TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Kane Wommack is busy implementing his new “Swarm D” philosophy at Alabama. However, that’s not the only coaching concept the first-year defensive coordinator is carrying over to Tuscaloosa.
Wednesday, Wommack revealed that Alabama’s defenders will also participate in “accountability circles,” a post-practice ritual designed to hold players accountable and ensure they give max effort during workouts.
The exercise involves coaches rewatching practices and charting every time a player fails to meet the expected standard of effort. Those slip-ups are called “loafs” and result in punishment following the next day’s practice.
However, there is room for redemption. Throughout practice, coaches also chart plays such as pass breakups, sacks and takeaways. Those count as “negative loafs” and subtract from the previous day’s total.
Once the sum of loafs and negative loafs is accumulated at the end of practice, each player takes a turn in the middle of the accountability circle to atone for their mistakes. The offending player isn’t the one who is punished but rather his teammates, as he watches them pay the price of his wrongdoings.
“You have to stand there and watch your teammates pay for the things you didn’t do to meet the standard,” Wommack explained. “There’s real accountability in that, and I think we’ll see significant improvement from Day 1 to Day 2.”
Wommack said he learned the ritual while playing college ball under Larry Fedora, at Southern Miss from 2007-09. During his time as South Alabama’s head coach for the past three seasons, Wommack even had his whole team take part in the exercise.
Alabama has only gone through a pair of practices since it opened spring camp this week, so it will take a while to see how accountability circles set in with Crimson Tide players. However, Wommack is encouraged by the mentality of his unit as it gets used to the new staff.
“I think guys are buying into what we’re doing,” Wommack said during a radio interview on Tide 100.9’s ‘The Game with Ryan Fowler’ on Thursday. “I think trust is something that has to be earned on both sides. We’re still getting to know each other across the board, players to players coaches to coaches, players to coaches, so on and so forth. But I will say that our players have come in with a mentality of trust, excitement and some level of buy-in.
“We all see a vision. Coach [Kalen] DeBoer has created a vision for what he wants this program to become, and he’s cast that vision. Our job is to be relentless in the details it takes to accomplish that vision. And it seems like our players are really excited about working toward that vision day in and day out.”
