Coaches don’t hear the band play at halftime

Published 4:00 pm Monday, September 30, 2024

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Saturday Tracey and I went to the ECU game and today my article is about halftime during a football game. What happens at halftime during college football games? Everyone enjoys the band! But, what actually happens during halftime? I was there for 14 years and an untold number of halftime breaks.

The coaches up in the press box start to make their run to the locker room usually with one minute to go before halftime. They then go into rooms with the other coaches. That is why they have to run. The other coaches have been on the sidelines with the players and they can’t see that well from the sidelines.

They divide into offensive and defensive and the press box coaches begin to tell them what they saw. Usually offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators hear them first. They get the best view in the stadium from the press box. The coaches confer for a few minutes, then break up and go meet with their respective position players. The line coach talks to the linemen, the receivers coach talks to the receivers and so on.

After just a few minutes in the locker room, they get ready to run back upstairs to the press box where they can see the field the best. They have headsets so they communicate with the other coaches down on the field to feed them valuable information so the right plays are called. They don’t listen to the band play!

I always said that if a team made the right adjustments at halftime, they would win the game and I still believe that is true!

Now you know what goes on during halftime at a football game. Players prepare for the adjustments based on what the press box coaches saw during the first half.

They are the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C. The Original Washington!

Harold Jr.