When you were young, you were probably an NFL hopeful and after a great amateur career as a player, you now feel like moving into coaching, as you still love the sport. If you’re worried that you never made it to pro NFL standards and that would affect your chances of getting into coaching, you can relax; it does help if you came from a pro football background, but it isn’t compulsory. Many great coaches never made it to the NFL, nevertheless, they had an illustrious career in the unpaid ranks and regardless of your playing background, here are a few things that you should know about football coaching.
State Certification
If you wish to start coaching at a school, you will need to obtain certification in the State you reside in. Every US state has its own requirements, so you will have to search online to find out what is required of you. Most states require that you have at least a Bachelor Degree in order to coach sports and that degree should be related to sports and biology, although they would likely accept any degree.
Develop a Deep Understanding of the Game
In order to be able to coach, you need to have in-depth knowledge of the game, whether football, hockey or baseball; this can be acquired from personal playing experience, watching documentaries and external coaching courses, such as Flag Football with Coach D that is a complete football coaching package that includes printable playbacks and drills. Every coach needs drills and printable sheets and you can find the best drill sets and playbacks online.
Levels of Coaching
The levels of coaching for football include:
- High school coaching
- College coaching
- NFL coaching
Typically, a person would go from high school to college coaching and after a few years of hands-on experience at college level, it might be possible to apply for an NFL coaching license. A typical pathway to the top would be:
- 5 years as high school coach
- 2 years as assistant college coach
- 3 years as college head coach
- Entry into NFL coaching as a second assistant
- A couple of years as assistant NFL coach
- Accepting a head coach NFL position
Attributes of a Successful Coach
Many people ask about the qualities a winning football coach would possess and we put together a short list of positive traits that can be relevant to a successful career in football coaching. Click here for information about zorbing, a new sport that is currently sweeping across the US.
- Deep understanding of the game
- Excellent communicator
- Able to motivate
- Lead by example
- Develop a coaching strategy
Above all else, you must be a people person with a passion for the sport and have the desire to turn young hopefuls into football legends.
Now that you know the basic requirements, you can start to work on weaker areas; here are some details about the NFL coaching workshop that you could attend, which would prep you even more for that jump into the pro scene.