Developing Philosophy in a College Football Program

Most professional entities establish who they want to be and how they plan to conduct business in a document or series of documents. A for-profit organization may refer to this document as a business plan. In a football program this document is often referred to as Philosophy. Philosophy serves as the foundation of the football team.  Football teams generally establish an overall team philosophy, followed by nested offensive and defensive philosophies.  These philosophies are at the core of every decision a football team makes from recruiting, to practice schedules, to community interaction, to team competition and certainly to resource allocation. This blog will discuss developing philosophy in a college football program to include suggested philosophy content.

The Head Coach is ultimately responsible for establishing the overall team philosophy and does so after seeking input from a number of valued sources to include but not limited to the Athletic Director, colleagues and members of his staff.  The final product will clearly articulate the head coaches’ vision for the program and will establish expected behavior from his players and coaches.²  In his book, Above the Line, Ohio State University Head Football Coach Urban Meyer remarks that “Defining that clarity of purpose is the most important first step a leader can take…it is fundamentally a mission statement, striped to its most basic level”.¹  It is this clarity of purpose the head coach strives to convey in his philosophy which begins with, as Coach Meyer recommends, a mission statement.  In addition to the mission statement the team philosophy may include keys to success, basic rules, team goals and staff expectations.  Coaching staff expectations are often very specific and communicate how the head coach wants his assistant coaches to work together and how he expects players to be treated. Honest, loyalty, commitment, respect and preparation are often addressed in the staff expectations section of team philosophy.

Sample Defensive Game Goals

Once the Head Coach has established the overall team philosophy the offensive and defensive coordinators can finalize their philosophies. These philosophies convey the identity or culture of the units through the eyes of the coordinator and articulate key elements of scheme, player expectations, and prioritized efforts.  The philosophies often culminate with game goals that the coordinators feel are imperative in order to be successful and could include items such as points scored, rushing yards, passing yards, explosive plays and turnovers to name a few.

A solid guiding foundation is imperative to the success of any organization. The overall team philosophy, along with the nested offensive and defensive philosophies, serve this purpose for a college football program.  A college football program would be wise to invest the necessary time to establish these documents and then commit to relying on this philosophy to aid in decision making throughout the year.

References:

¹Meyer, U. (2015). Above The Line. New York, NY: Penguin Press

²Ramseyer, B. (2011). Winning Football. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics