the risk of violating these rules and use the available printed material as a con-
stant authoritative reminder to them of the importance of correct techniques.
3. Point out in exact terms the risk of accidental catastrophic injury in athletics before the first practice begins.

• Proceedings • 79th AFCA Convention • 2002 •