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American Football Monthly: Youth Coaching Expert
How To Pick A Winning Offense
By Coach David Marco
One of the most difficult decisions a coach has to make is what offense they will run. For a new coach
this task could seem daunting if not impossible. Other youth coaches will watch a football game on
television and say “Wow, I love Florida’s Spread Option offense! That scheme is unstoppable and I will
be too!” Here is the dirty secret to that offense. It runs a lot better with you have Tim Tebow at QB and
the rest of the superb athletes that the University of Florida has. Unless Tebow has a little brother and
he is going to be on your team you may not have the same level of success as Urban Meyer. The purpose
of this column is to help a youth coach (truly any coach) select the offensive system that they wish to
learn, implement and run.
Committing to a Scheme
In some careers being a “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” is acceptable. Not when it comes to running
an offensive attack. If you are ever going to become a great offensive coach you must commit yourself
to a particular offensive approach and become an expert at it.
Some youth coaches have bought into using multiple formations and trying to give defenses “different
looks” as opposed to series-based offense. They see these NFL teams line up in all these wild formations
and they think that would be effective at the youth level. The problem is that these formations need to
have very clear and precise blocking rules that are well beyond the capabilities of a youth coach that
holds a full-time job along with his coaching responsibilities. The typical NFL team has around 30 fulltime coaches that all have a wealth of experience, training and knowledge.
Personally I am a very big fan of series-based football. When my team lines up in our base set we can
effectively run off-tackle, up the middle, inside, sweep, trap, counter, pass, bunch pass to either side and
have one of four players run or pass the ball at any time. That is a lot for a defense to handle. In a future
column I will discuss formation-based and series-based football in-depth.
Selecting a System to Help You Advance in Coaching
Maybe you have a goal to coach at a higher level (e.g. youth to high school, high school to college, etc.).
Perhaps you feel that if you ran a certain offense it will endear you at the higher level. Personally I am
uninterested in writing about how a particular offensive scheme could get you a position at a higher
level. I believe our goal as a youth coach, or any coach, should be to put our players in the best position
possible to be successful. In addition, it takes hundreds to thousands of hours to truly understand an
offense system inside and out. Do you want to spend this time on a system that you truly don’t like or
believe in? The vast majority of people that get promoted (hired at a higher level) do so because a coach
David Marco © Since 2007
or administrator at that level likes and believes in them. The number one way to achieve this is through
success on the field. Coaches that have repeatable success even if their talent is not top-shelf will always
be in demand and at every level. Look at Paul Johnson the former head coach at Navy and current head
coach at Georgia Tech. He runs a Triple Option FlexBone attack (his terminology, not mine). When you
see this scheme it doesn’t look like anything else in Division I college football. The linemen have huge
splits, there are two wingbacks that are always going in motion for the triple option and they rarely
throw the ball. This scheme would look odd to some (not as odd at my Double Wing) but its success
cannot be denied. His teams have led the NCAA Division I-A/FBS football in rushing yards three of the
last four years. Two at Navy and one at Georgia Tech in his first year! I bet Coach Johnson would never
have reached his lofty coaching level with an offense de jour approach.
Understand Your League/Level
I have had many people tell me how much they miss “old school”, “smash-mouth” football when teams
ran the ball 70% of the time. The Chicago Bears ran the T-Formation, the Packers had the Lombardi
Sweep and the fullback was a feature position. I tell these people that you can still see this brand of
football. Just come to a youth game. It is like being transported 30 – 40 years into the past. Most, if not
all, youth leagues are dominated by the run; although, it is possible for a youth coach to be successful
passing it is very rare to see a good youth passing team.
Also understand the specific rules of your league. In some leagues (not mine) they don’t let you blitz the
A gap. This rule certainly will help out your pass blocking, especially if you use shotgun.
In my league if you run in the extra point it is worth 1 point. If you pass or kick the extra point it is worth
2 points. This rule is important. As a Double Wing coach I think “pass” is a 4 letter word (I know “rush” is
too) so I accordingly ran the ball over 93% of the time last year. On the other hand, I threw the ball on
extra points over 52% of the time as mathematically it just makes sense. If I complete 50% of my extra
point passes, I would need to have 100% success running in the extra points to equal my passing points
total.
Understand Yourself
In Bob Reade’s wonderful book “Coaching Football Successfully” he talked a great deal about the
psychology of coaching. He talked about how you need to truly look at yourself and understand the type
of person that you are. Are you risk averse or do like to let the dice role? For example, I see coaches that
have a one score lead and the ball with a couple of minutes left in the game. Personally for me I would
never put up a pass or run any play that I didn’t think we knew inside and out, had minimal risk and had
100% confidence in. I know many other coaches that think that since it is an obvious running situation
now is the time to pass. If you like risk then you should look at offenses like the Run & Shoot, A-11,
Single Back Spread, Shotgun Spread, Spread Option and Wishbone Triple Option. If you are risk averse
then the Wing-T, Single Wing, Double Wing, Crunch or Wishbone (no triple option) schemes could be
the correct choice for you.
David Marco © Since 2007
Very few will be able to answer the next question honestly. You need to identify what is your style or
more specifically: how important is style to you? Some coaches want to win in a particular way: With
Style. They want to be able to emulate some NFL or college coach, run double reverse passes, hook and
lateral plays and tons of shifts. I watched one coach be up 2 scores early in the 4th quarter throw a bomb
on 2nd and 6. He completed the pass for a touchdown. He definitely won with style that day.
Other coaches (I fall into this category) don’t mind winning ugly. These guys never get bored running the
same play 8 times in a row. The last two semi-final playoff games I have coached were pretty close
games. In both games when my teams were in the 4th quarter we went on 14 and 18 play drives
respectively. Obviously we got a lot of first downs on 4 plays with 3 – 4 yards per play. Maybe it looked
ugly to some but it looked like Michelangelo painting to me. We gobbled up the clock and kept our
defense off the field. Once I had an announcer refer to my offense as “Army ran another wedge.” The
funniest part of this was that it was my OWN home announcer.
It’s Not as Simple as Running vs. Passing
Most youth coaches do not realize that there are different categories for running and passing. Let’s
suppose you want to have an offense that focuses on running the ball. When you analyze various
schemes you need to realize that they can emphasize speed, power or deception. Most attacks can
emphasis two of these three but I have not seen one that based on the scheme and not the players, can
emphasize all three. For example, the Double Wing and the Wishbone Option schemes both emphasis
power and deception while the I-Formation utilizes speed and power and Spread Option is speed and
deception.
Passing schemes also have different approaches. Some are short, ball-control attacks (e.g. West Coast,
Run & Shoot, etc.). Others emphasize long, downfield passing as was popularized by Al Davis and the
Oakland Raiders. Selecting the right approach for you will depend on the types of athletes that you
believe you will get and how you are as a coach.
Find Educational Materials and a Mentor
Once you’ve selected an offensive approach you need to gather all of the teaching articles, books and
videos that you can. Then you must study them inside and out. In addition, you should attend any clinic
that you can that focuses on your offensive scheme. You will learn as much from the students (fellow
coaches living with and using that scheme) as you will from the instructor.
Along with the educational materials you need to find a mentor that can help you navigate through your
offensive development. I was fortunate enough to have Coach Hugh Wyatt (Head Coach, North Beach
High School, www.CoachWyatt.com) and Bill Lawlor (Offensive Coordinator at Crystal Lake Central High
School). Hugh and his materials helped me understand my offense, its core plays, proven uses and
intricacies. Bill (formerly was a highly successful coach in my league for years) taught me how to adapt it
to the youth level and specifically to my league. I wouldn’t be writing this column without their
invaluable aid over the years.
David Marco © Since 2007
Once you find your mentor(s) make should to spend your time asking questions and limit your “insight”
into how to improve the approach. If you have great mentors and the system is proven then in your first
year run it “as is”. This will give you a great base of knowledge and put you well on your path to being a
top-end offensive coach. Believe me you can do it. When I started youth coaching I had a much stronger
coaching background in defense then in offense. In fact, my early teams reflected my knowledge of
defense and my lack of knowledge on offense. Now most people talk about my offensive scheme than
my defensive scheme! If I could do it, so can you.
Good luck and may the referees be with you.
Coach David Marco – Biography
Coach David Marco has published dozens of football coaching articles for
American Football Monthly magazine and USA Football Magazine. In addition,
he also served as American Football Monthly’s Youth Football Coaching Expert
and currently still writes a regular coaching column (Takeaway/Giveaway with
Larry and David) for USA Football Magazine.
He has created 4 technical coaching videos on the Double Wing offense for
USA Football and has been their lead instructor from 2007 – present at the
annual USA Football/Chicago Bears Youth Clinic at Halas Hall where over 300
youth coaches attend each year. He is also the author of the Double Wing
Playbook published by USA Football. Coach Marco is also a USA Football
certified football coach and one of only 20 USA Football Master Trainers for
the NFL sponsored Heads-Up Program.
Coach Marco is currently a Head Coach in the Chicagoland United Youth Football League
(www.chicagolanduyf.com) which is the largest league in Illinois with a national championship held
annually in Florida. He was also a Head Coach in the Bill George Youth Football League
(www.BGYFL.org). BGYFL is one of the largest and most competitive leagues in northern Illinois. As a
head coach, his teams have earned 2 Super Bowl Runner-Up trophies and 1 Super Bowl Championship
trophy in his last 4 seasons coaching. These teams previously had been perennial sub .500 teams that
had never won a playoff game before. Over his last two years of coaching Coach Marco’s teams have
recorded 16 shutouts in 31 games. Coach Marco utilizes the Double Wing on offensive and the 5 – 3 Flex
on defense.
Coach Marco is currently the Head Coach for the Westmont Wildcats of the Greater Chicagoland Youth
Football League. He has an MBA from DePaul University. He can be reached at
[email protected]
David Marco © Since 2007