Joel Beard, offensive coordinator at the College of DuPage and head coach at Boylan Catholic High School at the same time, tells Keith Grabowski on the Art of Practice how he decides when to stop a rep, when to cue it, and when to let a quarterback just play, and how GoRout keeps his tempo practices moving.
Every rep in practice is limited, and every coach has to make a split-second call: stop it and kill the momentum, or let it roll and risk wasting the teaching moment. Joel Beard has to make that call from two sidelines these days. He’s the offensive coordinator at the College of DuPage and, in the same season, the head football coach at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Illinois.
When Should Coaches Stop a Rep in Practice?
DuPage breaks every play down into six-second halves. Pre-snap, Beard’s staff uses the acronym AARP: alignment, assignment, recognition, and perform. Post-snap, it’s BEEF: bring energy, effort, and finish. “We try to win our six before the snap and win our six after the snap,” Beard said, and that framework is also his filter for when to stop a rep.
Alignment is the one that gets a play killed live. If a player isn’t lined up correctly, the play was never going to work in the first place, so there’s no value in letting it finish. Assignment busts are different. Those get handled through film review or by subbing a player out and coaching him up on the sideline, not by stopping the whole rep. “If we really stop a rep in practice, it’s because we’re not aligned correctly,” Beard said, especially with the younger players he’s working with at both stops.
When Should a Quarterback Play Through a Bad Rep?
Beard is deliberate about staying out of his quarterback’s way once the ball is snapped. He wants his quarterback rolling through team reps in as close to a game state as possible because he believes that helps build the mental rhythm the position requires on Friday or Saturday. He’ll stop a quarterback for the same reason he stops anyone else, an operational or alignment problem, like a running back lined up on the wrong side that dooms the play before it starts. Beyond that, he lets it play out.
DuPage scripts its team periods in five-minute blocks and tries to get through six to eight plays each time. If something needs correcting and there’s time, they’ll run the same play again to get another look. If not, the correction happens on film afterward, not live in the moment.
What Coaching Cues Does Joel Beard Use With Quarterbacks?
Beard keeps his in-the-moment coaching cues simple and almost entirely pre-snap. His two anchors are hands and eyes. “I believe when a quarterback sets his hands, the defense has to be set,” he said. That’s the signal he drills into his quarterbacks: get to a ready position with your hands, and you’ll get the clearest picture of what the defense is showing, whether you’re calling for the snap or not. He compares it directly to an offensive lineman’s stance, get the fundamentals of the ready position right and everything after it gets easier.
Most of what happens after the snap, Beard treats as a different coaching problem, handled in individual periods, group work, and film rather than by stopping a team rep.
Why Should Coaches Ask Players Questions Instead of Giving Corrections?
Grabowski raised a concept from The Inner Game of Tennis, the idea that constant in-the-moment correction can turn into a kind of running commentary that gets in a player’s way rather than helping him. Beard’s version of avoiding that is to make every rep a conversation. He watches the same read his quarterback is supposed to be seeing, so afterward he can ask what the quarterback saw instead of just telling him what happened.
If something needs to be addressed immediately, Beard will sub a different quarterback in for a play, pull the first one aside, and walk through exactly what he saw, sometimes having him stand next to the play instead of behind center so he can view it from a different angle. When Beard has multiple quarterbacks on the field, the ones not taking the snap are still watching the signal and processing the play, getting what Beard calls a mental rep even without a physical one.
How Does Beard Build Confidence Into His Play-Calling?
One of Beard’s core teaching points is that every play is its own story. He points to a moment from spring ball: his quarterback pulled the ball on an RPO and threw a glance route for a score. On the very next play, called to the other side, the same quarterback automatically pulled the ball again, assuming the same read would repeat itself. It didn’t. Beard uses moments like that to teach quarterbacks to flush the previous play, good or bad, and stay locked into the one in front of them.
That philosophy shows up directly in how he builds his call sheet. Each of his quarterbacks gives him six to ten plays they’re most confident running, and Beard keeps that list next to his call sheet during games so a quarterback’s first few reps after entering a game come from plays he already trusts. Installs happen the night before, since DuPage practices at 5:45 in the morning, with plays shared through an Excel playlist so meeting time in the morning is about answering questions, not seeing the material for the first time.
Managing more than one quarterback has been a constant at DuPage. Beard’s first year there, three quarterbacks competed for the job before one pulled ahead, then tore his ACL in the final game of the season, forcing the backup into a national championship run. More recently, he’s had to build a system flexible enough to feature both a quarterback coming off a 3,000-yard season and an athletic redshirt freshman, without overhauling the offense for either one.
How Does GoRout Support Tempo Practices at DuPage?
Beard’s staff leans on GoRout Scout mostly on the defensive side and with the scout team. Instead of holding up cards, coaches send plays directly to player devices, which frees Beard to jump into a scout team rep himself and work one-on-one with a backup or redshirt quarterback in real time, using the offense’s own terminology while the play is live instead of just standing in as a generic look.
The bigger benefit, in Beard’s view, is protecting tempo. DuPage runs a tempo offense, and a defense that has to look down at a physical card slows the whole practice down. With plays delivered instantly to a device, the scout team can line up and go, which lets Beard’s offense practice tempo every single day instead of only in games. It also gets coaches out of the role of running cards and back into actually coaching, especially valuable for scout team players and freshmen who get a real rep in the terminology instead of just filling space. Beard points to the end of the week, including Thursday situational work and the final pieces of the game plan, as a place where getting a fast look from the prep team matters most. For a tempo offense, GoRout lets that look arrive instantly instead of waiting on coaches to run cards in and out.
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How Does Beard Balance Two Coaching Jobs and a Family?
Beard has two kids, 16 and 13, both fall-sport athletes, soccer and volleyball. The early DuPage practice schedule is part of what makes the Boylan job possible in the first place: mornings on the college campus end early enough that he can head to the high school afterward. He’s protective of a hard stop on practice time for exactly that reason. If practice starts at four, he expects it done by five thirty, because missing his daughter’s volleyball game isn’t something he’s willing to do anymore.
That balance, tempo, efficiency, and a hard stop on the clock, is the same philosophy running through his practice reps. Every minute matters, whether it’s a six-second segment on the field or the window between two coaching jobs and a family waiting at home.
Quick Answers for Coaches
How do you decide when to stop a rep in practice? Joel Beard stops a rep primarily for alignment errors, since a misaligned play was never going to work regardless of what happens after the snap. Assignment mistakes are handled through film review or by substituting a player and coaching him up on the sideline, not by killing the rep live.
Should you let a quarterback play through a bad rep? Beard lets his quarterbacks roll through team reps to stay in a game-like mental state, only stopping for operational issues like a misaligned skill player. Most correction after the snap happens in individual periods, group work, and film study rather than in the moment.
What are good coaching cues for quarterbacks during practice? Effective cues are simple and pre-snap. Beard’s core cue is hands and eyes: a quarterback who sets his hands into a ready position gets the clearest picture of the defense, similar to how an offensive lineman’s stance sets up everything that follows.
How can coaches use GoRout to speed up tempo practices? Sending plays directly to player devices instead of holding up cards lets a scout team line up and go instantly, which keeps a tempo offense practicing at game speed every day. It also frees coaches to actively coach the scout team instead of managing cards.
How do coaches manage multiple quarterbacks on one roster? Successful staffs build systems flexible enough to feature each quarterback’s strengths rather than forcing every quarterback into an identical mold. Beard has each quarterback submit the plays he’s most confident running, then keeps that list next to the call sheet so a quarterback’s first reps in a game come from plays he already trusts.
Related
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Connect on X:
Joel Beard: @coachjbeard1
GoRout: @Go_Rout
Keith Grabowski: @CoachKGrabowski
Keith Grabowski (00:35)
Welcome to another episode of the Art of Practice presented by GoRoute. And on today’s episode, we’re going be discussing how much should you coach a rep. And joining me to dig into that is the offensive coordinator at the College of DuPage, Joel Beer. Joel, it’s great to have you here.
Joel Beard (00:52)
Thanks, Coach. Appreciate it. Follow the podcast. I’m really excited to talk with you today.
Keith Grabowski (00:58)
Okay, so Joel, I have to add like there’s an asterisk. He’s the offensive coordinator of the College of DuPage, but there’s another aspect, like Joe Furko, who we just interviewed, has another aspect in professional life. There is for you as well. So full-time college coach, what’s the other thing you do?
Joel Beard (01:16)
I am the head football coach at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Illinois.
Keith Grabowski (01:22)
And I think I’m going to do my research, but you may be the first guy to ever attempt this all. So
Joel Beard (01:28)
Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes.
Keith Grabowski (01:30)
good luck to you on both ventures. And what we talk about today certainly applies to both of those levels. So it’s really cool that I get to talk to a head high school coach and a college offensive coordinator at the same time, and it’s one guy. So
Joel Beard (01:43)
Yep, here we go.
Keith Grabowski (01:46)
here we are.
You you and I talked about this last week when we were discussing the episode and you know, every rep that we get on the field is valuable. And as coaches, we need to know though, what do we say? How much do we coach? When do we coach those things? How much do we value the flow of what’s happening in practice? Them kind of feeling it and learning it on its own. And those are all the things that you’re going to dig into. It’s, you know, sometimes it is
stop the rep, kill the momentum and discuss it because it’s critical. Other times, maybe even catch up on it on film. the goal over the whole thing though is how do we make better players? And obviously that’s through how we coach the rep. So let’s start with that. When you coach a rep, how do you decide with whether I’m saying something right now, I’m going to stop it, I’m going to give them a short cue, I’m just going to let the next rep happen?
Joel Beard (02:46)
Well,
know, at DuPage, we try to break things down for them into small segments. So we use six second.
segments. So we have a pre snap, which is more of our mental stuff and then our physical or physical stuff is post snap. So we use I’m really big into acronyms. So our first part is AARP, which, you know, can mean for retired people. But for us, it means alignment, assignment, recognition, and then perform, you know, so each one of our kids need to be going through that process. And then once the ball snap, you know, is bring energy, effort and finish, which is beef, you know, so we use those things.
those two things and we try to win our six before the snap and win our six after the snap so when it comes down to looking at our reps that is
what we base it off of. Are we aligned correctly? Do we know our assignments? And we can just start with those two. If you can’t do those two, you’re not going to be very good offensively, especially if you can’t align right. So if we were to stop a practice or to stop a rep or anything like that, it’ll really be because we’re not aligned correctly.
You know, the assignment piece kind of comes with the individual as far as their different learning styles and how many reps they need and all those things. And we can always work through those on film and we can always substitute someone in to get the next rep and then coach up the kid off outside of the rep.
But if we really stop a rep in practices because we’re not aligned right, and that we’re dealing with young kids at our level, freshmen and sophomores or straight out of high school or whatever it may be, the alignment key is important for us. We stress the operations we feel if we’re efficient operationally, we’ll be good offensively.
Keith Grabowski (04:37)
When you’re looking at the things that happened during the play and I agree with you. mean, if the play is not gonna have success right away, it’s a wasted rep. If you know it, see it, that’s a good time to kill it. Certainly everybody handles practice differently with the tempo. For some, tempo is the lifestyle. For others, it’s maybe part of what they do to speed things up or whatever. But there is the momentum of practice. You don’t wanna…
add reps and be out there forever. I’ve experienced that as a player, as an assistant coach. I’d like to think I was pretty good about keeping time on time as a head coach. And for you though, what might happen during a play or what are the things that when you see it like, hey, we really got to coach this up right now before we move on to the next rep?
Joel Beard (05:32)
It’s usually
something that is…
fundamental to the scheme or to play that we’re trying to get done. Whether it’s at the point of attack or a misread or something like that. It’s got to be vital to our play. If we’re talking specifically about the quarterback, I usually let the quarterbacks roll through team reps. I want them to get the feel for it. We’re a tempo offense. We use motion shifts and just like everyone else in the country. And so I feel like it’s
important for the quarterback to always be in a game-like situation for him mentally. know, so that means he goes through if they’re on if they’re behind center, I really don’t mess with them a whole lot, you know, unless it gets to a point again where
fundamentally or operationally, we’re not aligned correctly. The running back might be on the wrong side. So where the play will never get off the ground. That is where I stop it as far as a quarterback is concerned. For an offense is really if we are consistently making the wrong play or wrong execution or whatever it may be at the point of attack or a vital part of the play, then we have to stop and we got to correct it. But it’s really, really quick and we keep it moving.
everything scripted and we try to get through in a five minute team block. I like to get six, seven, and maybe eight plays if we can and if we can come back to a play then we’ll come back to it just to get another look at it on film and then maybe correct it if we have time but correct it off to film after that.
Keith Grabowski (07:11)
Yeah, so stopping things obviously is one way to coach up a rep. Another way is to cue it. And, you know, I’ve had episodes where we’ve sat down and talked with coaches like how do you put together your coaching cues? How do you create a language and a structure that you could say a syllable or a short phrase that cues that guy that this is what he needs to do? And with the quarterback position, again, that guy’s…
getting a ton of information every single play. don’t want to overwhelm him as he’s operating, but are there cues you seem to use or as you think through, like I say these few things again and again to help him out, to remind him, to correct him as things are rolling.
Joel Beard (07:53)
Well, you know with us the cues You know our communication is very key for us, you know And if I hear him communicating properly, then he’s good to go. know, I don’t get in his way So the way we run our offense he gets the signal from the sideline. He’s got to communicate to the O line He’s got to make sure you know, it’s just the opera very operations of how he’s working, you know mentally The performance piece after the ball is snap. I think that’s a whole different Element and I think that’s
was coached in individual, in group, on film. And that’s where I usually don’t stop it for a whole lot of things post-snap for the quarterback. It’s more of the pre-snap. So our eyes, our motions, our timing and things like that.
I’ll stop for that. But some of the cues that we have, I’m really big on the hands and the eyes and make sure we’re scanning and we’re seeing things. So it’s really simple. I don’t get too deep in the woods on that. It’s just making sure we’re ready to go on hands, you know, and making sure, you know, we’re setting the defense ourselves. So I believe when a quarterback sets his hands, defense has to be set. That gives you the best picture, you know, so we really emphasize making sure we’re ready.
set with our hands whether we’re going to call for the snap or not but just making sure we’re ready to go. the stance, know,
Keith Grabowski (09:16)
Yeah.
Joel Beard (09:17)
the stance and the hands are, mean, again, you can’t, it’s just like an O-line, you know, your stance and your first step is everything. So same thing with the quarterback, stance and hands, you know, we got to be ready to go in order if we’re going to have a chance to execute at a high level.
Keith Grabowski (09:33)
Yeah, I think I’m thinking back to it and you know, it reminds me because I want to be stepping out on the field here. Next week actually is the first official camp day, right? So I’m going to be back out coaching after 10 years and
Joel Beard (09:47)
There we go.
Keith Grabowski (09:48)
and you know my I’m thinking back through some of the things I would say all the time the things I would do one really big on the timing and calibration of of plays, especially when it comes to the.
when we’re getting the ball out. So I always have a stopwatch with me and I’m snapped to when the ball’s out. that I would always, two ways I would do it, I’d give them a time, usually when it was good, or I’d ask them, what would that feel like? Because they know, because my other coaching, was move your eyes and feet through the progression. Move your eyes and feet through the progression. Eyes and feet.
saying that all the time. But then I’ll get the feedback from him. Would that feel like that was like a two four. Like look at the watch like yeah, you’re right. It was I mean, and he could tell it because he moved his feet at exactly the right points. Right. So those are a couple of things I do. And I think, you know, reminding them pre snap, it’s usually the younger quarterbacks to look at their indicators, because, you know, we’ll always look at
team pregame and and you know this I think in in the time I coached college football and you would think Be better at it. There was only one team where we really couldn’t get an indicator off of their disguise Because they were that good and that was that was Mountain Union, know, they’re pretty good They didn’t have
Joel Beard (11:15)
Yeah, they’re pretty good.
Keith Grabowski (11:17)
to cheat guys, you know, whatever they could align and play it
Joel Beard (11:18)
Right. Right.
Keith Grabowski (11:21)
But especially when you get to the high school, I
One the things I did as I stepped away is I would just work with quarterbacks on Zoom. And this was before like the pandemic. you know, I had encountered Zoom and we’d use it and that’s all I would do. I didn’t want to get into training mechanics and whatever, but I would install with them, like, here’s how you look at the things that you’re trying to do to understand that your coach wants, you know, in here, you know, this particular safety that you guys are playing this week, like.
Here’s where he’s aligning on every single one of his coverages, right? There’s always going to be that guy who gives it away. And it’s to the point, like, I wonder sometimes, like, why do they even disguise?
Joel Beard (12:05)
Ha
Keith Grabowski (12:06)
But, you know, you have to look for the fine points of it, right? So reminding you of that, too. But yeah, those cues that you have, think, when you can be concise and they carry meaning and they remind a kid without overwhelming him, those are good, cues. You can’t have a ton of them, though.
Joel Beard (12:24)
Right, you’re absolutely right. And I think those cues have to go right along with the system that you’re running. So the system that we run, there’s specific rules and things that he follows in his checklist from play to play that he has to follow and really just needs to be locked in and understand those rules. And dealing with younger guys, we feel it’s important that they have hard, fast kind of things to get them out of situations.
Here’s the play, here’s your read, here’s that. Yeah, we gotta teach them all those things. But how do you get yourself out of trouble? Where do you go to? What do you do here? And working with them because the difference between high school and college is really the details. It gets more detailed at the college level. And understanding coverage and understanding defenses and how they work. some quarterbacks come in not understanding that, how the box is tied to the coverage.
And we have to teach him those things. So that’s huge for us, is trying to get into the details of what we’re doing schematically and try to give the quarterback cues into what we’re calling and what he needs to get to and what are his checks and all those things so that he can play fast and make great decisions.
Keith Grabowski (13:46)
Yeah, so we’ve talked about you could stop the play, you could let it roll. We just talked about giving cues. I think the other important part of this, it kind of will lead into the next thing I want to talk to you about, but asking them questions, ask them rather than tell them. I realized there’s a book, you I talked about this a little bit last time.
It’s not even football. It’s the inner game of tennis, right?
Joel Beard (14:16)
Right, right.
Keith Grabowski (14:17)
And, you know, as coaches, we get pretty good at seeing things. We watch so much film. can see things in live time that players of the common eye can’t see. And we almost get into this sense of being a commentator and just constantly giving feedback and feedback and feedback and feedback and feedback. Right. But what’s more powerful than just doing that?
is being able to ask them questions too. you know, what I mentioned for my quarterback, you know, with the stopwatch, I would ask him, you know, would you throw that in, right? Obviously there’s more there. If you, what are the questions you seem to ask and focus on that really help these guys progress and develop?
Joel Beard (15:01)
Well, I try to
make it a conversation as much as possible so that they’re always processing something. So from each play, I try to walk through that play with him, you know, so I’m looking at the same things he should be looking at so that we can have that conversation. So if he strays one way or the other…
Hey, what did you see? This is what I saw and we can have that conversation and talk about it. Because one thing about quarterbacks, they remember specific plays. They know what they were thinking. They know when they were thinking and why they threw that ball here or why they made that decision. So we’re really big on making sure we’re getting through. And if a kid is
taking two or three reps at a time and then we rotate out. If it’s really something I really need to talk to him right then and there, I’ll sub another quarterback in real quick and pull him out after that one play, talk through it and kind of get an idea of where he’s at, see where we can troubleshoot or whatever it may be. Look at the script and see if that helps so he can get a picture of it standing behind without being behind the center. But standing right here with me and getting a different…
Point of view, you know, I like to have the other guys if we have two or three quarterbacks to stand behind So that they can see it from a different point of view. They should be looking at signals Understand it. So when you’re getting a mental rep not always the physical rep when they’re behind center, you know, so
That’s another way that we just communicate. We try to keep everything as a conversation, even in the meeting room. They’re the ones making the decisions. They’re the one behind the center. So it’s, I feel is my job to make sure that we adapt to them and their strengths. And every quarterback is different. You know, every quarterback is going to see. So if one says one thing, I’m going to ask the next one. Well, what did you see? Well, what did you see? And everybody has their opinion. So they understand like, you know, whatever you decide,
Be all in on it. Don’t second guess it. Be all in on it. Follow through with it and make it happen. And I always tell them, if the play wasn’t great or whatever, it’s not your fault. It’s always my fault. I’ll give you a different call. I’ll put you in a different situation. Or I’ll ask them, what do you think? What do you think we should call there instead? Or what’s a different tag? What’s a different RPO we can do to get you out of trouble if they’re giving you that kind of look? So that it’s more of a, we’re processing all the time.
instead of me telling them what it is or what they should have done, we’re processing so that the next time they can make a better decision or see things a little bit clearly.
Keith Grabowski (17:41)
And thinking, especially of quarterbacks, I I think though this could be really any position, right? The whole idea and the premise in the intergame of tennis is that there’s these two selves. Everybody has two selves. You have a self one and a self two, and the self one is very judgmental, correcting this overthinking voice. So here’s one thing.
And all of a sudden that’s all his mind is on and focused and it takes away from his performance. It actually gets him bogged down and the performance becomes worse. And then that inner voice just starts piling on himself. And then the other is the natural performer. And, you know, when we get to a game day, we certainly want that natural performer. I think when I look at my process, at least for how I’ve developed quarterbacks over time, I mean, there was always some daily mechanic stuff that we would work on and that
That would be the only area where I would really even coach those things as we would get into performing. Try to teach them to self-correct. Try to get them to understand that, if the ball’s high or low or the ball’s wobbling, these are the things that could fix it. You’re off target. Let’s check
Joel Beard (18:56)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (18:57)
your footwork for this. But after that…
It’s kind of like you got to let them get out there and perform. You can’t get in the way of that. What’s been your approach of that side of things in developing your quarterbacks?
Joel Beard (19:10)
Well,
I think what we do is along those lines a little bit, you know.
If they’re struggling with accuracy or anything like that, we always go to the mechanics of the throw. know, but I always try to get them to and that goes for a whole offense is every play is his own story. You know, every play is his own story. So whatever happened last play doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen on the next play. So we have to be ready, locked in from play to play and execute the best that we can on this play. The best example I can give, I know it happened in spring ball. We call an RPO.
The pulls the ball, throws a glance around, and guy scores. So then the very next play, we call an RPO to the other side, and he automatically pulls it thinking it’s the same thing that’s going to happen again. Like, no, each play is different. And understanding that process, flush whatever happened, good or bad. that comes with the territory of the quarterback because you’re always going to get too much glory or too much blame. And if you get caught up into
those things you can’t play play next play next play next play you know what is what are we need to do whether you threw the ball in the dirt or you hit him in stride and he a big explosive play we got to play the next play so what is it you know and move on mentally and not stay in the past you know so we emphasize that a ton and we use those opportunities in practice to pull aside to say hey like hey you’re struggling right now so what are we going to do you know how are we
going to refocus, get ourselves back. You know, and I’m always searching for each individual quarterback, which button do I need to press for them to get them to reset and get them back on track? You know, so is that some guys I got to really raise the voice and get a little bit more firm with them. Some I got to just love up. You know, that’s that just comes with the relationship you have with your quarterbacks. And I think that’s important to understand who they are personality wise, who they are as a quarterback and what buttons do
I need to press to get them to reset or get them going or in just learning who they are because once they get back there they have to be comfortable they have to be full confident in what they’re doing not only themselves but the the other ten guys that are out there have to believe in them too so if I’m ripping him down or not showing any confidence that he can get it done it’s gonna be tough for the other ten to have confidence in them well as well so and that means you’re gonna struggle offensively so
I’m always trying to give them just a little bit of grace to be who they are and allow them to make those mistakes and learn from practice and then try to show them on film, try to talk to them right then and there if we can, anyway, just so that it sticks with them. Because a lot of the kids are visual learners anyways and it’s tough for them to understand verbally what you’re saying. So if you could show it to them, it’s that much better.
Keith Grabowski (22:15)
Yeah, I think going back to some of the things we said before, Coach Wiley, I hear him say it all the time. Always tells me or I’ll hear him telling another coach or I’ll hear it at the cool clinic, which was this past week. But sometimes what you don’t tell them is as important as what you do tell them. Meaning that you
Joel Beard (22:34)
Right. Right.
Keith Grabowski (22:36)
have to have a little bit of a filter too,
Joel Beard (22:38)
Ryan.
Keith Grabowski (22:39)
right? And knowing what that guy can take, knowing what is gonna overwhelm him.
confuse him, think that he has to carry the checklist of things to do into a next play.
Joel Beard (22:51)
Right.
I think it’s important too, especially as a coordinator, that you understand what are his strengths, you know, and adapt your system or your play calling to him so that he can be confident that way. You know, I think that’s huge, you know, and understanding the quarterback, how he operates, and what’s going to get him in trouble.
You know, like I said, each quarterback’s different. You know, you got six guys at the quarterback spot, you got to know six different people, you know, and understand that they’re not going to fit into this box. And if they are, then, you know, more power to you. That’s great recruiting. You know, if you can get the same guy, you know, personality wise and all that to where you can be as consistent and do the same things from year in and year out and play to play. But with us, we have, I mean, the four year, three,
years that I’ve been here, we played two or three different quarterbacks and we always have to adjust to who we are. My first year we had three quarterbacks and they were bowing out. We didn’t know who was going to start. One guy pulled ahead and but then the last game of the year he tore his ACL. So the next guy had to come in and we had to win a national championship with him. And that was…
That was, it was tough, but we just had to adjust because there were two different quarterbacks, totally two different total quarterbacks. This past year we had a quarterback return. He’s coming off a 3000 yard season, and then another quarter was a redshirt freshman. He’s going into his first year, extremely athletic, able to do a lot of different things, but they were two different quarterbacks.
And we were able to make that work and figure out how we can play both quarterbacks, how we can even put them on the field at the same time without changing our whole system, without changing all of this and all that. it worked for us. It took us a little bit, but it worked for us. And I think both quarterbacks benefited from that. But I think the system that you’re running for your kids is important that you’re able to adapt to them. And you’re able to figure out what
what they do well within your system and then accident. It might be different from year to year, but I think that’s a huge part in quarterback development is doing what they are able to do. And on on the other side of that, trying to improve their areas, of where their areas of improvement they need to get better. You’re trying to do that as well. But if you need a kid that could play right away, which we always do at DuPage, you gotta be just, be able to be adaptable,
flexible, multiple, and doing things like that without affecting the other ten guys on the field.
Keith Grabowski (25:39)
Yeah. How do you go about, you you talked about a quarterback’s confidence. How do you go about finding out what he’s confident in, both early in the week and then obviously before you put it on your call sheet?
Joel Beard (25:51)
Well, usually, if we’re talking about in a game week, usually I have a pretty good idea of what they’re really confident about, comfortable with.
They also give me six to 10 plays that they really like. know, and they’re usually just a concept based, you know. So our system is, I mean, we run a few concepts and we don’t really deviate from those a whole lot. You know, so you really get an idea from day one what they really like, you know, what’s really good for them just by the way they approach the play from week to week, from play to play, practice to practice, you know. So you have a pretty good idea of what they feel comfortable with.
you know so but they do give me an idea of what they really like i share the playlist with them they go through it they look at it and and we’re set up a little bit differently to where a lot of the things that we do are not necessarily face to face you know we meet early in the morning at 5 45 in the morning so we have to have our we get our installed to our kids the night before so they can get an idea of what’s going on
They get a couple clips they can look at it have an idea So when they come in the morning coaches are ready to go as not necessarily installing going over it But answering any questions so that they can see it, you know, and I think that that helps So what that means is when we get into a game week Everything’s in this spreadsheet is Excel spreadsheet and I just share it out to them and they’re able to have every single play that we have on our playlist, know, and They can go through coach. I like this this this this and that okay
perfect. Like I said, we have two or three different quarterbacks that we could possibly play in the game. So each one of them gives me their list, you know, and I make sure I have a section where I at least write it down where it’s right next to the call sheet.
kick comes in and he’s into the game and it’s his first couple plays I mean they’re probably coming off his list you know like you really like this all right we’re gonna get you started with this and get you some rhythm and I like to talk to them in between series to get them and I give an idea of what I’m thinking let me know what they’re thinking and then we come up with a plan at least for the first couple plays this is what we’re gonna do all right cool you know they feel confident about it they can ask a question about
they can do whatever. So we’re again it’s always a conversation with us you know and it’s always open and I’m always listening to them for ideas and if they fit I have no problem implementing what they see you know because they’re the ones out there playing.
Keith Grabowski (28:33)
Right. Yeah. Important to know what they feel good about, especially when you’re working with multiple guys. I mean, I think, you know, I’m going to have a senior and I’m going to have a sophomore. And that sophomore could end up the starter. You know, he’s one snap away. I better know what he’s comfortable with when his first time is under the lights.
Joel Beard (28:50)
Once you’re done. Right, right, right, right
then and there, you better know, you know, because it could be second quarter and his third down and he’s got to come in and I don’t know what you’re running, but he might have to throw, throw shallow. Here we go. You better be able to read it, you know, so yeah,
Keith Grabowski (29:08)
Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Beard (29:09)
it’s good stuff.
Keith Grabowski (29:11)
So Joe and I talked, know, Joe’s an assistant on the College of DuPage staff, an offensive assistant. And we talked about go route and some of the neat things that he’s done, used it for over times. you know, running an efficient practice, your ability to get through the reps you need and get everybody trained up. A lot of it has to do with your operations of practice and how clean they can be. For you, how big has the tool been for you to
Do the things you need to get done. And again, be efficient. You guys are working early in the morning.
Joel Beard (29:46)
You’re right.
Keith Grabowski (29:47)
Not always, you gotta wake them up a little bit. I’ve done those practices before, but the thing with the morning, there is a hard stop, because everybody’s gotta get to class, or to the next thing that they, your assistant’s going to work, right? So,
Joel Beard (30:00)
lifting, whatever, 100%, right?
Keith Grabowski (30:05)
yeah.
Joel Beard (30:06)
Right. So the Go route has worked for us multiple ways, you know.
It all depends on for us offensively. Sometimes we’ve done some other things outside of go route and just to tinker with things. But I know defensively we’ve always used goal route and it’s very, very efficient, you know, and it allows and it’s great because sometimes I’ve had to jump in with the scout team, you know, and I can get with our quarterback because you don’t always see the guys that are redshirt and it’s like, okay, well I get to work with them. You know, I see what the play is right then and
and I can get the next quarterback ready to go in an efficient amount of time for when he comes up he knows exactly what to do and I can almost sometimes put it in our
in our terminology, which is great too. can see him. Hey, let’s run. is zone read to the right. All right. Let’s read this guy, blah, blah, and give him those, those cues that we’re talking about that he can look for that he doesn’t
Keith Grabowski (31:06)
Right.
Joel Beard (31:07)
always get reps on. But here’s an opportunity for him to get a rep. And that’s why I like go route is because it allows the kids to still play fast. And I think it’s hard for them to translate from a car to get lined up and understand the spacing of it and this and that. So we’ve tried a couple of different ways.
One way was the goal route, which has been great for us. And in some days we just let them just play. We let them just line up in our defense and our terminology, try to get them to wherever they need to be. And then just let them play naturally, because that gives our offense an opportunity to just.
read and react and play fast, you and I think that our best practices have been when those guys are flying around on defense or they’re flying around on offense and they feel very, very comfortable with what they’re doing, you know, so by the middle of the week, end of the week, you know, the go route, those kids already know what was coming and they’re just ready to roll, you know, and they have, we have some good end of the week practices, those Thursday practice where you’re going through situations and you’re going through the final
parts of the the game plan and you’re getting at least a very fast look from your from your prep teams and I think that’s huge and go routes a direct reflection of that will do
Keith Grabowski (32:26)
Yeah.
Joel Beard (32:26)
that
Keith Grabowski (32:27)
Yeah, I was able to use go route in the last year that I coached. And two things you pointed out there, one, and I’ve heard this with, you know, doing season one of the art of practice and talking to lot of coaches who use go route is that your time isn’t spent in the whole rigor moral of you’re this guy, you’re this guy,
Joel Beard (32:47)
Yeah, yeah.
Keith Grabowski (32:48)
you go here, you go here.
because everybody’s looking at one eight and a half by 11 card, know, it’s too close. You can see it.
Joel Beard (32:52)
Right
Keith Grabowski (32:54)
You could even put notes on it that are individual.
Joel Beard (32:56)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (32:57)
What you said there though is I get a chance to coach my guys up. And that’s what I found in addition to making your practice run smoother is
Joel Beard (33:04)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (33:05)
like you as the coach get away from the being the card guy and
Joel Beard (33:09)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (33:09)
get back to going to coach and develop that redshirt
Joel Beard (33:11)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (33:12)
freshman or if you’re in high school, you know, your sophomore, QB, whoever it might be.
Joel Beard (33:16)
Yeah,
yeah, and I think that’s awesome because there’s times where, especially as small high school or anything like that, where your defensive coaches are going to have to coach up the JV team. And that’s also your scout team, you know, but now instead of holding a card, you can actually coach them up and maybe use some terminology that you’re using. So it becomes an active route or an active rep for your own scout team, you know, and I think that’s huge. You know, I think that’s huge in the development
of any football player being able to be engaged with the terminology, but also have an opportunity to, even if I’m on the scout team or if I’m on the freshman team, the JV team, doesn’t really matter. I’m getting a rep within the scheme and then the terminology that we’re using.
Keith Grabowski (34:07)
The other thing you mentioned is those end of the week practices. And for me, was always, you know, we’d have the two working days, that third day was going to be, and I’m not talking like the walkthrough day before the game, this is two before. So a
Joel Beard (34:19)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (34:19)
Thursday for college like was simulated drives, right? Like we
Joel Beard (34:22)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (34:23)
would do, we had, cut down individual, sometimes didn’t do it at all, got into, did a little seven on seven to warm up. And then we just, you know, go simulated drives down the field. What’s nice is,
being able to give those the exact feel of what it’s like on game day rather than having a guy running in with
Joel Beard (34:39)
Right. Right.
Keith Grabowski (34:41)
cards, stopping the play, waiting for him to get out.
Joel Beard (34:44)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (34:44)
It does keep it moving efficiently when you want to do that and really give
Joel Beard (34:47)
Yeah.
Keith Grabowski (34:47)
the feel of this is what it’s going to be like.
Joel Beard (34:49)
Right.
And if you’re a tempo team, especially offensively, I mean, you can really practice your tempo on an everyday basis, you know, which is what we are, you know. So if you’re a tempo team and the defense has to look at a card, well, that slows your tempo down.
You know, I mean, it’s going to slow it way down, but if they’re able to line up real quick, boom, it’s on there. can look on their screen. Here they go. Line up. Boom here and just keep going. I think that that is really making for an efficient off or efficient practice and getting a lot of reps in and what you’re doing in preparation for the game. So not having the coach run in, you know, and then if you, mean, I’m not young, so if I’m running the scout cards, I’m not necessarily running in. might get a little
slight jog in there, you know what mean? Or they gotta run to me or something like that, you know, but
Yeah, so that could really slow slow to practice down as well I mean I would think that would be more detrimental to practice in my opinion than stopping it to correct a play, you know, it’s like It never
Keith Grabowski (35:53)
And no doubt.
Joel Beard (35:53)
happens in the game, you know, so it’s like let’s let’s try to get this as close to game reps and game speed as possible Even if it’s monday tuesday wednesday or thursday, it doesn’t really matter. You know, let’s we got limited time, you know, so If you got 90 minutes to practice or whatever 120 minutes you better you value
value
every single minute of it and make sure it’s efficient.
Keith Grabowski (36:18)
So to wrap up, I do want to come back around to what is truly unique with what you’re doing. Joe and I talked about him being the chief operating officer of GoRoute and a college football coach. And part of what made this possible was the morning practices that you guys do. For you, that means the day is getting done earlier. And now you have the opportunity to go out and be the head football coach of a high school. So you know.
How are you looking at how I’m gonna do all this? Put that on my plate. I’m a full-time coach, college coach. I’m a high school coach.
Joel Beard (36:56)
Yeah.
Keith Grabowski (36:56)
I’m gonna make this work. And you mentioned you got some kids too that you gotta take care of at home and all those other things, right? It’s not
Joel Beard (37:02)
Right. Right.
Keith Grabowski (37:05)
like Joel’s the single guy who could just coach football all day long. That’s not the case.
Joel Beard (37:08)
Right,
Yeah, I wish that was the case, but it’s not, you know.
Keith Grabowski (37:13)
You
Joel Beard (37:14)
Yeah, I got I got two kids 16 and 13 and.
Being a full-time coach and having that lifestyle in the house, you know, was tough on them when they were younger. So I missed a whole lot. So I’ve stepped away from that and, you know, struck on some other adventures in life. And this is an opportunity that just kind of, you know, wasn’t seeking this opportunity or anything like that. It just kind of happened, you know, we’re fortunate to do some things in the morning. We’ve gotten pretty efficient with our
Operations offensively as a staff at DuPage, so I felt comfortable possibly taking this on So I once I’ll leave the page I’ll come home get ready for boiling the high school job and and You know, I’m really excited about it to be honest with you. I’m excited about it, you know, cuz I’m
I’m seeing it from two different worlds. I’m able to bring something from the high school to the junior college or junior college to the high school, whichever one, you know, I’m learning so much right now about myself as a coach, but also just having the different roles. learning. I’m loving the learning process right now and looking forward to the fall and being.
you know, and living that. both of my kids are fall sport athletes. My son plays soccer, my daughter plays volleyball. you know, we, I’m huge in the practice efficiency. So if we start practice at four o’clock, I’m expecting to be done by five 30, you know, so that I can make my daughter’s volleyball game. That is like a mission of mine. I’m not going to miss any more of those things as a dad, just because I coached football, you know? so I want to be in my son’s soccer game. I want,
be at my daughter’s volleyball game. I want to be able to have dinner with them, you know, and all those aspects of it. So this still allows me to do that, to be a husband, to be a dad, but also, you know, I might not have as much free time to go do whatever, you know, but I’d rather put it into…
the high school job at Boylan High School in DuPage and my family. that’ll be my life for here starting here in a couple of weeks. You know, that’ll be what I’m doing, you know, and I’m excited about it, you know. So, yeah, looking forward to it. Great, great administrations at both institutions, organizations allow me to do it, you know, no issues there and actually a lot of support from my wife, you know, which is huge because she has
to buy into it as well and my kids aren’t that happy about it because I’m at a high school that is in their conference you know and they don’t like that very much but it is what it is we’ll figure
Keith Grabowski (40:08)
Yeah.
Joel Beard (40:09)
it out that week when we play which bleachers they’re sitting in you know so I’m
Keith Grabowski (40:14)
you
Joel Beard (40:14)
pretty sure they will not be sitting in mine so we’ll be okay but yeah other than that we’re I’m excited you know no need to hold
Fanfare
or anything like that is just I’m just trying to coach football help some young guys learn football I Love what we do at DuPage as far as development and helping kids get to the next level at the four-year level I’m excited to do the same thing at the high school level to seeing it from a different angle and helping them get to the college level and using the same resources that I have at DuPage or Anywhere else that I’ve developed over time to help them get to reach their dreams so I get excited
excited about that, you know, about watching guys work hard, earn opportunities, and then being able to be in a position to take advantage of those opportunities, you know, and if I can help them along that way, then I’m all for it. So if that means I get to coach at two places, then great, you know, but a lot of us are already coaching at two places. They’re just not, you know, we probably coach our kids youth baseball team too during the season, you know, so we’re all doing something, you know, and
just happen to fall into this.
Keith Grabowski (41:28)
Yeah, well, I think it’s really cool. mean, appreciate your passion for the game that this is, this is something you’re fueled by, right? I could tell that it’s not going to be something that drains you. And, you know, as you’ve talked about, I mean, you’re doubling your impact, right?
Joel Beard (41:42)
Right.
Keith Grabowski (41:42)
On, on young people. That’s a great opportunity, a great responsibility. We’re, definitely going to be following you and, and seeing what you’re doing, but I appreciate you taking the time, sharing your stories, sharing your methods at the College of DuPage and
just want to wish you the best of luck in both endeavors.
Joel Beard (42:00)
Well, coach, I appreciate it, but I’m gonna wish you good luck too. know, 10 years out, you’re coming back in, you know, hey, that is gonna be fun. I know you’re gonna love it. So I gotta follow you as well. So yeah, that’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be fun. And I’m looking forward to the fall and, you know, seeing what we can do.