ConVal staff veers toward Yeoman
Note: The following story was submitted by ConVal head coach Greg Leonard following a meeting with former University of Houston coach Bill Yeoman. Yeoman (left) and Leonard are pictured above.
Just about everyone who coaches, plays or watches the game of football has heroes in the game. Often they are players, but sometimes they're coaches. Some of those coaches become legends, like Red Blaik, Vince Lombardi, Knute Rockne, Tom Osborne, Joe Paterno and Bud Wilkinson. I think many of us would love to spend time with one of our coaching heroes and pick his brain for a few hours, draw up some x's and o's, or review some film. Some of us see those dreams become a reality.
On July 13, Kern Klaflin, an assistant coach on the ConVal staff, and I spent four hours on a porch at the Woodstock (Vt.) Inn and Resort with College Hall of Fame coach Bill Yeoman. Coach Yeoman has a storied football past, playing for the likes of Blaik at West Point, which had an assistant coach by the name of Lombardi. Yeoman also spent seven years on Duffy Daugherty's staff at Michigan State as a defensive backs coach, but his real claim to fame came when he took over the football program at the University of Houston in 1961 and coached there until 1986.
Yeoman still works at the University of Houston in the fundraising office. His teams won the Cotton Bowl four times during his tenure, but one of his greatest contributions to football was the Houston Veer Offense, which is also known as the split-back veer. It's a triple-option offense that gives the quarterback three options on each play - he can hand the ball off to the dive back, keep the ball for himself or pitch the ball to a trailing halfback.
I installed the Houston Veer two years ago at ConVal, but only after extensive research and drawing on the coaching staff's knowledge from the days when we ran the wishbone. But like any offensive system, we have had to work out some wrinkles and there are plenty more to smooth out. Part of the refining process means finding out how other coaches have made the adjustments in the past. This process brought me to the University of Houston web site, where I found out that Coach Yeoman still had an office at the school. This spring I called the football office in hopes of contacting Coach Yeoman, and they graciously gave me his office number, but he was enjoying some time on the golf links. The next day he called me at home and after many phone conversations and in short order I was invited to meet with him while he vacationed in Woodstock, Vt.
In our meeting we covered a lot of ground with Coach Yeoman and it became quite evident early on that despite everyone's claim that the triple option is too complicated to run, just the opposite is true.The University of Houston beat the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Florida, Ole Miss and Florida State with about 10 plays. Houston attacked teams with the inside veer, outside veer, counter option, trap option and the complimentary play-action passes to those plays - that was it. Their opponents knew what they were going to run, but they couldn't stop them. It was the principle of "KISS" (keep it simple stupid) that ruled everything that Coach Yeoman did in installing his offense. He had to, because the biggest and fastest players seemed to always go to the University of Texas. He took those players who were overlooked because scouts thought they were too small or slow. He had to instill a measure of confidence in his players and he accomplished that by simplifying the responsibilities of the players at every position, including the quarterback. It allowed them to apply their knowledge to new challenges even when that challenge was playing against a player who was bigger and stronger. A perfectly executed option is a beautiful thing to see, but seeing an offensive lineman bowling over a huge defensive tackle is a sight all coaches relish.
As much as he was proud of his "smaller and slower" players, Yeoman may have been prouder of the other players who were overlooked by the big southern school, those who were considered to have the wrong pigment to their skin. He was the first to integrate his football team among the schools in the deep south. Of course he was proud of his African American players' many accomplishments on the football field, but he spent just as much time talking about their achievements after their playing days ended.
We spent a lot of time putting the x's and o's on a pad of paper and reviewing film and hearing of his fondness of his many players. It was an inspiring four hours of talking about the great game of football with a legend of the game. All it took was a simple phone call to pick the brain of someone with the stature of Bill Yeoman. Maybe our next call will be to Joe Paterno to determine how to mold the finest linebackers year after year!
