{"id":12118,"date":"2025-10-27T22:49:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coachandcoordinator.com\/?p=12118"},"modified":"2025-11-03T22:50:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T22:50:35","slug":"defensive-teaching-football-theory-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coachandcoordinator.com\/?p=12118","title":{"rendered":"Game Planning Tips: Teaching and Building Defense Through Theory Z and the Learning Pyramid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Preston Hadley | Defensive Coordinator, Northern Colorado<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presented by Lauren\u2019s First and Goal Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coaching as Collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For Preston Hadley, defensive teaching football begins with how you teach, not just what you teach. Building a great defense starts with a shared learning process. His approach blends modern learning science with old-school football fundamentals. He calls it Theory Z coaching \u2014 an idea rooted in collaboration between the teacher and the learner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou collaborate with the people who are actually doing the work \u2014 the players. Ask for their feedback. If a technique isn\u2019t fitting them, find out why and work together to adjust it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hadley believes that when players feel ownership in how they learn and execute, their buy-in and retention skyrocket. It\u2019s no different from a business that asks its workers for insight on how to improve production. The people closest to the process often hold the best answers \u2014 and in defensive teaching football, that means the players who live the calls, leverage, and matchups every snap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This collaborative mindset sets the tone for everything in Hadley\u2019s football defensive teaching system \u2014 a model that encourages communication, problem-solving, and shared accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Learning Pyramid<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hadley grounds his staff\u2019s defensive football teaching in the Learning Pyramid, a research-based model showing how people retain information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Lecture:<\/strong> ~5 % retention<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Reading:<\/strong> ~10 %<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Demonstration:<\/strong> ~30 %<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Discussion:<\/strong> ~50 %<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Practice by Doing:<\/strong> ~75 %<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Teaching Others:<\/strong> ~90 %<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWhat I\u2019m doing right now \u2014 lecturing \u2014 is the least effective form of learning. Players retain the most when they teach each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To maximize that, Hadley builds peer-to-peer learning into every practice and meeting. Older players coach younger ones, reinforcing their own understanding while spreading knowledge through the room. This approach reflects the foundation of defensive teaching football \u2014 where learning through teaching creates smarter, more confident defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Learning becomes a shared process, not a one-way transfer of information, and it reinforces Hadley\u2019s belief that great defense starts with great teachers on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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