At Hardin-Simmons, success isn’t scripted. Offensive coordinator Jeff Whitehead believes championship teams don’t just practice plays—they practice their problems. That mindset defines the Hardin-Simmons football practice structure, where discipline and adaptability work hand in hand to build consistency through change.
After 15 seasons alongside head coach Jesse Burleson, Whitehead has learned that discipline and adaptability must coexist. Each week begins with an honest staff meeting. He and defensive coordinator Craig Neese review what didn’t go right—third-down conversions, red-zone efficiency, short-yardage stops—and rebuild the following week’s plan around those weaknesses.
“You’ve got to have some wiggle room,” Whitehead said. “If you’re not performing well in certain areas, you’ve got to build that into your practice.”
For Whitehead, that flexibility isn’t a lack of structure—it’s an evolved form of it. Many programs run scripts on Tuesday through Thursday like clockwork, rarely deviating from their routine. The Cowboys, by contrast, treat structure as a framework to be reshaped weekly. One Tuesday might feature extended third-and-long periods; another could emphasize red-zone drives or coming-out drills near their own goal line. This approach keeps players sharp and makes the Hardin-Simmons football practice structure a living system that adapts to the team’s needs.
Good-on-Good, Iron-on-Iron
Whitehead doesn’t believe in fixing problems through simulation. He believes in confronting them head-on. That’s why his offense and Neese’s defense go good-on-good during situational work.
“We’re not running scout cards,” he said. “We’re running Hardin-Simmons offense against Hardin-Simmons defense—ones versus ones. Iron sharpens iron.”
The staff stages full competitive scenarios—down-and-distance, field position, and time on the clock—all of which are tracked on the chains. Each period runs at game tempo, with players thudding but not tackling to the ground. It’s designed to push intensity without punishing the body.
“We don’t think football’s played on the ground,” Whitehead said. “We want to practice really hard, but we also want to practice really smart and healthy.”
The result is a practice that feels alive—heated, fast, and competitive—but also sustainable across a long season. Players stay healthy. Reps stay meaningful. And both sides of the ball leave the field sharper.
The Cowboy Gear Philosophy
Physicality, in Whitehead’s mind, comes from tempo and intent—not full pads. His team practices in what they call “Cowboy Gear”: helmet, shoulder pads, and shells. They wear it Tuesday through Thursday, rarely suiting up in full pants outside of camp.
That approach goes against tradition, but Whitehead trusts the results. “We don’t think it sacrifices any of the physicality or playing hard,” he said. “We’re a shell team, and it works for us.”
This lighter approach keeps players fresh while reinforcing Hardin-Simmons’ identity as an up-tempo, precision-driven offense. The Hardin-Simmons football practice structure emphasizes pace, execution, and decision-making rather than long, punishing drills.
A Culture of Purpose
Behind the structure lies a deeper foundation. Every coach on Whitehead’s offensive staff has roots in the program. Wide receivers coach JJ Elkins, tight ends coach Jackson Money, and running backs coach Galen Glenn all began their coaching careers at Hardin-Simmons.
Whitehead believes that continuity matters. It preserves not only the scheme and terminology but also the values that define the program. “It’s not just what they do—it’s why and how they do it,” he said. “They’re about raising young people, molding men with strong Christian values, and doing it the right way.”
That alignment is evident in every detail: the consistency of effort, the competitive tone in each period, and the trust that enables open evaluation each week.
Practicing the Problem
Hardin-Simmons’ offense keeps thriving because it refuses to get comfortable. Every week brings a new focus, a new challenge, and a new opportunity to improve.
For Whitehead, consistency doesn’t mean sameness—it means intention. The Cowboys repeat what works and rewrite what doesn’t. Their practices remain alive, their players stay engaged, and their system continues to evolve.
That’s what makes the Hardin-Simmons football practice structure flexible by design. It’s organized, adaptive, and built to grow stronger every week.
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Podcast transcript
John Snell (00:01)
Now joining us is Jeff Whitehead, the offensive coordinator at Hardin Simmons, recognized by the Hanson ratings and presented by Tully. Jeff, congratulations for a great win this past weekend and congrats on being recognized.
Jeff Whitehead (00:18)
Hey, thank you guys, man. Thank you for the recognition. It’s a team award. We’ve got great players. It’s a staff award. I’m blessed to work with the best guys in America. In my opinion, ⁓ our head coach, Jesse Burleson’s, our offensive line coach does a fantastic job. Don’t think they make him any better in America. And he and I have worked together here the past 15 seasons. We were college teammates at Hardin Simmons back in the late 90s. It’s been a true blessing and just a fun experience.
experience. JJ Elkins is our wide receivers coach. Does a fantastic job with our wide outs who had a great game Saturday. I believe we threw for a little over 450 yards and those receivers made great run after catch and all that credit to JJ. I recruited JJ to come play here in 2014 and we never let him leave Abilene. He’s just been a GA and then we elevated him to full time and he does a fantastic job. And then our tight ends coach is Jackson Money.
Jackson played receiver for us, ⁓ went off to Texas A Kingsville and GA’d for a couple of years and was full time for them. And we were blessed to bring him back this past spring to be our tight ends coach. Does a fantastic job because in our offense, I think playing tight end for us is one of the more difficult positions with as much stuff as we do with that guy. And then our running back coach is a guy named Galen Glenn. Galen played quarterback for me here at HSU, was a two time captain, led us to the.
conference championship 2023 and just kind of like some of the other guys would never let him leave Abilene. We kept him here and held on to him and he does a great job. We’ve got two of the better backs in Division three in America in my opinion and Noah Garcia and Braylon Henry and those two kids are really special and Galen does a great job preparing those guys and even more importantly with the guys that work on our offensive staff, it’s not ⁓ it’s not the way they do it.
It’s why and how they do it. I mean, they do it for the right reasons. They’re all about raising young people, molded men with great Christian values and doing it the right way. And I’m just blessed to be a small part of this deal. And this is truly a staff honor and recognition of our players and our staff.
John Snell (02:37)
Well, it’s smart on your guys part to keep good people around and obviously it’s been working because you guys have had great success and appreciate you recognizing your staff. As you know, we ask our coaches who are being recognized to share a little ⁓ information for our listeners and you had mentioned structuring your practice to work on things that maybe haven’t gone as well as you typically.
Jeff Whitehead (02:44)
Yes, sir.
John Snell (03:06)
would like or expect. So how about sharing a little bit with us about that, Jeff?
Jeff Whitehead (03:12)
Sure, absolutely. I think ⁓ all of us as coaches, we’re about as routine-oriented people as they come. We like our Tuesday to look exactly the same, our Wednesday, our Thursday leading up to the kickoff on Saturday. I just think you’ve got to have some wiggle room and you’ve got to be able to work on things that you’re struggling with as the season wears on and implement that into practice. ⁓ Our defensive coordinator, Craig Neese, is one of the best I’ve ever been around.
meet each Sunday to kind of go over what
either side of the ball is not doing as well on and then we try to build that into our practice and do it good on good. We had a bye week leading into the Howard Payne game for two weeks in a row. Neither one of us felt like we were converting good enough on third downs on offense or stopping the defense or stopping the offense on third and fourth down as a defense. So we built in ⁓ on Tuesday, Wednesday practice for the last two weeks. Good on good scenarios ⁓ with about every third and fourth down scenario you could possibly
imagined into the practice and brought a lot of energy to the practice. And it wasn’t something we typically worked on. So I just think being able to have that flexibility to be able to do that, you know, like.
whether it’s red zone, done coming out where, you know, we got pinned on our own end and we’re struggling getting the ball out of our own end zone. And we’ll do it where offense has got to try to make two touch or two first downs to win. Defense is trying to force a three and out. We’ll do red area. Both teams are if we feel like we’re struggling in the red area. So I just think being able to take a real look at what you’re doing week to week, what’s working well, what’s not working well and being able to implement that into your practice structure. Cause I know some
People that I’ve talked to they’re just so structured and routine that they just have the same Tuesday practice the same Wednesday practice the same Thursday practice and I just think you’ve got to have a lot of wiggle room and what you do and you got to figure out the things that you’re not doing as well and build that in I think we have one of the best defenses in the country so to be able to go good on good against our guys ⁓ and practice it that way I think is beneficial for both sides of the ball and something that I think that most coaches should be able to do
⁓
and implement into their practice structure and ⁓ and be able to work on the things that maybe they struggled with weekend and week out instead of just saying hey we’re always going to do red zone at this time we’re always going to do two minute at this time you know we’re going to build in all the scenarios but we’re going to spend and really emphasize the things that we have not performed as well at we’re going to really focus on that in the meetings and then we’re going to come out and get it good on good not against scouts I want to practice against our best guys
I I think iron sharpens iron and I want our guys to really get after each other there to really improve something that you might have struggled on the week before.
John Snell (06:11)
Now, when you do that, Jeff, ⁓ obviously you said you’re good on good, but is one of you serving as the scout team or are you running Harden-Simmons offense and Harden-Simmons defense in that period? You know what I mean?
Jeff Whitehead (06:27)
Yes sir,
yes sir, absolutely. Yeah, we’re we’re running our own stuff, you know, so we’re we’re Hardin Simmons offense against Hardin Simmons defense and I’ll trade whether you know, like our structures of three three and ⁓ and maybe the opponent we’re going against is a four man front. I’ll sacrifice that for just the good on good reps, you know, and so we’ll we spent five to 10 minutes ⁓ a couple of days for each of those two weeks getting ready for this last game ⁓ and we really and
work those scenarios but it’s truly ones versus ones their stuff versus our stuff and and we’ll get that on film and and just really emphasize I mean we’ve got the chains our guys know exactly what the scenario is we’ll have all different types of field placement hashes you know red zone backed up I mean we we did about all you could do from a situational standpoint there.
John Snell (07:21)
How live will that be, Jeff? Are you taking people to the ground? you, know, thudding? What are you doing in that period?
Jeff Whitehead (07:29)
Yeah, we’re going to be Thud. We’re a Thud tempo team. just don’t. ⁓
We don’t think football’s played on the ground, so we’re trying to stay off the ground. ⁓ And we’re a tempo team, take care of each other. We wanna practice really hard, but we wanna also practice really smart, really healthy ⁓ as well. We’re just like everybody else, we’ve got a certain amount of guys that can play in the game and help us win. And we wanna protect those guys while at the same time getting quality reps and getting after each other. So I think our guys on both sides of the ball do a really good job of taking care of each other.
While at same time it’s extremely competitive, ⁓ it gets heated at times, it’s very intense, it has that feel of a game, and that’s what we’re going for there.
John Snell (08:14)
Yeah.
Well, now if you do that on Tuesday and Wednesday, in terms of your gear on Tuesday and Wednesday, are you full pad on Tuesday, helmet and shoulder pad on Wednesday? How are you working that?
Jeff Whitehead (08:28)
Yeah, I mean, it kind of goes with the whole, we just don’t think playing football is on the ground. So we we wear what we call cowboy gear, which is basically shell, ⁓ Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. ⁓ I think you get a couple of full padded practices ⁓ to start fall camp and that’ll be about the only time we ever put pants on in the full deal. So we’re gonna be cowboy or shell, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We don’t think it sacrifices any of the physicality or playing hard.
or any of that stuff. we’re going to be a shell team.
John Snell (09:02)
Yeah, well again, obviously it’s working and ⁓ Jeff, we want to congratulate you again and wish you the best as you continue on. ⁓ I know you’ll have some great challenges coming up here in your conference and we look forward to seeing how things progress. That’s Jeff Whitehead, the offensive coordinator at Hardin Simmons and congratulations again and we wish you the best.
Jeff Whitehead (09:32)
John, thanks a lot. And Keith Grabowski, thank you very much. And for the recognition, love talking about Cowboy football. I’m super blessed to be ⁓ on the staff I’m on with the guys I’m on and the guys that play for us in that locker room. They’re just top notch human beings and great football players. And ⁓ we’re looking forward to seeing where this season takes us.