learning to teach football from the internet
a short, thorough list of great coaches
Welcome to learning to teach, a weekly newsletter where I explore different strategies and topics to help us all become better teachers of the game of football.
My biggest need as a coach is to better my ability to communicate. In other words, I need to become a better teacher. The internet is full of knowledge, but you’ve got to be able to absorb it and then communicate it. I hope this newsletter can help you do just that — so if you aren’t subscribed, just click the button below.
I started coaching football knowing nothing.
And after my first year of scraping by, I set out through books and online to try and learn everything that I could. But the internet is a massive place full of lots of information.
Some of that information is good, some of it bad.
So, today I just want to share with you some excellent online resources that have helped me learn the game. Personally, I have not been as selective when choosing something to study. If it caught my eye, I studied it. This practice is not best nor would it be how I would do it if I had to again. Instead, I think there is great benefit in narrowing what you study and getting really deep into it. Instead of picking out a new offense or buying a new book, I should probably reread the books that I have. Every time I do so, I learn something new and re-enforce what I learned prior.
Now ultimately, the best teacher has been experience and conversations, not books or articles. But what makes the following list so great is that the people behind these resources are accessible. You can DM them, email them, or even text them and they’ll answer.
The internet (Twitter specifically) can be an unpleasant place full of one-upping and directionless disagreements. But there is a lot of good out there, you’ve just got to go out and find it!
So here are 3 resources that I go to time and time again:
1. Kenny Simpson (FBCoachSimpson)
Website: https://www.fbcoachsimpson.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fbcoachsimpson
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6YDfMJq0roo9FbdsKQhbFQ
Coach Simpson is an OC in Arkansas and is the creator of the Gun-T offense which uses spread sets and has a Wing-T run game. His website, Twitter, and YouTube are full of explanations on his offense and he’s got playbooks for sale as well.
But I think Coach Simpson’s really valuable materials are the not really about Xs and Os. Coach has tremendous YouTube videos on practicing, the OC Academy which goes over everything you need to know to be ready for a season, and then his coaching books like Athletic Fundraising, Coaching Football like a Basketball Coach, and Team Themes. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the Xs and Os, but it is more important to learn how to organize your team and your thoughts so that you can take care of them all the better.
2. Cody Alexander (Match Quarters)
Website: https://matchquarters.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/The_Coach_A
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MatchQuarters
Coach Alexander is a DC in Texas and an excellent teacher of the game of football. He’s written 5 books on the defensive side of the game. The books aren’t just a bunch of Xs and Os diagrams — they explain the game in an applicable way and his latest, Anchor Points, reads almost like a narrative.
Coach is also active on Twitter and a must follow if you want to be up to date with the latest defensive trends. He also knows how to make you think. Just yesterday he said this:
“Your only limited by your ability to teach…”
That’s essentially the thesis of this newsletter — the pursuit of better teaching in order to eliminate limits.
Coach Alexander also has a Substack that is a wonderful read every time it hits the inbox. Subscribe to his below:
3. Coach Sullivan (MJS Coaching Football)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg7wBFIaAw0fRTNB_23MSuQ
Simply put, Coach Sullivan’s YouTube is a goldmine.
He has probably over a 100 videos, all around the 10 minute mark, that go over just about every defensive package or offensive look you need to know how to defend.
Coach’s videos are low-key and either in front of a whiteboard or a screen share of his Hudl playbook. I appreciate these videos because Coach Sullivan shares all the details and he covers everything. I’ve only ever coached offense, so his perspective when talking about certain offensive looks is always eye opening.
I cannot recommend following his YouTube enough.
Final thoughts
The first two are more “mainstream” coaches who you might already know. If you do and haven’t dived into their materials, do it. Like I said earlier and like you surely know, there is so much information out there. You can’t possibly learn it all or follow everyone.
In order to be efficient with time and to create manageable tasks, I think it’s important to not just read everything that comes out or dive into every new thing. Instead, I like to be selective over what I study and consume so that I can increase my odds of mastering the subject material. I do not want to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none.
Now, that being said, there are plenty of other coaches who I follow and dive into. But I often have to check myself and make sure that I’m not spreading myself too thin trying to learn everything. It’s like the offseason when there are about a dozen “hot” offenses circulating Twitter. You want to go study all of them, but the reality is that it would probably be a better use of time to study your own offense more.
Anyways — if you have any coaches who produce great stuff, please share them in the comments below.
Until next week —
Emory