Football Technology: Innovations for Coaches & Programs
Technology is rapidly transforming every aspect of American football, from how coaches prepare and strategize to how players train and perform. Staying current with the latest technological advancements is crucial for programs seeking a competitive edge in recruiting, player development, game planning, and operational efficiency.
This page compiles American Football Monthly's articles dedicated to exploring the cutting edge of Football Technology. Here, you'll find insights, reviews, and practical advice on the tools and trends shaping the modern game, helping coaches and administrators make informed decisions about implementing new tech.
Discover information covering a wide range of technological applications in football, including:
IntroductionTime is a football coach’s most precious commodity. Most coaches at the high school and youth levels are challenged with limitations (such as player talent and perhaps a limited number of experienced coaches); but all teams are limited by time. Even the best coaches believe there simply isn’t enough time to fully teach, install and rep all phases of the game to all players. The Double Gun offense is unique because it offers such a wide variety of options wit
Post- Season Priorities - Wrapping up one season and transitioning to the next are critical times for successful programs
When your season ends, do you kick back, relax and get away from the game for a couple months? Of course not. Whether it’s formulating and implementing an off-season strength and conditioning program, ushering in a new group of players and preparing them for the following season or putting together motivational exercises, every successful coach knows that winter presents an opportunity for physical and mental team building.To find out how the best coaches approach the post season
Building Character and Commitment Through Community Service
By Dan Kratzer, Former Head Coach South Dakota School of Mines and Technology In season community service is part of every freshman’s commitment to the school. We let them know from the start that part of the responsibility in this world is to not always think of themselves, but to think and do for others. As the majority of our players are either math, science o0r engineering majors, they have a tendency to be somewhat introverted. So, we wanted to do something that
Coaching HD – Technology to Prepare Your Team in Camp and During the Season
As another season is ready to commence, now is the time to solidify plans and details, and be sure that you are able to work through the grind of the season in the smartest way possible. Utilizing technology to help you and your staff be efficient will pay dividends in both preparation for each week as well as alleviating some of the stress that comes with the long work day that the season brings.In 2010, huge advancements improved the way we are able to work as coaches. The film r
Why We Do What We Do - A Look Inside Clemson's Strength and Conditioning Program.
The foundation of any successful collegiate football program is an understanding and commitment by all who work with the student-athletes to shape them into the vision the head coach has for the team. Head Coach Dabo Swinney has a vision of greatness for our program, which in the past four years, has driven us to two ACC Atlantic Division Championships, one conference championship, a 4-year span of 10+-win seasons, three straight bowl wins over ranked opponents, three straight Top 15 finishes
Coaching HD: Train the Brain
Over the past year, there has been tremendous growth in the realm of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications in football. The idea of training the brain to function in a number of different situations has merits in terms of gaining experience as well as performing in a setting where the dangers of injury are removed. Data on these simulations show that performance on the field is improved. Cognition training provides an additional way for preparing the brain for high spee
Technology Steps Up – Aided by recent rules changes, tech companies now give coaches valuable new tools to analyze games in real time.
Aided by recent rule changes, tech companies now give coaches valuable new tools to analyze games in real time.For many years, technology has been an integral part of coaching. From the advent of game film to the development of sideline communications to the introduction of today’s sophisticated online video services, those in the technology arena have strived to keep up with the needs of coaches and utilize the latest in high tech innovations.Now, by virtue of an importan
Building Champions to Win Championships
We recently surveyed coaches on a variety of topics, one of which was their interest in having more information about leadership. An astounding 80% said they would like us to present more information on this topic that is so vital to individual and team success.With this issue of American Football Monthly, we are introducing a new monthly Leadership report – Building Champions to Win Championships. AFM has assembled a team of leadership experts to explore, define and communicate
Managing Your Program: Advance Your Team with Technology
Aggie Upgrade - With the help of their friends and neighbors at Samson Equipment, New Mexico State completed a major renovation to their strength and conditioning facility.
One would be hard pressed to find a strength and conditioning coach with more experience than Don Decker. One of only 140 individuals worldwide to have been named a master level strength coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Association, Decker’s 24-year collegiate career includes 15 seasons at Arkansas and four at Ole Miss, working with some of the most prominent coaches in the sport. Now, as Director of Strength and Conditioning at New Mexico State University, Decker supervise
Managing Your Program: Evaluating Staff - Creating an Environment For Success
As the season ends, equipment is collected, banquets are planned, and goals are set with the returning players. It’s important to not lose sight of one very important component in your program – the coaching staff. The team’s success is very closely tied to the coaches who create the environment that nurtures that success, yet often, the staff is the last component attended to in the transition from one season to the next. Years ago, former Navy Commander and aut
Managing Your Program: Building a Team – Objectives for Camp
Unity/Chemistry - Establishing chemistry is a big goal for every team in camp. Hopefully, the ground work was established in the off season. No matter how the off season went, camp and the new season have a new dynamic in how the team will interact and work together. It is a time for leadership of the team to really take root. This is an area that can be coached, managed and developed. A good head coach and his staff will see some of the issues that must be worked on during camp so
Summer Priorities – What should be your priorities heading into the summer months?
The summer months bring about a number of challenges for every football coach. Staying in contact with players and parents without school every day can be difficult. Similarly, coordinating staff meetings and giving players and coaches the needed time off before the grind of a new season begins can also be taxing.What should be your priorities heading into summer? What are the most effective ways to communicate with players and coaches? How important are strength and conditioning p
A Lifetime in the Game – Troy Vincent has transitioned from collegiate All-American to All-Pro to player’s association president to top NFL executive
If you’re a Wisconsin Badger fan, you likely remember him as the 1990 Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year as a defensive back who doubled as an electric, record-setting return man under Barry Alvarez. You probably also recall with pride his selection by the Miami Dolphins in the 1992 NFL Draft as the 7th overall pick.If you’re a Philadelphia Eagles follower, you saw him at the peak of his 15-year NFL career. His eight years with the team as one of the leagues most dependable co
SERVE and PROTECT
Legendary New England Coach John Papas teams up with Xenith to provide future collegiate athletes with added protection, better fit and strong performance.If you’ve coached at the high school and collegiate levels for over 35 years, chances are you’ve developed strong opinions about football equipment. You know which products are best for your players from performance and safety standpoints and you know which companies are best to work with. Coach John Papas has seen
Your Take: Win The Offseason: Organization Matters
Organization isn’t the sexiest topic to talk about, but if you’re serious about improving as a coach, it takes more than how-to videos and watching game tape. Reviewing your notes and processes can help save time and energy, while also allowing you to tackle your goals of molding your athletes into better players and people.Being disorganized can mean the difference between winning and losing. Even the smartest coaches need to be reminded of old plays and schemes that could hel
Having the Right Mouthguard
It’s easy to take some things for granted until they’re gone. Imagine what it would be like if you lost one or two of your front teeth. A properly fitted mouthguard is an important piece of athletic gear that should be mandatory for football players at all levels. Mouthguards help cushion blows that might otherwise cause broken teeth and help prevent injuries to the lips, tongue, face and jaw. According to the National Youth Sports Foundation for the Prevention of Athletic Inju
Champion Communicators
Four state champion coaches rely on the Tempest FX sideline communications system from CoachComm.All high school coaches know that it’s critical to have clear, reliable communications during a game. The ability to share information between coaches in the press box and those on the sideline has, for years, determined much of a team’s in-game strategy. An interrupted signal or unclear reception can spell disaster. But the best coaches, those that win state champ
Systematic Innovation: The No-Huddle, Power Pistol Offense
For Head Coach Robbie Owens of Grand Junction High School (CO), the system’s the thing. He believes offensive innovation is important, but without a system that is simple, adjustable and easy to install and teach, the value of innovation can be diminished.Owens’ system has proved itself over multiple seasons of high-octane offense. By combining the pistol formation with a punishing running attack and an up-tempo, no-huddle pace, Owens’ Grand Junction teams have produced proli
Going Camping
Sending your players to the free football camps offered by the NFL High School Player Development program presented by the National Guard is a win-win for you and them.Football camps for high school athletes are big business. Dozens of for-profit camps, costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars to attend, are offered to high school students who want to hone their skills over a period of days or weeks. But only one football camp program offers proven instruction methods a
Get Strong – Four Proven Off-Season Strength and Conditioning Programs
BISHOP GORMAN HIGH SCHOOL Las Vegas, NevadaHead Coach –Tony SanchezEnrollment – 1,200 students9-12 Football Program – 160-180 athletesFour consecutive Nevada 4A Championships, Nationally-Ranked ProgramSean Manuel serves as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach and also coaches the offensive line at Bishop Gorman. When he joined the Gorman staff in 2010, he completely revamped the outdated strength and conditioning facility.The FacilityOur w
Managing your Program - “Flipped” Coaching
In a clinic talk in 2012, Urban Meyer spoke of how he wants the Buckeyes to be taught and coached through “direct teaching.” He made a point of using the technology and tools available to teach rather than just present to players. Meyer said, “The greatest teaching tools available in the history of this sport are now available to you. The days of saying, ‘I don’t use that’ are not acceptable at the Ohio State University. We’re going to be on the cutting edge of every teaching to
The Use of Technology in Modern Football (and Life) Is A Matter of Perspective
In the old days, coaches basically drew up plays on a chalkboard. Weightlifting consisted of lifting hay bales on summer vacations and s[ports nutrition was whatever happened to be available to eat and drink. Things change, and when it comes to technology, things have changed drastically. The days of Sid Gillman clipping football footage from film reels that played in movie theatres while he worked as an usher in the 1930's to coaches watching grainy footage of a player taken with a 16mm home
Starting from the Bottom – A guide to the season’s hottest cleats.
As a coach dialing up new schemes and organizing practice routines for the upcoming season, you may not have had time to see what’s in store for this year’s selection of football cleats. When an athlete comes to you with questions on cleats, this guide will help you steer him in the right direction.Over the past few years, players big and small have been leaning toward cleats that are lighter and faster. The game – now more than ever - relies on speed. A transformation of new
Making the Grade – Spring evaluation is essential for maximizing each player’s contribution to the team
Spring evaluation is essential for maximizing each player’s contribution to the team.While coaches understand that player evaluation is a year-round necessity, spring is a particularly important time for returning player evaluations as your team heads into the summer pre-season lull. It’s the perfect time to size up the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete and set personal and team goals. What is the best way to evaluate a returning player? American Football Monthly asked seven
As a Coach, How Do You Want to be Remembered?
by Derek Schlieve, Head Football Coach Mayville State University Football is time consuming. It can become all-consuming if you let it. High School football takes a lot of time. College Football requires even more time. I cannot even begin to imagine what the time commitment is like at the professional level. Every now and then, you read a story about how much time coaches put in and what they are missing out on and it makes a person think twic
Champion’s Choice - Three dominating high school state champions rely on CoachComm’s Tempest FX system for reliable, clear sideline communication
Many elements go into winning a state championship. Hard work, dedication, team unity and commitment all play a major role in a team’s rise to the top of their state’s ranks. So does having the right sideline communication system. Championship coaches know that it’s critical to have a proven, reliable headset system that can be counted on to perform in the high-pressure games they’ll face in the state playoffs.That’s why so many state champion teams choose the Tempest FX
Managing Your Program – Spring Practice: Make it About the Details and Development
As we head into spring practice, now is the time to set a focus that will carry the team into strong summer preparations and camp, eventually leading up to the 2013 season. For many areas in the country, a spring game against an opponent is not part of the equation. This is a time that will end in an inter-squad game, or for some, no game or scrimmage at all. This is true at the NCAA Division III level, where we cannot even put on pads. However, this is still a great time to make progress and
USING THE iPAD AS A COACHING TOOL
Whether on the field or off, the IPad can be a major part in helping your players improve and communicate the weekly gameplan. Our student-athletes are so used to technology, it is the way they are taught in classroom and it was what they use outside the classroom. Give your student-athlete an IPad and they immediately feel comfortable as they swipe through pages or watch video. After receiving an IPad for my birthday last offseason I started searching for wa
Building Blocks – The day your 2012 season ends, your 2013 pre-season begins. Now is the time to build the foundation for your team’s future success.
In today’s ultra-competitive football environment, there’s no such thing as a true off season. The coach who leaves the game behind after the last items of equipment are stored for the winter is the coach who falls behind his peers.Between post-season evaluations of players and coaches, planning and implementing special activities and training programs and working with seniors who want to play at the next level, coaches’ plates are full. To successfully navigate the challenge
Get More Out of Your Film By Having Better Film
In today’s coaching world, film is a major tool for success. Yet, sometimes we get film that just isn’t up to par. When you get opponents’ film, you are left at the mercy of their filmer. Often it’s a young manager, injured player, young coach, or possibly a volunteer. Your own filmer can sometimes be very green with the camera, have tripod issues or even miss entire plays. People can forget equipment, and then you’re stranded without film. We’ve all had it h
Reliable Performer
A Houston-area high school chose the HME DX300 sideline communications system to deliver superior performance in critical game situations.In the super-competitive world of Texas 5A high school football, coaches must pay close attention to every detail of program management – on and off the field – in order to achieve winning seasons. Decisions about which coaching technology to use, for example, can be just as important as which offense to install or which player to start at middle
Coaching Technology – Today and Tomorrow
Technology is a critical part of coaching success and will be even more important in the future.From the first time a football game was ever filmed, in 1903, to the invention of the first videotape recorder, in 1951, to the first-ever editing system in 1987 to the introduction of digital editing in 1994, technology has been influential in shaping how coaches prepare for opponents and communicate during games.Today, coaches have a wider variety of technology tools available t
Reloading at Rockhurst – Tony Severino, the head coach at Rockhurst High School for 29 years, believes in keeping his players busy in all aspects of their lives – not just on the field.
It was near the end of an hour-long interview when Tony Severino was asked a question that he has fielded numerous times in recent years. “How much longer do you think you’ll coach?”His answer is the same every time.“I get asked that every day. You’re the second one today that’s asked me,” said Severino, who will turn 64 in September. “I’ve been saying, ‘five years’ for the last 10 years. I have such a good time doing what I do. When I don’t, I’
Louisiana Legend
To see a full version of this article with photos, click here, or copy and paste the follo
Getting Your Team Connected
By Eric Slivoskey, Former Coach Seinajoki Crocodiles (Finland) How connected are you to your players? Do you merely make contact with team members to ensure that they are staying out of trouble and not reflecting poorly on the program, or do you strive to know something personal about each person on the squad. In a world that seems to be changing faster than any of us could have ever imagi
Get Educated 2012 Coaches Clinics
Now is the time to develop your game-plan for the 2012 coaches clinic season. It’s your opportunity to pick up philosophy, techniques, drills, and the latest in offensive formations, defensive schemes and special teams play from some of the game’s most successful coaches. Here are four premier organizations that will be conducting clinics scheduled during the winter months in 2012.Nike Coach of the Year Clinics There are 20 nationwide Nike COY clinics in 2012. Most of the clini
RAWLINGS SIGNS STEVEN JACKSON TO ENDORSE FOOTBALL HELMET LINE
For more information, please contact: Seth Elrod, Rawlings Football, (314) 819-2715, selrod@rawlings.com
Your Take – Risky Business
Players, parents and coaches across America are being confronted with growing evidence that some young adults participating in impact sports might be experiencing irreversible injuries that put them at risk for compromised mental functioning, personality dysfunction, and early dementia. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disorder that affects individuals exposed to repetitive brain trauma. Research is showing that CTE is the result of major collisions (concussions)
2011 Uniform Preview
Uniforms can be the face of your program. Some schools stay traditional and almost never change. Others go with a different look every buying cycle, and some coaches change them up to mark a new direction for the program. Your uniform is a link between your players and the team. Jerseys are symbols of pride for most players. 2011 brings a wave of selection and style options for your club. Favorites have been brought back and some new styles have been added, all w
Desert Dominance
Head Coach Charlie Ragle led Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, to their second consecutive state title – using the Connex® sideline communications system from CoachComm.Win a state championship in a football-rich state like Arizona and your high school team will be recognized for their significant accomplishment. Win back-to-back championships and get mentioned as the early favorite for a third and you become part of the national conversation as one of the top teams in t
Tackle Safe – Bobby Hosea’s pioneering tackling technique protects players from devastating head injuries.
As a coach, what are you doing right now to make the game safer for your current and future players? Could you be doing more to ensure head-to-head hits are eliminated from the game? Bobby Hosea can help you answer those questions. Hosea, a former UCLA cornerback who played professionally in Canada and in the USFL, has emerged as a passionate and authoritative voice in the movement to change the violent tackling culture in football. He enlightens coaches, parents
Samson’s Strength & Conditioning Coaches of the Year for 2010
NFLRusty JonesChicago Bears In 2006, Chicago Bears Strength and Conditioning Coach Rusty Jones received the National Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year award. What made the award so special was that all 32 NFL strength and conditioning coaches voted on the award. “Because it was from my peers, it really meant something special,” said Jones. Jones just completed his sixth full season with the Chicago Bears, the last three
Resounding Success
A Portland area high school captures their first-ever state championship – with the help of HME’s DX300 headset system. When Chris Casey took the head coaching position at Aloha High School outside Beaverton, Oregon seven years ago, the challenge he faced was daunting. The Warriors had won a total of 14 games in their previous 17 seasons and only one game in the last three. They were losing elite pl
Your Take: Turn Back the Clock For Safety
The recently completed football season will go down in history as the year of the concussion. Not because the game fundamentally changed, but improvements in head injury detection have forced a closer examination of the subject at all levels of the game. The football community is no longer taking a “head in the sand” approach to a problem that has existed for a long time but only now is beginning to be understood. In the future, head injuries in football will decline. The solution w
Your Take: Time To Get Enlightened
Note: The following is an excerpt from Building the Enlightened Warrior, the complete version of which can be downloaded at Xenith.com.Mounting evidence indicates that playing football in an extreme fashion might destroy your brain. Concussions have clearly been an uncontrolled epidemic in football for decades. Epidemics are not instantly cured by simple solutions. They require complete strategies for risk reduction. We must end the gladiator mentality
0-12: How To Deal With Losing
We embrace winners. It’s in our DNA. But the other side of winning is losing, and it can be a painful pill to digest when it happens so often. Perhaps that is no more evident than in coaching. But, inevitably, every coach will experience that pain at some point in his career. How a coach deals with the negative aspects that accompany losing is a matter of perspective and having faith in what he is doing will reap rewards in the face of adversity. Bob Davie, the former coach at No
Built From The Ground Up
A Guide to the Game’s Top Cleats As much as I would like to say this in jest, I am sure there are plenty of your players that still haven’t equipped themselves with new gear for the upcoming season. You will see the ones at practice, the players that are routinely using athletic tape to hold together that pair of cleats they have been using for a year or two, but are just too stubborn or forgetful to replace. That is why I would like to run down the best of what the top fo
Portable Perspective
Colleges and high schools have long employed elevated end zone and sideline cameras to capture practice and game video that could be reviewed and used as a teaching tool. But, until recently, the stationary cameras were limited in how they could be used in a variety of practice situations. Now, that has changed with the introduction of the remarkable portable elevated camera system from U.S. Sports Video called the SideWinder. In the summer of 2006, Tennessee Offensive Coordi
Technology Tools: Computer Software That Brings Your Play Diagrams to Life.
Use coaching technology to your advantage with computer software that brings your play diagrams to life. Technological advances have had a significant impact on football and coaching, especially in how plays are developed and illustrated for coaches and players. Today’s state-of-the-art play diagramming software gives coaches advantages never before available. For playmaking, computers have indeed changed the way coaches coach. “Computers and software
Legendary Leader - George Smith of St. Thomas Aquinas
George Smith of St. Thomas Aquinas shares principles that have helped him become one of the nation’s winningest coaches His heroes are old-school coaches like Paul “Bear” Bryant, Woody Hayes and Don Shula, and his disciplinarian style in many ways reflects an old-school coaching philosophy. But George Smith is not afraid to try something new if it will help give his football team an edge. That’s what Smith, the head coach at St. Thomas Aquinas
Game On! Finding A Football For Your Program
One of my high school coaches once took a break from our two-a-day practice and held up a football. “Can any of you tell me how long a football is?” he asked. Like most players and coaches, I never knew the exact length of a football (and as a lineman, my regular hands-on experience with footballs in practice was slim to none). We were stumped. “Eleven and a quarter inches,” he said. “I tell you this because that 11 ¼ inches is the differ
What Has Happened To High School Football? - Part I
Last year on October 2nd, ESPNU’s showcase game featured the nation’s #1 ranked team facing off with the team ranked #2. It was a highly-anticipated match-up of unbeatens that would, no doubt, play a major role in the chase for the national championship. In a unique wrinkle, the two teams had never played each other. High ratings were guaranteed. No, this wasn’t the NCAA collegiate game of the week but a contest between two high schools – Ft. Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas and
Uniform Front
Is your program updating your team’s jerseys? Here’s the lineup for 2010 – and several things to consider. While coaches love Xs and Os, the heat of the battle, and developing players, one task most coaches generally don’t like is the process of finding and buying uniforms. But uniforms have to be replaced – sometimes due to wear, sometimes due to necessity and sometimes due to directional changes in your program. Some new coaches change the tea
Most Valuable Player
Power, speed and reliability. The ability to manage large amounts of information and perform at a high level under pressure. Important characteristics of every successful football player, without a doubt. These same characteristics can also be used to describe the modern football team’s most valuable technological tool – its video editing system. Since they were introduced in the mid-1990’s, digital editing systems have become indispensable tools for today’s sophisticated co
Clear Choice
Imagine playing one of your biggest games of the year, on the road in a hostile environment against a formidable opponent. At a critical moment in the game, when it’s absolutely imperative that you get usable information from your staff in the pressbox, instead of hearing your coaches on your headset, all you hear are…truckers. It can happen and it has happened to Mark Speckman. “We also picked up other teams’ signals, radio stations and cell phones at various games,” he r
Max Protect: Base Layer Protective Apparel Helps Make the Game Faster
As coaches we have seen the meteoric rise of the spread offense and the emphasis on speed in recent years. Now we’re seeing equipment – particularly protective gear – designed to be more lightweight, streamlined, and targeted to meet the demands of today’s faster players and schemes on both sides of the ball. At Newman Catholic High School, the implementation of the spread has spawned the most successful period in our school’s history. We rely on speed a
6 Reasons to Invest in Recruiting Software This Off-Season
Walk into any college football coach’s office and, chances are, his desk will be covered with recruiting clutter. Questionnaires, transcripts, evaluations, DVDs, Post-it notes scrawled with contact info. This is the reality of the college game today. The pressure to win now rarely affords you the time to get organized. Fortunately, the days of legal pads and file folders covering the office and frantically trying to track down a DVD from that four-star kid in Texas from the last c
Positive Point of View
For 20 years, U.S. Sports Video has provided football programs nationwide with technology that gives coaches better ways to analyze their teams. Mike Bokulich was reflective as he looked over the shipping boxes that contained 125 new EagleCam SkyHawk elevated camera systems ready to be shipped to customers from coast to coast. “There was a time,” he said, “when we weren’t sure we could sell a single system, let alone hundreds.” That time was t
Seeing is Believing
While the days of coaches scratching out X’s and O’s on a chalkboard or huddling around a 16mm projector to review game film are long gone, some football programs have not, until recently, taken full advantage of the high-tech teaching tools available to coaches today. Case in point – Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California. To call the Oaks Christian football program high-profile would be an understatement. Not only had Head Coach Bill Redell’s Lio
Proven Performer
Top programs are increasingly choosing the DX300 sideline communications system from HME for its proven reliability and superior features. Steve Lineweaver knows about reliable performance. As head coach of the Trinity Trojans in Euless, Texas, Lineweaver has built one of the most consistently outstanding high school programs in the nation. With 5A Division I state titles in 2005 and 2007 and a national top ranking for most of the 200
The Strength Report - How to Utilize Your Space to Positively Effect Your Program
The High School Perspective: By Dave Brown, Strength & Conditioning Coordinator, Archbishop Mitty High School (CA) No matter how big your training facility is, you should be trying to utilize space to make your training efficient, challenging, productive and motivating. How do you train when resources are limited? Archbishop Mitty High School has one of the top athletic programs in the nation. Sports Illustrated, in 2006-2007, rated th
Gear
Wireless Headset System HME DX300 • HME You spend hours preparing for the big game - make sure your hard work pays off! HME’s DX300 Wireless Headset system keeps your coaches in constant touch throughout the game. It takes only minutes to set up and operates on AC or batteries. Dual-slot diversity automatically detects strongest signals for uninterrupted conversations. Digital technology offers superior sound clarity. Up to 20 coaches can communicate in hands-free, two-way
Football Video – The Right Way
From the days of 16 millimeter film to the videotape era to today’s sophisticated digital video systems, recording and sharing game images for team analysis and opponent scouting has been an essential coaching tool. But do some coaches underestimate the importance of video and miss opportunities to get more effective use out of their video programs – possibly costing them future wins? According to David Affholter, the answer is, unfortunately, yes. “All coaches study game video o
Reshaping the Shoulder Pad Industry – Again
It’s not often a man has the opportunity to change his world. Even fewer men get the chance to do it twice. J.C. Wingo is about to change the world of football for the second time. Twenty years ago, Wingo introduced a revolutionary new shoulder pad featuring an all-new technology called the Air Management System. That new design, the Wingo Power Pad™, soon became the standard by which all other shoulder pads were judged. The Power Pad™ has been the leading shoulder pad in the NF
What’s the Best Way to Grade Your Players During the Course of the Season?
Gary Chilcoat, O-Line and Outside Linebackers Coach Deep Run High School, Glen Allen (VA) “I have used film grades in the past, but they are so time consuming that you really know how they played before you grade. What I have found most effective is grading them during practice. We tell our players they earn the right to play Monday through Thursday. Most people can give great effort on Friday’s, but it takes a true believer to work hard during the week. We expect sta
Maximize Your Football Coaching Video
College coaches will admit that watching video accounts for 2-3 times more of their in-season workload than actual on the field preparation. Football game video is a necessary evaluation tool for coaches and players, yet many coaches struggle through each season with untrained videographers producing ineffective results. A decade of coordinating video for high school, NAIA, and NCAA-FBS football has taught me that finding the right personnel to handle your team\'s football video is
Building Better Bruins
Head Athletic Performance Coach Mike Linn of UCLA has come home. Raised in Southern California, Linn was a two-year starter for the Bruins on the offensive line and stayed with the program after graduation, eventually becoming UCLA’s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach from 1999 to 2002. For the last several years, he’s been training individual athletes and supervising training programs nationwide for Velocity Sports Performance, a leading provider of individual performance training program
Gear
Muscle Milk Collegiate • CytoSport Developed to meet the complex nutritional needs of today’s athletes, Muscle Milk Collegiate is rapidly becoming a key addition to weight rooms and nutrition programs across the country. Muscle Milk feeds hungry muscles by combining high quality protein, carbs and custom fat structures known as MCT’s – or medium chain triglycerides – so athletes can recover more efficiently from training. Forget about the high sugar content of othe
Gear
No Glare® Flip-Up Sunglasses • Mueller Sports Med Mueller No Glare® sunglasses are the most comfortable and hassle-free sunglasses you’ll ever own. Flip these sunglasses up into the brim of your hat with the flick of a wrist. Your look-out vision is unobstructed. Wraparound design protects your eyes from the sun’s rays and the wind from all angles. Because they’re attached to your hat, instead of your face, No Glare® Flip-Up Sunglasses don’t apply pressure to your
The 10 Commandments of Coaching Leadership
Coaching and leadership have always been intertwined. So much so that Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski says “I don\'t look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.” If leadership is, as Yuki suggests, “the application of intentional influence in order to achieve a desired result,” then coaching is actually leadership in practice. However, before we move forward on what actions coaches should and should not take, it’s import
Gear
Wireless Headset System HME DX300 HMEYou spend hours preparing for the big game - make sure your hard work pays off! HME’s DX300 Wireless Headset system keeps your coaches in constant touch throughout the game. It takes only minutes to set up and operates on AC or batteries. Dual-slot diversity automatically detects strongest signals for uninterrupted conversations. Digital technology offers superior sound clarity. Up to 20 coaches can communicate in hands-free, two-way conver
Single Source
There’s no question that advances in technology have had a positive impact on football programs in recent decades. Digital editing systems have given coaching staffs play-analyzing capabilities that were unheard of just a few years ago. Wireless headset communication systems have become more powerful and more reliable and have freed coaches from the cumbersome wires of systems in the past. A long list of video accessory products such as duplicators have made tasks like sharing game footage wit
Technology Buyer\'s Guide
Every football program can benefit from today\'s advanced technology. The following companies are in the business of helping coaches become more successful through innovative technology solutions. We recommend that you save these listings for future reference. Coaching Software BW Software • 888-752-9625 • www.bwsoftware.com BW Software has provided specialized productivity tools for football c
Gear
Belt Squat • Samson Equipment The new Samson Belt Squat is yet another way Samson Equipment is leading the way in custom, heavy duty weight training equipment. This brand new design limits the amount of floor space needed for this unique piece, while remaining easy for athletes of all different sizes to use. Featuring adjustable handles, a unique load release that brings the athlete’s hands closer together while performing the exercise, an adjustable yoke that allows each
How to Choose a Video System That\'s Right for You
In the early 1980’s, videotape replaced 16 millimeter film as the standard tool for coaches reviewing game footage and game-planning for upcoming opponents. While video had obvious advantages to film, coaches were just as limited in their ability to jump to the right video segment as they were with film. Watching game tapes provided video that could help a coach see a player’s problems and correct them, but rewinding and fast-forwarding through tapes was cumbersome and a big waste of time. E
GEAR
VOLT™ • Active Ankle Presenting revolutionary new ankle protection for the higher performance athlete. The new VOLT™ ankle brace from Active Ankle has been engineered to include the latest carbon fiber technology. The polypropylene shell is reinforced with carbon fiber – the same high performance material used in racing cars and bicycles. It also features a molded bearing design performance hinge for smoother range of motion, strengthening ribs for a thinner profile an
The Choice of Champions
As every coach will attest, effective and reliable communication between the coaches on the sideline and those in the press box is a critical element of any team’s success on the field. For two San Diego area high schools, this meant a change was needed for the 2007 season. Head Coach Damian Gonzalez’s Division I Poway Titans were coming off an 8-6 season in 2006 where headset communication was sometimes an issue. “At certain schools we would pick up a lot of static on our headse
Where Tradition Begins
Coach Laycock recently completed his 28th season at the helm of Tribe Football and is the program’s winningest coach with a career record of 178-127-2. Starting in 1980, his coaching career at W&M has included 18 winning ledgers and postseason games in nine seasons. To honor and build upon this proud tradition, W&M dedicated the new Jimmye Laycock Football Complex in the fall of 2007. This 30,000-square-foot building features a locker room, athletic training room and offices for coac
Time for Turf
The trend may be irreversible. Each year, hundreds of football practice and game fields are converted from natural grass to synthetic turf. That’s not surprising, considering that today’s turf systems provide safe, consistent, all-weather playing surfaces that can be utilized 24/7 by not just the football team but by a long list of other sports and activities. ¶ Rick Doyle, President of the industry support group Synthetic Turf Council (STC), recalled a remark made by a board member a
Gear
ION 4D Helmet • Schutt Sports The ION 4D helmet from Schutt Sports is the most technologically advanced helmet in the market today. More then just gathering data, the ION 4D takes the performance of the helmet to the next dimension. The helmet showcases the all-new “Energy Wedge” faceguard attachment system. This pioneering system actually integrates the faceguard into the helmet itself, while also reducing the force of impacts to the faceguard. Continuous weld joints and
Common Bond
The contrasts could not be greater. The big school in the football-crazed state that routinely plays in front of over 10,000 fans and produces multiple D-I players every year. The small school in the small state that’s only playing in its eighth year and might draw 2,000 for the season’s biggest game. One tech-savvy coach who has grown up with computers and another who had, until very recently, never used a computer and still refuses to use email. But Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Kay of po
Unsung Heroes
Monday, August 29, 2005. In the early morning hours, category 3 Hurricane Katrina slams into Louisiana and Mississippi, barely missing a direct hit on New Orleans. The worst damage is initially concentrated on the Gulf Coast, but within the next 24 hours it becomes apparent that the levee system designed to protect New Orleans is failing. Some levees are topped by the high water in Katrina’s wake and others are completely breached. By the end of the day on Tuesday, 80% of New Orleans is un
Gear
ION 4D Helmet • Schutt Sports The ION 4D helmet from Schutt Sports is the most technologically advanced helmet in the market today. More then just gathering data, the ION 4D takes the performance of the helmet to the next dimension. The helmet showcases the all-new “Energy Wedge” faceguard attachment system. This pioneering system actually integrates the faceguard into the helmet itself, while also reducing the force of impacts to the faceguard. Continuous weld joints and
Arena Advantage
In the fast-paced world of the Arena Football League, where teams are pressured to score on virtually every possession, players seek to gain an advantage every time they touch the ball. That includes having the best jerseys available – ones that can’t be grabbed by would-be tacklers trying to prevent a touchdown. Dallas Desperados quarterback Clint Dolezel, the AFL’s all-time leader with 865 career touchdown passes, knows more about getting the ball into the end
Gear
NXT Compression • Russell Athletic There’s only one material designed to grip your body tighter than Russell’s new NXT Compression. It\'s called your skin. VENTILATOR TECHNOLOGY, with sheer mesh panels that add breathability. ULTRA LIGHTWEIGHT, with quick drying Dri-Power© fabrication. MAXIMUM COMFORT, that\'s cut to fit like a second layer of skin on the athlete\'s body. For more information: 888-606-5517 • www.rus
GEAR
Weight Equipment • Forza Strength Systems Forza Strength Systems has provided high quality strength training equipment to teams since 1985. Forza offers a wealth of experience in designing workout areas and can assist with consultation in the concept stage of a large project, or just provide your next piece of equipment. Forza’s complete product line includes selectorized, plate load, and free weight equipment, as well as bars, plates, dumbbells, cardio, and flooring.
GEAR
Coach-to-Player Communication • Telcommand Telcommand makes practices more efficient and effective through better communication. There are two basic components: the Coach’s Unit, which is a headset transmitter and the Player’s Unit, which is a receiver placed in a sleeve that’s worn on the players arm. With a press of a button or with voice activation, a coach can communicate directly to an individual player on the field, giving instructions in a normal speaking voice r
Headset Heaven
Imagine the following situation: you’re setting up your headset system for a road game against a big rival. One hour before game time, you and your staff run a test of the system and it seems to be working fine. All five coaches on the sideline and four in the booth have good, clear signals. As the head coach, you know that effective game day communication between coaches is an essential part of winning. No coaching staff can expect to succeed without a well thought out sideline comm
Gear
Buy Now – Watch Now Instructional Coaching Videos • www.AFMVideos.com Tired of waiting 5 or more days to receive and watch the instructional coaching videos you just bought? American Football Monthly introduces the smartest innovation in instructional coaching videos: Buy Now – Watch Now. Buy Now – Watch Now lets you buy your videos online and watch the same videos immediately on your computer while the DVD copies of your videos are shipped directly to you (FREE ship
Technology Tools You Need Today
There’s no denying that technological advances have had a significant impact on football and coaching. In only a few decades, we’ve come from cutting and splicing 16mm game film by hand in order to analyze opponent’s tendencies to today’s state-of-the-art editing systems and software that can give coaches information and advantages never before available. Coaches today are wireless, online, hi-speed and most definitely high-tech. Product innovation and falling prices are drivin
A New Way to Communicate
Amos Alonzo Stagg used a megaphone to convey instructions to players during practices in the early days of the game. Countless coaches have barked orders into bullhorns so they’d be heard by players 20, 30 or 40 yards away on the practice field. Many coaches, however, still rely on yelling, which can be an ineffective way to teach or motivate individual players. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith have each demonstrated that a calmer, more educational approach to coaching can motivate players
Preparation: 4 Points to Remember from Penn State
If you had the opportunity to spend an hour with Penn State Linebackers Coach Ron Vanderlinden, what would you ask him? Think for a moment about the tradition of Nittany Lion linebackers. I had that opportunity at last month’s American Football Coaches Association convention in San Antonio. While we were getting ready for a photo shoot, we talked informally, not about X’s and O’s but about game preparation. Coach Vanderlinden takes a special pride in preparation as we spoke about
Synthetic Turf: Wave of the Future
Chances are very good that your team has either a) played at least one road game on a synthetic turf field or b) installed a synthetic turf field at your home facility. If neither applies to your program, expect that to change in the near future. • The “New Generation” synthetic turf fields, once considered a luxury only NFL teams or high-profile universities could afford, are being installed at high schools and colleges from Maine to California. The trend is so strong that industry leader
Letter From The Editor: Those Days are Forever Over
In both small towns and large cities across America, the tradition over the years has been for a high school team to watch game films as a team. This has usually been a three to six hour process as coaches analyze the previous game\'s film and go back and forth about what worked and what didn’t on each play. If a future opponent\'s film was also available, that was shown to the team as well. So much for what went on a generation ago. Now, in the digital age, editing equ
GEAR - Products for Coaches
With Monster Arms on Rogers Brute Racks, you’ll experience a new environment of closed-chain, free-weight training. Increase both power and sport skill with the benefits of power racks and dedicated machines combined on one system. The Arms allow omni-directional movement in a controlled environment and take sports training beyond the two-dimensional plane. For more information: 800-631-0964 • www.rogersathletic.com
Turnaround: How do you Turn an Ailing Program Around?
When you inherit an ailing program, one coming off a series of poor recruiting classes, one that’s subsisting on a steady diet of one or two wins a year, what’s a coach to do? Prospective recruits don’t want to play for a loser, especially if your campus lacks glamour. Alumni and community businesses don’t want to show financial support. It’s harder to find talented assistants, and the administration and the student body will be hard to placate. What often happens
Letter from the Editor
I still marvel at the almost daily improvements in communication. The advances in technology can boggle the mind. Just think about ‘Google’ for example; it’s an instantaneous research tool for any one working on a term paper to an editor helping fact check a magazine for football coaches. With the almost hourly advances in this field, we are proud to announce AFM’s new and vastly improved web site: AmericanFootballMonthly.com. As AFM is the #1 resource for footbal
GEAR - Products for Coaches
Telex Communications is proud to offer the Telex Legacy™ to assist today’s football coach in reaching new heights of performance at the high school level and beyond. For the last 15 years Telex has been the only company to supply coaching communications technology to the NFL and majority of NCAA Division I college football teams. The Telex Legacy™ system offers a fast and easy setup, full duplex wireless solutions for 2 to 7 coaches per sideline, durable beltpacks, 3 audio channels,
The Internet Video Exchange: A Major Assist for Coaches
Sharing game tapes through the internet has streamlined the process while saving both time and money Coaches, say goodbye to your UPS bills. It used to be that the exchanging of game film was just that, literally. A staff member – be it a coach or video coordinator – would make a copy of a particular game film and overnight it to an opposing team. Reel-to-reel turned into VHS tapes, which morphed into DVDs and hard drives. But the concept was always the same – you send
Generation X\'s and O\'s
Game Simulation Technology Allows you to Teach From the Field Level in Real Game Situations When Oklahoma State quarterback Bobby Reid missed significant practice snaps last fall and quarterbacks coach Larry Fedora was forced to prepare junior Al Pena for his first start, Fedora turned to technology. Fedora put a state-of-the-art football simulator produced by GridIron Technology, Inc. in the hands of his quarterbacks, allowing Reid a chance to stay mentally
The Scouting Report
Mark Speckman has been coaching Willamette University football for the past eight years. The Bearcats are 46-34 under Speckman and in 1999 he was named Northwest Conference Coach of the Year after Willamette won the NWC title and earned a trip to the D III national playoffs. Speckman was the Bearcats’ offensive coordinator for three years prior to being named head coach. He also spent 14 seasons as a high school head football coach, compiling an overall mark of 113-48-3. But he’s more
Technology on a Budget
While NFL teams and major Division 1-A programs usually have the financial resources to make a major commitment to technology, it’s not that easy for smaller college programs and high schools. Money has to be budgeted and spent more carefully, but money spent on technology is still a wise investment. Division II Pittsburg (Kan.) State uses Apple PowerBooks and Power Mac G4s to produce cut-ups of offensive, defensive, and special teams plays. “The game of football is all a
How do you Scout your Opponents Offensive Line
It always seems to work this way, things filtering down from the colleges to the high schools. As technology with digital editing has advanced and pro teams have become more intricate in their scouting, so, too, have colleges and high schools. One place that’s as prevalent as any other is picking apart your opponents’ offensive linemen. Anton Stewart, the defensive coordinator at Pittsburg State (KS), is among the growing number of coac
The Scouting Report, Patrick Walsh - Serra HS (CA)
“If the breakdown is done right, building a game plan becomes easy off of the printed reports that uncover tendencies and holes in the offensive gameplan.” Patrick Walsh, Serra HS (CA) This coming fall Patrick Walsh begins his sixth season at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, CA. A high school rich in athletic tradition – alumni include Jim Fregosi, John Robinson, Lynn Swann, Gregg Jefferies, Tom Brady and Barry Bonds – Walsh helped bring th
Video a Necessary Part of Every Program
“It was film in the old days, up to about ‘88 or 89,” recalls Clemson’s veteran video coordinator Rick Bagby, a pioneer in his field who led the video revolution that enables football coaches better use their time to develop sophisticated, smart, systems, and, he hopes, winning game plans for the ACC program that’s been a big winner for decades in the South. Across the country in the Pacific Northwest, Steve Pohl has been running Oregon’s football video operation since 19
Impact Stats: Total Defense
Tommy Tuberville’s Auburn Tigers placed fifth in the nation among all Divison I-A teams in Total Defense in 2004, surrendering just 19 total touchdowns, the second lowest total that year. They were first in the country in Scoring Defense. “When you’re consistently good on defense, it gives your offense a lot of chances to go for big plays. You’re going to give your offense more turnovers and more balls in better field position and, to me, where it really starts is defense. You
Email Recruiting
Talking with a teen-ager. Oftentimes a daunting task for any middle-aged coach. Many coaches have an uncanny ability of knowing the best way to communicate with a high-school recruit. Still, staying ahead of the competition while finding the best way to be noticed and remembered by a teen-ager takes communicating in the way that they’re most comfortable. “From the standpoint of what kids read, I’m not sure how we get noticed,” joked Tom Creguer, the recruiting coordinator at No
Total Offense: Balance is the Key
A team’s total offense, many coaches will say, will not just help determine a win or a loss, but ultimately, whether the season is a successful one. Today, having a high-powered passing game but a limited running game – or the reverse – just doesn’t cut it. To be consistently successful, a balanced offense is necessary. “I feel you have to have balance in your offense to be a consistent winner,” says Rush Propst, coach of Hoover High School (AL) and winners of four state ti
Top 15 Advancements in Football Products & Services
Digital Editing Systems - Arguably the greatest advancement (in any sport) in the areas of scouting and teaching aids, digital editing systems give teams an unprecedented advantage in obtaining and presenting detailed information. The best part – the last several years has seen a drop in pricing. Artificial Turf - The one thing coaches preach to their players is the one thing that today’s grass-like artificial turf provides – consistenc
Tuesday Morning Quarterback
When coaches approached the AFM booth at the recent AFCA Convention in Louisville, we tried to make a habit of asking the coaches what they wanted to see in the magazine. Some wanted more Xs and Os. Some wanted more technology information. Others wanted career and financial planning. However, many coaches wanted help balancing their jobs with marriage and family. Meanwhile at a nearby hotel, the wives who attended the convention attended semina
Letter from the Editor
An overall football budget includes a variety of items: equipment, field maintenance, health issues including doctors and a support staff, salaries for staff, travel, on-the-road meals, security, and a number of other factors. Obviously, the budget for a high school football team differs from that of a Junior College or Division I-A program. But more and more programs-at all levels-are including funding for the growth of a new position with the structure of the
Unsung Hero
A week in the life of Tulsa’s video coordinator, Gabe Haney Good coordinators are vital to the success of any college football program. But if all you’re thinking about is the guys in charge of your offense and defense, then you’ve overlooked a key position. When time is tight and the stakes are high, you better make sure that you’ve got a top-flight video coordinator who can break down every bit of information about your opponent and your own team in
Football Video Technology:
When a football program is on the smaller scale, we have to imagine that when it comes time for budgeting, there are certain items that take precedent. Obviously, the team must be equipped with the proper tools: helmets, shoulder pads, shoes and those items necessary to outfit a college or high school football player. The next item that must take precedent is
Technology and Your Budget: Hints and Suggestions
NFL teams are spending millions on video technology and complex computer systems. Division I-A teams are spending hundreds of thousands on their own versions of the same technology. So what? What does that mean for NCAA Division II and III, NAIA, junior college and high school programs with limited budgets and resources? Do you find yourself at clinics and conventions walking right past the tech booths and ignoring the tech seminars, afraid you
Cover Story Unsung Hero: Tulsa’s Video Coordinator Gabe Haney By Keith Roerdink
2005 December 2005 Innovators of the option • From Scouting Report to Game Plan • True Football Speed • Quarterback Fundamentals November 2005 It Starts in the Trenches • Attacking Defenses with the Veer • 4 Technical Components of Punt Coverage • Teaching
Sharing Information Just Became Easier
For nearly a decade, thanks in many ways to publications like American Football Monthly, technology in football has become the norm rather than the exception. Every major football program, college or pro, has relied heavily on the latest forms of capturing, editing and exchanging video to enhance its ability to compete both on and off the field. Yet, very few football programs have the mega-million dollar budgets of major college football – much less t
Industry Watch
There has been much advancement in the game and profession of football throughout its history – advancements such as the forward pass, film study and television. Today, football is currently experiencing one of its greatest advancements in one area of the sport. Walk into any football facility at any level and you’ll see products that you would have never seen just a decade ago. It’s not uncommon to see a digital video
The Way It Used To Be
If there is one constant, it is that there are no constants. Over time, everything changes and nothing remains quite the same. Never is this more evident than in the profession of coaching football. American Football Monthly recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches for a peek inside the ever-changing world of football. From their first job to their last, their first championship season to their f
What Next?
Jim Emery remembers many things during his career: a college football player at Ohio Wesleyan University, a graduate assistant, recruiting coordinator, college coach, mentor of many varied club football teams in Italy, and now, COO of Digital Scout, one of the software companies that helps football coaches at all levels prepare for their next opponent. “I coached in Italy for a good part of 18 years and saw a r
Leaps and Bounds
Marshall’s Brad Helton refers to him as “The Godfather of Video Coordinators.” But like most of his colleagues, UCLA’s Ken Norris is a cipher unless you are intimately familiar with his work. Over the years, Norris has worked with and for a number of football giants – men such as George Allen, Terry Donahue, John Robinson and Norv Turner. Norris has been a big help to the coaches for whom he has worked. But like all good video c
Letter From the Publisher
In the five years that we’ve been publishing American Football Monthly’s annual Technology issue, we’ve seen many advances in the various software and hardware designed specifically for football. Today’s technology allows coaches to merge diagrams and video together in presentation formats, trade game film over the Internet, introduce DVD options for film quality, track the frame-by-frame movements
Cover Story Leaps & Bounds: UCLA’s Video Coordinator Ken Norris - So You Want to be a Video Coordinator: UCLA’s Ken Norris on the position By David Srinivasan
The Mental Game
This article looks at ways that instructional technology and principles can be used to improve the mental performance of your football players. The focus is on decision-making. That breaks down into a player’s ability to recognize an opponent’s actions, to know his team’s schemes and his individual assignments, and to choose the correct response. It does not include executing the response. Coaches spe
The Way It Used To Be
American Football Monthly recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches for a peek inside the ever-changing world of football. From their first job to their last, their first championship season to their first losing season, AFM has captured it all – coaches provide AFM with an exclusive journey down memory lane. Maybe you can’t walk in their shoes, but perhaps
Cover Story Norm Chow: Does Anyone Really Know Norm? Searching for the identity of college football\'s most intriguing and mysterious offensive coordinator By Aaron S. Lee September 2003
Cover Story A Clear Picture: Boise State’s Dan Hawkins Please don’t adjust your TV set... Yes, the field IS cool blue, but Boise State’s Dan Hawkins leads AFM’s 2003 red hot coaches’ list. By Richard Scott
The Last Rep
With each snap of the ball, football players are at constant risk for career-ending concussions. American Football Monthly has gathered seven of the industry’s top experts to discuss this epidemic in a Last Rep two-part series. AFM encourages coaches to use this platform as a first step in their continuing education on player safety. Please contact medical experts and gear manufacturers to
Starting From Scratch
No matter what level of football you’re coaching or playing, it’s hard enough to maintain a successful program these days. From high school to Division I to even the NFL, there are budgets, injuries, ever-growing parity with technology and those inevitable peaks and valleys. That’s talking about established programs. What’s it like to try to create all of those things programs strive for: fans, top-tier
Avoiding Major Mistakes in the Interview Process
Networking: Make the Most of Every Opportunity
The Last Rep
With each snap of the ball, football players are at constant risk for career-ending concussions. American Football Monthly has gathered seven of the industry’s top experts to discuss this epidemic in a Last Rep two-part series. AFM encourages coaches to use this platform as a first step in their continuing education on player safety. Please contact medical experts and gear manufacturers to
Cover Story Resurrection - Hal Mumme and Woody Widenhofer return to football to revive Southeastern Louisiana football and their careers. Read the complete article >>> April 2003 Staff Meeting
Making \"Quality\" a Priority
If you liked this article, here are three others just like it:
The Life of Riley - When Dan Riley joined the Houston Texans as their first strength and conditioning coach, many asked why? Hear Coach Riley’s answer and find out why he is among the most respected coaches in his industry.Read the complete article >>> March 2003
Cover Story Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime... Three coaches, Three schools, One Philosophy... A look inside college football\'s most underrated football programs...By Aaron S. Lee July 2003
Virtual Recruiting: High Tech Leverages High Touch
The world is changing at lightning speed and athletic programs that don’t change with it will be left to scavenge through the leftover talent and limp into tomorrow. For the purpose of this article, change equals the Internet and the best of the Internet is laden with “rich media.” More on rich media later. If your football program isn’t exploiting this new recruiting tool, chances are you will be l
Against The Grain
It only happened once. And it never happened again. Maybe that’s because Southern Miss video director Chris Hooley is too busy doing her job to let her status as the first woman in her position in Division I-A college football become an issue. There was a time when an NFL scout came to visit her video office for film on some potential NFL prospects. He made a rather unnecessary comment about her not belonging in a man’s game and then slipped in a couple of other snide remark
Tech Talk: Technology\'s Most Common Terms
VHS - A comman tape format. Linear/Non-linear - These two terms are used in the video industry. The word linear is described as events that follow each other. When you are working with the VHS or any tape or film format you are working in a linear fashion. Conversely, when you are working on you computer organizing video clips in a preferred order you are working in a nonlinear fashion.
Focus the man behind the camera
Nearly nine years after the fact, Brad Helton can finally admit it. When he became Marshall’s video coordinator in 1995, Helton re-wired his entire office area. “That way the coaches couldn’t even come in here and make a tape,” Helton says, laughing. “At the time, I didn’t know how many programs even had video coordinators or how many people were doing it or what they were doing it with, so I did it for job security. I figured
Technology Game Plan
The arrival of spring means that spring football has begun at many college campuses across the country. Springtime also provides coaches the opportunity to visit other coaching staffs and observe their practice routines. In Texas, high school coaches especially like to take this opportunity to visit with area college staffs. Its during these times that visiting high school coaches ask me to offer my thoughts on
Film School
I started in 1992 as graduate assistant in the football video department at the University of Illinois. Prior to that I had no idea what went in to preparing for a football game. In 1996, I became the video coordinator here at the University of Oregon where I have spent the last seven seasons. Aside from trying to explain to my friends what I actually do, and convince my Mom and Dad that I ca
Letter From the Editor
Well, it’s no secret that football is ever changing and not just with personnel, uniform colors, helmet design and Xs and Os. In fact, the most noticeable changes often occur off the field, hidden from the millions of fans that pack the stadiums each weekend. Football has indeed changed for the many coaches who teach the game, a game that is now seemingly dominated by laptops, keyboards and hard drives. Once again,
The Last Rep
Technology is becoming more intricate with every season that passes, so American Football Monthly recently sat down with six of the top video coordinators and recruiting coordinators from around the country to get their thoughts on some of the major issues concerning their industry. What is the hottest new technology in your industry?
Outline for Technology Game-planning
With the growth of technology in football and the ever-increasing demands on coaches’ time game planning and scheduling has become even more important providing the foundation for a successful football program. This is an outline of the weekly schedule we use at Fordham University for offensive game planning. The outline also highlights the manner technology makes our film study either more efficient or allows us to study
Cover Story Focus - The man behind the camera. Take a close look at what video coordinator Brad Helton is doing for Marshall’s football team both on and off the field . By Richard Scott Cover Photo by Jim Robinette Cov
The Staff Report
Career: 8 Guidlines for the High School Assistant Coach So you dream of becoming the head coach someday? Well, there are a few things you need to know and do that will help you earn that dream job you’ve been looking for. Anyone who wants to be a successful assistant coach and eventually a successful head coach must have certain qualities that set them
Cover Story Schutt Sports 2002 Division I-A Coach of the Year: Larry Coker - Miami\'s Larry Coker entered the 2003 Fiesta Bowl with a 24-0 record as head coach, a national championship ring on one finger and an opportunity to win one for another finger. Rockne, Warner, Wilkinson, Bryant, Robinson... none of them did that in their first two years as a head coach.
Cover Story Gold Rush: J.T. Curtis In his 33 years as head coach, J.T. Curtis has brought John Curtis Christian High School’s trophy case a national record 18 gold footballs. And counting... By David Purdum A TV Star too
The Staff Report
Within the game of Football the difference in many athletes performance stems from flexibility of the hips. Whether your need is to engage a man on the line of scrimmage or to come in and out of your cuts faster, your results will depend on this. An interior lineman will be able to drive through the more forcefully and the skill position athlete will be able break down faster and more efficiently. Throughout
The Science of Recruiting Letters - Part II
Whether you like it or not, recruiting is a necessity. It is the only means to rebuild fallen programs and reload successful ones. More often than not, recruiting has become an endless saga filled with repetitive approaches that have changed little in the past four decades. Recruiting is something that everyone does, but does everyone do it well? In last month’s issue, the staff of American
Cover Story Running with the Bulls - With a base salary of $140,000, South Florida’s Jim Leavitt may in fact be the best bargain in college football, but one thing is for certain - he is no longer a secret. Read the complete article >>>
Focus on Critical Information to Place Your Players in Position to be Successful
FOR LAST YEAR’S TECHNOLOGY ISSUE, American Football Monthly asked me to share some insight on the organization of game planning staff and resources.* This year, Travis Davis has asked me to again address the subject of game planning, this time regarding an often asked question: In light of the finite time we coaches have available each week for strategic planning, how can we find and use the best from th
Technology Crossroads
Bobby April had reached a crossroads in his career and his life. When the New Orleans Saints fired Mike Ditka’s staff after the 1999 season, April – the special teams coach – found himself without a job. April also found himself with a year left on his contract, and decisions to make. “I had a daughter who was going to be a senior in high school, and I wasn’t going to
Use Video Technology to Enhance On-Field Performance
Once a high school wide receiver myself, I remember the way our football coach would stress the importance of two things – execution and fundamentals. During the season, both play crucial roles in any team’s on-field performance. The off-season, however, is the best time to develop them. Free from the day-to-day headaches of game planning, the off-season
Letter From the Editor
It’s time for American Football Monthly’s annual look at new technologies in the game of football. We began this annual series in May 2000 because when it comes to technology, coaching is similar to many other jobs. Innovators and entrepreneurs are looking at ways to develop technology to make your job easier and to make you more efficient. For all that technology can do, it can’t add to the number o
May 2002 Cover Story Information Age Bobby April of the St. Louis Rams uses technology to gain a coaching and career edge. Technology Crossroads - St. Louis Rams special teams coach Bobby April is one of a growing
Letter From the Editor
Granted, I am not a coach – never have been, never will be. To make matters worse, I don’t even play one on TV. But then again, I don’t have to be a coach to fully understand what American Football Monthly brings to the coaching profession. Coaches have often been a misunderstood sort – always receiving a bit too much credit when things go well and way too much when
New Equipment
LOK-CUP SHOULDER PAD Austin Athletic Mfg. Co. 800-813-7706 www.austinathletic.com The Lok-Cup™ shoulder pad is back by popular demand. Austin Athletic Mfg. Co. presents a new and improved line of our popular Lok-Cup™ shoulder
April 2002 Latest Cover Story NFL Coach of the Year Getting to know the Real Bill Belichick Bill Belichick - You thought you knew him from his days in Cleveland. You saw the images on television. The grim, stern face, void of emotion, ratcheted with intensity.
The Science Of Recruiting Letters Part 1
What if you could have an in-home visit with any football recruit in the nation at any time during the NCAA’s mandated recruiting period? What if your in-home visit could take advantage of every possible opportunity to share your program’s tradition, goals and intentions with a potential game-breaking superstar that could help make the difference between a 5-6 also-ran and a 6-5 bowl run?
Equipment Room
Defensive Reaction Machine From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com B.C. Cruncher Two-Man Sled Defensive Reaction Sled (DFR) \"Over 70 Years of What Works...\" Quality Reconditioning 1-800-544-5564 www.continentalathletic.c
Division I-A Coach of the Year Ralph Friedgen
The Big Man knew. The Big Man had a plan. Sure, he had plenty of Xs and Os spinning around in that bald head of his, but he also had hopes, dreams, goals and plans. Big plans. Plans to build a program. Plans to transform a program. Plans to tear down all the old bad habits and all the losing ways and re-teach the right habits, instill a winning confidence from the ground up. Pl
Cover StoryCoach of the Year Ralph Friedgen February 2002 Division I-A Coach of the Year Ralph Friedgen When the University of Maryland went looking for a football coach, they wanted someone who cared about UM, its past, present and futu
Poetic Justice
My job as defensive line coach is to help my players attain our team goals, our defensive goals, and their individual goals. One of the ways I do this is by preparing them during the week for situations they may encounter during the game. On Saturdays, I do not want them thinking; I want them reacting. For this reason, I am very careful with respect to what I expose them to during the week. I try to keep i
Using Video Technology to Enhance Performance
It’s the middle of the off-season. And like normal you find yourself searching for techniques and tools that can help your athletes become better, more fundamentally sound football players. As a coach, you know there are certain attributes that make athletes successful on the field of competition. Diehard performance in the weightroom, for example. Crafting bigger and stronger athletes enhances perfo
March 2002 Latest Cover Story Behind Oklahoma's Strength Jerry Schmidt - Before coming to OU, Schmidt worked as a strength coach at Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State and Florida. It seems everywhere he goes athletes get stronger and faster. As the Director of S
June 2002 Cover Story Paths to Success - First rate facilities a plus, but people ultimately determine program success. An inside look at successful high school programs in Artesia, N.M., and Carol City, Fla., shows that coaches, communities and players are the bes
Follow The Leader
When the University of Texas whipped out the wishbone in the 1960s, it didn\'t take long for college football programs all over the South to follow the trend and come up with their own version of the triple-option. When Florida coach Steve Spurrier brought a wide-open passing attack to the run-oriented SEC in the early 90s, it didn\'t take long for the rest of the conference to pick up on the trend and discover the joys of passing.When Nebraska and Kansas State starting using press-man def
Cover Story Greg Schiano October 2001 Blood Brother - Perennially bad and lacking for direction, Rutgers turned its fo
Letter From the Publisher
Protecting your assets... In the business world, there are a few axioms that are universally applied by all successful companies. For example, some of these management philosophies are: focus on those things with the greatest opportunity for success; make certain you do whatever is necessary to keep your best employees; and protect your company\'s most valuable assets. However, in the football world, I fear teams sometimes ignore sound, proven and winning business strategies th
The Truth About Turf
Your quarterback is on the run. Coming from his left is a 275-pound defensive end charging with a full head of speed. Coming straight at him is a blitzing middle linebacker. You watch from the sidelines and know the inevitable is about to happen. It\'s just a matter of who is going to get to your quarterback - the end or the linebacker. The linebacker wins the race. He explodes past a would-be blocker and wraps up the quarterback with a nasty hit punctuated by his head bouncing off th
Cover Story Sports Medicine July 2001 The Protector... - As head athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Todd Toriscelli
The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence
Each year coaching staffs spend countless hours and large amounts of money searching for new and innovative ways to improve their defensive performance. Descriptive phrases such as \"swarming defense\" and \"relentless pursuit\" depict the type of play coaches are seeking from their defensive units. While using innovative coaching aids, advanced computer technology, and attending professional clinics can help a coach in his pursuit of these levels of performance, perhaps the most effec
Artificial Oasis
This isn\'t your father\'s artificial turf. It\'s a line that rolls off turf salesmen\'s lips nearly anytime they are asked to talk about their product. And it\'s a line that few associated with the fine art of field management dispute. Artificial turf has changed dramatically since it was first rolled out at the Houston Astrodome 36 years ago when dome officials, desperate to prove that the much-maligned facility was truly state-o
June 2001 Cover Story Buried Treasure... UAB's Watson Brown - Sometimes numbers can be deceiving, and in the case of Watson Brown, his career cannot be measured by wins and losses. Acclaimed by all who know him a
Equipment Room
Rogers Lev Sled 1-(800) 248-0270 www.rogersathletic.com Utilize the power of leverage to achieve more gridiron victories. Only the Rogers Lev Sled requires the blocker to drive the pad to compress the spring - then he is able to elevate the pad. From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Off
Cover Story Pete Rodriguez September 2001 Special Delivery: Pete Rodriguez - Pundits always argue that special teams p
Equipment Room
Defensive Reaction Machine From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com B.C. Cruncher Two-Man Sled Defensive Reaction Sled (DFR) \"Over 70 Years of What Works...\" www.elitestrength.com From Elite Strength Training www.elitestrength.com
Cover Story Balance: Steve Spurrier December 2001 Balance: Steve Spurrier -
The Big 10
Every year thousands of coaches try to take the next step up the ladder of success thatleads to the land of head coaching. Most of these men fully believe they have \"what it takes\" and all they need is a chance. Yet, many of these same men will tell me they feel totally disenfranchised and do not know how to \"get in the loop\" or make it to the next level. So many coaches seem to feel if they wor
Cover Story Lou Holtz February 2001 Division 1-A Coach of the Year Lou Holtz - It was enough that the Notre Dame coaching lege
Equipment Room
Rogers Lev Sled 1-(800) 248-0270 www.rogersathletic.com Utilize the power of leverage to achieve more gridiron victories. Only the Rogers Lev Sled requires the blocker to drive the pad to compress the spring - then he is able to elevate the pad. From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Off
Cover Story Two Hot to Stop August 2001 Two Hot to Stop - For the past several years, head coaching vacancies have been fille
Letter from the Publisher
Every morning as I take my first glance in the mirror, I cOme face to face with the man who is rapidly (and to my amazement) starting to look like my father. And, as if I needed any further evidence that I am getting old, every half-hour I hear myself saying something to one of my four children that years ago I swore I would never say. (\"There are starving children somewhere who would love those green beans ...,\" or, \"Not everyone can be pretty, but everyone can be polite...\").I ru
Out With The Old and In With The New
While the towering Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale University is known as the \"cathedral of sports,\" for Steve Plisk and his strength and conditioning staff, it was an ungodly mess.Stuffed in a former wrestling room, the 3,600-square-foot weight room had long outlived its usefulness.\"Athletes would show up at their assigned time and have to wait 10 minutes for it to clear out,\" says Plisk, describing one of the many obstacles he faced trying to run a strength and conditioning pr
Future stock
IT WAS AS TRADITIONAL AS 10-CENT BEER NIGHTS AND double-headers. Before any baseball player stepped into the batter\'s box, he would put a weight on the end of his bat and take a few cuts, knowing it would make his swing more powerful, faster and increase his chances of popping one over the fence.Then, guess what?Researchers discovered that the once popular bat doughnuts not only didn\'t help baseball players become home run hitters, they actually hurt them.\"It slowed down their swing,
Cover Story The Godfather March 2001 Big Man on Campus - Nebraska's Boyd Eply didn't set out to change the game of football
Putting New Muscle in the Weight Room
The world of technology is now entering the weight room. Yes, it\'s true. As much as strength and conditioning coaches may want to stay far away from anything remotely resembling technology, the fact is that it can help enhance the performance of your athletes. At Winona State, technology has become an essential part of both our academic and football programs. The university was one of the first to initiate the Laptop University concept. This means that every student is provided with
Equipment Room
Defensive Reaction Machine From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Offensively or defensively this is how to teach the delivery of a blow. The Crowther Defensive Reaction machine. When you master the Defensive Reaction Machine, you master the line of scrimmage. The only football machine available with a moving helmet for player
Virtual Football
It\'s the end of a long practice in an even longer week. But despite your best efforts, your quarterback clearly needs more work. He\'s having a hard time throwing long against the blitz and there\'s no way he\'s going to master it without spending a lot more time on the field. Time, however, is one thing you can\'t give him. Don\'t panic. Just hand him his virtual reality mask, program it for a rush and send him on his way. Tell him you\'ll see him in the morning to discuss the compu
Cover Too
It may come as a surprise to some that computers have been helping high school and college coaches build game plans for nearly 20 years. Starting with the early Apple II and IBM personal computers, technology that had previously been available only to larger colleges and professional teams began working its way into the high school and small college ranks. Innovative coaches, facing many obstacles, began to integrate computers into their game planning processes during the mid-1980s. C
Letter From the Publisher
In my parent\'s backyard, there lives a pack of stray cats that seemingly rule the neighborhood where I grew up and my parents still live. My mother, being the kind hearted soul she is, has seen fit to feed this pride of baby lions for what my father tells me is going on two years and $10,000. The leader of the pack is a one-eyed tomcat affectionately dubbed Big Boy. Now, it is important to note that Big Boy has taken on celebrity status and mythic proportions to my three-year old son Christophe
Stop in the Name of the Law
When two back-to-back bad calls wiped away Illinois\' chances of beating Michigan last fall in the final minutes of a game, the cry went up.\"Instant replay,\" shouted coaches who have long believed that the NCAA should change it\'s rules to allow referees to review game film on the field if there is any question that they made the right call.To Illinois coach Ron Turner, the issue is a simple one. \"The technology is out there these days, so we might as well use it,\" says Turner, a forme
To AD or not to AD...
Can you see this happening? A new coach is hired. He wants new computers and video equipment for his staff. So, off to the AD\'s office he goes. The athletic director, anxious to do everything to make the new coach happy, tells the coach to get him a proposal. Thereafter, the coach instructs his video coordinator to \"... write something up.\" The coach and his video guy then return to the AD\'s office to make their pitch. The AD will most oftentimes try to approve the expenditure, and then find
The Money Chase
When Michael Christensen needed money to buy high-tech equipment to revolutionize his football program at Lakewood High School in California, he got it that old-fashioned way: He went to his booster club with his palms outstretched.\"Luckily, we have a real active booster club,\" he says of the group\'s ability to raise the money he needed to buy a $13,000 video-editing system.Without a good booster club or a well-heeled sugar daddy, however, most high school and small college coaches are
Cutting the Chord
Coaching great Knute Rockne is known for his motto \"Winning - it\'s not everything ... it\'s the only thing.\" But as any successful coach can tell you, perhaps the only thing you can really count on are the long, often tedious hours. No one needs to remind you that coaching is a time-consuming profession. You\'ve been there. Late nights followed by early mornings. And if by some miraculous intervention more hours were added to the day, you\'d probably just spend this surplus time in your offic
The Information Age
It\'s the kind of argument that breaks out hundreds of times during hundreds of coaches meetings that are held at hundreds of school across the nation each week.The coaching staff at Pittsburg State University in Kansas was mulling over the team\'s weak spots and one coach insisted that a glaring problem was the team\'s inability to convert on third down. The idea caught on quickly and pretty soon the entire staff was in agreement that the Gorillas simply weren\'t very good in third-down situ
Achieving Maximum Benefit from Your Use of Technology in Game Planning
ALL STAFFS INVEST A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF time and effort in game planning. Strategic preparation for an opponent is a big part of what we do as coaches. It\'s a major element of the intellectual challenge of coaching which attracts us to the profession, and it forms the basis for the way in which we as coaches compete on game day. Play calling success is dependent upon a knowledge of the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies of both your own team and of your opponent. We all know that ot
May 2001 Cover Story The Information Age - Computers and the countless software applications have forever changed the face of coaching... a look at how the changes have affected coaches like Pittsburg State's OL coach Bill Kroenke.
Equipment Room
Rogers Lev Sled 1-(800) 248-0270 www.rogersathletic.com Utilize the power of leverage to achieve more gridiron victories. Only the Rogers Lev Sled requires the blocker to drive the pad to compress the spring - then he is able to elevate the pad. From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Off
He Knows the Way In San Jose
In a geographical area of California well-known for its technology innovations and sports achievements\' San Jose State\'s Chuck Bell knows that his athletic teams must be competitive if people are to identify with, much less attend Spartan athletic events. But grappling for attention in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, where competitiveness is cutting edge, can be difficult. All the same, Bell, who is nearing the end of his third full year as athletic director at SJSU, doesn\'t sh
Cover Story Tony DeMeo November 2001 A Wizard in the Land of Oz - Tiny Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas may not win conference
The Computer is Up
I don\'t necessarily like all the things that go along with (coaching) ... all I want to do is coach the team and that\'s it.\" Perhaps you would agree with Tampa Bay\'s Tony Dungy who spoke these words back in 1998 when he was named this magazine\'s NFL Coach of the Year. No matter what level you coach, you undoubtedly have tasks, obligations or perhaps people whom you\'d rather not have to deal with. But whether it\'s recruiting new players, scouting next week\'s opponent, or teaching
Cover Story NFL Coach of the Year Jim Haslett April 2001 NFL Coach of the Year Jim Haslett - When Jim Haslett came marching into New Orleans last year, few expected him to turn around the most bedeviled team in the history of
March 2000 Would you like to read a past article from American Football Monthly Magazine? Or are you looking for an article on a specific subject not in this month\'s issue? Try back issues. Staff Meeting Let
December 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian
The Survivor
Here he was, scaling a fence in a driving thunderstorm, with a blank videocassette under his rain jacket. The coaching staff desperately needed video of its next opponent, but a lack of sufficient technology at the team\'s training facility prevented the team from finding the game on television. That did not, however, prevent the team\'s head coach from finding another solution. So with the rain pouring down and thunder rumbling overhead, he found himself climbing the fence betwe
July 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from former Houston Oilers' coach Bum Phillips News and Notes Vandy, DiNardo settle lawsuit ... North Texas
New Equipment
Double Sided Multi Safety Rack from Samson Equipment, Inc.800-472-6766 www.samsonequipment.com Samson Equipment, Inc. introduces its newest power rack, the Double Sided Multi Safety Rack. The Rack allows you to perform all of your core free weight lifts in one area with the added versatility of 2 stations. Choose Samson and you\'ll realize why they are the choice of many top professional, college & high school programs as well as health clubs and gyms all across the
Best of Best...The Top Coaching Staffs in Football
Taking into account all of the factors that go into the composition of what makes a great coaching staff, the following is our second annual look at the best coaching staffs in football. Just as last year, it is extremely difficult to choose one staff over another. It is somewhat analogous to trying to decide which dessert you want in a buffet. But, what makes a great staff? Is it the number of championships won collectively? How about longevity at the institution? C
September 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher News and Notes Dick Curl leaves Europe and joins the Chiefs... Bama's DuBose makes a sick young man's day...NCAA legislation may hurt I-AA football...Mizzou seeks to get out of future
Equipment Room
Chronomix Corp.1-800-538-1548www.chronomix.comThe Practice Timer is a multi-use training tool. It can be programmed for circuit interval training or practice segment timing. When not running programs it can be used as a hundredth of a second stop watch for timing the forty yard dash or laps. Accessories are available for printed results or automatic timing. Custom made motivational signsFrom Signs For Success1-800-298-4025
The Evolution of Technology in Football
CLICK...CLACK...CLICK...CLACK.... the only sound emanating from the darkened room droned endlessly. For decades, it was the sound of technology in football. For generations of players and coaches, the first technological skill to be mastered was how to thread film in the 16mm projector. It was film, passing back and forth through the projector\'s gate, which was the sound of technology in the game. An endless ribbon of film ran through the game and connected generations of coaches and pla
High Schools That Went High Tech
When Rob Scheidt took over the program at Merced (Calif.) H.S. in the spring of 1996, he faced a rebuilding job. The historically strong MHS program, which won a state championship just five years before, had spiraled downward into a two-year playoff draught and was stinging from a 1-9 record the previous season. Scheidt, who became head varsity coach at Merced while he was still in his mid-20s, saw a couple of problems that needed to be addressed right off the bat. First, the school
Letter from the Publisher
The forward pass. Integration. Facemasks and new equipment that makes players seem more prepared for a battle than a game of football. TV, radio call-in shows and 24-hour a day media coverage. All of these changes have dramatically altered the game of football. Yet the sum total of these alterations pale in comparison to the virtual metamorphosis that is taking place in the year 2000. Computers, the associated software programs, and enhanced video equipment are dynamically changing the ga
Reaching the Top
With its groundbreaking use of computers, video cameras and advances in research in human kinetics (just to name a few), the University of Nebraska has become known as \"the birthplace for strength and conditioning in collegiate athletics.\" The person most responsible for the inception of not only Nebraska\'s strength and conditioning program, but also programs throughout the country, is Director of Performance Boyd Epley. Epley began his career with Nebraska in 1969 when he became th
Success is Coming in Bunches at Wisconsin
According to the Acromania Index on the Ziff Davis website www.zdnet.com, Information Technology is defined Pronounced as separate letters, IT refers to the broad subject of managing and processing information. In contrast, Vince Lombardi noted, \"football is only two things - blocking and tackling.\" How can one reconcile the differences between the general study and application of data and this strict, physical discipline? Barry Alvarez and company at the University of Wisconsin have b
Glossary
American Football Monthly (a-mer- -kan fut-bol koch), noun 1. the only trade journal designed exclusively for the football professional. 2. the one-stop place for all football coaches to go to obtain up-to-the-minute information on everything from xs & os to sports nutrition that will help their program. 3. the magazine found on the desk of every successful coach in the nation. Analog- a process whereby the recorded video image information is a continuous equivalent of
Editing Systems: Getting What\'s Right for You
ADVANTAGES OF EDITING SYSTEMSUsing an editing system will not only make your video sessions run more smoothly but also allows you to easily scout your opponent and your own team - not to mention helping you teach and grade out players. You\'ll save time by watching only the essential video clips, because an editing system allows you to customize videotapes to your team\'s needs. You can create separate tapes for offense, defense and special teams. Imagine the benefits of sending sc
Technology Q&A with the NFHS
As is the case in any industry, change and evolution in football have sparked the need for constant examination and discussion of the rules that govern the sport. And anytime improvements are made that affect how teams prepare for and play the game, a tradeoff is often necessary in order to ensure no team gains an unfair advantage over its opponents simply because it has greater access to advanced technology. American Football Monthly discussed some of the issues related to technologi
Stripes—Life as a Zebra
Making the Right Call with Help from Technology The goal is training us to call fouls that truly affect the game and be more accurate with judgment calls. The improved video critiques we now receive have helped dramatically in this area. The advent of telestrators and the ability to zero in on particular players and aspects of a play facilitate our understanding of what we did well and might do
Football and The Internet
When the editors of American Football Monthly approached me with the challenge of projecting the impact of the Internet on the game of football, I was torn. On one hand, I could go on and on about all of the sites that focus on recruiting and our collective infatuation with athletes who weigh 250, bench press 375 and run sub-4.4 40s. But the \'Net offers many more uses and opportunities beyond the recruiting arena that will make a real impact on coaching and the game of football. I
6 Hours to 5 Minutes:
How would you like to add several hours of \"free\" time to your schedule each week, especially during the football season? Time to view some additional videotape, review the game plan, or maybe just get some rest. A major catalyst in freeing time for the staff of the Minnesota Vikings has been the use of computers within our football operations. We have never viewed computers as a magic bullet to solve problems. We still rely on the intelligence and creativity of our staff to make
May 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher News and Notes 49ers' McKittrick loses battle with cancer ... Pitt gives Harris contract extension ... Gilbertson OC at U of Washington again ... Notre Dame hires new AD from ASU ... Okl
Stripes—Life as a Zebra
As coaches, I\'m sure all of you know that Division One and NFL games are officiated by seven-man crews, consisting of the referee, umpire, head linesman, line judge, field judge, side judge and the back judge. But are you completely aware of the mechanics of each position? And do you know about the changes that have taken place within the past few years at each position? Furthermore, how familiar are you with the preparation each official puts forth, both individually and as a crew, befo
April 2000 Would you like to read a past article from American Football Monthly Magazine? Or are you looking for an article on a specific subject not in this month's issue?Staff MeetingLetter from PublisherWords of Wisdom
New Equipment
Rear Control Remote from Lafayette Instrument Company800-428-7545 www.lafayetteinstrument.com Lafayette Instrument Company once again makes your life easier with the Rear Control Remote. The camera\'s lens, and pause/start functions can be operated by the tripod handle remote. The remote attaches quickly and easily to any tripod handle. Functions such as zoom and pause can be manipulated without the operator touching the camera. This hands-off approach makes your sh
August 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from current Florida State coach Bobby Bowden News and Notes Mountain West 'in the room' on BCS tal
October 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Vince Lombardi
News & Notes
Barnett\'s Colorado Contract Finalized After more than one year, Gary Barnett and the University of Colorado finalized a five-year contract. The multi-year contract, retroactive to Jan. 22, 1999, when he accepted the position, is one of three positions the State Legislature allows CU to exempt from standard contract rules. All other deals are limited to one year. \"We\'re delighted to have finalized the agreement with coach Barnett. This gives us the opportunity to accomplish the g
June 2000 Staff MeetingLetter from PublisherWords of Wisdom from Buffalo Bills¹ legend Marv LevyNews and Notes Barnett and the Buffs finally ink a deal... Tennessee¹s academic
February 2000 Would you like to read a past article from American Football Monthly Magazine? Or are you looking for an article on a specific subject not in this month's issue? Try back issues. Staff Meeting
November 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Bud Wilkinson
November 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Darrell Royal
Crystal Ball
Ever wonder what the future holds for the game, sport and business of football? Will attendance increase? Will stadiums continue to expand to the point where Michigan Stadium will be the "Little House?" Will the new millennium bring with it unimaginable technology that will enhance the game? No doubt, in a scant few years, we will see revolutions in equipment that will be as drastic as the change from leather helmets to the modern battle armor. Will the game prosper? Wi
Complete Coach
As a coach, your time is not only valuable, it's also restricted. And with a finite number of hours in a day, you can only accomplish so much. While many of your daily obligations - such as family, school and boosters - have little or nothing to do with coaching, these obligations force you to become more effective during the short stretches of time when you actually get to focus on coaching. With this in mind, how can you both save and manage your timemore efficiently? The answer li
December 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom Army Coach Earl "Red" BlaikNews and Notes Raiders
Q&A With Bud Grant
Q: What is your philosophy on staff management?A: Philosophy is something you are asked about a lot, but I am not so sure everybody has a philosophy or that I have a philosophy. Your coaching staff is vitally important; there is no successful team that doesn't have a good staff. As much as coaching might be overrated, your assistant coaches certainly can't be or shouldn't be. They are really the backbone of the team, because they do most of the work. I think it is important for
New Equipment
Aqua-BreezeFrom J.E. Adams Industries800-553-8861Looking to keep your team cool this season? J.E. Adams Industries of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, introduces the Aqua Breeze Mobile Cooling System. This unique and totally-integrated mobile cooling system utilizes flash evaporation cooling. Flash cooling uses the ultra-fine atomization of water droplets by forcing water through high-impact nozzles to lower the ambient temperature of an area. The unique flash evaporation u
June 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from PublisherReader Feedback News and Notes Eddie Robinson Cla
Family First
For Houston Nutt, his coaching philosophy is crystal clear. It's all about family. Sounds simple enough, but when he arrived at the University of Arkansas, the plan didn't look so easy. He was dealing with 15 seniors who had one season left in a football program that certainly had seen better days in the Southeastern Conference. The players went to him and said, "Coach, we want to win, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to do it." Nutt could have slid into a pessimistic fra
New Equipment
From Samson Equipment, Inc.800-472-6766Samson Weight Training Equipment, Inc. from Fairacres, N.M., introduces its Samson Power Station. The Power Station enables athletes to perform a wide variety of exercises in a limited amount of space. The Power Station is unique in that it allows athletes to perform a variety of different exercises including: Squats, Cleans, Bench Press, Incline, Shoulder Press, Chins, Dips, Calf Raises, Olympic Lifts, etc... in one station.
May 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes No more SAT? • H
Complete Coach
The adage is the bigger they are the harder they will fall. Not necessarily. If your athletes can develop speed and agility along with size, they may very well be able to withstand almost anything the competition throws at them. The key to developing bigger, stronger, more agile players is the weight room. How do you as a coach get the most out of each weight room session? How can you create a weight room, or revamp your present facility into one that helps your players achieve their goa
October 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Bo Schembechler News and Notes Neuheisel finally gets his deal d
September 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes Ravens loa
New Equipment
Training PartnerFrom Burke Spencer U.S.A., Inc.888-862-8753Uniquely designed belt, ankle cuffs, hand pads, and break-through Tensor technology mark the Training Partner developed by Linden, N.J.'s Burke Spencer U.S.A., Inc. Tensor resistance provides approximately 10 pounds of smooth, unrestricting resistance per Tensor, working muscles fully through concentric and eccentric muscular movements. Muscles quickly adjust to this seemingly insignificant load. Musc
July 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes Notre Dame booster drama • Auburn saga continues
August 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes Colorado
Volume 5, 1st Quarter Spotlight Bill Snyder, Division 1 Coach of the Year Division 1 COY Runners-Up
Volume 4, 2nd Quarter Spotlight Schutt Sports NFL Coach of the Year: Tampa Bay's Tony Dungy Q & A with Tony Dungy AFM Div. II & III
The Truth About Creatine
Athletes in all sports, especially football, are always looking for ways to become bigger, stronger and faster. To attain the quintessential trifecta of size, strength and speed, athletes have been known to use any and all means necessary. Unfortunately, even alternatives with documented harmful side effects such as steroids have been seen as viable options. The current "magic potion" for many athletes is creatine monohydrate. But what is it? What will it do? And, does it actually do w
This page compiles American Football Monthly's articles dedicated to exploring the cutting edge of Football Technology. Here, you'll find insights, reviews, and practical advice on the tools and trends shaping the modern game, helping coaches and administrators make informed decisions about implementing new tech.
Discover information covering a wide range of technological applications in football, including:
- Coaching & Scouting Software: Film breakdown systems, digital playbooks, analytics platforms, recruiting databases, and scouting tools.
- Player Performance Tech: GPS tracking devices, wearable sensors (heart rate, workload monitoring), and biomechanics analysis tools.
- Video Analysis: High-definition cameras, end zone systems, instant replay technology, and video editing software.
- Virtual Reality (VR) & Simulation: Immersive training environments for QBs and other positions.
- Communication Systems: Sideline communication headsets and in-helmet communication technology.
- Data Analytics: Advanced statistics, predictive modeling, and data visualization for game planning and player evaluation.
- Equipment & Gear Innovations: Advancements in helmet safety, protective padding, and performance apparel.
- Facility Technology: Video boards, sound systems, connectivity, and smart facility management.
Technology Search Results
Maximize Offense in the Real World of High School FootballIntroductionTime is a football coach’s most precious commodity. Most coaches at the high school and youth levels are challenged with limitations (such as player talent and perhaps a limited number of experienced coaches); but all teams are limited by time. Even the best coaches believe there simply isn’t enough time to fully teach, install and rep all phases of the game to all players. The Double Gun offense is unique because it offers such a wide variety of options wit
Post- Season Priorities - Wrapping up one season and transitioning to the next are critical times for successful programs
When your season ends, do you kick back, relax and get away from the game for a couple months? Of course not. Whether it’s formulating and implementing an off-season strength and conditioning program, ushering in a new group of players and preparing them for the following season or putting together motivational exercises, every successful coach knows that winter presents an opportunity for physical and mental team building.To find out how the best coaches approach the post season
Building Character and Commitment Through Community Service
By Dan Kratzer, Former Head Coach South Dakota School of Mines and Technology In season community service is part of every freshman’s commitment to the school. We let them know from the start that part of the responsibility in this world is to not always think of themselves, but to think and do for others. As the majority of our players are either math, science o0r engineering majors, they have a tendency to be somewhat introverted. So, we wanted to do something that
Coaching HD – Technology to Prepare Your Team in Camp and During the Season
As another season is ready to commence, now is the time to solidify plans and details, and be sure that you are able to work through the grind of the season in the smartest way possible. Utilizing technology to help you and your staff be efficient will pay dividends in both preparation for each week as well as alleviating some of the stress that comes with the long work day that the season brings.In 2010, huge advancements improved the way we are able to work as coaches. The film r
Why We Do What We Do - A Look Inside Clemson's Strength and Conditioning Program.
The foundation of any successful collegiate football program is an understanding and commitment by all who work with the student-athletes to shape them into the vision the head coach has for the team. Head Coach Dabo Swinney has a vision of greatness for our program, which in the past four years, has driven us to two ACC Atlantic Division Championships, one conference championship, a 4-year span of 10+-win seasons, three straight bowl wins over ranked opponents, three straight Top 15 finishes
Coaching HD: Train the Brain
Over the past year, there has been tremendous growth in the realm of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications in football. The idea of training the brain to function in a number of different situations has merits in terms of gaining experience as well as performing in a setting where the dangers of injury are removed. Data on these simulations show that performance on the field is improved. Cognition training provides an additional way for preparing the brain for high spee
Technology Steps Up – Aided by recent rules changes, tech companies now give coaches valuable new tools to analyze games in real time.
Aided by recent rule changes, tech companies now give coaches valuable new tools to analyze games in real time.For many years, technology has been an integral part of coaching. From the advent of game film to the development of sideline communications to the introduction of today’s sophisticated online video services, those in the technology arena have strived to keep up with the needs of coaches and utilize the latest in high tech innovations.Now, by virtue of an importan
Building Champions to Win Championships
We recently surveyed coaches on a variety of topics, one of which was their interest in having more information about leadership. An astounding 80% said they would like us to present more information on this topic that is so vital to individual and team success.With this issue of American Football Monthly, we are introducing a new monthly Leadership report – Building Champions to Win Championships. AFM has assembled a team of leadership experts to explore, define and communicate
Managing Your Program: Advance Your Team with Technology
Aggie Upgrade - With the help of their friends and neighbors at Samson Equipment, New Mexico State completed a major renovation to their strength and conditioning facility.
One would be hard pressed to find a strength and conditioning coach with more experience than Don Decker. One of only 140 individuals worldwide to have been named a master level strength coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Association, Decker’s 24-year collegiate career includes 15 seasons at Arkansas and four at Ole Miss, working with some of the most prominent coaches in the sport. Now, as Director of Strength and Conditioning at New Mexico State University, Decker supervise
Managing Your Program: Evaluating Staff - Creating an Environment For Success
As the season ends, equipment is collected, banquets are planned, and goals are set with the returning players. It’s important to not lose sight of one very important component in your program – the coaching staff. The team’s success is very closely tied to the coaches who create the environment that nurtures that success, yet often, the staff is the last component attended to in the transition from one season to the next. Years ago, former Navy Commander and aut
Managing Your Program: Building a Team – Objectives for Camp
Unity/Chemistry - Establishing chemistry is a big goal for every team in camp. Hopefully, the ground work was established in the off season. No matter how the off season went, camp and the new season have a new dynamic in how the team will interact and work together. It is a time for leadership of the team to really take root. This is an area that can be coached, managed and developed. A good head coach and his staff will see some of the issues that must be worked on during camp so
Summer Priorities – What should be your priorities heading into the summer months?
The summer months bring about a number of challenges for every football coach. Staying in contact with players and parents without school every day can be difficult. Similarly, coordinating staff meetings and giving players and coaches the needed time off before the grind of a new season begins can also be taxing.What should be your priorities heading into summer? What are the most effective ways to communicate with players and coaches? How important are strength and conditioning p
A Lifetime in the Game – Troy Vincent has transitioned from collegiate All-American to All-Pro to player’s association president to top NFL executive
If you’re a Wisconsin Badger fan, you likely remember him as the 1990 Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year as a defensive back who doubled as an electric, record-setting return man under Barry Alvarez. You probably also recall with pride his selection by the Miami Dolphins in the 1992 NFL Draft as the 7th overall pick.If you’re a Philadelphia Eagles follower, you saw him at the peak of his 15-year NFL career. His eight years with the team as one of the leagues most dependable co
SERVE and PROTECT
Legendary New England Coach John Papas teams up with Xenith to provide future collegiate athletes with added protection, better fit and strong performance.If you’ve coached at the high school and collegiate levels for over 35 years, chances are you’ve developed strong opinions about football equipment. You know which products are best for your players from performance and safety standpoints and you know which companies are best to work with. Coach John Papas has seen
Your Take: Win The Offseason: Organization Matters
Organization isn’t the sexiest topic to talk about, but if you’re serious about improving as a coach, it takes more than how-to videos and watching game tape. Reviewing your notes and processes can help save time and energy, while also allowing you to tackle your goals of molding your athletes into better players and people.Being disorganized can mean the difference between winning and losing. Even the smartest coaches need to be reminded of old plays and schemes that could hel
Having the Right Mouthguard
It’s easy to take some things for granted until they’re gone. Imagine what it would be like if you lost one or two of your front teeth. A properly fitted mouthguard is an important piece of athletic gear that should be mandatory for football players at all levels. Mouthguards help cushion blows that might otherwise cause broken teeth and help prevent injuries to the lips, tongue, face and jaw. According to the National Youth Sports Foundation for the Prevention of Athletic Inju
Champion Communicators
Four state champion coaches rely on the Tempest FX sideline communications system from CoachComm.All high school coaches know that it’s critical to have clear, reliable communications during a game. The ability to share information between coaches in the press box and those on the sideline has, for years, determined much of a team’s in-game strategy. An interrupted signal or unclear reception can spell disaster. But the best coaches, those that win state champ
Systematic Innovation: The No-Huddle, Power Pistol Offense
For Head Coach Robbie Owens of Grand Junction High School (CO), the system’s the thing. He believes offensive innovation is important, but without a system that is simple, adjustable and easy to install and teach, the value of innovation can be diminished.Owens’ system has proved itself over multiple seasons of high-octane offense. By combining the pistol formation with a punishing running attack and an up-tempo, no-huddle pace, Owens’ Grand Junction teams have produced proli
Going Camping
Sending your players to the free football camps offered by the NFL High School Player Development program presented by the National Guard is a win-win for you and them.Football camps for high school athletes are big business. Dozens of for-profit camps, costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars to attend, are offered to high school students who want to hone their skills over a period of days or weeks. But only one football camp program offers proven instruction methods a
Get Strong – Four Proven Off-Season Strength and Conditioning Programs
BISHOP GORMAN HIGH SCHOOL Las Vegas, NevadaHead Coach –Tony SanchezEnrollment – 1,200 students9-12 Football Program – 160-180 athletesFour consecutive Nevada 4A Championships, Nationally-Ranked ProgramSean Manuel serves as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach and also coaches the offensive line at Bishop Gorman. When he joined the Gorman staff in 2010, he completely revamped the outdated strength and conditioning facility.The FacilityOur w
Managing your Program - “Flipped” Coaching
In a clinic talk in 2012, Urban Meyer spoke of how he wants the Buckeyes to be taught and coached through “direct teaching.” He made a point of using the technology and tools available to teach rather than just present to players. Meyer said, “The greatest teaching tools available in the history of this sport are now available to you. The days of saying, ‘I don’t use that’ are not acceptable at the Ohio State University. We’re going to be on the cutting edge of every teaching to
The Use of Technology in Modern Football (and Life) Is A Matter of Perspective
In the old days, coaches basically drew up plays on a chalkboard. Weightlifting consisted of lifting hay bales on summer vacations and s[ports nutrition was whatever happened to be available to eat and drink. Things change, and when it comes to technology, things have changed drastically. The days of Sid Gillman clipping football footage from film reels that played in movie theatres while he worked as an usher in the 1930's to coaches watching grainy footage of a player taken with a 16mm home
Starting from the Bottom – A guide to the season’s hottest cleats.
As a coach dialing up new schemes and organizing practice routines for the upcoming season, you may not have had time to see what’s in store for this year’s selection of football cleats. When an athlete comes to you with questions on cleats, this guide will help you steer him in the right direction.Over the past few years, players big and small have been leaning toward cleats that are lighter and faster. The game – now more than ever - relies on speed. A transformation of new
Making the Grade – Spring evaluation is essential for maximizing each player’s contribution to the team
Spring evaluation is essential for maximizing each player’s contribution to the team.While coaches understand that player evaluation is a year-round necessity, spring is a particularly important time for returning player evaluations as your team heads into the summer pre-season lull. It’s the perfect time to size up the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete and set personal and team goals. What is the best way to evaluate a returning player? American Football Monthly asked seven
As a Coach, How Do You Want to be Remembered?
by Derek Schlieve, Head Football Coach Mayville State University Football is time consuming. It can become all-consuming if you let it. High School football takes a lot of time. College Football requires even more time. I cannot even begin to imagine what the time commitment is like at the professional level. Every now and then, you read a story about how much time coaches put in and what they are missing out on and it makes a person think twic
Champion’s Choice - Three dominating high school state champions rely on CoachComm’s Tempest FX system for reliable, clear sideline communication
Many elements go into winning a state championship. Hard work, dedication, team unity and commitment all play a major role in a team’s rise to the top of their state’s ranks. So does having the right sideline communication system. Championship coaches know that it’s critical to have a proven, reliable headset system that can be counted on to perform in the high-pressure games they’ll face in the state playoffs.That’s why so many state champion teams choose the Tempest FX
Managing Your Program – Spring Practice: Make it About the Details and Development
As we head into spring practice, now is the time to set a focus that will carry the team into strong summer preparations and camp, eventually leading up to the 2013 season. For many areas in the country, a spring game against an opponent is not part of the equation. This is a time that will end in an inter-squad game, or for some, no game or scrimmage at all. This is true at the NCAA Division III level, where we cannot even put on pads. However, this is still a great time to make progress and
USING THE iPAD AS A COACHING TOOL
Whether on the field or off, the IPad can be a major part in helping your players improve and communicate the weekly gameplan. Our student-athletes are so used to technology, it is the way they are taught in classroom and it was what they use outside the classroom. Give your student-athlete an IPad and they immediately feel comfortable as they swipe through pages or watch video. After receiving an IPad for my birthday last offseason I started searching for wa
Building Blocks – The day your 2012 season ends, your 2013 pre-season begins. Now is the time to build the foundation for your team’s future success.
In today’s ultra-competitive football environment, there’s no such thing as a true off season. The coach who leaves the game behind after the last items of equipment are stored for the winter is the coach who falls behind his peers.Between post-season evaluations of players and coaches, planning and implementing special activities and training programs and working with seniors who want to play at the next level, coaches’ plates are full. To successfully navigate the challenge
Get More Out of Your Film By Having Better Film
In today’s coaching world, film is a major tool for success. Yet, sometimes we get film that just isn’t up to par. When you get opponents’ film, you are left at the mercy of their filmer. Often it’s a young manager, injured player, young coach, or possibly a volunteer. Your own filmer can sometimes be very green with the camera, have tripod issues or even miss entire plays. People can forget equipment, and then you’re stranded without film. We’ve all had it h
Reliable Performer
A Houston-area high school chose the HME DX300 sideline communications system to deliver superior performance in critical game situations.In the super-competitive world of Texas 5A high school football, coaches must pay close attention to every detail of program management – on and off the field – in order to achieve winning seasons. Decisions about which coaching technology to use, for example, can be just as important as which offense to install or which player to start at middle
Coaching Technology – Today and Tomorrow
Technology is a critical part of coaching success and will be even more important in the future.From the first time a football game was ever filmed, in 1903, to the invention of the first videotape recorder, in 1951, to the first-ever editing system in 1987 to the introduction of digital editing in 1994, technology has been influential in shaping how coaches prepare for opponents and communicate during games.Today, coaches have a wider variety of technology tools available t
Reloading at Rockhurst – Tony Severino, the head coach at Rockhurst High School for 29 years, believes in keeping his players busy in all aspects of their lives – not just on the field.
It was near the end of an hour-long interview when Tony Severino was asked a question that he has fielded numerous times in recent years. “How much longer do you think you’ll coach?”His answer is the same every time.“I get asked that every day. You’re the second one today that’s asked me,” said Severino, who will turn 64 in September. “I’ve been saying, ‘five years’ for the last 10 years. I have such a good time doing what I do. When I don’t, I’
Louisiana Legend
To see a full version of this article with photos, click here, or copy and paste the follo
Getting Your Team Connected
By Eric Slivoskey, Former Coach Seinajoki Crocodiles (Finland) How connected are you to your players? Do you merely make contact with team members to ensure that they are staying out of trouble and not reflecting poorly on the program, or do you strive to know something personal about each person on the squad. In a world that seems to be changing faster than any of us could have ever imagi
Get Educated 2012 Coaches Clinics
Now is the time to develop your game-plan for the 2012 coaches clinic season. It’s your opportunity to pick up philosophy, techniques, drills, and the latest in offensive formations, defensive schemes and special teams play from some of the game’s most successful coaches. Here are four premier organizations that will be conducting clinics scheduled during the winter months in 2012.Nike Coach of the Year Clinics There are 20 nationwide Nike COY clinics in 2012. Most of the clini
RAWLINGS SIGNS STEVEN JACKSON TO ENDORSE FOOTBALL HELMET LINE
For more information, please contact: Seth Elrod, Rawlings Football, (314) 819-2715, selrod@rawlings.com
Your Take – Risky Business
Players, parents and coaches across America are being confronted with growing evidence that some young adults participating in impact sports might be experiencing irreversible injuries that put them at risk for compromised mental functioning, personality dysfunction, and early dementia. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disorder that affects individuals exposed to repetitive brain trauma. Research is showing that CTE is the result of major collisions (concussions)
2011 Uniform Preview
Uniforms can be the face of your program. Some schools stay traditional and almost never change. Others go with a different look every buying cycle, and some coaches change them up to mark a new direction for the program. Your uniform is a link between your players and the team. Jerseys are symbols of pride for most players. 2011 brings a wave of selection and style options for your club. Favorites have been brought back and some new styles have been added, all w
Desert Dominance
Head Coach Charlie Ragle led Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, to their second consecutive state title – using the Connex® sideline communications system from CoachComm.Win a state championship in a football-rich state like Arizona and your high school team will be recognized for their significant accomplishment. Win back-to-back championships and get mentioned as the early favorite for a third and you become part of the national conversation as one of the top teams in t
Tackle Safe – Bobby Hosea’s pioneering tackling technique protects players from devastating head injuries.
As a coach, what are you doing right now to make the game safer for your current and future players? Could you be doing more to ensure head-to-head hits are eliminated from the game? Bobby Hosea can help you answer those questions. Hosea, a former UCLA cornerback who played professionally in Canada and in the USFL, has emerged as a passionate and authoritative voice in the movement to change the violent tackling culture in football. He enlightens coaches, parents
Samson’s Strength & Conditioning Coaches of the Year for 2010
NFLRusty JonesChicago Bears In 2006, Chicago Bears Strength and Conditioning Coach Rusty Jones received the National Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year award. What made the award so special was that all 32 NFL strength and conditioning coaches voted on the award. “Because it was from my peers, it really meant something special,” said Jones. Jones just completed his sixth full season with the Chicago Bears, the last three
Resounding Success
A Portland area high school captures their first-ever state championship – with the help of HME’s DX300 headset system. When Chris Casey took the head coaching position at Aloha High School outside Beaverton, Oregon seven years ago, the challenge he faced was daunting. The Warriors had won a total of 14 games in their previous 17 seasons and only one game in the last three. They were losing elite pl
Your Take: Turn Back the Clock For Safety
The recently completed football season will go down in history as the year of the concussion. Not because the game fundamentally changed, but improvements in head injury detection have forced a closer examination of the subject at all levels of the game. The football community is no longer taking a “head in the sand” approach to a problem that has existed for a long time but only now is beginning to be understood. In the future, head injuries in football will decline. The solution w
Your Take: Time To Get Enlightened
Note: The following is an excerpt from Building the Enlightened Warrior, the complete version of which can be downloaded at Xenith.com.Mounting evidence indicates that playing football in an extreme fashion might destroy your brain. Concussions have clearly been an uncontrolled epidemic in football for decades. Epidemics are not instantly cured by simple solutions. They require complete strategies for risk reduction. We must end the gladiator mentality
0-12: How To Deal With Losing
We embrace winners. It’s in our DNA. But the other side of winning is losing, and it can be a painful pill to digest when it happens so often. Perhaps that is no more evident than in coaching. But, inevitably, every coach will experience that pain at some point in his career. How a coach deals with the negative aspects that accompany losing is a matter of perspective and having faith in what he is doing will reap rewards in the face of adversity. Bob Davie, the former coach at No
Built From The Ground Up
A Guide to the Game’s Top Cleats As much as I would like to say this in jest, I am sure there are plenty of your players that still haven’t equipped themselves with new gear for the upcoming season. You will see the ones at practice, the players that are routinely using athletic tape to hold together that pair of cleats they have been using for a year or two, but are just too stubborn or forgetful to replace. That is why I would like to run down the best of what the top fo
Portable Perspective
Colleges and high schools have long employed elevated end zone and sideline cameras to capture practice and game video that could be reviewed and used as a teaching tool. But, until recently, the stationary cameras were limited in how they could be used in a variety of practice situations. Now, that has changed with the introduction of the remarkable portable elevated camera system from U.S. Sports Video called the SideWinder. In the summer of 2006, Tennessee Offensive Coordi
Technology Tools: Computer Software That Brings Your Play Diagrams to Life.
Use coaching technology to your advantage with computer software that brings your play diagrams to life. Technological advances have had a significant impact on football and coaching, especially in how plays are developed and illustrated for coaches and players. Today’s state-of-the-art play diagramming software gives coaches advantages never before available. For playmaking, computers have indeed changed the way coaches coach. “Computers and software
Legendary Leader - George Smith of St. Thomas Aquinas
George Smith of St. Thomas Aquinas shares principles that have helped him become one of the nation’s winningest coaches His heroes are old-school coaches like Paul “Bear” Bryant, Woody Hayes and Don Shula, and his disciplinarian style in many ways reflects an old-school coaching philosophy. But George Smith is not afraid to try something new if it will help give his football team an edge. That’s what Smith, the head coach at St. Thomas Aquinas
Game On! Finding A Football For Your Program
One of my high school coaches once took a break from our two-a-day practice and held up a football. “Can any of you tell me how long a football is?” he asked. Like most players and coaches, I never knew the exact length of a football (and as a lineman, my regular hands-on experience with footballs in practice was slim to none). We were stumped. “Eleven and a quarter inches,” he said. “I tell you this because that 11 ¼ inches is the differ
What Has Happened To High School Football? - Part I
Last year on October 2nd, ESPNU’s showcase game featured the nation’s #1 ranked team facing off with the team ranked #2. It was a highly-anticipated match-up of unbeatens that would, no doubt, play a major role in the chase for the national championship. In a unique wrinkle, the two teams had never played each other. High ratings were guaranteed. No, this wasn’t the NCAA collegiate game of the week but a contest between two high schools – Ft. Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas and
Uniform Front
Is your program updating your team’s jerseys? Here’s the lineup for 2010 – and several things to consider. While coaches love Xs and Os, the heat of the battle, and developing players, one task most coaches generally don’t like is the process of finding and buying uniforms. But uniforms have to be replaced – sometimes due to wear, sometimes due to necessity and sometimes due to directional changes in your program. Some new coaches change the tea
Most Valuable Player
Power, speed and reliability. The ability to manage large amounts of information and perform at a high level under pressure. Important characteristics of every successful football player, without a doubt. These same characteristics can also be used to describe the modern football team’s most valuable technological tool – its video editing system. Since they were introduced in the mid-1990’s, digital editing systems have become indispensable tools for today’s sophisticated co
Clear Choice
Imagine playing one of your biggest games of the year, on the road in a hostile environment against a formidable opponent. At a critical moment in the game, when it’s absolutely imperative that you get usable information from your staff in the pressbox, instead of hearing your coaches on your headset, all you hear are…truckers. It can happen and it has happened to Mark Speckman. “We also picked up other teams’ signals, radio stations and cell phones at various games,” he r
Max Protect: Base Layer Protective Apparel Helps Make the Game Faster
As coaches we have seen the meteoric rise of the spread offense and the emphasis on speed in recent years. Now we’re seeing equipment – particularly protective gear – designed to be more lightweight, streamlined, and targeted to meet the demands of today’s faster players and schemes on both sides of the ball. At Newman Catholic High School, the implementation of the spread has spawned the most successful period in our school’s history. We rely on speed a
6 Reasons to Invest in Recruiting Software This Off-Season
Walk into any college football coach’s office and, chances are, his desk will be covered with recruiting clutter. Questionnaires, transcripts, evaluations, DVDs, Post-it notes scrawled with contact info. This is the reality of the college game today. The pressure to win now rarely affords you the time to get organized. Fortunately, the days of legal pads and file folders covering the office and frantically trying to track down a DVD from that four-star kid in Texas from the last c
Positive Point of View
For 20 years, U.S. Sports Video has provided football programs nationwide with technology that gives coaches better ways to analyze their teams. Mike Bokulich was reflective as he looked over the shipping boxes that contained 125 new EagleCam SkyHawk elevated camera systems ready to be shipped to customers from coast to coast. “There was a time,” he said, “when we weren’t sure we could sell a single system, let alone hundreds.” That time was t
Seeing is Believing
While the days of coaches scratching out X’s and O’s on a chalkboard or huddling around a 16mm projector to review game film are long gone, some football programs have not, until recently, taken full advantage of the high-tech teaching tools available to coaches today. Case in point – Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California. To call the Oaks Christian football program high-profile would be an understatement. Not only had Head Coach Bill Redell’s Lio
Proven Performer
Top programs are increasingly choosing the DX300 sideline communications system from HME for its proven reliability and superior features. Steve Lineweaver knows about reliable performance. As head coach of the Trinity Trojans in Euless, Texas, Lineweaver has built one of the most consistently outstanding high school programs in the nation. With 5A Division I state titles in 2005 and 2007 and a national top ranking for most of the 200
The Strength Report - How to Utilize Your Space to Positively Effect Your Program
The High School Perspective: By Dave Brown, Strength & Conditioning Coordinator, Archbishop Mitty High School (CA) No matter how big your training facility is, you should be trying to utilize space to make your training efficient, challenging, productive and motivating. How do you train when resources are limited? Archbishop Mitty High School has one of the top athletic programs in the nation. Sports Illustrated, in 2006-2007, rated th
Gear
Wireless Headset System HME DX300 • HME You spend hours preparing for the big game - make sure your hard work pays off! HME’s DX300 Wireless Headset system keeps your coaches in constant touch throughout the game. It takes only minutes to set up and operates on AC or batteries. Dual-slot diversity automatically detects strongest signals for uninterrupted conversations. Digital technology offers superior sound clarity. Up to 20 coaches can communicate in hands-free, two-way
Football Video – The Right Way
From the days of 16 millimeter film to the videotape era to today’s sophisticated digital video systems, recording and sharing game images for team analysis and opponent scouting has been an essential coaching tool. But do some coaches underestimate the importance of video and miss opportunities to get more effective use out of their video programs – possibly costing them future wins? According to David Affholter, the answer is, unfortunately, yes. “All coaches study game video o
Reshaping the Shoulder Pad Industry – Again
It’s not often a man has the opportunity to change his world. Even fewer men get the chance to do it twice. J.C. Wingo is about to change the world of football for the second time. Twenty years ago, Wingo introduced a revolutionary new shoulder pad featuring an all-new technology called the Air Management System. That new design, the Wingo Power Pad™, soon became the standard by which all other shoulder pads were judged. The Power Pad™ has been the leading shoulder pad in the NF
What’s the Best Way to Grade Your Players During the Course of the Season?
Gary Chilcoat, O-Line and Outside Linebackers Coach Deep Run High School, Glen Allen (VA) “I have used film grades in the past, but they are so time consuming that you really know how they played before you grade. What I have found most effective is grading them during practice. We tell our players they earn the right to play Monday through Thursday. Most people can give great effort on Friday’s, but it takes a true believer to work hard during the week. We expect sta
Maximize Your Football Coaching Video
College coaches will admit that watching video accounts for 2-3 times more of their in-season workload than actual on the field preparation. Football game video is a necessary evaluation tool for coaches and players, yet many coaches struggle through each season with untrained videographers producing ineffective results. A decade of coordinating video for high school, NAIA, and NCAA-FBS football has taught me that finding the right personnel to handle your team\'s football video is
Building Better Bruins
Head Athletic Performance Coach Mike Linn of UCLA has come home. Raised in Southern California, Linn was a two-year starter for the Bruins on the offensive line and stayed with the program after graduation, eventually becoming UCLA’s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach from 1999 to 2002. For the last several years, he’s been training individual athletes and supervising training programs nationwide for Velocity Sports Performance, a leading provider of individual performance training program
Gear
Muscle Milk Collegiate • CytoSport Developed to meet the complex nutritional needs of today’s athletes, Muscle Milk Collegiate is rapidly becoming a key addition to weight rooms and nutrition programs across the country. Muscle Milk feeds hungry muscles by combining high quality protein, carbs and custom fat structures known as MCT’s – or medium chain triglycerides – so athletes can recover more efficiently from training. Forget about the high sugar content of othe
Gear
No Glare® Flip-Up Sunglasses • Mueller Sports Med Mueller No Glare® sunglasses are the most comfortable and hassle-free sunglasses you’ll ever own. Flip these sunglasses up into the brim of your hat with the flick of a wrist. Your look-out vision is unobstructed. Wraparound design protects your eyes from the sun’s rays and the wind from all angles. Because they’re attached to your hat, instead of your face, No Glare® Flip-Up Sunglasses don’t apply pressure to your
The 10 Commandments of Coaching Leadership
Coaching and leadership have always been intertwined. So much so that Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski says “I don\'t look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.” If leadership is, as Yuki suggests, “the application of intentional influence in order to achieve a desired result,” then coaching is actually leadership in practice. However, before we move forward on what actions coaches should and should not take, it’s import
Gear
Wireless Headset System HME DX300 HMEYou spend hours preparing for the big game - make sure your hard work pays off! HME’s DX300 Wireless Headset system keeps your coaches in constant touch throughout the game. It takes only minutes to set up and operates on AC or batteries. Dual-slot diversity automatically detects strongest signals for uninterrupted conversations. Digital technology offers superior sound clarity. Up to 20 coaches can communicate in hands-free, two-way conver
Single Source
There’s no question that advances in technology have had a positive impact on football programs in recent decades. Digital editing systems have given coaching staffs play-analyzing capabilities that were unheard of just a few years ago. Wireless headset communication systems have become more powerful and more reliable and have freed coaches from the cumbersome wires of systems in the past. A long list of video accessory products such as duplicators have made tasks like sharing game footage wit
Technology Buyer\'s Guide
Every football program can benefit from today\'s advanced technology. The following companies are in the business of helping coaches become more successful through innovative technology solutions. We recommend that you save these listings for future reference. Coaching Software BW Software • 888-752-9625 • www.bwsoftware.com BW Software has provided specialized productivity tools for football c
Gear
Belt Squat • Samson Equipment The new Samson Belt Squat is yet another way Samson Equipment is leading the way in custom, heavy duty weight training equipment. This brand new design limits the amount of floor space needed for this unique piece, while remaining easy for athletes of all different sizes to use. Featuring adjustable handles, a unique load release that brings the athlete’s hands closer together while performing the exercise, an adjustable yoke that allows each
How to Choose a Video System That\'s Right for You
In the early 1980’s, videotape replaced 16 millimeter film as the standard tool for coaches reviewing game footage and game-planning for upcoming opponents. While video had obvious advantages to film, coaches were just as limited in their ability to jump to the right video segment as they were with film. Watching game tapes provided video that could help a coach see a player’s problems and correct them, but rewinding and fast-forwarding through tapes was cumbersome and a big waste of time. E
GEAR
VOLT™ • Active Ankle Presenting revolutionary new ankle protection for the higher performance athlete. The new VOLT™ ankle brace from Active Ankle has been engineered to include the latest carbon fiber technology. The polypropylene shell is reinforced with carbon fiber – the same high performance material used in racing cars and bicycles. It also features a molded bearing design performance hinge for smoother range of motion, strengthening ribs for a thinner profile an
The Choice of Champions
As every coach will attest, effective and reliable communication between the coaches on the sideline and those in the press box is a critical element of any team’s success on the field. For two San Diego area high schools, this meant a change was needed for the 2007 season. Head Coach Damian Gonzalez’s Division I Poway Titans were coming off an 8-6 season in 2006 where headset communication was sometimes an issue. “At certain schools we would pick up a lot of static on our headse
Where Tradition Begins
Coach Laycock recently completed his 28th season at the helm of Tribe Football and is the program’s winningest coach with a career record of 178-127-2. Starting in 1980, his coaching career at W&M has included 18 winning ledgers and postseason games in nine seasons. To honor and build upon this proud tradition, W&M dedicated the new Jimmye Laycock Football Complex in the fall of 2007. This 30,000-square-foot building features a locker room, athletic training room and offices for coac
Time for Turf
The trend may be irreversible. Each year, hundreds of football practice and game fields are converted from natural grass to synthetic turf. That’s not surprising, considering that today’s turf systems provide safe, consistent, all-weather playing surfaces that can be utilized 24/7 by not just the football team but by a long list of other sports and activities. ¶ Rick Doyle, President of the industry support group Synthetic Turf Council (STC), recalled a remark made by a board member a
Gear
ION 4D Helmet • Schutt Sports The ION 4D helmet from Schutt Sports is the most technologically advanced helmet in the market today. More then just gathering data, the ION 4D takes the performance of the helmet to the next dimension. The helmet showcases the all-new “Energy Wedge” faceguard attachment system. This pioneering system actually integrates the faceguard into the helmet itself, while also reducing the force of impacts to the faceguard. Continuous weld joints and
Common Bond
The contrasts could not be greater. The big school in the football-crazed state that routinely plays in front of over 10,000 fans and produces multiple D-I players every year. The small school in the small state that’s only playing in its eighth year and might draw 2,000 for the season’s biggest game. One tech-savvy coach who has grown up with computers and another who had, until very recently, never used a computer and still refuses to use email. But Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Kay of po
Unsung Heroes
Monday, August 29, 2005. In the early morning hours, category 3 Hurricane Katrina slams into Louisiana and Mississippi, barely missing a direct hit on New Orleans. The worst damage is initially concentrated on the Gulf Coast, but within the next 24 hours it becomes apparent that the levee system designed to protect New Orleans is failing. Some levees are topped by the high water in Katrina’s wake and others are completely breached. By the end of the day on Tuesday, 80% of New Orleans is un
Gear
ION 4D Helmet • Schutt Sports The ION 4D helmet from Schutt Sports is the most technologically advanced helmet in the market today. More then just gathering data, the ION 4D takes the performance of the helmet to the next dimension. The helmet showcases the all-new “Energy Wedge” faceguard attachment system. This pioneering system actually integrates the faceguard into the helmet itself, while also reducing the force of impacts to the faceguard. Continuous weld joints and
Arena Advantage
In the fast-paced world of the Arena Football League, where teams are pressured to score on virtually every possession, players seek to gain an advantage every time they touch the ball. That includes having the best jerseys available – ones that can’t be grabbed by would-be tacklers trying to prevent a touchdown. Dallas Desperados quarterback Clint Dolezel, the AFL’s all-time leader with 865 career touchdown passes, knows more about getting the ball into the end
Gear
NXT Compression • Russell Athletic There’s only one material designed to grip your body tighter than Russell’s new NXT Compression. It\'s called your skin. VENTILATOR TECHNOLOGY, with sheer mesh panels that add breathability. ULTRA LIGHTWEIGHT, with quick drying Dri-Power© fabrication. MAXIMUM COMFORT, that\'s cut to fit like a second layer of skin on the athlete\'s body. For more information: 888-606-5517 • www.rus
GEAR
Weight Equipment • Forza Strength Systems Forza Strength Systems has provided high quality strength training equipment to teams since 1985. Forza offers a wealth of experience in designing workout areas and can assist with consultation in the concept stage of a large project, or just provide your next piece of equipment. Forza’s complete product line includes selectorized, plate load, and free weight equipment, as well as bars, plates, dumbbells, cardio, and flooring.
GEAR
Coach-to-Player Communication • Telcommand Telcommand makes practices more efficient and effective through better communication. There are two basic components: the Coach’s Unit, which is a headset transmitter and the Player’s Unit, which is a receiver placed in a sleeve that’s worn on the players arm. With a press of a button or with voice activation, a coach can communicate directly to an individual player on the field, giving instructions in a normal speaking voice r
Headset Heaven
Imagine the following situation: you’re setting up your headset system for a road game against a big rival. One hour before game time, you and your staff run a test of the system and it seems to be working fine. All five coaches on the sideline and four in the booth have good, clear signals. As the head coach, you know that effective game day communication between coaches is an essential part of winning. No coaching staff can expect to succeed without a well thought out sideline comm
Gear
Buy Now – Watch Now Instructional Coaching Videos • www.AFMVideos.com Tired of waiting 5 or more days to receive and watch the instructional coaching videos you just bought? American Football Monthly introduces the smartest innovation in instructional coaching videos: Buy Now – Watch Now. Buy Now – Watch Now lets you buy your videos online and watch the same videos immediately on your computer while the DVD copies of your videos are shipped directly to you (FREE ship
Technology Tools You Need Today
There’s no denying that technological advances have had a significant impact on football and coaching. In only a few decades, we’ve come from cutting and splicing 16mm game film by hand in order to analyze opponent’s tendencies to today’s state-of-the-art editing systems and software that can give coaches information and advantages never before available. Coaches today are wireless, online, hi-speed and most definitely high-tech. Product innovation and falling prices are drivin
A New Way to Communicate
Amos Alonzo Stagg used a megaphone to convey instructions to players during practices in the early days of the game. Countless coaches have barked orders into bullhorns so they’d be heard by players 20, 30 or 40 yards away on the practice field. Many coaches, however, still rely on yelling, which can be an ineffective way to teach or motivate individual players. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith have each demonstrated that a calmer, more educational approach to coaching can motivate players
Preparation: 4 Points to Remember from Penn State
If you had the opportunity to spend an hour with Penn State Linebackers Coach Ron Vanderlinden, what would you ask him? Think for a moment about the tradition of Nittany Lion linebackers. I had that opportunity at last month’s American Football Coaches Association convention in San Antonio. While we were getting ready for a photo shoot, we talked informally, not about X’s and O’s but about game preparation. Coach Vanderlinden takes a special pride in preparation as we spoke about
Synthetic Turf: Wave of the Future
Chances are very good that your team has either a) played at least one road game on a synthetic turf field or b) installed a synthetic turf field at your home facility. If neither applies to your program, expect that to change in the near future. • The “New Generation” synthetic turf fields, once considered a luxury only NFL teams or high-profile universities could afford, are being installed at high schools and colleges from Maine to California. The trend is so strong that industry leader
Letter From The Editor: Those Days are Forever Over
In both small towns and large cities across America, the tradition over the years has been for a high school team to watch game films as a team. This has usually been a three to six hour process as coaches analyze the previous game\'s film and go back and forth about what worked and what didn’t on each play. If a future opponent\'s film was also available, that was shown to the team as well. So much for what went on a generation ago. Now, in the digital age, editing equ
GEAR - Products for Coaches
With Monster Arms on Rogers Brute Racks, you’ll experience a new environment of closed-chain, free-weight training. Increase both power and sport skill with the benefits of power racks and dedicated machines combined on one system. The Arms allow omni-directional movement in a controlled environment and take sports training beyond the two-dimensional plane. For more information: 800-631-0964 • www.rogersathletic.com
Turnaround: How do you Turn an Ailing Program Around?
When you inherit an ailing program, one coming off a series of poor recruiting classes, one that’s subsisting on a steady diet of one or two wins a year, what’s a coach to do? Prospective recruits don’t want to play for a loser, especially if your campus lacks glamour. Alumni and community businesses don’t want to show financial support. It’s harder to find talented assistants, and the administration and the student body will be hard to placate. What often happens
Letter from the Editor
I still marvel at the almost daily improvements in communication. The advances in technology can boggle the mind. Just think about ‘Google’ for example; it’s an instantaneous research tool for any one working on a term paper to an editor helping fact check a magazine for football coaches. With the almost hourly advances in this field, we are proud to announce AFM’s new and vastly improved web site: AmericanFootballMonthly.com. As AFM is the #1 resource for footbal
GEAR - Products for Coaches
Telex Communications is proud to offer the Telex Legacy™ to assist today’s football coach in reaching new heights of performance at the high school level and beyond. For the last 15 years Telex has been the only company to supply coaching communications technology to the NFL and majority of NCAA Division I college football teams. The Telex Legacy™ system offers a fast and easy setup, full duplex wireless solutions for 2 to 7 coaches per sideline, durable beltpacks, 3 audio channels,
The Internet Video Exchange: A Major Assist for Coaches
Sharing game tapes through the internet has streamlined the process while saving both time and money Coaches, say goodbye to your UPS bills. It used to be that the exchanging of game film was just that, literally. A staff member – be it a coach or video coordinator – would make a copy of a particular game film and overnight it to an opposing team. Reel-to-reel turned into VHS tapes, which morphed into DVDs and hard drives. But the concept was always the same – you send
Generation X\'s and O\'s
Game Simulation Technology Allows you to Teach From the Field Level in Real Game Situations When Oklahoma State quarterback Bobby Reid missed significant practice snaps last fall and quarterbacks coach Larry Fedora was forced to prepare junior Al Pena for his first start, Fedora turned to technology. Fedora put a state-of-the-art football simulator produced by GridIron Technology, Inc. in the hands of his quarterbacks, allowing Reid a chance to stay mentally
The Scouting Report
Mark Speckman has been coaching Willamette University football for the past eight years. The Bearcats are 46-34 under Speckman and in 1999 he was named Northwest Conference Coach of the Year after Willamette won the NWC title and earned a trip to the D III national playoffs. Speckman was the Bearcats’ offensive coordinator for three years prior to being named head coach. He also spent 14 seasons as a high school head football coach, compiling an overall mark of 113-48-3. But he’s more
Technology on a Budget
While NFL teams and major Division 1-A programs usually have the financial resources to make a major commitment to technology, it’s not that easy for smaller college programs and high schools. Money has to be budgeted and spent more carefully, but money spent on technology is still a wise investment. Division II Pittsburg (Kan.) State uses Apple PowerBooks and Power Mac G4s to produce cut-ups of offensive, defensive, and special teams plays. “The game of football is all a
How do you Scout your Opponents Offensive Line
It always seems to work this way, things filtering down from the colleges to the high schools. As technology with digital editing has advanced and pro teams have become more intricate in their scouting, so, too, have colleges and high schools. One place that’s as prevalent as any other is picking apart your opponents’ offensive linemen. Anton Stewart, the defensive coordinator at Pittsburg State (KS), is among the growing number of coac
The Scouting Report, Patrick Walsh - Serra HS (CA)
“If the breakdown is done right, building a game plan becomes easy off of the printed reports that uncover tendencies and holes in the offensive gameplan.” Patrick Walsh, Serra HS (CA) This coming fall Patrick Walsh begins his sixth season at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, CA. A high school rich in athletic tradition – alumni include Jim Fregosi, John Robinson, Lynn Swann, Gregg Jefferies, Tom Brady and Barry Bonds – Walsh helped bring th
Video a Necessary Part of Every Program
“It was film in the old days, up to about ‘88 or 89,” recalls Clemson’s veteran video coordinator Rick Bagby, a pioneer in his field who led the video revolution that enables football coaches better use their time to develop sophisticated, smart, systems, and, he hopes, winning game plans for the ACC program that’s been a big winner for decades in the South. Across the country in the Pacific Northwest, Steve Pohl has been running Oregon’s football video operation since 19
Impact Stats: Total Defense
Tommy Tuberville’s Auburn Tigers placed fifth in the nation among all Divison I-A teams in Total Defense in 2004, surrendering just 19 total touchdowns, the second lowest total that year. They were first in the country in Scoring Defense. “When you’re consistently good on defense, it gives your offense a lot of chances to go for big plays. You’re going to give your offense more turnovers and more balls in better field position and, to me, where it really starts is defense. You
Email Recruiting
Talking with a teen-ager. Oftentimes a daunting task for any middle-aged coach. Many coaches have an uncanny ability of knowing the best way to communicate with a high-school recruit. Still, staying ahead of the competition while finding the best way to be noticed and remembered by a teen-ager takes communicating in the way that they’re most comfortable. “From the standpoint of what kids read, I’m not sure how we get noticed,” joked Tom Creguer, the recruiting coordinator at No
Total Offense: Balance is the Key
A team’s total offense, many coaches will say, will not just help determine a win or a loss, but ultimately, whether the season is a successful one. Today, having a high-powered passing game but a limited running game – or the reverse – just doesn’t cut it. To be consistently successful, a balanced offense is necessary. “I feel you have to have balance in your offense to be a consistent winner,” says Rush Propst, coach of Hoover High School (AL) and winners of four state ti
Top 15 Advancements in Football Products & Services
Digital Editing Systems - Arguably the greatest advancement (in any sport) in the areas of scouting and teaching aids, digital editing systems give teams an unprecedented advantage in obtaining and presenting detailed information. The best part – the last several years has seen a drop in pricing. Artificial Turf - The one thing coaches preach to their players is the one thing that today’s grass-like artificial turf provides – consistenc
Tuesday Morning Quarterback
When coaches approached the AFM booth at the recent AFCA Convention in Louisville, we tried to make a habit of asking the coaches what they wanted to see in the magazine. Some wanted more Xs and Os. Some wanted more technology information. Others wanted career and financial planning. However, many coaches wanted help balancing their jobs with marriage and family. Meanwhile at a nearby hotel, the wives who attended the convention attended semina
Letter from the Editor
An overall football budget includes a variety of items: equipment, field maintenance, health issues including doctors and a support staff, salaries for staff, travel, on-the-road meals, security, and a number of other factors. Obviously, the budget for a high school football team differs from that of a Junior College or Division I-A program. But more and more programs-at all levels-are including funding for the growth of a new position with the structure of the
Unsung Hero
A week in the life of Tulsa’s video coordinator, Gabe Haney Good coordinators are vital to the success of any college football program. But if all you’re thinking about is the guys in charge of your offense and defense, then you’ve overlooked a key position. When time is tight and the stakes are high, you better make sure that you’ve got a top-flight video coordinator who can break down every bit of information about your opponent and your own team in
Football Video Technology:
When a football program is on the smaller scale, we have to imagine that when it comes time for budgeting, there are certain items that take precedent. Obviously, the team must be equipped with the proper tools: helmets, shoulder pads, shoes and those items necessary to outfit a college or high school football player. The next item that must take precedent is
Technology and Your Budget: Hints and Suggestions
NFL teams are spending millions on video technology and complex computer systems. Division I-A teams are spending hundreds of thousands on their own versions of the same technology. So what? What does that mean for NCAA Division II and III, NAIA, junior college and high school programs with limited budgets and resources? Do you find yourself at clinics and conventions walking right past the tech booths and ignoring the tech seminars, afraid you
Cover Story Unsung Hero: Tulsa’s Video Coordinator Gabe Haney By Keith Roerdink
2005 December 2005 Innovators of the option • From Scouting Report to Game Plan • True Football Speed • Quarterback Fundamentals November 2005 It Starts in the Trenches • Attacking Defenses with the Veer • 4 Technical Components of Punt Coverage • Teaching
Sharing Information Just Became Easier
For nearly a decade, thanks in many ways to publications like American Football Monthly, technology in football has become the norm rather than the exception. Every major football program, college or pro, has relied heavily on the latest forms of capturing, editing and exchanging video to enhance its ability to compete both on and off the field. Yet, very few football programs have the mega-million dollar budgets of major college football – much less t
Industry Watch
There has been much advancement in the game and profession of football throughout its history – advancements such as the forward pass, film study and television. Today, football is currently experiencing one of its greatest advancements in one area of the sport. Walk into any football facility at any level and you’ll see products that you would have never seen just a decade ago. It’s not uncommon to see a digital video
The Way It Used To Be
If there is one constant, it is that there are no constants. Over time, everything changes and nothing remains quite the same. Never is this more evident than in the profession of coaching football. American Football Monthly recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches for a peek inside the ever-changing world of football. From their first job to their last, their first championship season to their f
What Next?
Jim Emery remembers many things during his career: a college football player at Ohio Wesleyan University, a graduate assistant, recruiting coordinator, college coach, mentor of many varied club football teams in Italy, and now, COO of Digital Scout, one of the software companies that helps football coaches at all levels prepare for their next opponent. “I coached in Italy for a good part of 18 years and saw a r
Leaps and Bounds
Marshall’s Brad Helton refers to him as “The Godfather of Video Coordinators.” But like most of his colleagues, UCLA’s Ken Norris is a cipher unless you are intimately familiar with his work. Over the years, Norris has worked with and for a number of football giants – men such as George Allen, Terry Donahue, John Robinson and Norv Turner. Norris has been a big help to the coaches for whom he has worked. But like all good video c
Letter From the Publisher
In the five years that we’ve been publishing American Football Monthly’s annual Technology issue, we’ve seen many advances in the various software and hardware designed specifically for football. Today’s technology allows coaches to merge diagrams and video together in presentation formats, trade game film over the Internet, introduce DVD options for film quality, track the frame-by-frame movements
Cover Story Leaps & Bounds: UCLA’s Video Coordinator Ken Norris - So You Want to be a Video Coordinator: UCLA’s Ken Norris on the position By David Srinivasan
The Mental Game
This article looks at ways that instructional technology and principles can be used to improve the mental performance of your football players. The focus is on decision-making. That breaks down into a player’s ability to recognize an opponent’s actions, to know his team’s schemes and his individual assignments, and to choose the correct response. It does not include executing the response. Coaches spe
The Way It Used To Be
American Football Monthly recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches for a peek inside the ever-changing world of football. From their first job to their last, their first championship season to their first losing season, AFM has captured it all – coaches provide AFM with an exclusive journey down memory lane. Maybe you can’t walk in their shoes, but perhaps
Cover Story Norm Chow: Does Anyone Really Know Norm? Searching for the identity of college football\'s most intriguing and mysterious offensive coordinator By Aaron S. Lee September 2003
Cover Story A Clear Picture: Boise State’s Dan Hawkins Please don’t adjust your TV set... Yes, the field IS cool blue, but Boise State’s Dan Hawkins leads AFM’s 2003 red hot coaches’ list. By Richard Scott
The Last Rep
With each snap of the ball, football players are at constant risk for career-ending concussions. American Football Monthly has gathered seven of the industry’s top experts to discuss this epidemic in a Last Rep two-part series. AFM encourages coaches to use this platform as a first step in their continuing education on player safety. Please contact medical experts and gear manufacturers to
Starting From Scratch
No matter what level of football you’re coaching or playing, it’s hard enough to maintain a successful program these days. From high school to Division I to even the NFL, there are budgets, injuries, ever-growing parity with technology and those inevitable peaks and valleys. That’s talking about established programs. What’s it like to try to create all of those things programs strive for: fans, top-tier
Avoiding Major Mistakes in the Interview Process
Networking: Make the Most of Every Opportunity
The Last Rep
With each snap of the ball, football players are at constant risk for career-ending concussions. American Football Monthly has gathered seven of the industry’s top experts to discuss this epidemic in a Last Rep two-part series. AFM encourages coaches to use this platform as a first step in their continuing education on player safety. Please contact medical experts and gear manufacturers to
Cover Story Resurrection - Hal Mumme and Woody Widenhofer return to football to revive Southeastern Louisiana football and their careers. Read the complete article >>> April 2003 Staff Meeting
Making \"Quality\" a Priority
If you liked this article, here are three others just like it:
The Life of Riley - When Dan Riley joined the Houston Texans as their first strength and conditioning coach, many asked why? Hear Coach Riley’s answer and find out why he is among the most respected coaches in his industry.Read the complete article >>> March 2003
Cover Story Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime... Three coaches, Three schools, One Philosophy... A look inside college football\'s most underrated football programs...By Aaron S. Lee July 2003
Virtual Recruiting: High Tech Leverages High Touch
The world is changing at lightning speed and athletic programs that don’t change with it will be left to scavenge through the leftover talent and limp into tomorrow. For the purpose of this article, change equals the Internet and the best of the Internet is laden with “rich media.” More on rich media later. If your football program isn’t exploiting this new recruiting tool, chances are you will be l
Against The Grain
It only happened once. And it never happened again. Maybe that’s because Southern Miss video director Chris Hooley is too busy doing her job to let her status as the first woman in her position in Division I-A college football become an issue. There was a time when an NFL scout came to visit her video office for film on some potential NFL prospects. He made a rather unnecessary comment about her not belonging in a man’s game and then slipped in a couple of other snide remark
Tech Talk: Technology\'s Most Common Terms
VHS - A comman tape format. Linear/Non-linear - These two terms are used in the video industry. The word linear is described as events that follow each other. When you are working with the VHS or any tape or film format you are working in a linear fashion. Conversely, when you are working on you computer organizing video clips in a preferred order you are working in a nonlinear fashion.
Focus the man behind the camera
Nearly nine years after the fact, Brad Helton can finally admit it. When he became Marshall’s video coordinator in 1995, Helton re-wired his entire office area. “That way the coaches couldn’t even come in here and make a tape,” Helton says, laughing. “At the time, I didn’t know how many programs even had video coordinators or how many people were doing it or what they were doing it with, so I did it for job security. I figured
Technology Game Plan
The arrival of spring means that spring football has begun at many college campuses across the country. Springtime also provides coaches the opportunity to visit other coaching staffs and observe their practice routines. In Texas, high school coaches especially like to take this opportunity to visit with area college staffs. Its during these times that visiting high school coaches ask me to offer my thoughts on
Film School
I started in 1992 as graduate assistant in the football video department at the University of Illinois. Prior to that I had no idea what went in to preparing for a football game. In 1996, I became the video coordinator here at the University of Oregon where I have spent the last seven seasons. Aside from trying to explain to my friends what I actually do, and convince my Mom and Dad that I ca
Letter From the Editor
Well, it’s no secret that football is ever changing and not just with personnel, uniform colors, helmet design and Xs and Os. In fact, the most noticeable changes often occur off the field, hidden from the millions of fans that pack the stadiums each weekend. Football has indeed changed for the many coaches who teach the game, a game that is now seemingly dominated by laptops, keyboards and hard drives. Once again,
The Last Rep
Technology is becoming more intricate with every season that passes, so American Football Monthly recently sat down with six of the top video coordinators and recruiting coordinators from around the country to get their thoughts on some of the major issues concerning their industry. What is the hottest new technology in your industry?
Outline for Technology Game-planning
With the growth of technology in football and the ever-increasing demands on coaches’ time game planning and scheduling has become even more important providing the foundation for a successful football program. This is an outline of the weekly schedule we use at Fordham University for offensive game planning. The outline also highlights the manner technology makes our film study either more efficient or allows us to study
Cover Story Focus - The man behind the camera. Take a close look at what video coordinator Brad Helton is doing for Marshall’s football team both on and off the field . By Richard Scott Cover Photo by Jim Robinette Cov
The Staff Report
Career: 8 Guidlines for the High School Assistant Coach So you dream of becoming the head coach someday? Well, there are a few things you need to know and do that will help you earn that dream job you’ve been looking for. Anyone who wants to be a successful assistant coach and eventually a successful head coach must have certain qualities that set them
Cover Story Schutt Sports 2002 Division I-A Coach of the Year: Larry Coker - Miami\'s Larry Coker entered the 2003 Fiesta Bowl with a 24-0 record as head coach, a national championship ring on one finger and an opportunity to win one for another finger. Rockne, Warner, Wilkinson, Bryant, Robinson... none of them did that in their first two years as a head coach.
Cover Story Gold Rush: J.T. Curtis In his 33 years as head coach, J.T. Curtis has brought John Curtis Christian High School’s trophy case a national record 18 gold footballs. And counting... By David Purdum A TV Star too
The Staff Report
Within the game of Football the difference in many athletes performance stems from flexibility of the hips. Whether your need is to engage a man on the line of scrimmage or to come in and out of your cuts faster, your results will depend on this. An interior lineman will be able to drive through the more forcefully and the skill position athlete will be able break down faster and more efficiently. Throughout
The Science of Recruiting Letters - Part II
Whether you like it or not, recruiting is a necessity. It is the only means to rebuild fallen programs and reload successful ones. More often than not, recruiting has become an endless saga filled with repetitive approaches that have changed little in the past four decades. Recruiting is something that everyone does, but does everyone do it well? In last month’s issue, the staff of American
Cover Story Running with the Bulls - With a base salary of $140,000, South Florida’s Jim Leavitt may in fact be the best bargain in college football, but one thing is for certain - he is no longer a secret. Read the complete article >>>
Focus on Critical Information to Place Your Players in Position to be Successful
FOR LAST YEAR’S TECHNOLOGY ISSUE, American Football Monthly asked me to share some insight on the organization of game planning staff and resources.* This year, Travis Davis has asked me to again address the subject of game planning, this time regarding an often asked question: In light of the finite time we coaches have available each week for strategic planning, how can we find and use the best from th
Technology Crossroads
Bobby April had reached a crossroads in his career and his life. When the New Orleans Saints fired Mike Ditka’s staff after the 1999 season, April – the special teams coach – found himself without a job. April also found himself with a year left on his contract, and decisions to make. “I had a daughter who was going to be a senior in high school, and I wasn’t going to
Use Video Technology to Enhance On-Field Performance
Once a high school wide receiver myself, I remember the way our football coach would stress the importance of two things – execution and fundamentals. During the season, both play crucial roles in any team’s on-field performance. The off-season, however, is the best time to develop them. Free from the day-to-day headaches of game planning, the off-season
Letter From the Editor
It’s time for American Football Monthly’s annual look at new technologies in the game of football. We began this annual series in May 2000 because when it comes to technology, coaching is similar to many other jobs. Innovators and entrepreneurs are looking at ways to develop technology to make your job easier and to make you more efficient. For all that technology can do, it can’t add to the number o
May 2002 Cover Story Information Age Bobby April of the St. Louis Rams uses technology to gain a coaching and career edge. Technology Crossroads - St. Louis Rams special teams coach Bobby April is one of a growing
Letter From the Editor
Granted, I am not a coach – never have been, never will be. To make matters worse, I don’t even play one on TV. But then again, I don’t have to be a coach to fully understand what American Football Monthly brings to the coaching profession. Coaches have often been a misunderstood sort – always receiving a bit too much credit when things go well and way too much when
New Equipment
LOK-CUP SHOULDER PAD Austin Athletic Mfg. Co. 800-813-7706 www.austinathletic.com The Lok-Cup™ shoulder pad is back by popular demand. Austin Athletic Mfg. Co. presents a new and improved line of our popular Lok-Cup™ shoulder
April 2002 Latest Cover Story NFL Coach of the Year Getting to know the Real Bill Belichick Bill Belichick - You thought you knew him from his days in Cleveland. You saw the images on television. The grim, stern face, void of emotion, ratcheted with intensity.
The Science Of Recruiting Letters Part 1
What if you could have an in-home visit with any football recruit in the nation at any time during the NCAA’s mandated recruiting period? What if your in-home visit could take advantage of every possible opportunity to share your program’s tradition, goals and intentions with a potential game-breaking superstar that could help make the difference between a 5-6 also-ran and a 6-5 bowl run?
Equipment Room
Defensive Reaction Machine From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com B.C. Cruncher Two-Man Sled Defensive Reaction Sled (DFR) \"Over 70 Years of What Works...\" Quality Reconditioning 1-800-544-5564 www.continentalathletic.c
Division I-A Coach of the Year Ralph Friedgen
The Big Man knew. The Big Man had a plan. Sure, he had plenty of Xs and Os spinning around in that bald head of his, but he also had hopes, dreams, goals and plans. Big plans. Plans to build a program. Plans to transform a program. Plans to tear down all the old bad habits and all the losing ways and re-teach the right habits, instill a winning confidence from the ground up. Pl
Cover StoryCoach of the Year Ralph Friedgen February 2002 Division I-A Coach of the Year Ralph Friedgen When the University of Maryland went looking for a football coach, they wanted someone who cared about UM, its past, present and futu
Poetic Justice
My job as defensive line coach is to help my players attain our team goals, our defensive goals, and their individual goals. One of the ways I do this is by preparing them during the week for situations they may encounter during the game. On Saturdays, I do not want them thinking; I want them reacting. For this reason, I am very careful with respect to what I expose them to during the week. I try to keep i
Using Video Technology to Enhance Performance
It’s the middle of the off-season. And like normal you find yourself searching for techniques and tools that can help your athletes become better, more fundamentally sound football players. As a coach, you know there are certain attributes that make athletes successful on the field of competition. Diehard performance in the weightroom, for example. Crafting bigger and stronger athletes enhances perfo
March 2002 Latest Cover Story Behind Oklahoma's Strength Jerry Schmidt - Before coming to OU, Schmidt worked as a strength coach at Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State and Florida. It seems everywhere he goes athletes get stronger and faster. As the Director of S
June 2002 Cover Story Paths to Success - First rate facilities a plus, but people ultimately determine program success. An inside look at successful high school programs in Artesia, N.M., and Carol City, Fla., shows that coaches, communities and players are the bes
Follow The Leader
When the University of Texas whipped out the wishbone in the 1960s, it didn\'t take long for college football programs all over the South to follow the trend and come up with their own version of the triple-option. When Florida coach Steve Spurrier brought a wide-open passing attack to the run-oriented SEC in the early 90s, it didn\'t take long for the rest of the conference to pick up on the trend and discover the joys of passing.When Nebraska and Kansas State starting using press-man def
Cover Story Greg Schiano October 2001 Blood Brother - Perennially bad and lacking for direction, Rutgers turned its fo
Letter From the Publisher
Protecting your assets... In the business world, there are a few axioms that are universally applied by all successful companies. For example, some of these management philosophies are: focus on those things with the greatest opportunity for success; make certain you do whatever is necessary to keep your best employees; and protect your company\'s most valuable assets. However, in the football world, I fear teams sometimes ignore sound, proven and winning business strategies th
The Truth About Turf
Your quarterback is on the run. Coming from his left is a 275-pound defensive end charging with a full head of speed. Coming straight at him is a blitzing middle linebacker. You watch from the sidelines and know the inevitable is about to happen. It\'s just a matter of who is going to get to your quarterback - the end or the linebacker. The linebacker wins the race. He explodes past a would-be blocker and wraps up the quarterback with a nasty hit punctuated by his head bouncing off th
Cover Story Sports Medicine July 2001 The Protector... - As head athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Todd Toriscelli
The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence
Each year coaching staffs spend countless hours and large amounts of money searching for new and innovative ways to improve their defensive performance. Descriptive phrases such as \"swarming defense\" and \"relentless pursuit\" depict the type of play coaches are seeking from their defensive units. While using innovative coaching aids, advanced computer technology, and attending professional clinics can help a coach in his pursuit of these levels of performance, perhaps the most effec
Artificial Oasis
This isn\'t your father\'s artificial turf. It\'s a line that rolls off turf salesmen\'s lips nearly anytime they are asked to talk about their product. And it\'s a line that few associated with the fine art of field management dispute. Artificial turf has changed dramatically since it was first rolled out at the Houston Astrodome 36 years ago when dome officials, desperate to prove that the much-maligned facility was truly state-o
June 2001 Cover Story Buried Treasure... UAB's Watson Brown - Sometimes numbers can be deceiving, and in the case of Watson Brown, his career cannot be measured by wins and losses. Acclaimed by all who know him a
Equipment Room
Rogers Lev Sled 1-(800) 248-0270 www.rogersathletic.com Utilize the power of leverage to achieve more gridiron victories. Only the Rogers Lev Sled requires the blocker to drive the pad to compress the spring - then he is able to elevate the pad. From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Off
Cover Story Pete Rodriguez September 2001 Special Delivery: Pete Rodriguez - Pundits always argue that special teams p
Equipment Room
Defensive Reaction Machine From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com B.C. Cruncher Two-Man Sled Defensive Reaction Sled (DFR) \"Over 70 Years of What Works...\" www.elitestrength.com From Elite Strength Training www.elitestrength.com
Cover Story Balance: Steve Spurrier December 2001 Balance: Steve Spurrier -
The Big 10
Every year thousands of coaches try to take the next step up the ladder of success thatleads to the land of head coaching. Most of these men fully believe they have \"what it takes\" and all they need is a chance. Yet, many of these same men will tell me they feel totally disenfranchised and do not know how to \"get in the loop\" or make it to the next level. So many coaches seem to feel if they wor
Cover Story Lou Holtz February 2001 Division 1-A Coach of the Year Lou Holtz - It was enough that the Notre Dame coaching lege
Equipment Room
Rogers Lev Sled 1-(800) 248-0270 www.rogersathletic.com Utilize the power of leverage to achieve more gridiron victories. Only the Rogers Lev Sled requires the blocker to drive the pad to compress the spring - then he is able to elevate the pad. From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Off
Cover Story Two Hot to Stop August 2001 Two Hot to Stop - For the past several years, head coaching vacancies have been fille
Letter from the Publisher
Every morning as I take my first glance in the mirror, I cOme face to face with the man who is rapidly (and to my amazement) starting to look like my father. And, as if I needed any further evidence that I am getting old, every half-hour I hear myself saying something to one of my four children that years ago I swore I would never say. (\"There are starving children somewhere who would love those green beans ...,\" or, \"Not everyone can be pretty, but everyone can be polite...\").I ru
Out With The Old and In With The New
While the towering Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale University is known as the \"cathedral of sports,\" for Steve Plisk and his strength and conditioning staff, it was an ungodly mess.Stuffed in a former wrestling room, the 3,600-square-foot weight room had long outlived its usefulness.\"Athletes would show up at their assigned time and have to wait 10 minutes for it to clear out,\" says Plisk, describing one of the many obstacles he faced trying to run a strength and conditioning pr
Future stock
IT WAS AS TRADITIONAL AS 10-CENT BEER NIGHTS AND double-headers. Before any baseball player stepped into the batter\'s box, he would put a weight on the end of his bat and take a few cuts, knowing it would make his swing more powerful, faster and increase his chances of popping one over the fence.Then, guess what?Researchers discovered that the once popular bat doughnuts not only didn\'t help baseball players become home run hitters, they actually hurt them.\"It slowed down their swing,
Cover Story The Godfather March 2001 Big Man on Campus - Nebraska's Boyd Eply didn't set out to change the game of football
Putting New Muscle in the Weight Room
The world of technology is now entering the weight room. Yes, it\'s true. As much as strength and conditioning coaches may want to stay far away from anything remotely resembling technology, the fact is that it can help enhance the performance of your athletes. At Winona State, technology has become an essential part of both our academic and football programs. The university was one of the first to initiate the Laptop University concept. This means that every student is provided with
Equipment Room
Defensive Reaction Machine From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Offensively or defensively this is how to teach the delivery of a blow. The Crowther Defensive Reaction machine. When you master the Defensive Reaction Machine, you master the line of scrimmage. The only football machine available with a moving helmet for player
Virtual Football
It\'s the end of a long practice in an even longer week. But despite your best efforts, your quarterback clearly needs more work. He\'s having a hard time throwing long against the blitz and there\'s no way he\'s going to master it without spending a lot more time on the field. Time, however, is one thing you can\'t give him. Don\'t panic. Just hand him his virtual reality mask, program it for a rush and send him on his way. Tell him you\'ll see him in the morning to discuss the compu
Cover Too
It may come as a surprise to some that computers have been helping high school and college coaches build game plans for nearly 20 years. Starting with the early Apple II and IBM personal computers, technology that had previously been available only to larger colleges and professional teams began working its way into the high school and small college ranks. Innovative coaches, facing many obstacles, began to integrate computers into their game planning processes during the mid-1980s. C
Letter From the Publisher
In my parent\'s backyard, there lives a pack of stray cats that seemingly rule the neighborhood where I grew up and my parents still live. My mother, being the kind hearted soul she is, has seen fit to feed this pride of baby lions for what my father tells me is going on two years and $10,000. The leader of the pack is a one-eyed tomcat affectionately dubbed Big Boy. Now, it is important to note that Big Boy has taken on celebrity status and mythic proportions to my three-year old son Christophe
Stop in the Name of the Law
When two back-to-back bad calls wiped away Illinois\' chances of beating Michigan last fall in the final minutes of a game, the cry went up.\"Instant replay,\" shouted coaches who have long believed that the NCAA should change it\'s rules to allow referees to review game film on the field if there is any question that they made the right call.To Illinois coach Ron Turner, the issue is a simple one. \"The technology is out there these days, so we might as well use it,\" says Turner, a forme
To AD or not to AD...
Can you see this happening? A new coach is hired. He wants new computers and video equipment for his staff. So, off to the AD\'s office he goes. The athletic director, anxious to do everything to make the new coach happy, tells the coach to get him a proposal. Thereafter, the coach instructs his video coordinator to \"... write something up.\" The coach and his video guy then return to the AD\'s office to make their pitch. The AD will most oftentimes try to approve the expenditure, and then find
The Money Chase
When Michael Christensen needed money to buy high-tech equipment to revolutionize his football program at Lakewood High School in California, he got it that old-fashioned way: He went to his booster club with his palms outstretched.\"Luckily, we have a real active booster club,\" he says of the group\'s ability to raise the money he needed to buy a $13,000 video-editing system.Without a good booster club or a well-heeled sugar daddy, however, most high school and small college coaches are
Cutting the Chord
Coaching great Knute Rockne is known for his motto \"Winning - it\'s not everything ... it\'s the only thing.\" But as any successful coach can tell you, perhaps the only thing you can really count on are the long, often tedious hours. No one needs to remind you that coaching is a time-consuming profession. You\'ve been there. Late nights followed by early mornings. And if by some miraculous intervention more hours were added to the day, you\'d probably just spend this surplus time in your offic
The Information Age
It\'s the kind of argument that breaks out hundreds of times during hundreds of coaches meetings that are held at hundreds of school across the nation each week.The coaching staff at Pittsburg State University in Kansas was mulling over the team\'s weak spots and one coach insisted that a glaring problem was the team\'s inability to convert on third down. The idea caught on quickly and pretty soon the entire staff was in agreement that the Gorillas simply weren\'t very good in third-down situ
Achieving Maximum Benefit from Your Use of Technology in Game Planning
ALL STAFFS INVEST A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF time and effort in game planning. Strategic preparation for an opponent is a big part of what we do as coaches. It\'s a major element of the intellectual challenge of coaching which attracts us to the profession, and it forms the basis for the way in which we as coaches compete on game day. Play calling success is dependent upon a knowledge of the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies of both your own team and of your opponent. We all know that ot
May 2001 Cover Story The Information Age - Computers and the countless software applications have forever changed the face of coaching... a look at how the changes have affected coaches like Pittsburg State's OL coach Bill Kroenke.
Equipment Room
Rogers Lev Sled 1-(800) 248-0270 www.rogersathletic.com Utilize the power of leverage to achieve more gridiron victories. Only the Rogers Lev Sled requires the blocker to drive the pad to compress the spring - then he is able to elevate the pad. From Rae Crowther Co. 1-800-841-5050 www.raecrowther.com The most effective football sleds and machines in the game. 68 years of what works. 1, 2, 5, and 7 man sleds. Off
He Knows the Way In San Jose
In a geographical area of California well-known for its technology innovations and sports achievements\' San Jose State\'s Chuck Bell knows that his athletic teams must be competitive if people are to identify with, much less attend Spartan athletic events. But grappling for attention in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, where competitiveness is cutting edge, can be difficult. All the same, Bell, who is nearing the end of his third full year as athletic director at SJSU, doesn\'t sh
Cover Story Tony DeMeo November 2001 A Wizard in the Land of Oz - Tiny Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas may not win conference
The Computer is Up
I don\'t necessarily like all the things that go along with (coaching) ... all I want to do is coach the team and that\'s it.\" Perhaps you would agree with Tampa Bay\'s Tony Dungy who spoke these words back in 1998 when he was named this magazine\'s NFL Coach of the Year. No matter what level you coach, you undoubtedly have tasks, obligations or perhaps people whom you\'d rather not have to deal with. But whether it\'s recruiting new players, scouting next week\'s opponent, or teaching
Cover Story NFL Coach of the Year Jim Haslett April 2001 NFL Coach of the Year Jim Haslett - When Jim Haslett came marching into New Orleans last year, few expected him to turn around the most bedeviled team in the history of
March 2000 Would you like to read a past article from American Football Monthly Magazine? Or are you looking for an article on a specific subject not in this month\'s issue? Try back issues. Staff Meeting Let
December 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian
The Survivor
Here he was, scaling a fence in a driving thunderstorm, with a blank videocassette under his rain jacket. The coaching staff desperately needed video of its next opponent, but a lack of sufficient technology at the team\'s training facility prevented the team from finding the game on television. That did not, however, prevent the team\'s head coach from finding another solution. So with the rain pouring down and thunder rumbling overhead, he found himself climbing the fence betwe
July 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from former Houston Oilers' coach Bum Phillips News and Notes Vandy, DiNardo settle lawsuit ... North Texas
New Equipment
Double Sided Multi Safety Rack from Samson Equipment, Inc.800-472-6766 www.samsonequipment.com Samson Equipment, Inc. introduces its newest power rack, the Double Sided Multi Safety Rack. The Rack allows you to perform all of your core free weight lifts in one area with the added versatility of 2 stations. Choose Samson and you\'ll realize why they are the choice of many top professional, college & high school programs as well as health clubs and gyms all across the
Best of Best...The Top Coaching Staffs in Football
Taking into account all of the factors that go into the composition of what makes a great coaching staff, the following is our second annual look at the best coaching staffs in football. Just as last year, it is extremely difficult to choose one staff over another. It is somewhat analogous to trying to decide which dessert you want in a buffet. But, what makes a great staff? Is it the number of championships won collectively? How about longevity at the institution? C
September 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher News and Notes Dick Curl leaves Europe and joins the Chiefs... Bama's DuBose makes a sick young man's day...NCAA legislation may hurt I-AA football...Mizzou seeks to get out of future
Equipment Room
Chronomix Corp.1-800-538-1548www.chronomix.comThe Practice Timer is a multi-use training tool. It can be programmed for circuit interval training or practice segment timing. When not running programs it can be used as a hundredth of a second stop watch for timing the forty yard dash or laps. Accessories are available for printed results or automatic timing. Custom made motivational signsFrom Signs For Success1-800-298-4025
The Evolution of Technology in Football
CLICK...CLACK...CLICK...CLACK.... the only sound emanating from the darkened room droned endlessly. For decades, it was the sound of technology in football. For generations of players and coaches, the first technological skill to be mastered was how to thread film in the 16mm projector. It was film, passing back and forth through the projector\'s gate, which was the sound of technology in the game. An endless ribbon of film ran through the game and connected generations of coaches and pla
High Schools That Went High Tech
When Rob Scheidt took over the program at Merced (Calif.) H.S. in the spring of 1996, he faced a rebuilding job. The historically strong MHS program, which won a state championship just five years before, had spiraled downward into a two-year playoff draught and was stinging from a 1-9 record the previous season. Scheidt, who became head varsity coach at Merced while he was still in his mid-20s, saw a couple of problems that needed to be addressed right off the bat. First, the school
Letter from the Publisher
The forward pass. Integration. Facemasks and new equipment that makes players seem more prepared for a battle than a game of football. TV, radio call-in shows and 24-hour a day media coverage. All of these changes have dramatically altered the game of football. Yet the sum total of these alterations pale in comparison to the virtual metamorphosis that is taking place in the year 2000. Computers, the associated software programs, and enhanced video equipment are dynamically changing the ga
Reaching the Top
With its groundbreaking use of computers, video cameras and advances in research in human kinetics (just to name a few), the University of Nebraska has become known as \"the birthplace for strength and conditioning in collegiate athletics.\" The person most responsible for the inception of not only Nebraska\'s strength and conditioning program, but also programs throughout the country, is Director of Performance Boyd Epley. Epley began his career with Nebraska in 1969 when he became th
Success is Coming in Bunches at Wisconsin
According to the Acromania Index on the Ziff Davis website www.zdnet.com, Information Technology is defined Pronounced as separate letters, IT refers to the broad subject of managing and processing information. In contrast, Vince Lombardi noted, \"football is only two things - blocking and tackling.\" How can one reconcile the differences between the general study and application of data and this strict, physical discipline? Barry Alvarez and company at the University of Wisconsin have b
Glossary
American Football Monthly (a-mer- -kan fut-bol koch), noun 1. the only trade journal designed exclusively for the football professional. 2. the one-stop place for all football coaches to go to obtain up-to-the-minute information on everything from xs & os to sports nutrition that will help their program. 3. the magazine found on the desk of every successful coach in the nation. Analog- a process whereby the recorded video image information is a continuous equivalent of
Editing Systems: Getting What\'s Right for You
ADVANTAGES OF EDITING SYSTEMSUsing an editing system will not only make your video sessions run more smoothly but also allows you to easily scout your opponent and your own team - not to mention helping you teach and grade out players. You\'ll save time by watching only the essential video clips, because an editing system allows you to customize videotapes to your team\'s needs. You can create separate tapes for offense, defense and special teams. Imagine the benefits of sending sc
Technology Q&A with the NFHS
As is the case in any industry, change and evolution in football have sparked the need for constant examination and discussion of the rules that govern the sport. And anytime improvements are made that affect how teams prepare for and play the game, a tradeoff is often necessary in order to ensure no team gains an unfair advantage over its opponents simply because it has greater access to advanced technology. American Football Monthly discussed some of the issues related to technologi
Stripes—Life as a Zebra
Making the Right Call with Help from Technology The goal is training us to call fouls that truly affect the game and be more accurate with judgment calls. The improved video critiques we now receive have helped dramatically in this area. The advent of telestrators and the ability to zero in on particular players and aspects of a play facilitate our understanding of what we did well and might do
Football and The Internet
When the editors of American Football Monthly approached me with the challenge of projecting the impact of the Internet on the game of football, I was torn. On one hand, I could go on and on about all of the sites that focus on recruiting and our collective infatuation with athletes who weigh 250, bench press 375 and run sub-4.4 40s. But the \'Net offers many more uses and opportunities beyond the recruiting arena that will make a real impact on coaching and the game of football. I
6 Hours to 5 Minutes:
How would you like to add several hours of \"free\" time to your schedule each week, especially during the football season? Time to view some additional videotape, review the game plan, or maybe just get some rest. A major catalyst in freeing time for the staff of the Minnesota Vikings has been the use of computers within our football operations. We have never viewed computers as a magic bullet to solve problems. We still rely on the intelligence and creativity of our staff to make
May 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher News and Notes 49ers' McKittrick loses battle with cancer ... Pitt gives Harris contract extension ... Gilbertson OC at U of Washington again ... Notre Dame hires new AD from ASU ... Okl
Stripes—Life as a Zebra
As coaches, I\'m sure all of you know that Division One and NFL games are officiated by seven-man crews, consisting of the referee, umpire, head linesman, line judge, field judge, side judge and the back judge. But are you completely aware of the mechanics of each position? And do you know about the changes that have taken place within the past few years at each position? Furthermore, how familiar are you with the preparation each official puts forth, both individually and as a crew, befo
April 2000 Would you like to read a past article from American Football Monthly Magazine? Or are you looking for an article on a specific subject not in this month's issue?Staff MeetingLetter from PublisherWords of Wisdom
New Equipment
Rear Control Remote from Lafayette Instrument Company800-428-7545 www.lafayetteinstrument.com Lafayette Instrument Company once again makes your life easier with the Rear Control Remote. The camera\'s lens, and pause/start functions can be operated by the tripod handle remote. The remote attaches quickly and easily to any tripod handle. Functions such as zoom and pause can be manipulated without the operator touching the camera. This hands-off approach makes your sh
August 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from current Florida State coach Bobby Bowden News and Notes Mountain West 'in the room' on BCS tal
October 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Vince Lombardi
News & Notes
Barnett\'s Colorado Contract Finalized After more than one year, Gary Barnett and the University of Colorado finalized a five-year contract. The multi-year contract, retroactive to Jan. 22, 1999, when he accepted the position, is one of three positions the State Legislature allows CU to exempt from standard contract rules. All other deals are limited to one year. \"We\'re delighted to have finalized the agreement with coach Barnett. This gives us the opportunity to accomplish the g
June 2000 Staff MeetingLetter from PublisherWords of Wisdom from Buffalo Bills¹ legend Marv LevyNews and Notes Barnett and the Buffs finally ink a deal... Tennessee¹s academic
February 2000 Would you like to read a past article from American Football Monthly Magazine? Or are you looking for an article on a specific subject not in this month's issue? Try back issues. Staff Meeting
November 2000 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Bud Wilkinson
November 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Darrell Royal
Crystal Ball
Ever wonder what the future holds for the game, sport and business of football? Will attendance increase? Will stadiums continue to expand to the point where Michigan Stadium will be the "Little House?" Will the new millennium bring with it unimaginable technology that will enhance the game? No doubt, in a scant few years, we will see revolutions in equipment that will be as drastic as the change from leather helmets to the modern battle armor. Will the game prosper? Wi
Complete Coach
As a coach, your time is not only valuable, it's also restricted. And with a finite number of hours in a day, you can only accomplish so much. While many of your daily obligations - such as family, school and boosters - have little or nothing to do with coaching, these obligations force you to become more effective during the short stretches of time when you actually get to focus on coaching. With this in mind, how can you both save and manage your timemore efficiently? The answer li
December 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom Army Coach Earl "Red" BlaikNews and Notes Raiders
Q&A With Bud Grant
Q: What is your philosophy on staff management?A: Philosophy is something you are asked about a lot, but I am not so sure everybody has a philosophy or that I have a philosophy. Your coaching staff is vitally important; there is no successful team that doesn't have a good staff. As much as coaching might be overrated, your assistant coaches certainly can't be or shouldn't be. They are really the backbone of the team, because they do most of the work. I think it is important for
New Equipment
Aqua-BreezeFrom J.E. Adams Industries800-553-8861Looking to keep your team cool this season? J.E. Adams Industries of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, introduces the Aqua Breeze Mobile Cooling System. This unique and totally-integrated mobile cooling system utilizes flash evaporation cooling. Flash cooling uses the ultra-fine atomization of water droplets by forcing water through high-impact nozzles to lower the ambient temperature of an area. The unique flash evaporation u
June 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from PublisherReader Feedback News and Notes Eddie Robinson Cla
Family First
For Houston Nutt, his coaching philosophy is crystal clear. It's all about family. Sounds simple enough, but when he arrived at the University of Arkansas, the plan didn't look so easy. He was dealing with 15 seniors who had one season left in a football program that certainly had seen better days in the Southeastern Conference. The players went to him and said, "Coach, we want to win, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to do it." Nutt could have slid into a pessimistic fra
New Equipment
From Samson Equipment, Inc.800-472-6766Samson Weight Training Equipment, Inc. from Fairacres, N.M., introduces its Samson Power Station. The Power Station enables athletes to perform a wide variety of exercises in a limited amount of space. The Power Station is unique in that it allows athletes to perform a variety of different exercises including: Squats, Cleans, Bench Press, Incline, Shoulder Press, Chins, Dips, Calf Raises, Olympic Lifts, etc... in one station.
May 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes No more SAT? • H
Complete Coach
The adage is the bigger they are the harder they will fall. Not necessarily. If your athletes can develop speed and agility along with size, they may very well be able to withstand almost anything the competition throws at them. The key to developing bigger, stronger, more agile players is the weight room. How do you as a coach get the most out of each weight room session? How can you create a weight room, or revamp your present facility into one that helps your players achieve their goa
October 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Words of Wisdom from legendary Bo Schembechler News and Notes Neuheisel finally gets his deal d
September 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes Ravens loa
New Equipment
Training PartnerFrom Burke Spencer U.S.A., Inc.888-862-8753Uniquely designed belt, ankle cuffs, hand pads, and break-through Tensor technology mark the Training Partner developed by Linden, N.J.'s Burke Spencer U.S.A., Inc. Tensor resistance provides approximately 10 pounds of smooth, unrestricting resistance per Tensor, working muscles fully through concentric and eccentric muscular movements. Muscles quickly adjust to this seemingly insignificant load. Musc
July 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes Notre Dame booster drama • Auburn saga continues
August 1999 Staff Meeting Letter from Publisher Reader Feedback News and Notes Colorado
Volume 5, 1st Quarter Spotlight Bill Snyder, Division 1 Coach of the Year Division 1 COY Runners-Up
Volume 4, 2nd Quarter Spotlight Schutt Sports NFL Coach of the Year: Tampa Bay's Tony Dungy Q & A with Tony Dungy AFM Div. II & III
The Truth About Creatine
Athletes in all sports, especially football, are always looking for ways to become bigger, stronger and faster. To attain the quintessential trifecta of size, strength and speed, athletes have been known to use any and all means necessary. Unfortunately, even alternatives with documented harmful side effects such as steroids have been seen as viable options. The current "magic potion" for many athletes is creatine monohydrate. But what is it? What will it do? And, does it actually do w
The #1 resource for football coaches — innovative X's & O's, strategy, drills, and coaching insight, published by AFM Media.