Creating Competition In Your Summer Program
As coaches, we always talk about how we want our guys to constantly compete. I am a firm believer that the best way to do this at the high school level is to encourage your athletes to participate in multiple…
Ideas to Test in Spring Practice
Spring practice is a time for coaches to develop their players in every way without the pressure of real games. Most importantly, the fundamentals (blocking and tackling) of the game have the opportunity to be retaught and emphasized while creating…
Weekly Preparation
Sometimes it feels like there can never be enough time in the week to properly prepare your offense for the upcoming opponent. With game tape exchanges made easier through internet trading, our conference like many others has opted to exchange…
Outlining Your Summer Program
Developing a solid outline for your summer program is the foundation upon which your program should be built. These are the questions that have to be answered in order to develop a great outline: 1) How many weeks? We have…
An Effective Pre-Practice Routine For Skill Players
With all the activities a coach is responsible for, it helps to have an established pre-practice routine to keep practices run smoothly. We have ascribed to the philosophy of warming up through the use of low impact football specific drills…
Coaching the Gap-Exchange vs. the Zone Read
In these modern times, the zone read has become one of the most heavily discussed plays in football. Many collegiate and high school offenses are built around it as their base offensive play, while many other systems have incorporated it…
Organizing Your Notes From “Clinic Season”
It’s clinic season and whatever clinics you go to, schools you visit, coaches you talk to or magazine articles you read, you are sure to have a bunch of notes on new ideas and new thoughts for your defense whether…
Maintaining Motivation in the Off-season
This time of year, one of my primary concerns is keeping a team motivated. It is especially difficult because we aren’t allowed to be present while they’re over doing their thing with the strength staff. How do we keep a…
A Tribute to a Young Coach
Frank DiCocco was a frequent contributor to both American Football Monthly and Gridiron Strategies. He primarily wrote about defense, and, more specifically, the 4-2-5 defense. Both a high school and college coach, Frank tragically passed away last spring at 29…
Remembering 16 mm Film and Those Gold Helmets
Of all the coaches who have influenced me in my lifetime, without a doubt the coach that had the biggest impact was never my coach, but he is my dad. My dad is John Buchanan and I continue to look…