Ten Tips to Help Every Youth Football Coach Be the Best They Can Be

By Harold “Bud” Boughton

Senior Consultant and Assistant Coach, Franklin College  

Two years ago I was asked to be a guest speaker at two USA Football Coaching Schools. I knew right away what I wanted to talk about. Drawing on my coaching experience at both the college and youth level, I created a presentation entitled, “Coaching is Teaching at its Best.” Essentially I came up with ten tips which I believe can help any youth football coach to be a more effective “teacher” of the game of football. Having received very positive feedback from many of the coaches in attendance at both coaching schools, I decided to write this article and provide these ten tips to an even larger audience. Interestingly, as I wrote the article, I realized that many of these ten tips could apply to coaching football at any level.

1.      Set Clear Expectations – As a youth football coach, I chose to apply some wisdom I had learned from my experience in the business world – Effective Leadership Begins with Effective Communication. At the very beginning of each football season I made sure I communicated what I expected from my assistant coaches, the players, and the parents of my players. I did this in a pre-announced meeting (15-20 minutes) with all of my coaches and parents after one of our early season practices. I distributed a one-page handout at this meeting which clearly explained what our team goals/objectives were for the season, what my expectations were as far as attendance/punctuality for practices and games, and what I expected from myself and the parents in terms of proper ‘game behavior.’ I also included contact information for myself and each of my assistant coaches on the handout. I always thanked the parents in advance for all of their support and cooperation and emphasized that win or lose, I wanted to make it a fun learning experience for their son. I am pleased to say that in my six years of coaching youth football, I never had any sort of confrontational experience or misunderstanding with any of my players’ parents. I attribute this to setting clear expectations and effectively communicating them to my coaches, players and parents.

2.      Be Organized – Written practice plans are not an option, they are a necessity. Having a written practice plan for every practice makes you a better teacher and coach. It provides for logical structure and flow to the practice, more effective use of time, and keeps you on a schedule. In addition, it is equally important to be organized in the other aspects of your coaching responsibilities (administrative/league paperwork, player roster with emergency contact information, game day responsibilities, etc.).

3.      Communicate on Your Player’s Level – You don’t tell a seven year-old to play ‘downhill’ or line up in a ‘3-Technique.’ He doesn’t have a clue what these terms mean. Remember, as a coach you’re a teacher. You need to be conscious of “how” you communicate with your players based upon their age and their past experience playing football. When you teach a new skill, demonstrate the skill, breaking it down into a step-by-step process. I also would recommend using a small whiteboard in your efforts to teach new facets of the game to your players. I found that younger players learned such concepts as zone coverage, ‘squeezing the zones’ and pursuit course angles much better when I drew them up on the whiteboard instead of just trying to explain them. Visual images improve understanding and retention.

4.      Be a Student of the Game – The longer I coach and the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know. As football coaches, we all need to continually look for opportunities to learn more about football and teaching techniques. Attending football coaching clinics, visiting football websites, subscribing to and reading coaching publications, and going to watch high school and college teams practice are just several ways we can all continue to learn and become better football coaches.

5.      Go to Practice with the RIGHT Attitude – This one should be easy but there may be days when other issues in your life are weighing you down. My suggestion – when you step on the practice field, make the conscious decision to “Be There!” Enthusiasm is contagious! Hustle everywhere when you are out on the field and if you are so inclined, actively participate in the drills you conduct. I often would run the cone drills with my players just so they could see that the “old coach” could still move a little! Attitude in football, and in life, is EVERYTHING! Best of all, it is a choice we make.

6.      Teach and Coach Fundamentals – Football has always been a game of fundamentals. That said, as youth football coaches we need to teach and coach the fundamentals – running (proper running form), passing, catching, kicking the football, blocking, proper tackling, and stance by position. Every youngster that comes out to play football should learn these seven basic fundamental skills. As you get with older players, certainly the emphasis will change and become more specialized, but at the end of the day, the game has always been about learning and executing the fundamentals. Teams that are fundamentally sound usually fair better when it comes to their success on the field.

7.      Coach with a “TEAM First” Coaching Philosophy – Every youth football coach needs to teach the game of football for what it is – a TEAM game. Football is without question the greatest team sport ever invented. In every play of a football game, success requires the timing and efforts of 11 different individuals to be perfectly synchronized so that the common goal can be achieved. No one person ever wins the game – it’s a TEAM effort and your coaching philosophy should emphasize that to your players. In my last year of youth coaching, as a gift to myself, I went out and bought MVP trophies for every player (16 of them) on the team I coached. Watching the pained and confused expressions on the parents’ faces when I announced at our season-end pizza party that I was going to give out an MVP trophy made the experience of giving each player his own MVP trophy that much more fun! We were a TEAM of MVP’s and the players and parents loved it!

8.      Coach the Heart – As a football coach, you have the opportunity to touch many lives and teach your players valuable life lessons. In some cases, you may even become a ‘father figure’ to some of your players. As youth football coaches, we need to Coach the Heart and teach our players the right values. We need to emphasize the importance of their school work (yes, academics always come first) and help them learn the valuable lessons of teamwork, hard work and great effort. We need to teach them to be respectful of others – their parents, their teachers, their coaches, teammates, game officials and yes, even their opponents. I happen to know one middle school football coach (a very successful one, at that) who actually teaches his players how to respectfully and in a meaningful way shake hands with the players of the opposing team after a game, win or lose. Believe it or not, he even has his players practice this! Finally, as coaches we need to teach our players how to be humble in victory and how to graciously accept defeat for what it is – part of life. Nobody wins them all in the game of life and our players need to learn that valuable lesson starting at a young age.

9.      Remember, it’s NOT About You – Unfortunately, some coaches get into coaching, especially at the youth level, for the wrong reason. Youth football is meant to be a positive, learning experience that helps young boys (and girls) develop character and learn valuable life lessons. As youth football coaches, we are to be there for our players, to make sure they are coached and taught properly, that they are safe when under our direction, and that we make the game fun for them. If our ego or lust for championships ever gets in the way of any of those things, we need to re-think why we are coaching at all. As the late, great Coach Dave McClain once told me when I was a Graduate Assistant Coach on his staff at Ball State University, “When you win, the players get the win; and when you lose, the coach needs to hold himself accountable for the loss.” That’s good advice for coaches at any level.

10.  Have FUN! – Football is a game. It’s supposed to be fun! Smile when you are out on the field and if you are coaching really young kids, smile even more! Make practices fun. Find ways to incorporate relay races in drills and keep score. Kids are naturally competitive and making some of the drills more of a contest will actually improve their effort. Get them excited about being part of a team and let your positive attitude create an environment that is both inviting and fun for your players. Teach your kids to love the game by making it fun for them.

In the end, we’re football coaches because we love the game and realize how special the game and the coaches we played for were in our life. I still remember my very first football coach (Bob Smith, “The Panthers”, 1959). To this day he is a very special person in my life and his spirit will always live inside of me. He was a great teacher and coach and I cherish the many wonderful memories I have from that, my very first football season.

Now, it’s your turn. Go be the best teacher you can be as a youth football coach. Be a positive influence, have some fun, and create some memories for your players that they will someday look back on and treasure. What a privilege it is to be called, “Coach.”

About the Author:

Bub Boughton is currently a senior consultant and assistant football coach at Franklin  College (IN). He coached at both Ball State University and Earlham College and is the author of two books. Boughton can be reached at his email (CoachB@budboughton.com) or his web site – www.budboughton.com.