How to Be an Effective Offensive Coordinator

An effective offensive coordinator is crucial to winning football games. After all, if the team doesn't score points, it doesn't win. Your job as an offensive coordinator starts long before the first snap of the season, as you must work to develop an offensive philosophy, sell it to your head coach and then design plays for the offense to run on the field. Prepare yourself for stress and long work days, which will pay off if your team puts the points on the scoreboard.

Instructions

    • 1

      Communicate effectively with the head coach to determine the goals of the offense. Decide together if the offense your team installs for the season will be geared toward the run or the pass. Be prepared to discuss your personnel with your head coach and to give reasons why your team is suited toward one offense or another.

    • 2

      Develop a playbook that includes plays for the offense to run. At the youth or high school level, the playbook usually will include plays that vary off of one set formation. Coordinators at the college and pro levels have options to run more complex plays or to adopt an offense that other teams have run in the past, such as the West Coast Offense. You can modify that to suit your team. The head coaches known for developing proficient offenses, such as Bill Walsh, Don Coryell and Urban Meyer, all have had volumes written about their offensive schemes, should you need inspiration.

    • 3

      Work with the other offensive coaches to implement the system you have chosen to run. The offensive line coach will need to know which blocking scheme to use on each play. The coaches of the wide receivers, tight ends and running backs will need to convey to their players what their roles are in each play in the playbook.

    • 4

      Write a practice plan that allows you to implement all of the plays in the playbook several times before using them in a game. Practice the plays against your team's defense to see which plays stump the defense and which plays the defense stops. Modify your playbook as necessary.

    • 5

      Review the season after it ends to determine which plays you can use again next year, with modifications. Begin studying film as soon as the season ends of players you want to recruit, if you are a college coach, or players your offense needs to acquire through a trade or free agency, if you are a professional coach. Share your thoughts with your head coach or general manager.