The Football Coaching Podcast with Joe Daniel

Linebackers are often considered to be the most "torn" position in football. They have twice the responsibility of other position groups, and multiple reads at the snap of the ball to get them to their assignments.  Tonight's episode we will discuss drills specifically for the linebacker corps, to help get your players reading and reacting more efficiently and playing their assignments with muscle...

Many pro and college athletes have made the change to coaching their sport. While some find success, this is not always the case. In today's episode, we're going to try to break down why this happens, why skill doesn't always translate to coaching ability, and why you don't have to be brilliant to be successful.

Blitzing in football is a lever that many coaches pull for different reasons and with widely varying frequency. Some want to send an additional player every snap, some wait for the planets to align on the perfect situation.  In today's episode, we will discuss three primary purposes for blitzing in football and what each of these bring to your playbook.

Every coach knows tackling is a key to winning games, but do you know the physics of football tackling?  The two most basic functions of American football, at any level, are blocking and tackling. If you're coming up short at either job, you're probably not seeing a lot of success on that side of the ball.  Tackling, much like every other aspect of the game, has evolved over the years. Players hav...

In 1906 Saint Louis University (eventually named the Billikens) completed the first official forward pass in college football history. Everyone else was playing checkers (Rugby style football to be exact) and SLU's head coach Eddie Cochems was playing Chess. Today's episode is all about the offense, and how it has cycled over the years. From the "Rugby" beginnings, the Split-T of the 50s, the Wish...

From depth charting players in the pre-season to trying to stop your cross-town rival's power play, understanding your defense is of utmost importance. The better you know your system, what each lever is best at stopping, the more efficient you'll be at adjusting on the fly. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast delves further into the idea of having the best 11 on the field, by concentrat...

When you're filling out your football depth chart for your defense this season, you should be pencilling in the 'Best 11'. In Youth and High School Football where we do not recruit, we coach the kids we have. They might not always fit into a perfect mold for each position. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast kicks off Season 10 with a look at what the Best 11 really means for your defens...

For every playbook out there, you will find another way to name offensive football formations. There are no strict guidelines or rulebook to what you call your formations.  Creating your own system of rules for how you name offensive football formations is important, though. It will determine how easy it is for your players to grasp new formations. The system also determines how easy it is for you...

Unlike the rest of the topics in Season 9 of The Football Coaching Podcast, this is not one of the 20 most asked questions. In fact, this question gets asked very infrequently. But it is important. When do I know it is time to walk away from coaching?   You feel like you need a break. The stress of the job is wearing you out. Changes in your life have made the huge time commitment a bigger burden...

Two platoon football has been a divisive concept in high school football over the last decade or more. Do you specialize players on one side of the ball, or keep the best players on the field at all times? There's a lot to the issue. And while there is not as much argument about two platoon football anymore, there is still a lot to consider.  My feelings on two platoon football are not a secret, e...

What is the best football defense for my team to run? I hear that question a lot. But there's no easy answer. In Season 9 of The Football Coaching Podcast we're answering the most common questions I've heard over the last decade. And this question about the best football defense is one of the most popular. Check out this episode for a look into some of the biggest myths and misunderstandings about...

Coaches are always trying to find ways to spice up practice, like running fun football drills. Little things that make practice more like a game. Wait a minute. We have to come up with cute ways to make football practice seem like a game?  There's a problem here. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast looks at how to cure boring football practices. Fun football drills to spice things up, wh...

The failures of your football scout team are the bane of every coach's existence. You're trying to prepare your starters to play a top opponent. That scout team is ruining everything, though. Football scout teams don't have to equal misery. But you have to put them in a position to succeed. We have a plan for that, and I'm going to share it with you in this episode.

Winning in all three phases might be a cliche, but you will lose games if you have sloppy special teams practice. Planning your special teams practices is critical if you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot on game day. How do we plan special teams practice when we only have a 90 minute practice plan? It seems like there is too much to get done. But that's not true.  This episode of The Footb...

You don't want too many plays in your offensive playbook. But you need enough plays to beat the defense. So how many plays do you need to have ready? How many plays you need in the playbook is the 15th episode in our 20 Questions series for Season 9 of The Football Coaching Podcast. It is one of the 20 most-asked questions I have seen from our podcast listeners and JDFB Coaching Systems clients. E...

Linebacker reads and keys are the single most searched for keyword on Joe Daniel Football. It seems every coach is looking for the perfect reads for your linebackers. I have coached just about every type of linebacker reads imaginable. Keying guards, keying backfield. I have cross-keyed the backs, keyed the 2-man surface… you name it, I have tried to coach it.  Skip all the hassle. Get the complet...

I hear from coaches all the time who have their own ideas on how a football team should be run. They just cannot get the head coach to listen! This is a touchy subject. After all, the head coach is the man in charge. This is his time to shine. Not only that, he probably has more experience than other coaches on staff (though not always).  This episode dives into how to get your head coach to open...

The Coach Simple plan uses the 5-Day playbook install to get your system taught quickly.    All of the systems inside JDFB Coaching Systems use a version of this principle. The 5-day playbook install plan gets your base playbook installed in just one week of practice.  The plan is to have enough installed so that you could play a game or scrimmage. You might not have everything , but you have enou...

With the season approaching, you need to figure out how you want to organize your football coaching staff. Who is going to coach which positions? Where is each coaching going to be most valuable to your athletes? Putting the right coaches in the right places is just as important as putting the right players in the right positions. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast dives into getting th...