Footballs Impact

You think football coaches have a lot of influence? Heck yeah, we all know the positive impact a good coach can have on a large group of young men. A lasting impact over a lifetime. But I was reminded of the influence football and football coaches have had in other areas as well.

I was reading an article in the Champaign News-Gazette in which new Illinois football coach Tim Beckman was quoted about his practices. Beckman said, "Our typical spring practice is going to be fast. Constant coaching. We'll coach from stretch to that last whistle. We're going to coach effort. We're going to coach football. We're going to coach enjoying this game we are blessed to play. We're very organized. It's all on paper and ready to roll. Our coaching staff knows it. I'll be as gung ho as ever. We're going to compete in every drill we do. Our practices are fun. They’re fast, but they're fun. You're going to work your tail off. When we get off that field after two hours, they're going to understand they worked for two hours. There's no downtime. We don't have that."

Now I know that's pretty typical for most football practices. But it does point out the fact that football coaches are among the most organized and time efficient people out there. They have to be. How else do you get 100 guys ready to work in such cohesive units? And that knowledge of time management has spilled into other fields as well. I know when I was a head wrestling coach I borrowed some ideas that I learned on the football field. I tried to have a well-organized, fast-moving practice to really challenge kids.

But it appears baseball has learned from football also. I was listening to the radio the other night and Mike Shannon, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals was talking about how spring training these days is much different than before. "I think baseball has learned a lot from football coaches," said Shannon, "the way they become much more organized with no wasted time." I thought that was a pretty good compliment to football coaches and I know other areas of sport and even business have learned from the football world. I think we can all be proud of the positive impact that football has had in many areas of our society. And the thing is, we just keep learning on how to get better. That's what makes sites like Chiefpigskin.com so great. There are hundreds of free videos to help coaches keep learning and keep getting better.