NFL / NFF Coaching Academy

The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, in conjunction with the National Football League and NFL Players Association, are pleased to announce the schedule of the NFL/NFF Coaching Academy. The schedule will consist of four visits to the major Universities in our State. These efforts will reach more than 400 coaches across the state this year in elevating the quality of instruction at the youth and high school levels.

"The most critical element in providing a positive football experience to a young person is the coach," said Jon F. Hanson, NFF Chairman. "I am proud that the NFF has teamed with the NFL and the NFLPA to ensure that the adults who are interacting with our youngsters have a solid and healthy perspective on how to maximize a player's performance on and off the field. By reaching more than 400 coaches in the State of Utah, the exponential impact of the program means that thousands of young student-athletes will benefit from the Academy's principles."

"We recognize that both high school and youth football programs are constantly challenged to simply meet their coaching needs, let alone fill them with people who have been properly trained." - NFF President Bob Casciola.

Entering its fourth year, the NFL/NFF Coaching Academy has developed an impressive educational program for ensuring that youth and high school football programs have trained adults prepared to focus not only on football skills, but also on the game's social benefits and character-building attributes. Working with a nationally recognized team of coaches, sports psychologists and medical experts, the NFF, the NFL and the NFLPA have created a comprehensive curriculum which includes four areas of concentration. They are:

Football Skills/Strategy
Life Skills/Communications
Health/Safety/Nutrition
Program Management

The academy combines lectures with on-field demonstrations of technique and practice components for all levels of players.

"I thought I knew a lot until I got here," Robb Hart, a Pop Warner coach told the Post-Standard after attending an academy at Syracuse University in New York. "If I am able to take away a quarter of what I learned this weekend and apply it to the field, I will be a much better coach...It really hit home the important role you can play in kids' lives."

Overseen nationally by the NFF, the local NFF chapter works with NFL clubs, universities, high schools and existing youth programs to organize the event, which includes one or two days of classroom and on-field instruction from some of the best in the game. When attending the Academy, you receive the following:

A 418-page Coaching Playbook with program notes for post-clinic & self-study reference
A CD-ROM with moving depictions of different plays, illustrations of football skills, key teaching points and forms and checklists to improve team management
An NFL/NFF Coaching Academy T-Shirt
Lunch
An official certificate verifying completion of the program