Football Program Manual

Raymond Lynch

Whether you know it or not, a football coaching job is year-round. This includes all the way down to high school, and maybe younger, depending on where you are coaching. You can say it starts at any point of the year, but I’ll take it from January, after the kids return from the holiday break.

I have not run a full out leadership program before but think it is a good idea. That is something that I would like to start if I become a head coach. We will meet for the character and leadership program twice a week, for about 45 minutes each meeting, throughout the winter/spring months. Lifting is extremely important throughout the entire year, especially the offseason. This is where guys start to develop to get stronger and faster. During the winter/spring months, the lifting program will include 3 days a week of lifting/conditioning. On the other 2 days, our skill players will participate in passing leagues (7 on 7) versus other high schools in CT and MA. During these months, our linemen will lift and condition. Some players play other sports such as basketball, indoor/outdoor track, baseball, and lacrosse. When they are in that season, they will focus on those sports but if they are not participating in a sport, it is hopeful that they will be at lifting, conditioning, and passing leagues. The head coach will run the lifting/conditioning portion as well as set up the passing leagues we will join. It is not mandatory for assistant coaches to be there but hopeful they will be.

During the winter/spring months, the coaching staff will meet once a month to discuss how lifting, conditioning, and passing leagues are going. We will also discuss any upcoming fundraisers we have as well as any concerns over the how the program is going so far. As the spring months come up, we will begin discussing personnel, depth charts, and strategies for each part of the game. As the head coach, I will also be meeting every other week with coordinators to discuss their thoughts on the upcoming year as well as making a plan for install.

Throughout the summer months (June, July, early August), all players and coaches are expected to be at workouts (lifting, running, passing league). Workouts will occur 4 days a week during the summer, as well as passing league twice a week. During this time, players who plan to play at the next level will also be attending college camps with the head coach and/or assistant coaches. The coaching staff will begin meeting once a week to continue discussing personnel, depth charts, workouts and passing league, pre-season camp, and strategies/install for the season.

Camp will start during the middle of August. All players and coaches are expected to be at every practice from the beginning of camp onward. We will have practices each day, with Sundays being the off day for everyone. Leading up to our first game, we will have at least three scrimmages, with one being a tri or quad scrimmage, and the final one will be a game scrimmage where Varsity and JV will both participate.

Once the season begins, we will practice Monday-Thursday with team dinners being on Thursdays. Games are played on Fridays with a practice Saturday morning. Coaches will either meet Saturdays after practice or Sundays to discuss each upcoming opponent. Coaches will also plan to go scout at least one game each Saturday afternoon, if our opponents are playing at this time. We will play through our whole season up to our Thanksgiving Day Game versus our hometown rival. Hopefully, we will continue playing into the playoffs which would keep us going until mid-December. After the season has come to a close, the head coach will meet with each of the members of the coaching staff as a group and individually to reflect on the season. There will be an end of the year banquet before the school goes away for the holiday break in December/January. Once we return from the break, we start again with workouts.