Becoming a football head coach requires a vast depth of knowledge at any level – high school, college, or professional. Acquiring that knowledge can be a tricky task. For a while, playing the sport was the only way to obtain any of it, and the higher the level you played affected the quantity and intricacy of the information you had access to.
The complexity of football’s schemes and philosophies has naturally evolved in its own way as more unique people with unique ideas have entered the spot over the decades. Many of the plays we see on TV today couldn’t have even been thought to have existed 50, 30, or even years ago. To have the inside track of that, however, you had to be a coach to begin with.
But access to football information has become much easier. Many books have been published with information on the ins and outs of designing plays on the football field, either explaining the philosophies explicitly on it’s own, in the context of orchestrating a winning team collectively, or integrating them into the broader parts of the sport’s history.
The internet has not just unveiled football’s philosophies to the sport-consuming public, but has created generated a community around it. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube are filled with content creators – current coaches, former players, etc. – who dedicate their platform to teaching young fans and players things like how to design play concepts, understand playbook terminology, read defensive coverages, interpreter pergressions, and other intellectually stimulating part of America’s favorite sport. Entire playbooks from teams’ specific offenses from specific years are available to download for free for the public. Even specific famous plays are broken down to what the coaches see on their cards.
With this increase in access, the average age of those at the top of football coaches is getting younger. In September of 2014, there were zero NFL head coaches age 40 or younger, with the youngest being Mike McCoy, Mike Tomlin, and Dennis Allen at 42 years old. As of the start of the 2024 season, there are seven age 40 or younger in DeMeco Ryans (Houston Texas), Brian Callahan (Tennessee Titans), Shane Steichen (Indianapolis Colts), Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Vikings), Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams), Jerod Mayo (New England Patriots), and Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks).
Many of these men were former players, but they had more access to advanced football education outside of their own experiences that they could apply to what they already knew. This helped them build on their own mental skills and develop all kinds of new concepts that have helped them grab some of the most prestigious jobs in football.
What this will likely create for young fans is the opportunity to get involved in the Xs and Os of football without having to play the sport, something that not everyone is physically capable. Young coaches can go to other young people and provide them with a level of open knowledge that was never thought possible for someone who had been in the ranks for years. People with a passion can then demonstrate their understanding of the game cogently without having to have played the sport.
Written By Anders Pryor