Northwest Missouri Wins D-II Championship
By Bob Still The radio was blasting what turned out to be a prophetic weather alert for the NCAA Division II Football Championship in Kansas City, Kansas on December 17. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Let It Snow” played over…
Beyond the Scoreboard: What Football Means to Me—Win or Lose
I…CAN Handle the Truth After taking the season off from coaching football, I anxiously showed up to winter baseball workouts ready to roll. The reflections on relationships, especially with my son, afforded by a season-long retreat were rewarding, but the…
Excerpt from: View from the O-Line: Mushroom Gardeners
BILL“TIGER” JOHNSON had a huge influence on my career as a player and a coach. Tiger was my first line coach in the NFL. He would go on to become the Cincinnati Bengals head coach. He was an intellectual who…
The Good Athlete Project
Jim Davis, Ed.M., MA, USAW The Good Athlete Project is an international education consulting foundation (501c3) shining a light on how athletics and physical education develop character and social emotional learning. Our team of experts travels the world conducting…
Beyond the Scoreboard: What Football Means to Me—Win or Lose
Happy Holidays The Wednesday before Thanksgiving one of my good coaching buddies shot me a text. It said, “Hey, if Nathan wins Friday he will be in the MAC Championship and we should go!” I politely texted him back…
Finding Something Positive…. at Notre Dame
In the fall of 2011, our Mason County Royals finished the season at 2-8, on October 21st. Forget about Thanksgiving Day practice… we didn’t even make it to Halloween. It was depressing. John Combs had just completed his freshman…
Exit Interviews
I try to have exit interviews with every player at the end of the season. I ask all of them four questions: 1- What did you like about playing football here? 2- What did you not like about playing…
A Great Gift & Shooting the Elephant in the Room
This past Thursday at our football banquet, Gabby Banks & Morgan Reed gave me one of the nicest gifts I’ve ever received at the end of the season. It was an engraved, framed picture from their appearance on the Scholastic…
Lou Holtz on Pre-Game Meeting with Officials, what should you say?
Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz answers his second question as sent to him from an AFM subscriber. Today, Coach Holtz lists a total of 15 items that should be discussed with the game referee before kickoff. Question from Pete…
Sprint-Out Protection Scheme and Techniques
By Ken Wilmesherr, Offensive Line Coach Grossmont College Sprint-out protection is used when the quarterback is breaking contain and sprinting out of the pocket to the left or the right. Depending on the defensive structure, sprint-out protection can be a…