Subject: Game Plan Like an Artist
Date: August 24, 2026

You face a Double Wing offense one week. The next week you have an Air Raid.

There’s a traditional Delaware Wing-T and a Gun-T offense on the schedule. You need to stop the Flexbone Triple and the Spread Option’s Zone Read.

From Wedge to RPOs, our schedules have never been tougher to prepare to stop.

But that is no excuse for letting your playbook become a bloated mess. More X’s and O’s at the expense of confidence and execution is a big mistake.

In Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist he says “Creativity is Subtraction.” It’s a brilliant view of creativity. One coaches should try to follow.

Do more, with less.

On the latest episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, Daniel and I talked about defending the Spread Option Offense. One big thing is that most of your solutions are baked into your existing system.

Listen or watch Defending the Spread Option >>

Is your defense really a system? Is it built on consistent principles that apply to any offense you face? Are the adjustments built in to the base?

If you feel you need to install a new Flavor-of-the-Week defense every week, you do not have a system. And you end up doing less with more.

It might feel like you are a creative coach if you’re doing that. But it is the opposite.

Creative coaches look for ways to take out, not add in.

Preparing for your next opponent? Fight the urge to install another front, a new blitz, or another coverage tag. First, ask how you can solve the problem by doing as little as possible. Or by doing even less!

Think you need those creative juices flowing for your next halftime adjustment? Not true. The best halftime adjustments follow the same path.

In my newest manual, Coach Simple, Volume 1: The Lost Letters I share processes and practices I’ve learned on every aspect of coaching. From getting players to buy in to being a great assistant coach.

One of those processes is a step-by-step system for planning your halftime adjustments. You can pre-order the new manual now to be one of the first to get it:

Pre-Order the Lost Letters manual now >>

​~ Joe Daniel