Football Practice Report: Sept. 7
09/07/17 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
The Ducks held their walk-through for Saturday's showdown with Nebraska, after which staff was encouraged to leave the office early and not return until late Friday morning.
Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Walk-through
Oregon held its walk-through for Saturday's home game against Nebraska late Thursday morning. Next on the daily schedule was lunch, and at 1 p.m. coaches entered a meeting focused on recruiting.
The next item on the coaches' schedule is another staff meeting, but not until Friday at 10 a.m. If, between 3 p.m. on Thursday and 10 a.m. on Friday, Willie Taggart walks by an assistant's office and the lights are on, the UO head coach might raise an eyebrow and offer a gentle admonishment.
Because for Willie Taggart staffs, Thursday night is "date night." Taggart provides a weekly window for his coaches to leave the office, have dinner at home or out on the town, then have breakfast and drive the kids to school before reporting to work Friday.
"It's important that we strive to be great husbands and fathers, not just great coaches," Taggart said. "We get so caught up in our team, we can't forget our team at home."
Oregon's weekly schedule is otherwise intensive; "make no mistake," offensive line coach Mario Cristobal said, "we don't compromise the work." But it's also a bit front-loaded, he said, with much of the game-planning hay in the barn by Thursday afternoon, allowing for family time that evening and the next morning.
"It's a window, and it's small; but you've got to take advantage of it," Cristobal said. "As one of my mentors, Greg Schiano, once told me: You don't want to look back and realize you raised everybody else's kids, at the expense of raising your own."
Cristobal and his wife took advantage of last week's date night to go out to dinner. Defensive line coach Joe Salave'a ordered in, and spent the evening with his daughter and son.
Around the dinner table that night, they talked about just about everything. Everything but how dad's new job was going, that is.
"The last thing they want to talk about is football," Salave'a said. "My goal every time is not to take my work home. It's time for them."
Taggart says coaches tend to come back to the office Friday morning "rejuvenated, feeling refreshed, not uptight." Beginning next week he'll make time for players in a similar fashion, inviting a position group over to his house each Wednesday for dinner.
As Cristobal said, Taggart "leads by example, as a football coach and as a family man." That happens in the office Friday night through Thursday afternoon, and it happens each Thursday night, too, when Taggart offers his staff a weekly areminder of their highest priority in life.
Other observations: As this was a walk-through, there are no practice highlights to pass along. … Air quality in Eugene was improved again, to around the level in which last week's season-opener was played. At the time Saturday, it seemed striking to have that much smoke in the air. But after the levels spiked Sunday through Tuesday, the air Thursday felt downright refreshing. … Players have begun breaking in the cleats they'll wear with Saturday's special uniform benefitting OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.
