6 Important Lessons From Today’s Top High School Football Coaching Gurus

Guru #1: Jeff Steinberg – Rancho Verde (California) High School

Twitter: @CoachSteiny

Coach Steinberg has won 2 CIF Championships and coached 6 D-1 Quarterbacks along the way. He gives some great insights into how to simplify a game plan and the process involved in doing so in a podcast interview recently with Keith Grabowski on the Coach and Coordinator Show. He also talks about how to fit players into the best positions for their abilities and how to get more players involved.

Guru #2: Preston Jones – Perry, Arizona

Twitter: @perrypumas

Coach Jones is an expert in formations. His strategies on using multiple formations and utilizing the QB RPO have been highly innovative and practical all together. In the past 12 years he has 9

6 wins and just recently was the State Runner-up. One of his specialties is finding ways to use a highly talented quarterback in your offensive system. Here’s some game film cued up to where you can watch some highlights of his Multiple Formation style of a Hurry Up No Huddle Offense in action.

Guru #3: Jason Mohns – Saguaro (Arizona) High School

Twitter: @CoachMohns

Coach Mohns was recently honored as the US Army All-American West Head Coach and is also a 5-Peat State Champion head coach. As an offensive coach he has adapted his version of the spread offense to include some creative versions of WR tunnel screens off of play action. He also run’s a lot of RPO, Outside Zone and 1 Back Power. The ultimate goal of his offense is to get the ball to playmakers in space whether it is spreading teams out or getting the ball outside on perimeter run plays. Find out also what you can do if you don’t have talented players!

Guru #4: Rick Jones – Greenwood (Arkansas) High School

Twitter: @GWFBcoach

If you haven’t heard of Coach Jones you are really missing out on some great coaching inspiration. Rick is the head football coach at Greenwood High School in Greenwood, Arkansas. Since assuming the reins of the Bulldogs’ gridiron program in 2004 , Jones has led Greenwood to unparalleled success, including 6 state championships and 7 conference championships. He was named the 2012 National Federation of State High School Associations Football Coach of the Year.

Rick was also interviewed on the Coach and Coordinator podcast and really gives some great strategies on bringing your team together. He talks about his beliefs about running in practice as well as why his coaching staff walks arm-in-arm on and off the field at every practice. Find out how you can best prepare your team on game day leading right up to game time and what his definition of “The Winning Edge” is.

Guru #5: Kevin Kelley- Pulaski (Arkansas) High School

Twitter: @coachkelley1

Coach Kelley has one of the most unique stories in High School football today as evidenced from his strategies seen in this video. But his results speak for themselves. He has 7 State Championships and 179 wins in just 15 years.

His offense is a wild mix of Hurry Up No Huddle Spread with an almost anything goes style of offense. Trick plays are seen as integral to the offense.

Here’s a sample series of his offense:

Guru #6: Rick Stewart – Former Wasco High (California)

Twitter: @CoachRikStewart

Coach Stewart has coached football for 27 years, winning championships with 6th graders, 8th graders, high school freshman, and high school varsity. Coach Stewart has specialized in turning around losing programs.

The pinnacle of his career was Porterville, a D-3 school with 2,000 students in a rural, agricultural setting.  They had never won a playoff game in 100 years and had only won 8 games in the 5 years before his arrival.  He started a 501(c) booster club from scratch, formed 3 youth feeder teams by fundraising $25,000, and completely re-built the dilapidated weight room with $40,000.

After going 2-8 in his first year (losing a game in OT and another by 4 points), Porterville won 36 games in four years, won 6 playoff games, a league championship, and played for back-to-back section championships.

Rick is extremely well known in Wing T circles as “The Pistol Wing-T Guy.” He is an offensive innovator by nature and give great insights into implementing a Hurry-Up No Huddle offense in offensive systems that are more complex.

Check out this article to get some great strategies on his Hurry Up No Huddle play calling process.

So You Want to Run No Huddle?

Conclusion:

All these coaches are masters of their craft yet they still seek to be innovative year after year. They are also very supportive to the coaching career and I’m certain would be more then welcoming of your questions or if you want to find out more and are close by – a visit to learn more. Connect with them on Twitter and keep on learning!