A Winning Formula

In my 3rd year coaching, I was on my way out to the field with an older, veteran coach. He was the current d-line coach and I was still very new to learning about the line on both sides of the ball.
"How do you decide which drills you're going to run each day, Coach?" I asked. I'm sure I was really just looking to make conversation, though I'd like to say I was always such an avid student of the game. But for some reason I have always remembered his response.
"Oh I just wait till (defensive) individual time rolls around and decide on the fly. I always work better that way." At that time I remember thinking, 'That can't be the best way.' And as each year passes, that former opinion has now become glaring fact.
No plan? Every human works better with a plan. You mean to tell me that you can't think of a better way to use time when given 20 minutes to think about it than when you're given 20 seconds? You don't seem to be giving yourself much credit.
Just last night I stumbled across an incredible website and was glued for a solid hour. The site? Personal Development TV. It started with a quick video of the famous Tony Robbins. Man, that guy can motivate. And it ended with an old man behind a desk in the 50's, Napoleon Hill. But let me tell you about my favorite for the evening.
The speaker said, "If I were to ask each one of you what 3 x 3 is, all of you could immediately shout out the answer, but if I asked you what is 5,128 x 2,165 odds are enourmous that not many of you could tell me the answer. But if I was to give each of you a pencil and paper, in a few moments all of you could tell me that answer. Why? Because you know the formula." It was a man named Zig Ziglar speaking. Turns out... he's pretty good. See the whole clip here: http://www.personal-development-tv.com/videos/zig-ziglar
I believe whole-heartedly that there is a formula for winning football games. We all know that football is not all about X's and O's. But do we all know that the rest is not just guess work? There IS a list of best practices for coaching football. It is up to each of us as coaches to find that list. I've got a pretty good list myself, but I know for a fact it's unfinished.