I have been able to use your guidance in Coaching Youth Football, (4th ed.) in a rec league that bans single wing/double wing and gap-8 defenses. Our 8U rec team was undefeated, going 10-0 en route to the regular season championship and Rotary Bowl win.

We only allowed 3 scores and 10 first downs all season, with a hybrid gap-[air]-mirror. I applied as much of your well thought out approach to the game to our season and it clearly paid off. The success, as you know, lies in the details....

Kevin Eidell

You may find this interesting. I have been a high school coach in Texas for 37 years, spending time in every public school classification this state has to offer, (even one, class B 11 man which no longer exsists). Retired, took a job as a private school which played 6 man, we moved up (even though we still don't have the recomemded number of boys) to 11 man football this fall. To prepare I RE-read your clock management, read your Youth Football, Contraian Football (extremly helpful), 10-1 defense, and single wing books last summer.
We went 11-1 won our district (first year I have ever won 11 games) and went two rounds into the private school Division III (smallest division) playoffs. Your books were extremly helpful, I found after 40 years in coaching, your Youth Football concepts more helpful than ideas I have picked up from college coaches.

Most of the schools we played were bigger. We have 103 students and we beat schools with enrollents of 400, 300, and 700 students, and again it was our first year to play 11 man ball. Thanks for your help. Keep me informed if you publish more books.

havae been listining and studing under good and great coaches since my junior year in college (1968) and I must say that you offer a fresh prespective. I have enjoyed and gained a great deal. THANK YOU.

rroberts@famf.org

Hey John,

First off your website is awesome as are your books. I have read "Coaching Youth Football" cover to cover about three times and recently ordered the "Contrarian Edge" book to get ready for next year when I may get a shot to head coach.

Funny but I coach in Vacaville, CA currently which you talk about numerous times in your books. Small world I suppose. Didn't realize you were so local.

Well anyways again thanks for all your refreshing ideas about coaching football on the youth level. Now that I've read your books I consistently see coaches who have not read them on the other sideline taking a pounding because they refuse to implement at least SOME of your ideas. They are the teams that usually have one or two fast kids and continually run Sweep left and Sweep right even though it's been stopped every time in the first half. And although we're running out of a heavy Double Tight formation they put their safety 25 yards down the field, and sit in a 5-3 with their corners rolled back waiting on a pass that will never come while we kill them for 8-12 yards a carry. It's pretty funny.

Jason Brisson

Hi Jack,

…the Pee Wee Falcon's owe you a debt of gratitude as well. …I ordered Coach Reed's "Coaching Youth Football" and "Gap Air Mirror Defense for Youth Football" books. As you can read below we only let up 36 points in 8 regular season games and 12 points in our 2 playoff games. We recovered three onside kicks this year thanks to coach Reed's suggestions! You have … contributed greatly to our success this year. Thank you for your books and websites!

Last year I signed on to help out as an assistant. As you can imagine I was in for a rude awakening as to how complicated a sport football is to coach. We did not have much success finishing the year 0-8 at the Varsity level. This year we went 7-1 in the regular season outscoring our opponents 146-36. We lost our first game 10-0 to a team that finished their regular season 8-0 and were the number one seed in the playoffs. I blame myself as a first year head coach just not having the [double wing] offense firing on all cylinders for that first game. After that first game we beat most of our opponents by three scores only with me taking my foot off the gas towards the end of games. Our league rules state that a Pee Wee team shouldn't beat another team by more than 24 points. We won our first playoff game 20-12 to advance to the Finals. On Sunday we beat the team that knocked off the number one seed 14-0 to win our Division Super Bowl!!! This season we rushed the ball 275 times for 1657 yards averaging 6.03 "tough yards" per carry. I can't fully express how grateful I am that you gave this rookie head coach the tools necessary to teach his kids how to play like champions. Thank you for all of your help and support.

Yes you may quote me. I love your GAM defense. I heard lots of yelling from Offensive coordinators! I told my assistants many times this season that I love hearing opposing coaches raising their voices! Thanks again for all of your help. We wouldn't have had this level of success without your contributions. Your books are a great resource for youth football coaches...especially rookie head coaches!

Paul McConnell

John,

Fellow USMA [West Point] ('92) grad (and 150s [Army intercollegiate 150-pound limit or sprint fooball team] player) here.

First, I want to send you kudos for your books. I coached my son's 4th grade and 5th/6th grade teams and credit your books for helping/counseling me as a youth FB coach. Although I did not run a single-wing offense, I ran a contrarian offense that followed many of your principles: direct snap to the running back, minimize passing (even/especially on typical NFL passing downs), signaling plays in to the QB, etc. In season 3, we saw many teams running the direct snap, while in season 1, none were, and we'd often hear comments from the opposing team suggesting we were crazy for doing it until they were too busy figuring out how to stop it. In fact, most teams incorrectly identified it as a shotgun formation, which I guess it might look like if you're used to watching the NFL on Sundays.

Additionally, I avoided the typical coaching mistakes that I saw other coaches making. We had a combine during the first week of practice (no pads allowed anyway), which allowed us to position players by strengths/weaknesses vs. casting (where they looked like they should play). I had a pre-season parent's meeting and covered the importance of little Johnny learning one position well to set him up for success in doing the basics (blocking/tackling) vs. trying to learn/play many positions which would just encourage doubt/hesitancy which would put him out of position and make it hard for him to block/tackle successfully. I limited the parents on my coaching staff to two (myself & one close friend who I could trust not to fall into the typical parent traps) and recruited some younger, successful football players from work to round out the coaching staff.

It's amazing what crazy ideas parents will accept when their kid is on a winning team. We went 21-1 over those three seasons, and it was my first time coaching youth football. We lost the second-to-last game to a very good team because of a fumble which gave them one more possession and 6 more points than we had. Perhaps if we would have been playing the GAP-air-mirror D, for which I have your book, we would have won that game, although our D had many, many shut-outs, and in most games held the opposing teams to one score or less. I had parents of our football players suggesting that I coach their kids' hockey teams, although I've never played organized hockey. If you would have written youth hockey books, I might have considered it!

Sure, you can use my comments. I think I've probably bought all of your books…but the two I used the most were the base Youth Football book and the contrarian offense book.

I bought the GAM book, but I had a really good D-coordinator (the other dad), and his D was so dominant in all but our second to last game. He also reminded me today that there were restrictions placed on us that prevented us from deviating too much from the norm—linebackers had to play 3 yards off the ball and couldn't move forward until the ball was snapped, linemen had to be on the LOS, etc. We played a symmetrical 5-5-1 and occasionally slipped a linebacker up to a 6-4-1, which was one of our forms of a stunt; the other method was just to stunt the linebacker on the snap.

I don't have your book in front of me, but there's an offense where the QB/RB lines up in the middle and has a half-back on either side of him (power-T?). We found the timing to work better if we moved the halfbacks a yard behind the QB or the QB in front of the halfbacks (can't remember which), so it looked almost like a wishbone, except instead of a fullback in a 3-point, we had the QB/RB in a 2-point receiving the snap. After we had installed our offense, at some point I caught a HS game on TV late at night in a hotel room that was running out of this formation, so I was bummed to learn I had not invented it. I still don't know what it's actually called. Believe it or not, we were running a triple-option by the end of the 3rd season. After the first season, the league scrambled most of our returning players to other teams; we had the least number of 6th graders than any other team and most of our new 6th graders were first year football players. However, they gave me back my two QB/RBs (mistake, my two best athletes) and of course my and the other coach's kids. I turned out that the new 6th graders were pretty athletic and thanks to having never played a down, didn't have any bad habits, learned our contrarian offense quickly because they didn't have to re-learn, etc.

You're right. With leadership comes disciplined teams, and disciplined teams with decent athletes can beat undisciplined teams with better athletes in my opinion. Of course, disciplined players look like better athletes when they're winning and undisciplined players don't have a chance to showcase their better athletic ability. I heard lots of complaining from opposing team parents that thought we had a stacked team. (Maybe they didn't notice my 65 lbs offensive guards.) With respect to typical parent conflicts, I think what I found was that winning forgives everything; if you're winning, it doesn't matter if Johnny's playing OG or HB; he's having fun.

Again, thanks for your advice/counsel I found in the books. It was invaluable.

Mike

Good Morning Mr. Reed,

I coach youth football in the Dallas, TX area. In 2011, we won the 8 yr. old league championship using both the Single Wing & GAM. We had the highest scoring offense & the best defense in the league!

"Henderson, Steve G." <steve.henderson@thyssenkrupp.com>

Fantastic books on youth football. Thanx a million for keeping my coaching mistakes lower! {I'm still making them,but fewer}

Ray Landstrom

Dear Coach Reed,

I have the Coaching youth football, GAM and Coaching Youth Flag Football books. I just finished my first season of 5 on 5 NFL flag (7, 8 and 9 yr olds) with a record of 8-0. We outscored our opponents 273-32. 20 of our opponents points came during the super bowl after we had established a 36-0 lead.

What I gained from your coaching books that helped my team become so dominant was that we did not do purely conditioning segments. We had two practices per week of 1 hr and 30 minutes. While our opponents where jogging around the practice field we were running plays full speed ( about 3 per minute) with the kids not on offense for the particular play on defense. We also did this without flags for the first hour of practice, 2 hand touch was the norm. Come game time our offense was so precise parents would come to me after games and just say "I can not believe how much you have taught my son". I had eight kids on my team. All scored TD's during the season and 7 put points on the board for us in the super bowl. My kids never got tired during any game, including one day we had only 5 players make it to a game we played against the team with the fastest boy in our division. They were spent after 40 minutes of pursuit sideline to sideline, but they were able to stay with him throughout the game. Also, we always started the game with a hurry up no huddle offense. This led to our team normally scoring within the first couple of minutes of first possession. We would go to no huddle throughout the game and just kept our opponents on their heels.

I am very exited about the upcoming tackle season. I will be the defensive coordinator for our 9-10 yr old team. I will be installing the GAM which our HC is very exited about.

Thanks for sharing your experince and insight with the rest of us!

Best Regards,

Gus Sanchez

John,

I just wanted to comment on your book. After having coached high school football for nine seasons, I took leave from a true passion of mine to concentrate on work and family. As my oldest son came of age he told me he wanted to play football and asked me to coach his team. I had never coached young kids so I dove into everything I could read on coaching kids with no football experience. I read several books but yours is the one I came back to time and time again. I especially want to comment on the special teams section. I fully implemented your methods from day one when it came to special teams. Bottom line: In two seasons of using your special teams schemes, we gave up zero touchdowns, returned several kicks and punts for touchdowns, recovered several onsides kicks, and averaged well over a 20 yard switch in field position on punts. On a special note, we won our first game because of a blocked punt and a punt return for a touchdown. This was due to the obvious lack of attention to special teams on our opponent’s behalf. Thank you for taking the time to write this book.

Sincerely,

Mike Austin
SVPW

I want to thank John T Reed for publishing his books on coaching football. We had all rookie coaches who were coaching 19 rookie players. Not one of our players had ever played before. We purchased the books for the coaches and implemented the single wing offense and the gap-air-mirror defense. We followed the books and we ended up winning the 7 year old championship our first year. We were told that we were the first team from our league that has ever won the title with 100% rookie players. We never could have done it with out following the suggestions from the books.Thank you again so much!

Steve Brewster
Bulldogs Coach
Rome, Ga

John,
I hope all is well for you! I wanted to get back to you about my coaching experience this season. I written to you once before and have been reading your football books for years, one "coaching youth football I've read at least 5 times". My experience using your techniques has been tremendous,we blasted all of our opponents, the middle school team I coached this year average 40 points a game, giving up just over 2 per game. Coming from the rec level I hesitated to use these techniques thinking its to simple how can this youth info work at this level. Thanks man, if been a hell of a ride so far.
Scott Dunn
Realtor®
Glen Allen, VA

Hi John,

am not sure if this email will ever find its way to you, but I wanted to say how much I enjoy your insights on life, coaching and business. I coached youth football and baseball for 8 years (my son is a sophomore now) and I loved your coaching books and recommended them to many guys coming up that I mentored. Sadly, some parents in my affluent area ”just didn’t get it” and it was a source of encouragement and confirmation that I wasn’t out of line expecting discipline, teamwork and allocating playing time based on merit. Not only did I learn a lot from your books, but it was a pleasure reading the no-nonsense way you delivered the message (maybe that’s my military upbringing). I especially enjoyed the way you described how some coaches miss-assess talent and quoted those pages countless times to other coaches that were new to youth football. Now that I am done coaching it is gratifying to see my Pop Warner kids thriving in high school and the way they light up and say “hi Coach” every time I see them. I am toying with the idea of coaching at the high school level some day when I have more time and will be sure to purchase your books on that subject if I decide to take the leap.

Needles to say, I am going to purchase Succeeding, read it, and then give it to my 15 year old son as a gift for Christmas.

Happy Holidays,
Dave Roper

John,

I read your book and used many of the defensive principles outline in the book. Youth football is taken very seriously in Cincinnati and we won the Greater Catholic Youth League – www.gcyl.org – for 3rd grade going 10-0. Our league feeds into the Greater Catholic League – Moeller, St. Xavier, LaSalle, Elder. For the most part I ran your defense and was laughed at early on when I showed people your defense before the season. We gave up 28 points (only one touchdown scored with the first team in) and scored around 340 points.

Thank you for a great book – it made our season.

Sincerely,

Dick Lynch
St. James 3rd Grade Head Football Coach
P.S. Our average score was 22-0 at the end of the first quarter – I would have been hung in effigy if I didn’t call off the dogs and play kumbiya (sp?) football.

John, we are 8-1 for the regular season going into the playoffs first seed, we scored 209 , only allowed 33 points [using the GAM].

David H. Whitt from Facebook

Hi Coach

Thanks for your advice this season. As I said before, this is my first year as head coach on any team. I purchased all your books and followed them to the best of my ability.

We won the league championship game 25-0. Your SW, GAM, and Warp-speed no huddle really work. So many people were complimenting me on all "my" innovations this year. Glad to see your books have not penetrated into my league yet. The coaches of the team we played in the championship were so freaked out the first time they lost to us that they totally chucked their entire offense and defense for a new one just for us. I think this is on your list of stupid youth coach mistakes. Needless to say we crushed their 1-week-practiced O & D with the [your] strategy that we installed on day 1.

Best Regards

Gary Grena
[Reed comment: Actually, my books have penetrated Grena’s league. He read them. I think my books are rapidly approaching the optimum situation for my readers: every league has one Reed reader. Consequently, he is often, like Grena, the league champion. For my income, everyone in the league reading them would be better. But there will always be many who claim you “can’t learn how to coach from a book” or who lack the guts to use contrarian approaches in spite of their obvious advantages. And although selling more books is nice, I like being part of championship seasons, too.

One other thing. In youth football, first-year head coaches often do not score a point or win a game all season. So for Coach Grena to not only do better than all zeros but with the league championship on his first try is pretty amazing.]

John,

I am not trying to be a "kiss ass" but, you are the best. Not only have I learned coaching techniques from you, I've learned communication skills as well.

My boy got a full ride to play football in college. What he learned in 8 years I coached him in youth league came out of the John Reed books. I did everything, exactly, how you instructed. He played at the highest level of High School football, and still to this day says our youth league practices were better organized.

I will pass your "Full Scrimmage" lesson on to all of our coaches.

Take care and God Bless,

Joe

Your books on football coaching are fantastic. I've had them for 5 years now and still learn things each time they're read. Great antidote to the nonsense that passes as coaching these days. Thanks!

Shawn Frasier

Thanks Jack I've purchased 7 or 8 of your great books and refer to them often. Football for real dummy's made easy thanks!!! for making me look great and know, REALLY KNOW what I'm doing!

Buddy Hicks

John,

I am writing this e-mail just to say that I have found that the philosophies and schemes outlined in your football books DO work. I have coached youth football for 11 years. I own all of your football books, and everything you have written is practical and applicable at the youth level. I have not necessarily followed everything verbatim as you outline it in your various books, but sometimes I have tweaked things here and there to fit our personnel. We have never won a championship, but we have been to the playoffs every year except one, and that year we had 14 first year players on a squad of 28. Our teams have beaten vastly athletically superior teams many times over the years. I think that you are 100% accurate in your analysis of the capabilities and limitations of the typical youth football team. I look forward to the next book you publish.

Bob Hughes
Shoreline WA

Thank you very much. I bought John’s coaching, single wing, GAM defense, and contrarian offense books and my teams have gone:
 
2005       3-4-2
2006       4-4-1 (purchased Johns books here)
2007       7-2
2008       8-1

Larry Rollings

Wanted to drop you a quick note as I am a big proponent of the Single Wing and your GAM defense. I began coaching youth football two years ago (3-4th grade tackle) and am the GM for 3 other age group tackle programs that fall under my organization.

I put the single wing and GAM in two years ago with a team of 16 players of which 14 had never played football before. We only won 2 games that first year,

However, our 2 wins were by over 30 points and our losses were by an avg. margin of 2pts. In addition to head coach I am the offensive coordinator. Had I run the D we would have won most of those games.

I am proud to say that this year my team won the league championship with a record of 8-1 and we won our conf. with a record of 5-0. The league is extremely competitive. My team was the youngest team in the league as I have 14 of the 16 boys returning for next year.

Our Single Wing dominated teams as we averaged 33pts/game. Our GAM defense allowed an avg of 6.6pts per game. We had 5 shutouts in 9 games. 4 of them were in a row.

I have all of your football books and the time management book was instrumental in our Superbowl win back in Nov. We won the game 26-21 against an undefeated Cowboy team that beat us earlier in the season 29-26.

As a former Army Airborne infantry officer I take great pride in being prepared and putting my teams in a position to compete at the highest level.

Your insight and experience have helped me in 2 short years to take a program that was floundering to one that is now being considered one of the best-run programs. Thanks for your help.

Regards,

John Sivilla

Coach  Reed

I have been using the single wing offense and GAM defense for the past 4 seasons (10-11yrs old) and wanted to give you an update for this season. Over the past 4 years, our teams have compiled a record of 28-4. Our 2008 season ended just last week with a record of 7-1. [Reed note: This league has no playoffs.] The one team that beat us is undefeated and won our game with a score in the last 30 seconds of the contest. We scored a whopping 230 points while only allowing 40. Five our our wins were shutouts. The off-tackle play was our bread and butter and the wedge and tailback dive ( a play I put in to compliment the buck lateral) provide excellent gains as well. Defenses rarely shifted to our unbalanced line so the Wing Reverse was rarely used. We implemented a flanker streak with great success and scored at least one touchdown per game in the air. Occasionally we ran a balanced line with double wingbacks to slow backside pressure, but just changing the formation from right to left was more than sufficient to have our way with most defenses. I also installed a trips formation to spread out the defense. From this formation we threw a quick slant to the blocking back who was out wide and still ran the ball on a tailback dive and off-tackle (we were able to pull the inside tackle to make the trap block). [Reed note: It is unusual for a youth team to have player athletic enough to pull on the line.] In addition, we found that releasing the Long End on the run sprint pass worked much better than the BB  due to the fact that he usually got lost at the LOS and the LE was rarely covered. One final thought—I would like to recommend to your readers how important it is to develop the blocking skills and assignment of the O-line. Too many youth teams just put the big slow kids up there and  tell them to block, but never really coach the position. [Reed note: I and many other coaches start outcoaching QBs and backs but end up coaching the line because we eventually figure out that’s where the game is won or lost.] I have built all my teams around my lineman and what they are able to do and I have had some great assistant coaches who have made that possible.

Defensively we were very impressive. Pressure from the guards and tackles usually prevented a play from even getting started. This was pivotal due to the fact that we did not have the athletes at LB that we have had in the  past. Our DE's were solid all year with the exception of our one loss in which the reverse hurt us. Late in the year, I discovered that one of my ends made an outstanding MLB but I did not have the experience to replace him full time at end. Had I to do it all over again, another DE would have been developed. Opposing offenses only had 2 choices, pass or go wide and we both know that most youth teams are not very good at the pass. Disciplined ends and hard hitting corners were key to our containment success.

I just wanted to say thanks again for all the help I received from your books. I will be ordering more as I prepare for the next level of coaching.

Al Johnson
Virginia

Coach,
 
A couple years ago I bought your books and installed your offense and defense. We did not immediately win the championship, but I stayed with it. Last season, I was asked to coach an all-rookie, 5th grade team in my league as they had a boost in enrollment and were in desperate need of a coach who was dumb enough to take over a team of kids that the other coaches did not claim.
 
We lost every game against vastly more experienced and talented teams BUT, with patience and attention to detail and realistic expectations and goal setting, and encouragement and still more patience we began to move the ball, then we started to score, and then we became competitive in games.   
 
This year, 15 of 17 kids came back and in our second game, on the third play from scrimmage, our tailback went 75 yards for a touchdown running unbalanced left, off tackle. We won 37-12. Then we played a HUGE team the following week and put the game away with a 17 play, 70 yard drive. Our 65-lb tailback had 40 carries!  We won this past weekend against a 4-1 team with ball control in the ice and rain. Their under-center offense yielded them 8 fumbles. We had only 2. Their bad exchanges and our 1/1, 45 yards, 1 TD passing day was the difference in the 14-12 win.
 
Our opponents refuse to respect the unbalanced line even when we run "power" 35 times in a game!  They always over-play the wedge once we rattle off a 20 yarder on the opening drive. Our "jump pass" to the weak end is never covered as they often put 10 in the box on us. We even added a "double wing" style pulling guard to your offense to really seal off the LB pursuit.

Our GAM defense is improving dramatically each week as we get more confident and more aggressive. We have had some breakdowns when QBs scramble and on trick plays and passes to 5'10" 11 year old TEs, but the 20-yard sacks and the complete destruction of our opponent's blast and sweep plays more than make up for it. It's great fun.
 
Coach, we are now 4-2 and with a win we'll be in the playoffs!  We've already blown out a team that beat us 40-12 last year. Several coaches have remarked that we run an "unsophisticated" and "simple" offense that is somehow beneath the standards of [our league]. I tell them they are absolutely right and that I run it because I am a dumb coach. One coach who sneered at us has not scored in 5 games!  Go figure. Anyway, I recommend your books to everyone I know who is not in our league!
 
There is no way I can express for you the joy these kids and I experience when we knock off these bigger, faster, more experienced teams with ball-control offense and play-making defense. Coaching enables me to stay involved with the sport I love and the life lessons we learn about teamwork and effort and attention to detail are immeasurable.
 
Thanks again for writing your books!
 
Troy Grice (6th grade, Division 3)

I am a first year coach and your books have been a huge asset to me and have given me much confidence. When I googled youth football, I saw your article on the 10 most common mistakes that youth football coaches make and realized that I would have made 7 of the 10. I read your other articles and then ordered your books (everything but the clock management so far). Thank you very much for the energy that you have put into your work. You have had a big impact on all of the parents and kids on my team.

Bernie Lyons

Hey Coach, thanks for Coaching Youth football!
I was a rookie coach and thanks to your book went 11-1 and almost ran the table losing only to the eventual county champions. We kept them to their lowest score of the season tho and were just a little out of sync. but c’est la vie! the rest of the season was a roaring success!!!

Bob Winstead

Today I am ordering two more copies of your Single Wing book for my other offensive coaches -- there is simply too much good, insightful information in there for them not to read it first hand . . . and I need them on the same page.

Again, thank you for the excellent publicatoins. I have all the other football books now, some in multiple copies.

thomas.mccallister@comcast.net

Hi John.

Your Coaching Youth Football was an excellent read. The best $29 I have ever spent. Thanks to your books, we faced the single-wing offense last year twice out of eight games, I was the OC so I had no control over the 5-3 we were running to defend the SW. Needless to say, we were crushed on the D side of the ball both games.

By the way, we will be running the GAM in our Mitey Mite PW league. Thank you for writing these books. They have really helped me and to what I have seen on the field, they have helped a lot of other coaches too.

Mark Langseth

I have your books on single wing offence, air-gap defence, youth football and contrarian football... excellent stuff!  In our spring league in Victoria, British Columbia Canada, we took a team that was 2-11 last year and finished 8-3, with pretty much the exact same players.

Keep up the good work!

Dave Wong

Hello John,
I just finished reading your Coaching youth football & coaching youth football defense. I loved both books. I have dozens of word documents with drills, notes & information. I would make it manditory reading for all coaches in my association if I could. I'd make it mandatory for ALL football coaches
except that then, there may no be a winner if everyone follows your suggestions.
Again, thank you so much.
Todd Wood
Elgin, Il
ELGIN BEARS

Hi Coach Reed-
I have enjoyed your books over the years and have used the no huddle (with your play calling board) for three years. I'll never go back, the improved conditioning and amount of plays we run are a big advantage. I will try it without a cadence this year at the varsity level.
Thanks and keep up the great work,
Dylan Shelley

[Your books] are awesome - best books on coaching I've ever read.
I plan on buying all your football books now!!!
I didn't realize what an "idiot coach" I was until now.
THANKS for slapping sense into me!!
I'm switching over from the veer & spread to the Reed Single Wing.
2 months ago (spring ball) I had a single wing (with fullback) run against my 5-3-3 and I didn't know what it was and my defense suffered a slow, grinding defeat. The coach running the SW was Coach Mohns of Saguaro High School, Scottsdale, AZ.
Matt Thornton
Chandler AZ

Used your defensive system last year, went 7-1 (from a previous 0-7 season). Such common sense, it's remarkably refreshing and effective. Thanks John.

Brian C. Costa

Coach Reed,
 
I was reading through all of my John Reed books tonight and was amazed. I had forgotten how much I learned from you. I guess this is a long overdue thank you. I purchased my first book in 1996 after a hard season. I had made a decision to not coach again, because of some bad expereinces, even though our team had made the playoffs. In the off season I found your book, Coaching Youth Football, and read it in one day. I instantly knew it was different than the other coaching books I had read. I changed my mind that day about coaching, because I now had a true guide on how to coach a team right. I was resolved to implement the majority of your ideas. I can never thank you enough.
 
Today, I am the head coach of our 8th grade team. I am a coach in the Gwinnett Football League located in north Atlanta Georgia. Our league has around 250 teams and 5,000 boys. We have been very successful. We will pass 200 wins this coming year with less than 20 losses. Since I read your first book we have had 10 undefeated seasons and been to 10 county championships. But best of all, coaching youth football is my passion and always will be.
 
Your books are by far the most relevant material on coaching youth football, and I believe in them. I recommend them to every coach I talk to about coaching. Thank you for educating me on your common sense approach to coaching football. I would enjoy talking to you someday to compare notes.
 
Rod Dollar
rod@graphicdies.com

Mr. Reed,

Thank you for providing information and a forum for the youth coach. I coach a 5th grade program in University Place Washington, outside of Tacoma. UP Viking football is associated with the Curtis High School program and we enjoy use of a 4A stadium most of the time for home games. The program is grades 4-7 and I ran offense my first 4 year run and am now head coach of the 6th grade after haveing the same kids in the 4th and 5th grades and going 17-1 with two championships. I have talented kids and our program supports the coaches and lets the coaches coach. I thank you for helping me be a better coach by helping me understand the few really important things that have to be done to be successful. We practice a lot of tackling with in struction. We run 10 running and 6 passing plays from 4 formations. A few have motion. Last year I got 11 of 25 kids in the endzone for touchdowns or extra points. Most of the time we sub 11 kids on defense every 4 plays. Simply because we practice the simple stuff over and over. We put kids in spots they can do what they do best. Last years championship game I did not pass once and we won 18-0. When we do pass we complete 65 percent of our passes. Yes we run the crunch series, thanks to you. I helped our 4th grade offense which was 0-3 to run the crunch series and they went 5-3 and won the championship. Simple stuff over and over. We never go on two. Next year we will run the fill sweep which will introduce pulling for our guards. Also we will introduce a wildcat snap series. The coaches I coach with read your books and your website and put what you offer to use. The tough thing for me is I have the talent to run the spread shotgun option,  but if I could I would run the double wing. That is what is great about football. Thank you again and I hope you have great success in all you do.  

Sincerely, Pat Tobin

I've read and used your football techniques for the past 2 seasons and haven't lost a game (first time in program history). You wouldn't believe the hell I got for running the GAM defense the first year. Even 3/4 of the way through the season when we were allowing the opposing offense about 20 yards per game, I was still hearing about it. I even had coaches from higher levels trying to run their offense against it during practice (as if they could teach the offense a "better" play in one practice to outmaneuver GAM). Their frustration was palpable. The next year I ran into two of our biggest rivals who were running a version of it. I imagine that since they've all taped our single-wing offense this past year, I'll probably see it in our opponents.

Walter Sheehy

Dear Mr. Reed,
Thank you. I'm just coming home from a victory party for our 10/11 year old youth football team. We won the league title today with a team mixed with kids who on two levels last year were a combined  0-8, 4-4. This is my third year coaching, and having read and studied your books on offense, defense, youth football and clock management, you are a huge part of this championship too. It was a battle at times with other coaches who fought me on many aspects of the game (I believe and follow your theories on the game because they are logical and they work) regarding offensive philosphy and time management, but it paid off.
  Just one example: today we beat a team 6-0 who was 9-1, had scored 200 points in ten games, but by controlling the ball on our offense we kept their offense off the field. We knew how to shut them down while on defense, and on offense had two long drives of almost an entire quarter each, both starting on our own twenty, that ended in one touchdown and the second leaving them on their own 7 with 9:00 left in the game.
  They had an explosive offense with the two fastest backs in the league. At one time in the third quarter, on 4th and two in our own end with my head coach screaming at me to punt, I lied and told the refs we were going for it. In our league punts are dead ball plays, no time runs during them beacuse they are not live. We went to the line after an injury timeout, ran twelve seconds off the clock trying to draw them offsides, and with one second on the play clock called timeout and then punted. At the end of the game those twelve seconds came in handy as we were able to run the clock off with three kneel down plays at the end of the game, the last snapped at 24 seconds on the clock on third down (we run on 25 seconds a play) to end the game without them getting a chance to touch the ball again. The other coach was furious the whole drive because we ran every play at 24/25 seconds, and ran off the last 4 minutes of the game.
  If I had the time to, I could cite many other examples of how your books helped us to win all season long and today. We had a team that was the third seed in the playoffs (I gave you our last year's records) and knocked off the one and two seeds to win the title. Thank you, thank you, thank you again!
Bill Robbins
BANC Raiders Junior Division

My name is Jeff Bateman, I coach little league football in Lynchburg Va. This year I put in the  singlewing and the GAM defense.I coach with my uncle who has been coaching for over 20 years.I ran the offense and he ran the defense. I change some things to make the offense my own but I left the key points in place. We scored 283 points in 10 games, the defense only allowed 25 points in those games. My 1st string tailback rushed for over 1100 yards and scored 21 touchdowns, this kid was only 8yrs.old. Thanks to you parents and even other coaches are asking what I’m running. I can’t wait until next year when I put the spin series in. Thanks again and you made a believer out of me!!!!!!!!!

Dear John,

I wanted to send this email to personally thank you. Because of your publications I went from rookie coach to county champion and undefeated in 3 years.
 
Three years ago I was approached by a close friend of mine to take over as offensive coordinator for his son's 5th & 6th grade team. I accepted without a second thought, until a few days later when I realized I didn't know as much about coaching youth football as I thought I did. I immediately started internet searching mainly looking at the Wishbone and "T" formations when I stumbled across an article in which you were commenting of the effectiveness of certain plays. The more I read the more interested I became. I purchased your single wing book and talked to the head coach about his thoughts. He said to run with it. I had a parent approach me early in the year to question using the single wing saying it hasn't worked since the thirties. His son scored 33 touchdowns from the tailback position that year, I never heard anything else from this father.
 
The first season was not bad we were 8 - 5 and were competitive in every game. The biggest compliment we received was from a head coach that said they knew exactly what we were going to do but just couldn't stop it.
 
In year two we had to start over with new guys and we had growing pains at first, but when we got everyone to believe in the system everything came together, we finished the year 11 - 2, our single wing averaged 27 points a game.
 
Year three we finally had 12 returning players in our system and it was off to the races. We had a tailback with 3.4sec speed in the 20-yard dash and 2 blocking backs that loved contact. This was the first year of a combined county league. We saw every type of defense you could imagine and were able to exploit it using only 5 plays all year long. Most teams stacked up to stop the outside rush so we just ran the wedge and off tackle until they pulled it in, once they did that, it was over. Our team was the smallest team in the league, sometimes being outweighed by over 1,000 pounds, we averaged 22.5ppg on offense, and our defense yielded 5.5ppg. We went 11 - 0 and won the first Caldwell County Youth Football League Championship.
 
My point is this: I have most of your books, we have incorporated your system 100%, we focus more on conditioning than hitting, and teaching the basics. I cannot think of ANY better investment for the youth football coach. Several of the smaller teams are copying our style. The high school coaches have praised us and the refs have admired the effectiveness of the no huddle, silent offense saying very few teams can accomplish this without numerous penalties.
 
Again I want to thank you for helping us achieve this goal.
 
Steve Phillips, Granite Falls, NC
 
You do have permission to reprint this email.
 
Steve Phillips

Coach,

You gave me some great tips last year and I have enjoyed your books. They've been one of my primary sources on coaching over the last two years. I wanted to send you a quick story related to your Crunch Series article.

This is my second year coaching youth football. We ran a variation of your GAM defense and a Split Back Veer offense. Both systems very simple and effective. We finished the regular season at 8-1 in a 3-way tie for first place. We had to go to a Kansas City Tie Breaker (ball on the 10, double elimination) last night to decide the conference champion. In order to have a twist for two teams we had already played (one which had beaten us) we installed the crunch formation and three plays out of it (crunch right, crunch left and crunch counter) about an hour before the scrimmage. We practiced lining up and running the play a couple times on the soccer field next to the football field and ran it live for the first time in the scrimmage. We took to the line of scrimmage in our normal Split-Back formation, then shifted quickly on the QB's first sound, got set, then direct-snapped the ball to our best athlete who rumbled for about 7 yards. We called the same play again... the opposing coach burned his ONLY TIME OUT (you only get one per round in the tie-breakers). He coached his team to shift and line-up balanced over us when we shifted. The next play we ran the counter, which worked like a charm vs. their shift. We scored on that play. We ended up winning the tie-breaker and clinching the division title. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP ONCE MORE!

Scott P. Armatti

John,

Just an update, The mimosa mustangs are 6-0 thanks in large part to your philosophy on coaching youth football. We have won all of our games by a combined score of 139 to 25. We run your version of the 8-2-1 defense and have shut out 3 opponents this year and have only allowed four touchdowns all season in 24 quarters of play, and have held 3 of our 6 opponents to 0 or negative yardage for the game. The most yards we have given up in one game is 98 yards. We also run your warp speed no huddle. With that we have achieved a dominant 4 to 1 play differential, average 40 plays a game compared to our oppoents running 15 offensive plays a game. They can't score if they don't have the ball. Our football team has had drives of 15, 8 and 10 plays several times this season. I have never seen a youth team sustain a 15 play drive ever, until this year, thanks to the warp speed no huddle. Also, we run the single wing offense, and have owned not only time of possesion but yardage wise we avearage 250 to 300 rushing a game. Now, we do have some pretty good talent, but if we were running the I formation or the wishbone or any other conventional offense, I doubt we would put up those kinds of numbers. We have had 8 different players score touchdowns this season. Furthomore, what has contributed to our time of possesion dominance and our offensive play dominance is the fact that we kick on sides every time, and for the season we have recovered 62% of our on sides kicks. We recovered 6 out of 6 on sides kicks in one game this season and recover at least two a game. The funny thing is, we don't even get cute with it. We don't care if the opponent knows where we are kicking it, we pretty much tell them where we are kicking it, and they still can't stop it! The ball bounces really funny when it isn't perfectly round, and this approach is just devestating to the opposition. We have seen as much as 10 guys on the front line of the return team and still recovered the kick. More defensive notes, we have had 32 pass attempts against us this season, they have completed two, and we have intercepted 9. The rest have fallen to the turf for an incompletion, due to the 8-2-1 man to man pass coverage. Just wanted to thank you for your books! I see that you have a book on coaching youth baseball, I can't wait to buy that in the coming months, maybe santa will bring it to me for christmas! Thanks again Jack, you’re a youth football genius!

Kristian Garic

Coach Reed

I purchased your books on the single wing offense, youth defense and GAM 3 seasons ago. I would like to provide this third installment to my yearly updates. We just finished our 2007 season with a 7-1 record. Although we did not pile up the points like we did last year, we were still effective. I must add that we did move up a division this year and faced much better competition. I coached 8-9 yr olds the first two years and this year we had the 10-11 yr olds. We averaged over 20pts per game with a season high of 48, and did so using only 4-5 plays from a playbook of 12 in each contest. The wedge was a consistent gainer but it did not go for big yardage but 2-3 times. The off tackle was our bread and butter and most of our points came from it. The wing reverse was only effective when defenses shifted somewhat to our unbalanced line. At times we shifted to a balanced line and ran the off tackle to either side. The first time we did this, the play went for 40 yards or so and a TD. We were also able to pass a little more using the sprint pass and a flanker streak. However; I switched the run sprint pass receiver most of the time. The long end and WB would run this route or the flanker would run a Q route. The main reason for this was the BB's inability to get out in the flats fast enough. We threw for touchdowns and extra points and a few 3rd down conversions. I did tweak your version of the single wing occasionally to spread the defense and then ran the wedge and a TB dive with consistent success against defenses that stacked the line of scrimmage to stop our power running plays. One of the greatest aspects of the single wing is BALL CONTROL. The other team cannot score without the ball. Most of our scoring drives were at least 5-6 plays and several were more than 11 plays. I plan on passing a little more next year and maybe doing some more tweaking, but the information in your books have been outstanding and everything that we have done has been a direct result of the principles and tactics that you have taught me through them.

Defensively we were OUTSTANDING with the GAM. Of our seven wins, 5 of them were shut outs and most of the teams we played ended up with negative yardage. The only difficulty we had was with a team that ran a spread offense. They were not able to effectively throw against us but we did give up chunks of yardage when we really needed a defensive stop. I must admit that part of the problem with this particular game was too much coaching the week prior - that will never happen again. Teach them their responsibilities, line em up and let em play. All but one of the teams that we played did not even come close to being able to handle the pressure that our boys applied play after play. Disciplined Defensive ends, aggressive linebackers, athletic corners and MLB/safety and tenacious lineman are too much for almost any offense to overcome.

Over the past 3 seasons, I have built our teams around our defense and relied on the tried and proven single wing to propel us to victory. These systems are easy to teach, troubleshoot and the kids love it. Our teams have a 21-3 record which includes 1 undefeated championship season and two second place finishes.

Thanks for your contribution to our football success!

Coach Al Johnson

Jack,

Some positive feedback for your tackling drill.  A friend of mine is using your book in coaching his son's 5th grade team.  He said he's never had a tackling drill that worked so well as yours.  The boys actually stayed within the four cones,  maintained half speed until impact, kept their head in the right place and followed through. He was just giddy telling me about it this morning. My buddy (coworker) is a former Mankato State football player--one of the MN state colleges.  He's a teddy bear of a guy.  Loves coaching Youth Football.

I checked out your website this morning after a long hiatus.  Your book on Freshman and JV football looks intriguing. 

If this is at all like your Youth Book, it should be mandatory reading for Freshman and JV coaches. 

Keep up the good work Jack. 

Rick Groomes, Mpls. MN

Coach Reed,


I just wanted to thank you for your influence on my success as a youth football coach. I coach the 9-10 team in a rural community in South Carolina. Before we took over, this team was the perennial doormat of the league, and the designated "W" on everyone's schedule. Now, thanks to Coaching Youth Football, three seasons later, we are one of the most feared teams in the league. Last season we finished 10-1 and lost in the league semifinals game in double overtime. This season, we're off to another great start (6-0). We run the tight, 0 line splits double wing and the single wing. Defensively, we run your GAP-Air-Mirror defense. We have four shutouts thus far.

Last week we played a very talented team that had our double and single wing scouted and defended well. We were down 6-0 in the 4th quarter, then we unleashed the "Crunch" package with a direct snap. We marched right down the field and scored easily! We secured the extra point, and won 7-6. It amazed me how the other team NEVER adjusted to our unbalanced line, with all of our backs lined up behind them. We had a 7-3 advantage at the point of attack!

I am amused at how the coaches scramble to stop the on sides kick. Many burn timeouts or spend the entire half-time period trying to stop it. LOL! Once again thank you, for all you've done for youth football coaching. Your book has been a godsend for me, and most importantly has given some pride and self-esteem back to a small community that WAS conditioned to being the laughing stock to the other teams we play with a much larger population.

Sincerely,
Sanford Williams, Honea Path, SC

Jack, we talked about 10 years ago, My dad and I were coaching a youth football team in Radcliff Kentucky. We have read all of your books, and currently implement your 8-2-1 defense. We are currently coaching together in New Orleans La, and are 3-0, and are allowing on average 4 points a game through three games on defense, and curently we average right around 30 points a game on offense, with the single wing. I just wanted to catch up with you, and let you know you have had a huge impact on my coaching philosophy, we basically have copied everything that you do, with good success! By the Way we have recovered 5 out out 9 onside kicks!! Everyone around the league asks me "Why do you kick onsides so much?"...I feel like saying, are you watching? If you watch our game you will see why!! 5 out of 9!

Kristian Garic

John,

We had our opening game this past weekend with 7 – 9 year old Mighty Might team. We have implemented your GAM defense which produced a shutout. Our defense only allowed 1 first down in which a 2nd team DE and CB lost contain. It resulted in a 15-yard sweep. They had a little success up the middle due to the fact that I found out at half time that we are not allowed to have a Nose Guard or anyone in the A gaps. This week I will work with my linemen to Pinch into the gap and stop them. Or MLB did a great job only allowing 1 to 3 yard gains even with little support from the guards.

[Our double wing offense] scored 25 points with 196 yards in 25 plays.

This is my first year at coaching a tackle team. The past 3 years I spent coaching flag which was only a baby step to added complexities of tackle. I only received your books GAM and Coaching Youth Football a couple of days before the season so I had to read fast and work on implementing you system quickly and so far working great. I have already found more that I need to improve on as a coach and being efficient during practices. But the parts that I have been able to implement have put us ahead of other teams this year.

Thanks

Bo Gibson
Head Coach East Fairmont Rockets – Mighty-Might Division
Bgibson@valleyhealthcare.org

John:

I purchased your football books a couple of years ago, and just purchased your clock management book today. I have been an assistant coach for the last four years, and this year the head coach left and I took over the head coach position. I have implemented your system (single-wing and gap-air-mirror) and your approach fits my style. We are 2-0 and have outscored our opponents 89 to 7. The 6 was scored on us on offense on the sprint-out run pass (the ball hit our receiver in the face mask and bounced up and the defender ran it back for 6). So I wanted to give you some good feedback, great advice, and wanted to ask you a question. Your books are the best. I think I have all of your sports related books and you have done a great job. FYI – the last two teams I coached after reading your books on Football and Baseball won their league championships.

David M. Guida

Your books are the best. I think I have all of your sports related books and you have done a great job. FYI – the last two teams I coached after reading your books on Football and Baseball won their league championships.

Larry A. Pankey
Atlanta, GA

Hi John:

I want to thank you for your web-page. I am a second year defensive coach and have been given the task of looking after the DB's for our team. I must let you know that I am e-mailing you from Canada and judging by your experience as a coach you must have some knowledge of the Canadian game. If not then here are a couple of things you should know:

- there are 12 men per side on the field.
- our field is much wider (~ 15-20 yrds I do believe) than yours.
- we are allowed to have more than one man in motion at the line.
- we only have 3 downs therefore we throw much more.

These few factors alone make it much more tougher for a defence to cover the field. I just wish to say that I love your philosophy with regards to zone defence and the futility of teaching it to youth. I am coaching minor-bantam players (13-year olds) and I was originally doing what you stated not to. I tried teaching them all sorts of backpedaling drills and the like as well as zone pass coverageand got away from the meat and potatoes of good fundamental football, like proper tackling form. We have now switched back to straight man and concentrate our practice time on learning our basic assignments and stickingto them. Again thanks for simplifying my approach and putting me on the right track. Although your rules are different in the U.S., youth football players are the same all over with regards to learning.

Cheers

John Quagleini
North Winnipeg Nomads Football Club
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada

I am in the middle of re-reading each of your football books (for the third time by the way) this off season. I wanted to say “thank you” one more time. You absolutely saved me as a clueless rookie coach and last year, my 2nd season as a coach; our 3rd and 4th grade team went 12-0 (10-0 officially since a couple were pre-season scrimmages we set up as coaches) easily winning the championship. The team we beat in the championship had not lost in the previous 3 seasons and had averaged over 35 points a game all year. We shut their offense out and scored 4 touchdowns of our own. In a very competitive league, 7 of our 10 games the “mercy rule” went into effect. My minimum play players (we had a very large roster, so I have a bunch of them) were able to see as much or more game time than my starters because of that. That made us heroes to the parents of the younger kids. Needless to say, we had a blast and we can’t wait for the 2007 season to begin.

Thanks again,

Coach Thayne Harrison

Coach Reed

I just wanted to give you an update on our latest Single Wing Success. Last year I put the Single Wing offense and 8-2-1 defense to work as a rookie youth football coach. We went 6-2, finishing 3rd in the division. We averaged 30+ points per game while only allowing 6.

This year my policy was: "If it aint broke don't fix it." The only thing I had to change was emphasizing the snapper position more. Last year we had many problems with the direct snap, but not this year. I was able to add a few wrinkles to the offense to exploit what defenses were trying to do to stop us, but the formation worked like a charm. It was POWER running all season and a stingy defense that led us to an 8-0 record and the league championship. We scored on every running play in the playbook and even had some success passing the ball. Our boys had a blast this year and our coaching staff is thrilled. There is one high school in our area that runs the single wing, but other than that, we are the only ones. I love it when teams line up against us in a T formation or I formation. Our defense just pins their ears back and ATTACK with a vengeance. If anyone thinks that the 8-2-1 defense is weak against the pass - FORGET IT!! We had a few completions against us for small gains, but we intercepted several and even ran some of the picks back for touchdowns. [Reed note: I now recommend my GAM defense over my 8-2-1 which was my first 1992 defense. The GAM is my new much improved version.]

I really appreciate your coaching books. I recommend them to any coach that wants to keep it simple and WIN. Of course that doesn't go for anyone that may play us...

Coach Al Johnson
Virginia

Mr. Reed,
Just finished a 9-0 regular season and am headed into the playoffs using your modified single wing offense and gap air mirror defense. Last year I went 8-1 using the same systems, but they get better as I get to know them more and learn to innovate. People think I'm a football genius.
I know I'm just smart enough to know I need help and to find where to get it. Great work on your books!

[subsequent email] It got better. We won the league championship with a record of 12-0. The single wing offense averaged 34 points per game, even given a rule that we switch out the starting backfield when ahead by 24. The gap air mirror defense held our opponents to an average of 7 points per game. In the championship game, our blocking back (my son) broke his arm and couldn't throw. However, we had scouted the opponent's 4-4 defense and every player knew who to block for the off tackle, so we easily ground out an 18-8 victory on the ground. The kids are close knit and confident, and all of them are going on to try to play the best sport in the world in high school. I'm particularly gratified because last year, when our team went 8-1, I tried telling the other coaches that my offense didn't have a quarterback, and they laughed at me. Now they're asking me for advice.

Thanks for your help.

John Phelan

Mr Reed,

I had the pleasure of coaching a 5-7 year old (90 pounds max) tackle football team this year. This is the first year we have offered tackle football for kids this age, so I was starting from scratch. This also was my fist go a coaching tackle football. You can tell by the uniforms that I am a huge Penn State fan!

I read your book at least 3 times and ran the Single Wing offense. I had 27 kids on the team (more than any other team) and each kid had to play 7 plays. We were also the only team with 5 year olds (8). Here is our team and record: http://www.wkya.org/Football/Football%202006/Football%202006%20Tackle/Football_2006_Tiny_Mite_Tackle.htm

I spent the first 3 weeks of practice conditioning, teaching stances then teaching proper blocking and tackling technique. I used a mattress as you suggested in your book to break them in. It worked great. I also used what was called “FIT” drills. We taught them how to wrap up on a stationary team mate. We did this for every kid numerous times. That really paid off; for the most part we tackled very well. The defense was limited by league rules. You could not line up on the snapper. You had to have 6 on the line and you could not blitz the linebackers inside those six.

The last week before our first scrimmage (Jamboree) I put in the offense and defense. I only had 3 plays in before our first scrimmage(s).

Wedge
Off Tackle
Wing reverse.

In our league, the defense was not allowed to line up on the snapper, so I didn’t run the wedge very often. I was too easy to gain 5 yards, I felt like I was cheating. We executed the Off Tackle and the Wing reverse incredibly well. All the practice we put in teaching them how to block really paid off. Once they got over “those guys on the other side really want to tackle us,” no one could stop us, we seemed to score at will. I think our team was more prepared than most, so we had the edge early. Running the same formation for all the plays really enabled us to get a lot of plays in as well. It killed me sometimes that it would take opposing coaches 2 minutes to get a play in. At this level each team was allowed to have 2 coaches on the field. I could get off a play in 20 seconds with no problem at all. One formation at this age was definitely a plus.

We had one more week before our first regulation game and I added the Sweep and a little twist to the off tackle play. I called it “One Left.” “One” was the Off Tackle play. All I did was take advantage of the defenses overloading the right side of the formation and had the BB block to the left (hit the first guy you get to) and the tailback run straight up off his block just to the left of the SE. It was a quick hitter and we always got at least 5 yards and we also score a couple touchdowns with that little twist.
I also practice passing to the flanker (Hitch Pass) if he wasn’t covered. I only allowed that when I had my stud out there, the minimum play kids could not catch.

I used the flanker as the “minimum play” position as you recommended so the Sweep was not very effective. It was very effective when I put a stud out at flanker. Many times 20+ yards. I also played small guys (50 lbs) at the Short Guard, Long Guard and Inside Tackle positions to help the defense out. Only a couple times during the season did the LG and IT get over powered, they were good enough to hold their blocks long enough for the play to get past them.

As the season progressed, I added a couple more plays.

Sprint-out run-pass
All Hook pass
Buck Lateral run pass.

We did not execute the sprint-out run-pass very well. I’ll take the hit on that one. I had a left handed TB and we ran the offense from the right formation all year. It was hard for him to get set and make a good throw. We tried it a couple times though, just to keep the defense “honest”. I had to change out the SE and LE to run the All Hook pass. My two primaries could not catch. I did have kids that I could have put there from the start, but that would have left the defense too weak, so knowing that we would not pass much I opted to “even it out”. Having a left handed TB was a huge advantage running the wing reverse though. When the WB executed correctly we never once fumbled the ball. The Buck Lateral was probable the most fun play to watch evolve. I called it in short yardage situations. My TB sold the play great and the whole defense thought we were running a dive. My BB was off to the races. I also would have him run out to the left if the defense was overloading the right side.

We were the only team in this age group to use the shot-gun snap. [Reed note: The single wing offense uses a long snap not a shot gun snap. In the long snap, the snapper looks through his legs during the snap. In the shotgun, the center looks at the defense during the snap.] None of the other teams even tried it. My primary snapper was a 7-year-old girl. She had great hands and on average we only botched 2 snaps a game. That was quite impressive I think. [Reed note: if the long snappres get 1,200 long snops befor ethe first game, you generally only have a couple of bad saps in the first game or two then no more the rest of the season.] I found and worked with 3 snappers during our conditioning. That really paid off. She was sick and missed 2 games and my back-up(s) did great. The only time she had trouble was in our second game of the year. We “traveled” to another field and they used the wrong size ball. My fault, I should have insisted on using the K2. They didn’t stop us, we stopped ourselves in that game. At this age I lined up the TB about 3 ∏ yard back instead of 4 1/2 to 5 like you recommended. They were more comfortable there.

I chose not to participate in the post season tournament because I knew the other coaches would not follow minimum play or not have those kids show up. I could not do that to my kids. We always followed minimum play and I never asked a kid to not show up if we were playing a better team. Another thing I was very proud of was that fact that we started with 28 and ended with 27. That was one of my goals; I didn’t want to “drive” kids away from tackle football.

I practiced shifting the formation to the left at the end of the season, but I didn’t do it in the game. That was the biggest learning point for me, especially when we played teams for the 2nd and third time. That would have really helped keep the defense honest. Chalk that up to being a new coach.

We wouldn’t have had the success we did without your books. I emailed you once before and thanked you for putting football in “layman’s” terms for me. Your books are great. I’ll be “moving” up to the 8&9 year old division next year and plan on adding the “Spinning fullback,” if they can do it. We will also run the Gap-Air-Mirror defense. I watched that division some this year and I think we will dominate with it.

Thanks

Dale Sexton
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Mr. Reed, my name is Bob Morin and roughly six weeks ago I sent an e-mail to you about my 5th and 6th grade team from Poland, Maine winning its first two games of its innaugural season 22-0 and 30-0. Well, the season is now over and we are the only undefeatead team in the league. we finished with a record of 6-0-1. We averaged 25.4 points /game while the starting defense gave up only 2.85 points per game. Overall, the defense gave up on average 6.5 points per game. Great Stuff!

The starting TB averaged three thouchdowns(would have been more but we have a twenty point rule) per game while the starting BB averaged 4yds per carry.

I can not say enough about your books and the GAP Air Mirror Defense. Again, GREAT STUFF!!! I plan to use both again next year when I move up to coach this group in the 7th grade. Thanks again for all you do.

Bob Morin

Mr. Reed,

I have used your books & articles with much success in the past few years in youth football. [We went] undefeated last year…

Paul M. Bonaccini
Traverse City, MI

Mr. Reed,

I purchased your "Coaching Youth Football" and "Single-Wing Offense for Youth Football" books back in 2003. Much success followed (we were 27-5 between '03-'05 (lost championship in '03 at 9-2, won championship in '04 at 11-0)).

Ashley R. Bolton
Huntsville, Alabama

Incidentally, I've always been a big fan of the Gap-Air-Mirror and have always had it in my defensive repertoire.

Hi Coach,

I got "roped" into being head coach for my son's Pop Warner team here in Pittsford, MI. I had never coached period and only played a couple of years of high school ball. Needless to say, I went searching for some guidance on the web and came across your site. I purchased "Coaching Youth Football", "Single Wing Offense for Youth Football" and "Gap Air Mirror Defense for Youth Football". I have done a lot of reading since early August!

Pittsford is a small rural community, so I have a total of 17 players on the team. We have been practicing since August 3rd, but had never had a live scrimmage untilthe first game of the season this morning. We have 10 plays total. Really 5 plus the mirror image the opposite way. We have only run the plays against air. The G.A.M. defense the same way. The kids had never gone up against a live offense. We had only stressed assignments.
[Reed note: this team should do half-line scrimmages, that is, the right side of the offense goes against the left side of the defense running only plays that go to the right side, then repeat with the left side of the offense going against the right side of theh defense. They can and should also do 7-on-7 to practice passing and pass defense and 9 vs 8 to practice only the run game.]
As our first opponent we had the team that won the league last year.

At halftime we were up 32-0 and the referee came over and explained to us the Pop Warner mercy rules. My assistant coach said he had never been on this side of the mercy rule before while coaching Pittsford football. Pittsford has been kind of the laughing stock of football around here!

So, we stop them on defense again (they never got a first down). We take over on our 40 (Mercy rule). Under the mercy rule we could no longer pass, or run outside the tackles. So, we run the wedge! My son goes 60 yards for a touchdown! The final was 44-0.

Most of the time my 4 down lineman had a hold of the quarterback or running back during the handoff. The [opponent] had no clue what we were doing on offense. They were yelling at the[ir]kids to "play harder," "hit somebody," etc. It reminded me a lot of what you wrote in your book.

Thank you,

Jeff Wendt

Our team participated in a big season opening jamboree at Boise State this past weekend. Our scheduled opponent beat us last year in a regular season game 36-0. We had numerous injuries and a near riot between the coaching staffs. They are considered one of the 3 best teams out of 38 going into this season and they were undefeated last year. We were nervous to say the least because of last year and because we were running a new offense. Everyone (except our wives) have said we’re nuts for running the single wing. Most of the comments centered on the direct snap, which they said will never work and the lack of a quarterback. To make matters worse, the head coach’s son, our snapper, broke his arm in a scrimmage two days earlier (he had over 1200 snaps) and was out. Our back up snapper was less than stellar and had maybe 300 snaps.

In the eight days of practice preceding the jamboree, I taught the boys 6 plays from the right formation: sweep, off-tackle, wedge, wing reverse, sprint out pass and post pass. For the jamboree, I scripted 6 plays for each of our 2 tailbacks. The format of the jamboree was each team gets 6 minutes of offense with no clock stoppage. Offense starts from the forty yard line. If you score or don’t gain 10 yards in 4 plays, you go back to the forty and start again. The offense scored on the 4th play with the first tailback and I switched tailbacks. The offense then scored on the 3rd play. We ran two more plays and were ready to score again before time ran out. On the defensive side, the head coach has implemented a modified gap-air-mirror defense. In 6 minutes, our opponents gained less than 5 net yards with no first downs. Our opponents were shell shocked. Our boys were ecstatic!!

So far so good, first game in two weeks. Thanks coach!!

Roland

PS The back up snapper was perfect.

Hi Coach Reed -
I have purchased your instructional books on coaching youth football and won our city championship using your philosophies - thank you!
Thanks for your dedication directed at coaching youth football. The guys I beat weekly think I'm a genius thanks to you.
Tim Russell

John T. Reeds Coaching Youth Football 4th edition decribes in clear step by step approach how any coach can lead his team to wins by applying his successful and proven football coaching concepts.

CoachMRamirez@aol.com

Coach Reed,
I have several of your books including Coaching Youth Football 3rd edition. By the way, I used the gap 8 defense last year and had 6 shutouts in 8 games! One game we gave up a kick return for the only score and the other was a sweep for a TD by the fastest kid on the field. I love your books!
Thank You,
Craig Smith

Great overall experience. Coach Reed’s book is a must for anyone thinking of coaching youth football. After reading approximately 1/4 the book, I feel like I could coach and win a game against any youth team in Texas.
Mark Langseth

John,

I just wanted to give you a testimonial on this defense. I was the defensive coach for a Pop Warner football team in Fairport NY. The level was mighty Mite –ages 7, 8 9. We were the new team in the league , the league had expanded from 2 team from Fairport to 3 teams. 99% of our kids had never played tackle football and the 1% who had, were castoffs that the other two teams did not want back. I installed your Gap -8 defense for a number of reasons but mostly for its simplicity. Needless to say we won every game and really shut down most team’s offensive playmakers. Coaches would repeatedly try to run up the middle and could not believe that we could stop them. Up until the last game we only surrendered 2 touchdowns in 6 games. Our last game was against a very fast and very talented team that if we went player for player we should have never had a chance. In this game the gap 8 had 4 goaline stances and stuffed them each time. The game ended in a tie 7-7. I believe very strongly in this defense and I would recommend it to every youth coach. Thanks for making our season a very memorable one.

Daniel D. Wetzel
Indirect Sales Manager
Upstate Markets
PCS- 585-230-0065
Email- mailto:Daniel.D.Wetzel@sprint.com

Mr. Reed,

Thanks for writing Coaching Youth Football. Without your book, I would have been in a world of hurt for the past 180 days. As a "rookie" coach, I took on a first year (in other words, in years past our city never had a tiny might team so NONE of my kids had ever played organized football before) tiny might Pop Warner team who competes in a very competitive league here in Florida where 90% of the other teams had second- and third-year players. When I accepted the job I was told that we were unlikely to win a single game. After the first practice and after seeing the kids on our team, I believed what I was told. As coaches, we "dug in" for a very long, painful season. Long story short, using your strategies, we went 8-2 (unofficially...technically they don't keep score for the tinies, but all the kids, coaches, and parents keep score) and the two we lost were games that we barely lost and had a very good shot at winning. One loss was early in the season and had we played that same team again later in the year, we would have shut them out and won by three touchdowns. Our kids executed at an amazing level. The kids had a blast and I didn't embarrass myself as the head coach.

I move up with my son to Mighty Mites next year so the score and our record will be official. Now the bar has been set at an undefeated season rather than the initial, "don't beat yourself up too much if you never win a game"...

Thanks again,

Coach Thayne Harrison

Mr. Reed,

I have been coaching single wing for the past two years in the 7-9 and 8-10 age group. I grew up in the 70's playing single wing football and our teams always had success. In the past two years our team is 20 - 2.
Thank you for this book. It truly inspired me and the boys that I have been coaching. Some other coaches thought that I was old fashioned, but I knew that it would work. I proved it this year by going to the Championship game at the M & T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and winning against an undefeated team to take the Central Maryland Football Title.
Thanks again
Tom Shewell

Coach,
I just came across this email exchange we had back in September. I have to tell you of the success we had as a result of your input. I wrote to you after we had lost our first 3 games. After getting your reply and doing as you said – getting the linebackers to not back up and to attack the LOS, and making the wedge play more of a key in our offense, things really came together. We only lost one of our subsequent 6 games (and that one we should have won, but for a couple of let-downs when we had minimum play kids in). We had two shut-outs and outscored our opponents 123 – 46 over the span. The line started playing more assertively with the wedge blocking mentality, and the wing reverse started clicking as the off tackle and sweep worked better. It went for 4 TDs over the six games (and the fake reverse went for two.) The season became a success.

Anyway, I just wanted to close that circle with you and say thanks so much for responding to me. I believe your response factored greatly into salvaging our season.

Happy holidays,

Mark McDermott

McDermott & Associates
9607 N. Copper Ridge Trail
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
(480)205-6451
(480)837-7476 fax
markmcd@cox.net

John,
I would like to add to your collection of success stories. Last year (2004) I took over a pee-wee youth football team, ages 7 to 10 years old. Although I purchased your book “Coaching Youth Football”, I did not fully implement it. I opted to stay with more conventional formations I had coached before. Needless to say, my roster was all first year players, and we went 2-8.

This year, I additionally bought your book “Single Wing Offense for Youth Football”. I decided this offense complemented the talent I had returning, and against my assistant coach’s advice, we went with the Single Wing Offense this season. All I can say is WOW, what a change. We not only went undefeated (11-0) and won the championship; we lead the league in scoring, by putting up 320 points for the year. We only had five plays, and our top three running backs averaged 14, 12 and 11 yards per carry. The plays were simple for the kids to learn, and by the end of the year they were running them to near perfection. After a few games, opposing teams knew what we were running, but still couldn’t stop us. I found at this age group, the defenses had a hard time adjusting to the strong side, and as you know that spells disaster for them.

Defensively, I also went with the GAM. I modified it some, and usually went with three down lineman and two middle LB’s, but this was due to the fact I had more speed than size. The defense worked well, and we led the league on this side of the ball too. We only gave up 44 points all year, and didn’t even get scored upon until the sixth game of the season.

Granted, I think we would have been successful this year running a number of different schemes, but I also believe your systems were a huge contributing factor in us finishing undefeated. I highly recommend your books to any coach (new or old), that is taking on the challenge of coaching youth football.

Jason Hunt (Hanford, CA)
Head Coach
Hanford Pee Wee Steelers
2005 All Valley League Champions
http://eteamz.active.com/avyfl/index.cfm?

I am writing to give support for your GAP-AIR-MIRROR defense. I was thrust into a head coaching postion for 10-12 year olds due to the existing coach not being able to fulfull the committment. I researched on line and came across your book and ordered it. I had helped out last year with running the defense which was a mandatory 5-3 per league rules. It looked like something I could implement based on my limited experience and never having played football.

What a success! My team went 9-1 and won the Rocky Bowl Championship. We allowed a league low 51 points. The concepts were excellent and your book was easy to follow. Thanks, lookign forward to next year.
Mike Kouwenhoven, Billings, Montana.

John,

I've just completed my first year of coaching football (12-13 yr old) as an assistant, and while being incredibly enjoyable I am saddened to report how little I actually know about football. This is coming from a man that played youth, high school, and college football.

As the season progressed and I realized just how little I knew, I began to search out information that would help me with coaching. Your book was the one source of information that made sense. Even though I didn't receive your book till part way through the season, I was able to use your approach toward special teams to our advantage.

Brian Rigot brigot@ess4apc.com

John,
I wanted to thank you for putting together excellent coaching books. I just finished my third year as the defensive coach for my son's youth football teams. I bought Coaching Youth Football before his first season of tackle football. I wanted an aggressive, but disciplined defense and the GAM seemed to be a good fit for what I wanted to do. I have made some slight adjustments at various times to fit our personnel, but overall we have followed the setup you describe. I bought the Gap-Air-Mirror Defense for Youth Football book before the 2005 season. We moved up to a higher age group and I wanted the additional detail this book provided. It was very useful.

Here's few statistics to show the success that our team has achieved. A large part of it was due to the defense.
2003: County Championship, 8-1 record, 152 points scored, 40 points allowed, 1,713 yards gained, 615 yards allowed.
2004: County Championship, 9-0 record, 181 points scored, 6 points allowed, 2,201 yards gained, 491 yards allowed.
2005: County Championship, 10-0 record, 178 points scored, 18 points allowed (only 12 by the defense), 2,354 yards gained, 614 yards allowed

Thanks again for the books. Studying the defense, reviewing tape, and working with the boys on tackling and individual responsibility in a team construct really helped them to be successful.
Scott Shelton

Coach John,

Just a short note to say thank you for your writings that I've discovered over the last year. Because we have adhered to many of your strategies, our team has just finished their regular season, undefeated .... 6-0.
This is a Pop Warner Pee-Wee team, in Traverse City, Michigan that I have been fortunate enough to coach for three years now
We are on our way to the Championship game this weekend...... I'll keep you posted.

Paul M. Bonaccini
Vice President, Investments
Raymond James & Associates
522 E. Front Street
Traverse City, MI 49686
800-946-3650
paul.bonaccini@raymondjames.com

Coach,

quote me one more time, The Ponca City Cardinals are now "STATE CHAMPIONS", and will play for the Super Series National Championship in their Age and Division, due to implementing your strategies.

Dave Tarver
PC Cardinals

Coach Reed,
I have bought and read four of your books now on coaching youth sports. Since i have started using your knowledge as a basis for my coaching philosophy i have had great success coaching football and baseball. We won the conference championship in football using the single wing. Coaches laughed at us , literally until we beat the socks off their team and then they tried to emulate us the next week.

You mentioned that you would like to quote me about our success. Please do, I'm known as a John T Reed disciple around here, I get laughed at about that also. But if you want some good information about our success let me fill ya in.

My first year coaching youth football (10-12 year olds) we went a miserable 0-6.

I vowed that it would never happen again, so I began to read everything i could about youth football. I bought three of your books for football and used them. The next season the other coaches in the league said we "went from the outhouse to the penthouse!" We were Conference Champs. Undefeated in Conference play. Breezed through the playoffs until we got to the superbowl. We ended up losing to a great team, that we had beat earlier in the season. We beat them 20-18, then they ended up beating us 20-19. No shame in that loss.

Here is what i learned from you that made all the diference in the world.

1. We learned how to stop a sweep
2. We had no losses of the ball on snaps,, the entire season
3. We had no losses of the ball on exchanges,, the entire season
4. We threw no interceptions , the entire season
5. We were the best team in the league by far at running between the tackles.

By the way, your GAM is illegal in our league. I have a great modification for it in leagues that outlaw it.

Give me a call when you get a chance,, i'm sure your a busy man, but i know that you would love to hear a few of the specifics that happened when other coaches saw our offense.

I'd love to tell you about them—and that is just our football team. Our baseball team had a great season also.

Thanks Coach
LT Mann

Mr. Reed,

Before my 1st year coaching at the youth level, I read your book "Coaching Youth Football". My players have won 2 league championships at the 13-14 year old level, and my players have never had a losing season. I have put to use many of the concepts you advocate in your book, and I would like to expand on two of them.

In your book you suggest that if a coach does not scout his opponents then he should be "fired for coaching malpractice". I couldn't agree more!. After our final regular season game ended, I quickly left the field so I could go scout our opponent, the Red Bombers, who we were to play for the championship in two days. I made it to the field for the start of the game. The Red Bombers were a very good team, and were winning easily. Then, three minutes before half-time, the Red Bombers lined up in a goofy formation: WR lined up far left, the G-C-G aligned as normal, both tackles and TE lined up far right near the sidelines with the FB and wing aligned as backs behind them. The QB was in shotgun with his HB lined up next to him. The opposing defense was confused as they were scrambling to try to line up correctly. They did not (their coach didn't read your book). The first play was a pass to the wing who followed his blockers for a 30 yard gain. The second play was a quick slant to the WR who took it the distance for a touchdown!

In the championship game against the Red Bombers, we were clinging to a 1 point lead with about 3 minutes left to go in the game with the ball at mid field. They break the huddle and line up in their "goofy" formation. Our kids responded quickly and lined up pefectly against this formation. Now the other team looked confused! On the first play, the QB looked for the wing, but couldn't throw because our LB was in position to intercept the throw and take it the other way. Their QB panicked, and we sacked him for a loss. Fourth down, same formation. We doubled their WR on the slant and the ball fell incomplete. Our kids won!

Here's the point. We didn't win the game because we were great coaches or because we had the most talent. We won because our coaches hustled as much as our players. Do not underestimate the value of scouting becaues it can win games against superior opponents!

The other concept I took from your book has to do with coaching the offensive lineman. Many coaches will work out their plays with regard to the backs, and tell the lineman to just "base block". Like you said in your book, it takes a superior athlete to successfully drive block his opponent, and that opponent must be a weak player. Based on your advise, I devised all of my running plays with blocking schemes for every lineman against every possible defense. I say schemes because we never drive block opponents head up. Our lineman mostly down block, kick out, and trap block with regard to our running plays.

We were playing a very tough opponent in the last game of the season before the play-offs. We ran our off tackle play literally 40-50% of the time, and they could not stop it! I remember a coach telling me during the game that, "you can't stop that play unless you scouted it". He was right because, to his credit, he scouted us earlier in the season and gave us our only loss!

In summary, the ideas and concepts presented in "Coaching Youth Football" are proven strategies that lead to success. Read the book, implement the ideas, work hard as a coaching staff, and enjoy your championship season!

jerry schaper
Osseo, MN

After our 7 & 8 year old team went 0-8 in 2003, I went to the internet searching for help. I purchased your book Coaching Youth Football prior to the 2004 season. I was the defensive coach…we went 5-3 in 2004, and stopped some teams that had scored 30 and 40 points on us the prior year. Thanks for the help and making your book available. I will read the GAM defense for youth football this year….

Kirby Simmons
The Gerald A. Teel Co.
974 Campbell Road, Ste. 204
Houston, TX 77024
Ksimmons@gateel.com

Dear coach reed, About three years ago while watching my son practice I realized the coaches were horrible and I needed to do something, so I sign up to be a coach the next year. Well, during the offseason ( coaches have none) I decided to find some reading material to help get a refreshness so went down to the local library and found your book coaching youth football 1st edition within the first page I fell in love with it . It was some of the same thought I had ( where to use certain kids, the defense for 8-9 year olds, way too many plays and formations, and always using sons and not the right boys for running back and lead blockers or linemen). …last year was my first year as head coach, I ran the single wing, out of the shotgun, and unbalanced line. On defense I was able to convince my defensive coordinator of the promise the 10-1 defense had and he agreed. By the 3rd week he was in love 2- shutouts 7 tds all year were given up. Our offense avg. 25 pts a game. We won the league championship and lost in the regional championship, are record was 8-3—not a bad first year.
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING YOU’RE MY UNSEEN MENTOR
A.J. COONS

Dear John,

I just wanted to say thanks. Your very descriptive yet concise writing style allowed me to incorporate the single wing and beat the snot out of our competition. I am the offensive coordinator for a youth tackle team in South Florida. I coach 13-14 yr olds 135lb max. Most of our players come from a very affluent area, and therefore are not "natural" athletes.They suffer from TMTV, (too much tv). I implemented the single wing last season, we played a jamboree in August in the heart of Miami, and marched down the field on every team we faced. Opposing coaches were stymied. We went 9-3 and to the playoffs (lost in round one) even after losing our stud TB in week 5. We begin practice on July 11th , I just ordered another copy of your book, I gave our Peewee coach my original.

Sincerely,

Joe Adams
Weston Warriors Football

John,

Thanks for being my 'silent partner' in developing an outstanding football team last fall. My 5th grade team played in a league where we don't know who is on our roster until 3 weeks before the first game of the season. Also, league rules require that skilled players (in our case, TB, BB & WB) can only play 2 quarters in any one position, so my backs really need to understand exactly what all of the backfield is doing, alll of the time.

My offensive coordinator and I followed the Single Wing playbook to the letter and the results were fantastic! In a league of 6 teams we went 7-2 (we lost one league game 14-12 and another 8-6) and won the championship game 18-6, outgaining the runner-up 201 to 63 yards in the championship game. Oh, the defense only allowed 35 points all season and 3 of the 5 teams in the league did not score against us (we use a slightly modified GAM).

My main thought is that I can't emphasize enough how important it is in a offensive scheme to keep it simple and run the play over and over again until the kids can do it in their sleep, as you have emphasized. We started the season with 5 plays and finished with 9. Every man needs to know exactly what they are doing on each play. I also appreciated the simplicity of the blocking schemes as well and the necessity of the line to understand that they have to work together. Rarely did we have penetration problems.

Thanks for your time and effort to write some fantastic coaching books. My fellow coaches, parents and players all salute you!

Thanks again,

Richard Beasley
5th Grade Buccaneers Head Coach
McKinney, Texas

By the way, your books are great!!! You have been an inspiration to the Northeast Rhode Island Pop Warner Football League. Robert Souza

Found your book on gap,air,mirror defense last year about this time and realized it was the defense we were trying to teach our players the previous season. The head coach (defensive cordinator) read it after I did and it became our defensive playbook. We had 3 shutouts to start the season and allowed less then 6 pts per game in midget division-175 lbs, and up to 14 yrs. old. Some of these kids can really play and we've had fun watching them excell in high schools around orange county the past 3 years. We adopted your single wing offense and found that the clarity of each play was much easier to coach. The experienced kids picked up the advantages right away, the first year kids caught on much quicker then past years teaching a multitude of sets and plays. For the most part we let the tailbacks call the plays by just defense recognition. We lost 1 game during the season to very talented Inglewood team by the score of 7 to 3. The game film identifies the lack of scoring was our inability to sustain blocks with our highest rated players. Still we were inside the 20 four times, 1 made, 1 miss on field goals, 1 interception, and a turnover on downs. Anyway thanks for info and insight, we believe we can be competitive with any group of kids with these schemes. There is 1 extra play,(blast), we found extremely effective when the lb's are playing off 3 or more yds off. We doubled both interior tackles and sent the bb right thru the open gap at the lb with tailback 1 step behind. We were most effective in gap between snap and LG or LG and IT. If you want to any other feedback to your single wing we used give me a ring.

I was lucky enough to be an Offensive Tackle on the ’73 Notre Dame national champion team and a starter on ’75 team. Rudy was our most famous senior teammate and some soph named Montana was a backup at the start of season. Thanks again. Pat J Pohlen 800-779-8273

I am sorry that it has taken me this long to getting around to writing you. Our season ended in late November and time has flown by since then. I have coached this group of kids for 6 years. Last year, you may remember, we began to run your single wing offense and had our best season ever, finishing 9-1 as league runner-up. The 2004 season was a storybook year. Continuing with the single wing we outscored our opponents 231-43, finished 12-0, and won the Metro Youth Football Championship in the 11 and 12 year old division. I must say that, when executed properly, your version of the single wing is nearly unstoppable. Most teams failed to adjust to our unbalanced line and those who did usually over adjusted allowing us to exploit their back side. Our bread and butter play was the off tackle. When our blocking backs did their job the play always worked. One great play that we used catch a team off guard was a modification of the wedge. We snapped the ball to the blocking back and the tail back faked like there was a low snap and he ran to the strong side. The blocking back stepped forward, towards the line, hesitated for a count, and then passed to the short end. After a long series of running plays this play was always open. Our only disappointment was the wing reverse. We just couldn't get it to work this year. The back side end would get us every time. In summary I am truly grateful to you for sharing your knowledge of the game with coaches like myself. The youth game is about much more than winning, but if the kids can get all of the good lessons and win then the experience is just that much better.
You can "quote me" and use me as reference whenever you need. As for the reverse...I will take a look at some tape to see exactly what we were doing and maybe get back to you. One thing that I forgot to mention that I owe you credit for is the idea to limit the number of plays in the "playbook". In past years (before I found your system) we had dozens of plays and would add new ones each week. This year we ran only 10 plays, but we could execute all 10 in our sleep. Most of our opponents ran a greater variety of offensive plays, but you could clearly see that some of the players did not know what to do...they were overwhelmed by the amount of plays that they had to learn. Your idea is so obvious, but 90% of youth coaches never realize how they handicap their teams with too many plays. Thanks again for all of your help. Without you and your book(s) our team's success would not have been possible. Deane Cheatham Richmond, VA

John

I own all your football books and they have helped me tremendously.
I coach 7 and 8 year olds and every book has provided me information that contributed to our teams success.

I can not begin to Thank You enough!!!

Bob

John,

Sent you an email earlier in the year and thought I would give you a follow up.

Finished our regular season 8-0 with a combined score of 219 to 18. See attached scores. The Single Wing and the 10-1 have obviously worked well.

Your instruction on game preparation has also been extremely important to our success. After scouting one of our opponents this year, I knew that if they lined up in the same defense against us and we correctly executed the off-tackle that we would score on the first play. Guess what? They did and we scored on the first play, Right Formation - Off Tackle.

Pat Thomasson

Mr. Reed:
First year head coach here for a 13-14 year old age group team. Implemented offense from your book, 'Single Wing Offense' with guidance from the 'Coaching Youth Football, 3rd Ed' book as well.
A 7 - 4 season with a playoff berth. Outscored opponents 231-110. 1255 rushing yards. 434 receiving yards. 257 yards kick return yards. Started with a 4-4 stack which evolved into the Gap 8. One game away from championship but inexperience as a post-season coach revealed itself.
Great book! Great season! Thanks, Jack!
-Brian Victor

John,

Our 5/6 team just won our championship game and finished 10 - 0. I was the defensive coordinator and followed the advice in your book Coaching Youth Football. We only had 5 touchdowns scored against our starting defensive all season.

Thanks for your book.

Regards,

Kevin Hurst

This was my second year as head coach of an 8 & under football team. Last year I went 3-4. I bought two of your books, Coaching Youth Football and the Gap-Air-Mirror Defense. We lost one game in the regular season to a team with a 39 game winning streak. I didn’t show them a lot because I knew we would meet again in the playoffs. Sure enough we met in the championship game. By this time they had a 43 game winning streak. We were down 7-0 at halftime but came back to tie by running the crunch series. In overtime we start from the ten with four plays to score. They had us third and twelve and I ran the lonesome polecat. They sent a few guys over to cover but left five players to rush the quarterback. Boom!!! We scored and with the momentum on our side, we went for the two point conversion. I used a halfback pass and it was successful. They scored but missed the two point conversion. Winning streak over. The common mistakes part of youth caoches fit me to a tee, and without your books we never would have won it all.

Thank You,
Keith McGrew
Jasper, TN

Other team keep the ball whole 1st quarter, in and out of long huddles, etc, they finally scored, we went to no huddle. no snap signal, scored on 1st play, sweep. Held them, scored on wing reverse, held them, scored on another wing reverse, held them scored on wedge.. Game over . The other coach came over and said I do not understand who was your quarterback? He never did figure what was going on. Going to put in speed option and buck lateral run this week. Thanks...Joe Davidson Amarillo, Texas......

We scored so many TDs I never knew the score, It was a lot to 0. Ran the wing reverse, it went 60 yards for TD, It was called back,so we ran it again, it went 70 yards, another game tomorrow. Joe Davidson, Amarillo, Texas..............

Yes, you can add the emails if you want, 4th game, won again scored 1st four times we had the ball, then went to everyone go out for a pass, with a different tailback every play, so the whole team got to handle the ball.. On our first series, the other coach said " Hey ref. I didn"t hear any huts on that first play... we are already lined up again, and he yells out, " they did not get in a huddle. " We run a second play, for 30 yards and he calls time out and ask the ref., " are they going to huddle and call snap signals?" Ref . looks at him and says "I guess not." Thanks for your help...Joe Davidson Amarillo, Texas

I strongly recommend any youth, or for that matter anyone interested in football, read Mr. Reed's "Coaching Youth Football" book. Mr. Reed's words remind me of those spoken by an Old Testament prophet. At first they may fall on deaf ears, but once the eyes are opened to the truth of those words, it's easy to become a believer. Besides that he writes in a very easy to read and entertaining fashion. His passion for coaching oozes with each sentence. He challenges the status quo without mercy. Even though his words sometimes sting, they often bring a smile.

I was an assistant youth coach for three years and a former Jr. High Coach and former Jr. and Sr. High player. I realized after coaching and especially after reading Mr. Reed's book, I knew very little about the game. I still have a long way to go, but I find now that my understanding of the game and hunger for knowledge grows daily as opposed to being stuck in neutral, i.e, 30 years ago! Thanks to Mr. Reed for sharing his passion and ingniting that in me.

Sincerely,

Rick Groomes, Mpls. MN

> Hi, just wanted to give you some feedback from our purchase of your books. I
> am a first time youth football coach, asked to coach my son's Pee Wee B team.
> Pee Wees are 10 yr olds in our league. The B team is made up of kids who are
> not good enough to make the A team.
>
> I played football as a kid and remember running the single wing with great
> success in the 70s, so I got online and did some research and found your
> books. Despite our inexperience, I was able to implement your ideas for
> offense and defense in the first two weeks of practices. In our first two
> games, we won 14-6 and 33-6. It was really more lopsided than that. We had a
> touchdown scored on a takeaway by the defense called back because of an
> "inadvertent whistle" by the ref in the first game, and in the second game,
> the only play in which our opponent, the Cottonwood Colts, gained any yards at
> all was a tight end pass that went sixty yards for a touchdown. The biggest
> surprise for me has been the defense. Using the GAM we have effectively shut
> down our opponents' offense using kids who mostly have never played before.
> The linemen love shooting the gaps and my middle linebacker turned into an
> absolute monster when I told him, as you suggested, to line up anywhere he
> wants and do whatever he wants. His nickname on the team is "Pitbull" because
> once he gets ahold of a ballcarrier, he never lets go.
>
> The parents and other observers of our team have been calling me and my
> assistants "coaching geniuses" because of our success with these kids. Little
> do they know who the true genius is. Thanks for making us look so good. You
> have really taken the guesswork out of youth football coaching.
>
> Mark Quinn
> Head Coach
> Olympus Titans Pee Wee B
> 801-530-7478
> mquinn@cnmlaw.com

Excellent book for a beginning through high school level coaches.

Hane Cole III, Chocowinity, NC

This is the best book (most practical) I have ever seen for middle school football. It should be mandatory reading, especially if you have never coached before. It allows you to manage your limited practice time by eliminating what doesn’t work and accelerating what does.

I didn’t get your book until after the 3rd game of an 8-game schedule. I wish I would have had it before the season started.

In one game, we played a bigger, more experienced team and we were getting run over something fierce. We implemented your GAP-8 defense (which we worked on a few minutes in one practice) and completely stuffed them for about 2 quarters until we lost our discipline and didn’t stay down on the interior line and then let the tight end slip off the line for a touchdown.

…I thought I knew a little about football. Your book was so full of information and entertaining that I couldn’t put it down.

Thanks for a marvelous job on this book!!!
Ray Webber, Oregon, WI

I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that my team finally won a game. My 11 year olds were 0-8 last year. I put in your GAM defense this year. The first game we lost by 7 points. They scored on a "fluke" hail Mary play....my kids ran in to each other and fell down. Otherwise the defense worked great. Saturday, our first victory!!
Defensive results.
Zero first downs
Minus 30 yards rushing
Minus 10 yards passing
2 interceptions
2 more dropped interceptions
The other team ran a Power I formation, and they never got outside on the sweep. We stopped all plays up the middle and off tackle. I made one change on the GAM. The ends keyed the tailback, if he came towards them like the sweep, they went to the sweep point, if he went away, they went to the QB bootleg point which was only one yard deep. We stopped the bootleg in its tracks.
Just wanted to thank you for your books and your support via emails and faxes. A victory was earned by the kids, but your defense let them play.
Thanks,
Andy Lowe

Long letter from Coach Steve Conrad, Rome, GA

Mr. Reed, Thank you.
I had my first head coaching assignment last year in a new youth football league in Indiana. I wanted to make it a rewarding experience for all involved so I purchased your "Coaching Youth Football" book. I found it to be a valuable tool from draft day through our victorious championship game.
The two most important themes that I took from your book was to: 1) Don't be afraid to put quality athletes in blocking positions and 2) Keep your play book lean but thorough
We ran a wishbone formation and primarily ran power sweeps, blasts, and misdirection to mix things up. Every practice I ran though the limited plays we had and made sure everyone knew their blocking assignment by heart. My assistant coach thought I wasn't creative enough (no passing) but his negativity waned as the season matured. By season end, I was able to instill the importance of blocking and have them take great pride in it. We didn't have a flashy offense but we protected the ball and gained positive yardage almost every play.
I would recommend to any coach that if a player carries out an awesome block in practice... Commend them enthusiastically in front of his peers. Even more so than the lucky kid that got to carry the ball in the end zone. Also, command respect from your players but make sure you make the experience as fun as possible for them.
Thanks again for the guidance!
Kelly Foster, Shoe Carnival, Inc, Database Administrator (812) 867-8321

“Hi, John. Finding your web site was like finding a lighthouse on a foggy night! It appears that you and I have much in common. First off is our love of football and baseball. I was All-State QB and All-North Georgia pitcher in high school. I was recruited pretty heavily in both sports and was offered several scholarships. I accepted an appointment to the US Air Force Academy and attended part of my "plebe" year.
Unfortunately, my eyes were not good enough to fly and I was not dedicated enough at 18 years old to stay for anything else, so I came back home and played at Georgia. I was a QB on the football team and a pitcher on the baseball team ('90 National Champs) until injuries ended both my football and baseball careers.

Recently I began coaching youth football and baseball. My son is 7 and is in his third year of football and just finished his fourth year of baseball (we start 'em young here in the South). When I started coaching him a few years ago, I realized that I still know a good bit about football and baseball, but much of that knowledge simply did not apply at the youth level. I had to re-learn many of the fundamentals to be able to coach the kids. Also, I found myself falling into the habit of coaching the kids the way I was coached, without really thinking about WHY things were always done this way, that's just the way it WAS. I think you have done a tremendous job of researching coaching tactics and techniques at the youth level and have a much SMARTER and EFFECTIVE system of coaching.

As you stated numerous times on your web site, youth football is VERY different from high school, college, and pro. You do not have world-class athletes, attention spans, etc. Therefore, you need an offense and defense that kids can run and understand. The defense must be oriented to stop the run, not the pass. The offense must take advantage of the defense's weaknesses while minimizing the potential to lose yardage and other mistakes like turnovers, penalties, and incomplete passes. Special teams play is critical, even more so perhaps than at the higher levels, because of the abundant occurrences of turnovers in the youth game. You can also never spend too much time on the fundamentals - blocking, tackling, assignments and responsibilities. Team management, parent management, clock management, etc., etc., etc. Mickey Haynes

“Thanks for your help over the past 2 years.”
Coach Rob Roark
North Henry Youth Football Super Bowl Champs 2000 for ages 6 and under!!!

“Coach Reed:
I LOVE your books. I've been coaching Pop Warner for 11 years. Last year was my 4th season as a head coach. We went 7-1. That's more wins than I had in the prior 3 seasons COMBINED. I started reading your books 2 seasons ago. This last season I fully bought into the things you were saying. The end result was a trip to the playoffs. I'm now a disciple of the single wing and a huge fan of the 10-1. Every time I speak to a 1st year head coach in our association, I sing the
praises of your books. "Buy them!!" I say. I hope they do for their sake. Because if they don't, The AVENGERS will make their lives a living hell should we meet on the playing field.
Thanks in advance for all the continued success I fully expect to enjoy the rest of my coaching career.” Keith James

“Thanks again for your knowledge. Your book has made my coaching life easy and fun. This year I coached the 11-12 yr olds and we went 9-1. Our league has a 120 lb restriction. (Any kid over 120 could not run the ball and had to play on the line between the tackles.) My team had one kid over 120 and every team we played had at least 6 kids over 120. The only team to which we lost 6-14, had 10 kids over 120. I had 3 kids quit my team after the first 2-weeks of practice because their father, uncle or brother told them we would not win a game because of the offense/defense we ran and our size. Two of the kids asked to rejoin the team after our first 3 games. I said no.

Running your kick return blocking scheme we ran back four kick-offs for touchdowns. Our most successful play again this year was the fake reverse. We scored 4 out of 11 times. We also scored 4 out of 11 times on a spinning fullback play that I found on-line. It's a variation of the fullback lead play except on the snap of the ball the fullback turns around and takes a blind handoff from the running back. The fullback then runs off-tackle, while the defense is tackling the running back who ran between the guard and tackle. It was a good short yardage or goal line play.” Thanks, Vince Icenogle

“I have used your football books for the last 3-4 seasons. Last year, I helped the St. Cecelia 7-8 grade FB team. A lot of your common sense approach helped us win a championship. Frank Raffaldi, Houston, TX

“John, Thought I would let you know how our season ended. I am the gentleman that has a new association and consequently a new team. I think that I already told you that we went undefeated in the regular season. We scored 40 points a game and gave up 10 per game. For the playoffs I preached Defense. In the playoffs we won the 1st round game 48-0. The other team quit in the 2nd quarter. The second round game we won 35-0, it also ended early. The championship game we won 39-14. It was 33-0 going into the 4th quarter. We gave them a couple at the end, because our kids had lost all composure. They were so excited about winning the Championship and going 13-0. We scored 40 points a game in the playoffs, but only gave up 5 per game.

As a side note I want to say that we have a player that gained well over 2500 yards and scored 66 TD in 13 games. If he had been in a conventional Offense he would have been lost. He is a fast kid with no experience, but he obviously understood taking the direct snap and sweeping or going off tackle pretty well.

I want to thank you again for writing your books. I think we would have been good without your books, but we were great, the best, without a doubt because of the books. You have to see the faces of the players to understand what it does for a child to feel as though they are on top of the world. You are the man John. Thanks. I attached pictures of the team holding the trophys up, for you to see[www.scorpionfootball.com].

We use the GAM Defense and the single wing offense w/only 4-6 basic plays for each game. (This is for you readers). It works. Buy the books.” Scorpion President and Coach, Lee Perry

[John T. Reed received an order from Bill Flutie, a youth coach in Masasachusetts. Bill is the brother of Doug Flutie, the Heisman Trophy winner and current Charrgers quarterback. Reed asked Bill Flutie what offense and defense Doug recommended for youth football. Here is Bill’s answer.]

“Doug agrees that stopping the run is the most critical all the way up to college level and the best way to do that is by stacking the line and playing man to man. On offense Doug likes the single wing for the kids with the direct snap.” Bill Flutie

“Also I wanted to thank you for getting me your single wing offensive book as fast as you did. My team was struggling all year. None of my players had played before and talent was limited. I had one exceptional player and the rest were hit and miss. I went through three QBs in my first three games first one went down because of an injury. So my backup played the second game and in actuality he was my third best QB but I wanted my second best QB to play another position to try and get a more talented kid on the field.

Anyway the kid I put in as my backup continually would not keep his hands open on the snap and would fumble often between the center QB exchange. I was not running the single wing at this time. I was using an I formation offense. I had used it for 4 years and I have had success with it. So anyway after the second game which my backup fumbled too much I had finally had enough time to get my third QB (more talented QB but needed at another position) enough reps at QB to take over. He did so and we played a better game but continued to have trouble scoring. I had read your first book "Coaching Youth Football" and by the third game I would use two single wing plays to confuse opposing teams. The two plays were the seam buck and the reverse. I noticed how easily my kids picked the plays up and I was snapping the ball directly to my running back eliminating the QB. We rarely had a penalty when we would run it and I never had to worry about a fumble or my split ends lining up off the line. So for our forth game I decided I would use it more often and ordered your single wing book. Needless to say I ran Seam buck and reverse for the entire first quarter and half of the second until they stopped it. Also I was just yelling the plays from the sideline in a numbered form (we had not worked out the play call for no huddle because I had not planned on using it over and over again but I was taking what they were giving me and they kept lining up wrong so I kept telling my kids to "run it again"). In that amount of time we were ahead 21 to nothing. Then I switched back to my I formation offense and tacked on another 3 Touchdowns. The next week I had your book in hand and we were off and running winning our next two games with a combined score of 77 to 13. I might add the first three games which we lost with a combined score of 14 to 98 (we did play the eventual league champ who only allowed 12 points all year and the runner up in the first three weeks of the season) But in the last three weeks we won with a combined score of 120-13 using the no huddle and the single wing. It was a great turn around and I sure will use this offense next year and as soon as the holidays are over I am buying myself a gift called the "Gap-Air-Mirror Defense for Youth Football".” Jonathan R. Vrabec

“John, I have written you several times this season to give you updates of how your book has done in Texas on the field. I started the season off with 20 players, 19 of which had never played football. I knew that it might be a long season. It was a long season. Every week wondering if the next game would be our first.

First loss that is. We went 10-0. 2 games better than the next best team in the league. We followed most of your book right down to making scouting a priority. We ran the Single wing and averaged 40 points per game. My tail back alone had 45 TD in 10 games. The Gap-Air-Mirror held opponents to 11 points per game. In the last game of the regular season, scored every way possible; a safety, interception for a TD, and a fumble recovery that we scooped up and ran in for a TD.

By about the mid season point, folks tried scouting us. I noticed at the beginning of ea. game how they would stack their defense to the strong side. Of course, we ran the reverse or the blast play to avoid that mess. They tried every thing to stop us. They couldn't. 5 of our 10 games ended in the 3rd quarter because we had 35 points or more on them. One team
even quit at half time. That game I started my #3 Tailback. After every offensive play we have, the opposing coaches come running out onto the field to pick up their players who stayed down. They simply get tired and just can't get up again. The no huddle-silent snap count just takes the wind out of the other teams.

NOTE to readers: Make sure you tell The referees that you run a silent snap count. We raise our leg to signal to the Center that the tailback is ready. The reason we tell the ref's is because the other team will start jumping offsides on the leg raise. We play NCAA rules so that means encroachment on the defense.

Since the season has started I purchased your Single wing book and will begin instituting it as soon as the 2002 season starts up. My single wing is a little different than yours. We play by NCAA rules so I do not use a possum I use the split end as a "NASTY". If the D-end lines up inside of the nasty split then we run the sweep if he lines up on the outside we run the off-tackle. Anyway we crack back on the D-end on the sweep if he lines up inside. He usually does not line up there again. Nor does he come across the line very fast any more.

John thank you. Your book has given me the confidence to be firm with what I am doing as a head coach. In turn it has given my players the confidence to go out onto the field and do their jobs. It makes it more FUN for the players.

I attached a team photo for you. (www.scorpionfootball.homestead.com) Off to the playoffs we go,” Lee Perry

“Well, chalk up another championship for your philosophy, as we won our 7th/8th grade city championships yesterday, shutting out our opponent, mostly using GAM. The opponent, known as a speed team, did not get outside once, and I can't recall their speed back making any significant run. Their only two (!) major gainers were a quick hitter by a FB, and a QB scramble (he was scrambling because all five of his receivers were blanketed by our man coverage!). As I mentioned to you before, we put GAM in after our season started, but it quickly became our primary defense, running it almost exclusively. Next year, we intend to follow you recipe more closely in the practice season so we have a better handle on the various positions, but most importantly grill the down linemen into staying low....thanks for your advice during the year, and we can now bask in the glory of an undersized team out scoring their opponents 147-32 over a nine game schedule, finishing by shutting out a previously undefeated high scoring team. Bill, Geauga Lions 7th/8th grade football team (consisting of players from St. Mary's, St. Helens, Notre Dame and St Anselms).” William Salus

“Just finished our youth (10-11 year olds) football season. Our record was 5-2. I ran the veer option offense and the GAM defense. We won our first game, lost our second two, then won the last four. The league I coach in is an “educational” league. We have only 3 weeks (10 practices) before our first game. Of those 10 practices only 4 are in pads, so I am in a big rush to evaluate kids and install an offense and a defense. The GAM defense was simple to teach and unbelievably effective. Our GAM defense gave up only 2 touchdowns the entire season. This was accomplished even though I had only 17 players and I let everybody play at least an entire half on defense every game. To do this I had two complete defensive units, one played the first half and the other played the second half. I kept the CBs, OLBs, and MLB the same on both units, and swapped out the front 6. To find places for everybody on the front line I had to go against your player size advice at the guard positions. I was forced to put light players there, but made them stay low to clog the hole. Heavier kids were put at the tackle positions to help with the off tackle play. I put a stud at MLB to clean up after the lightweight guards and tried not to over coach him. I made corrections through him and made sure he checked the alignments of the CBs and OLBs. Because I was vulnerable up the middle, one other change I made from your recommendations was when the offense was in a trips formation with nobody in the backfield other than the QB, I always had the MLB cover the inside trips receiver, and had him go halfway out rather than lining heads up. This allowed him to get back to help in case the QB tried to run up the middle over my lightweight guards.

The most difficult part of running this defense proved to be getting my CBs to get up on the line and hit the receiver, rather than play off the line as is the norm. I had to constantly work on keeping them up there, even when they could see the benefit when we reviewed their game films. This defense works. Two touchdowns in seven games attests to that. By the middle of the season I knew if we just scored one touchdown we would win the game, our defense was that tough. I have purchased three of your football coaching books including this one, and plan on purchasing your new single-wing one for Christmas. I ran that offense the past two years. I think if I could run my option offense the first half of the game, then come out running the single-wing the second half (after the opposition spent halftime making adjustments for the option), we would be unstoppable! I thoroughly enjoy all of your books and would not have had the success I had this year without your help. I look forward to reading your new single-wing book.” Sincerely yours, Rick Wilburn, Rockford, Michigan

“I want to thank you for a wonderful year. I have always been a successful coach (30-8-2 in 5 years), but have never had the fun coaching that I did this year. We ran the triple option against a league that was super competitive. We have 17 teams in our league and played a tough 9 game schedule. We played 4 undefeated teams this year and broke even at 2-2. Of course, both games we should have won. We lost by a total 10 points and gave up some easy scores.

I went to the triple option with a no-huddle offense and you should have heard my assistant coaches scream bloody murder. They were hopeing that I had a second offensive scheme, but I told them no. You and I proved them wrong and I want to thank you. It also didn't hurt, politically, that I was the only youth coach brave enough to run the same offense as the High School thanks to you. The High School only ran the Triple and thought the No-Huddle was too risky. Oh, well.

WE AVERAGED OVER 400 YARDS OF OFFENSE PER GAME AND THREW THE BALL ONLY 12 TIMES, ONE FOR A HALFBACK PASS TOUCHDOWN.

I have 6 assistant coaches who have been with me for 3 years. We went from Freshman(9-10) for two years and JV(11-12) this year. The problem this year was that I seemed to be spread so thin and devoted very little time to the defense. I tried to teach my coaches the GAP, but I spent more time on the Triple Option than the GAP and it showed. I thought the GAP would be easy for them to pick up. We finally got the defense going, but it took almost the whole year.

My assistants are a great bunch of ex-football playing Dads, but are very opinionated, aggressive and competitive. I am moving up to Varsity next year and am losing 3/4ths of my coaches and 1/2 my team. I thought that I was well prepared coming into the season, but was surprised how much coaching to the assistants that I had to do.

Your best 2 tips that I picked up are as follows:

Use Contrarian Tactics
Triple Option
No-Huddle
Spread Formation
Special Teams Emphasis
Block Assignments on Kick Return (6 for TDs)
None the first 3 games until I made the carrier start by going up the middle before he broke it off. This helped the blocking scheme.
Kicked Extra Points(2 points each)

If you ever want someone to talk to me, feel free to have them contact me. I will be buying your other books in the offseason and am a big fan of yours. I thought I could do this all myself because I played college football. Your book made the difference in fun and execution. THANK YOU!” Donald P. Cantwell

“Please let me start by saying thank you.
I am Josh Navis a 30 year old football coach. I have coached the 7th grade Waupun Warrior Football team for 5 years now. After 5 years I am just understanding the time and effort it takes to do it right. I have one book that I hold on too and read all year long and that is your book "Coaching Youth Football 2nd Edition". I got this book as a gift after my first year of coaching from a friend. It has turned out too be one of the best gifts I have ever received. Sometime after the new year I started reading it at work. I never put it down until I read it 4 times. Things I believed would work and wanted to try were spelled out there in black and white. The season could not come fast enough.

Since I did not play college football or was not the super star of my high school team I am blown off by the other coaches in the program as someone who does not know anything. Despite the fact that over the past 5 years the teams I have coached are 15 and 8. This includes my 1st year when I went 1 and 3 and hand no clue. In response too this I get too hear from the other coaches "well it's only 7th grade". I try to tell them that they have to learn how too teach the game to the kids not just instruct them on what they want them too do. But I am continually scoffed at.

When I played High school football we played an 40 stack defense. 4 linemen 4 line backers stacked over their respective linemen 2 corners and one safety. We all had a gap. Every year we had a good defense. It was the offense that struggled. Not knowing or explained to us that we were running a gap 8.

So In my 1st year coaching I had the kids play what the existing coach did for the previous 5 years. A 50 with 3 line backers. It failed terribly. Finally the week before our last game I put in the 40 stack defense with the line backer getting to pick his gap to cover on each play by tapping his lineman on the side he wanted him to go. They crashed their gaps and because of that defense we won the final game of the year.

It was that Christmas that I got your book and really started to believe that the gap 8 is the ONLY defense to have but I had to give the kids less to understand. Simple is better. It then lets them forget about the "play or job" and play more instinctively. So we really sharpened up the defense by defining each players roll, setting the right kids in the right positions, getting kids in shades on the line and getting them to penetration their gap before flowing to the ball could happened. 90% of our plays are a run read first for obvious reasons but we can and do place our backers in pass reads 1st in obvious passing downs.
Now 4 years into really knowing and understanding this defense I am proud to say that this year we are undefeated in 4 games and have out scored our opponents 110 to 8.

This was only accomplished by implementing the gap 8 defense and then reading on how to make it work. The tackling drills you suggested and other blocking suggestions you made in the book have made our program one that kids want too play. I thank you for giving me the backing and the belief that what I was doing was the right thing and how to make it even better. Every year I learn something new.

My problem is that the Varsity coaches do not believe the same thing I do, the simpler the better. They have almost 70 different offensive plays and the defense is a 40 but it does not give a gap responsibility to the line backers. The kids get defensive plays that seem to make them forget they have to make plays. This is so frustrating to watch these kids that I know are winners and have won at every level until there varsity days and no changes or suggestion seem to change the ways of the coaches.

I write this to you because I wanted you to know your words have reached more then you would know. And the positive things that have happened to me and the program is night and day to what was happening. Gap 8 not only works but dominates games if run right. That is the team huddle cheer we end every time out and quarter with "1-2-3 DOMINATE!"

I will continue to use an 8 man gap defense no matter what level I coach. I know it works and at least with your book I have some backing to help me prove my point if they don't want to believe my stats. Thank you for your time.” Sincerely,
Josh Navis, 7th Grade Warrior Football Coach

“Hey Coach, Wanted to drop you a note of thanks. I got your book on G-A-M Defense and used it as a base to run my 10-1. I also run Coach Wyatt's double wing. After 7 games (8 & 9yr olds) we have allowed net (-10yds) and have gained over 2000 yards rushing. I visited your site before the season and took some of the good advise you have to offer. Our practices consist of blocking 10 minutes of blocking drills and 10 minutes of tackling drills, the rest of the time is spent getting as many reps in on our plays as possible. Following your advise, no stupid drills like last year. It shows with our execution on both sides of the ball. The 10-1 is great for this age kids. I am lucky to have 22 great kids. I have 11 kids on 1st O and 11 different kids on 1st D. Through my first 6 games, at the half, 1st O becomes second D and plays the rest of the game on D and visa versa. Also on your advise, got all my opponents on tape at the jamboree. Just wanted to say thanks.” Stuart Whitener, Huntsville Alabama

“We gave up 6 points all season and no completions. We were undefeated, even though we were the B team in a town that stacked the A team with the best talent. We beat everybody including the A team. We used your 10-1 defense and the single wing with the spinning fullback. Every one of my players scored a toucdown during the season.” David Jacobs, Austin area

“we went on to crush our (8th grade) weekend opponent 22-0 (with two TDs called back for penalties, one pick called back for an outlandish roughing call, and another pick going for an apparent TD stopped on a quick whistle). We even had a safety, and one goal line stand (inside the three! and the only reason they got to there was due to blown coverage by a sub CB). Their D, which I mentioned last week seemed to play a variation of GAM, was tough, shutting down many of our patented sweeps and counters, and adding blitzers to their gap men, almost ruining any chance we had to pass. Yet, our D demoralized them, and our O gave enough to run away with the game despite the call backs.

You might also be interested that I ran one single-wing variation, snapping the ball directly to our fullback for a PAT that had their entire D scratching their heads, and the adult fans smiling and reminiscing about leather helmets.” William Salus

“FYI - We won this weekend 20-0 against an undefeated team. We use your GAM defense and run a simplified double wing. They never crossed their 45 yard line.” Rick Hawkins

“John, 2nd time writing to you. I have been reading your books for about 4-5 years. Let me start by quoting an opposing coach, that we just played. "Your offense looks like sandlot football." He had to say something, I guess, I know I wouldn't say anything, if that "sandlot football" had beaten me 46-6. "We run the singlewing". John through week 4 my scores have been. We have won all 4.

Week 1 - 39-26
Week 2 - 33-6
Week 3 - 39-0 Only 3 quarters. Game stopped after 35 point lead.
Week 4 - 46-6 That was the "sandlot game". This game ended 2 minutes into the 4th. 35 point rule again.

I want to say that it is all scheme, but I can't. I have 20 players on my team. 6 of those would play Tailback on other teams. My #1 tailback has 47 carries, 769 yards and 19 TD's, in 4 games. I do however believe that the total domination of other teams comes from the schemes. I see other very good players on the other teams and I am very glad they do not run our offense. They are over coached trying to run the "I" or whatever. The other 14 players on my team are also very good. I have no minimum play players. In fact to keep everyone happy, we start different players every week.

I do attribute the other part of our success to your books. Not all things do I use from your books, but most I do and I thank you for that. I wish you hadn't written a Singlewing book, because now I will have to defend it. I will be purchasing that book soon. Thanks again for what you have done for me and my new Association. Note: I have a 2 other teams in my association 1 older and 1 team younger. They now mimic me on offense and defense. Imagine that! Lee Perry

“John
Quick update on our team. We are still running the gam defense we have only givin up 24 points in 5 games.
Our single wing offense has scored 123 points. Please feel free to use the story, If it wasn't for your book we would still be struggling like last year. Thanks for your help!” Kendall Smith, Jordan Gremlins Coach, Sandy Ut.

Dear John: I am a "Daddy" assistant coach that has coached the 8 & 9 year olds up to 95lbs division of the Suncoast Youth Football Conference for 4 years. This league is the dominant youth league in the Tampa Bay area. I checked out Coaching Youth Football last year from the local library last year. I was intrigued with the 10-1 defense and tried to get my team to try it. I was laughed at. This season I checked out your book again and read it again. We have a good team with a great offense but even weak teams ran over our 5-3 and 6-2 defenses. The head coach gave me the defense and even though we were 3-0 he was scared to death of our defense. I talked him into trying the 10-1 and said that if it worked it was "our" idea and if it didn't it was "mine". Last week against a good team we pitched a shut out allowing 13 yds total offense and 1 first down. I need to know more! I feel it is a perfect defense for our personnel. I need to take it to the next level and perfect it.

I owe you. We pitched another shut out Saturday 27-0. We had some missed tackles by our end that triggered two big plays. Our Middle Linebacker ran them down though. They still need a lot of fine tuning. We are now 5-0 and heading into the light part of our schedule. If things go right we should face the Clearwater Jr. Tornadoes the last game of the season with both of us being undefeated. They have won 4 out of the last six championships. Dunedin has never beat them. This could be the year.
Best regards,
Jim Shelton

“Hello Coach Reed, Update # 2. Us 2, Opponents 0. Quite a defensive struggle. Here is a break down. They stopped us, we stopped them, for most of the game. They punted 4 times, we blocked 2 of them. We didn't punt the whole game. They kicked off to us deep to start the game. We onside kicked to them at the start of the second half, we recovered. The last play of the 3rd quarter we blocked their punt, we recovered right there ~ on the 30 yard line. It was blocked so hard that the ball just went dead right off his foot. Their punter just got creamed.
We got inside the 10 yard line but stalled. I told my defensive team, "We need a defensive score right now". Their first play was a 5 step drop back pass, our defensive LG was all over their QB for a 8 yard loss. Their second play was a sprint out to their left, our right, our right DE grabbed the QB with the defensive RT backing him up for the SAFETY!!!!!!! WOW, POW, SHAZZAM!!!!. They kicked off to us, we drove down to the 1 inch line, then got called for a holding penalty. Backed us up, then ran 3 more plays which ended the game.
I think they tried to pass about 10 times during the game. They only got one pass off and it went incomplete, it was real close to a lateral. For those people that think this defense is weak against the pass, THEY JUST DON'T GET IT!!!!!!
Thanks again for everything. Your stuff is making us look and play great.

P.S. the other team was running a 5-4 defense.
P.S.S. I couldn't believe that the other team was so un-ready for our onside kick. The kid that was closest to the ball kind of backed off and let it go. Even if he was in the know we would have gotten it because there was such a big "G" there. We practice kicking it to our left all the time, our opponents right. We like to use the extra man (Mr. Sideline). But in both games we kicked to our right, opponents left. Seems you are right again because it just so happens to be the side of the field that is furthest away from their sideline and when their coaches yell at them, the kids can't hear a word of it.”
Dave Cox

“Coach Reed, Saturday 9/8/01 was our first game. In fact it was the first game of my Associations existence. The team we were playing was the 2nd place team last year. I was a little uneasy because only 1 of my players had ever been in pads before this season. We are a 7-8 and 9 year old level with no weight restrictions. I have players from 75lbs. to 160lbs. I asked prior to the game if we could putcoaches on the field, and the opposing coach laughed at me. I expressed my feeling that the game was for the kids not us, so he let me on the field.

They won the toss and deferred to us so we chose to receive. They did exactly what you said they would and kicked it to one of my deep backs who proceeded to run it right up the middle, untouched for a TD. We ran the GAM defense and did only fair with it. They scored 3 TD's on us all outside, and as you predicted in your book the D-ends did not contain. (Needless to say that is the focal point of our Defensive practice this week). There 3 TD's were O.K. as far as the outcome of the game was considered. Let me tell you why. I am running the single wing - Direct snap to the Tail back that stands about 4 yards back. My #1 Tail back ran the ball 6 times for 203yards and 5 TD's all on the same sweep play always to the friendly sideline. You can tell by the yards that they were big TD's. We also run No huddle no snap count. Thank you very much for showing me the common sense side of youth football. Watching the other team be confused about lining up etc... was crazy. By the way, by the end of the 2nd quarter I had pulled out my best to players on both sides of the ball. I also got off the field. This is when they scored their TD's. They also had 3 coaches on the field starting the 3rd quarter. Now I was laughing. The final score was higher than I wanted (39-26), but my 2nd and 3rd string did the best they could, and are learning more and more each day.

Against your advice I put together a coaching staff of 7. I only ended up with one coach who did not agree with my schemes. You can bet your bottom dollar he's a believer now.”

Again Thank You,
Lee Perry, Scorpion Football President/Coach

“Dear Mr. Reed,I just thought I'd drop you a line and let you know how our 1st game of the season went. Well, today was our first game of the season and we won 34-0. This was due in large part to you and your books; "Coaching Youth Football, 2nd Ed", "Coaching Youth Football, 3rd Ed", "Coaching Youth Football Defense", and of course the GAM. We recovered 3 out of 5 onsides kicks-the other 2 were just fallen on by the receiving team. (Our parents used to HATE the way we kicked. But, when you recover your own kick more than 50% of the time...They shut up real fast. They kicked it off to us deep after the half and (with the help of a brilliant block) we ran it back for a touchdown.
About that block: My son Bob is a very good lead blocker (very valuable in youth football, as you know) and after the game he came up to Coach Cox and said, "Thank you for telling me to yell at the other guy before I hit him. I didn't want to clip so I yelled HEY KID! He turned around and I blasted him!" In turn, that player took out two more when he fell and we scored a touchdown.
The reason Coach Dave told him to do that was because in our preseason scrimmage, Bob blocked a kid pursuing our ball carrier, and it was pretty close to being a clip. Dave pulled him aside and told him that from now on just yell at the kid and when he turns, POW! All of this, I might add, is straight from your book.
I should also mention that they only had ONE 1st down all game. That came on a penalty against one of our minimum play players who was playing one of our interior lineman. We used to get hassled about our defense too-"It's too vulnerable against the pass!" Well, they tried about a half dozen and only one was completed for a gain of about 2-3 yards. The rest were useless, either being batted down or thrown away. No one complained after the game.
Thanks for your advice. Thought you might appreciate the feedback.’
Kevin P. Drennen
Assistant Coach

“I own your book coaching youth football and it is by far the best I have read, their is not a close second. Your book is really the only source I use for my team. Last year I took over an A team that had lost all games and only scored one touchdown the previous year and the 5th graders coming up from the B team didn't score at all. I implemented as much of your defense as I could ( our rules only allow us to have 6 on the line of scrimmage) and we went 7-0 only giving up 4 tds all year and three of those were broken plays with my subs in the game. Our offense ave. 23 points a game running basically running 5 plays all year out of a split back and double wing formation. Our defense was so could and the kids so smart we actually for fun ran a spread offense, lonesome polecat, and shotgun just for fun. By the way are biggest kid was our running back at 110lbs. We had by far the smallest team in the league with about a average of 80lbs for 5th & 6th graders. Sorry for the long winded letter, but your teaching in your book was mainly responsible for the teams turnaround. What a defense!! keep it simple,” Craig Bridges

John, loved your book on youth football, defense and clock management. I have read all three. Best info on the market! I thought I would let you know I had been using many of your ideas before I read the book and was validated. Have also implemented more from all your books. We took a Midget team that had never won a game in the associations four year history and went to the playoffs in one of the nations toughest Pop Warner Associations, Greater Jax (we are a wealthy, almost all white suburb playing only inner city schools with far more speed than we have)

My main purpose for writing was to let you know we are running the Houston Veer offense with one slight variation, we run it from a twins or slot formation so teams will get out of their standard defense of an eight man front and go to a seven man front. We had a practice game and could not be stopped by a team with superior talent. First real game is this Saturday. I will let you know how the offense works. We spend most of practice doing hundreds of reps on the dive mesh and the pitch, but mainly the mesh. We are pre-reading the dive handoff and optioning the end. Within the next few weeks we should be able to read the tackle.

Thanks for your books, they are filled with useful information and I refer back to them often. I was a high school coach for ten years in the mid seventies to early eighties and we ran the veer with great success. The key: lots of reps and lots of walk throughs on blocking assignments. You could not be more right when you said, it is more important to know who to block than how to block. The veer blocking is very simple but still needs constant
walk throughs and reps.

Ken Taylor

“My 3rd Grade team had their first game this weekend. The GAM defense held our opponent to 21 plays for a net minus 32 total yards. I assigned the players just as you explained in the book. Also, my MB is just as you described -- he made the most tackles, flies to the ball, and loves to hit. He doesn't have the best tackling form but he always brings the ball carrier down. FYI - We are running the double wing offense and had a total of 334 yds on 30 attempts. 27-0

I am sure they will not all be that easy but I just want to thank you again for all of the good information.” Regards, Greg Cazzell

“Mr. Reed,
I recently purchased your Coaching Youth Football 3rd Edition. I am an assistant coach to a local youth football organization. My responsibility is the defense (Defensive Coordinator). I wanted to let you know that we tried you GAM defense and as you predicted, I caught a lot of flack over it from the other coaches. They kept saying "what if they run up the middle, or pass behind the middle linebacker !!!!!" and I will admit that I was a little skeptical myself. Our first scrimmages put a silence on that. We first tried my conventional 5-3 defense that we ran in the past with no result. They ran and passed at will. Then when we switched to the GAM, it was like someone turned on a lightswitch. It completely shut down both offenses.” James Felker

“I got your Coaching Youth Football book. Last Monday, we started installing your Gap-Air-Mirror defense. By Thursday, our offense was asking us to please stop running that defense against them. They were losing about three yards every snap.” Mark Paule, Spring Valley, CA

“Mr. Reed
I coach P.A.L. football with Tom Goyings in Fort Wayne, Indiana. First of all, I would like to say that your book has turned are team around. I am sure that Tom has told you the success that we have achieved since implementing your offensive and defensive schemes. I really appreciate all that you have done for us and youth football.” Thank you, Sean W. Motter

“I wanted to let you know about some things that happened this last weekend. I think you'll be excited about this. As you know, when I came from Alaska and was stationed in Petaluma, I ended up a short distance away from Tomales High, which runs the Double Wing offense I had decided to use (on your recommendation).
Well, along with becoming the defensive backs and running backs coach, I was given the task of "Tackling
Coach," because I had a clear-cut system. Gee, I wonder where I got that, huh?
Anyway, the meat of this story is that this last weekend we held a three day contact camp at our school. We had six high schools from all over Northern California there, and not one of the schools was in our division. (We are a SMAAAAAALL school.) I think we aquitted ourselves admirably.
Here's the best part. The format for the camp was a two hour practice followed by two 1/2 hour scrimmages. Then lunch, then another two hour practice and a final set of scrimmages. We did this for three days.

Friday was the first day I installed my tackling drills, which could have been xeroxed from your book. We used the landing pads, emphasized lift, and went at 1/2 speed. In our scrimmages Friday we missed a couple tackles, and I went ballistic each time, making the high-volume point that missed tackles are NOT allowed on this defense. I cut off the responses from the players by using another of your lines, "Sir, no excuse, sir."

Saturday, there was a marked improvement. We used the tackling system (I call it "Ten Minutes of Happy Time With Coach Wade".) for both practices, and our final scrimmages of the day we missed three tackles, total.

Sunday we scrimmaged all six of the teams in 45 minute blocks. We beat each of them at least once over the three days, but Sunday we REALLY laid on the hammer. We missed ONE tackle all day. ONE! Even better was the third string free safety, who was starting because of our lack of personnel (besides, he needed the reps). He was the kid that missed the first tackle, but he made up for it in our final game, when Santa Rosa completed a slant pass over the middle.

Coach, he laid that kid OUT! It was just like the form tackle you described in CYFB 3ed. I was forty yards away on top of the press box filming and I heard the POP! (actually more of a KAPOW!!!) when his shoulder pad hit the receiver's thigh. He wrapped, picked the guy up, and slammed him about eight feet backwards. That tackle fired up the defense so much that we didn't let them cross the line of scrimmage for the rest of the period.

My head coach went ballistic. Apparently he's been trying to get this kid to tackle correctly for three years, and I did it in three days with your system. I had coaches from three different high schools come up and ask us how we got our kids to make such improvement in our tackling so fast.

All I can say is, if we got this good in three days, what are we going to be like after the season starts?

You know, high school coaches could learn a lot from reading your books a couple of times. My head coach
has already asked to borrow my copy.

Derek Wade

“Thank you for such a wonderful bible about football. My youth team (5th grade) last year really played above what anyone expected. We did'nt have a complicated offense, we just tried to run you down and wear you out. This year, after a few changes to the team that were unexpected, Great book, and I recommend it to every coach I know.
Thanks Brad Heath-Jenks Trojans 6th Grade

“After being an assistant coach for 7 years, I finally got my own team. The first two years we had a combined record of 3 wins and 13 losses. I read your books and with very little support from my assistants and a lot of skepticism, I put it (single wing) and 10-1 defense to work. Went 5-3 first year. Second year 8-1 and won the Police Athletic League (PAL Bowl) in Fort Wayne, IN. The following year we went 9-0 and won it all again. Everybody is a believer now. Thanks!! P.S. You sure made me look good!.” Sincerely, Tom Goyings.

“I bought your book a few years back and i would like to thank you for your informative articles. as a 21 year old rookie head coach, i was unsure about how everything was going to work out. i coached a pee-wee team and we ended up 10-2, with a conference championship. we used your suggested single-wing offense in the second half of our championship game. we had been prcaticing it all year as a "suprise" offense. we overcame a two touchdown deficet to win by 7. i would just like to thank you for your book. it is really helpful. thank you.” james tai, tampa, fl

“Hi John, Dave Marcotte here, I am from, and coach youth football in Seabrook NH. I am also president of our league. I won the election by a landslide,,,,,,,,, because nobody wanted to do it.
Also, this book [Coaching Youth Football] is the best book I have in my football coaching library. I wish I found it 4 seasons ago when I first started as offensive line coach. I also think your GAM defensive book is the most complete and instructional book I have ever read including books on other subjects not pertaining to football. Thanks again and feel free to use any of my comments, they are quite sincere.”
Dave Marcotte, Head coach, Seabrook Rams (3rd- 6th grade football)

“For the past month I've been preparing for our Fall 2001 Season. Every year I review just about everything you've published to refresh my memory and recharge the batteries. I just read your article on Rookie Coaches and could not agree with you more.

Last year we observed the most atrocious coaching I've seen in a long time, particularly our last regular season game. Keep in mind both teams had equal amount of time to prepare for the season and equal amount of game experience prior to our game. We scored 26 points in the first quarter. It took them four attempts to run their first play from scrimmage. One delay of game penalty, two illegal motion penalties. This continued throughout the entire game. The coaches were screaming at the players just as you described. We allowed no first downs. They had one positive gain on offense. Our parents were visibly upset with the opposing coaches and threatened us if we ever treated our kids the way our opponents treated their kids.

My rookie season was not as a coach but as a parent watching other coaches attempting to simulate football. I was disgusted with what I saw and decided it was time to get involved in coaching. I bought your books and studies them closely for a year before my rookie coaching debut. Result was a 10-1 season. Lost in the League semi-final. Second year we won the League championship.

This is my third year coaching and I see no reason to change my pre-season ritual. It always starts with knowledge form John Reed, and I thank you.” Brant Ruder

“John,
I am a youth football coach in Walpole, MA. Last year was my first year for the 8-9-10 year olds. Although I played high school and college football, I had been out of the game for 20 years.

I read your Coaching Youth Football (1st edition--a fellow coach, John Reidy from Walpole let me read his copy) and your Coaching Youth Defense books. Both books were outstanding. I was particularly impressed with the offensive scheme. I adopted the single wing and had terrific success (went 7-1, only loss was to Boston 25-19, they ran back a kickoff with under 2 minutes to play). By the way, Boston had lost only one game in seven years at
the E-level Pop Warner (8-9-10 year olds). Before the season, one of my coaches from the previous regime (previously a head coach) called me crazy and resigned because of the offensive scheme. Well, we showed them..... Our goal was to score 3 TD's per game since we did not want to embarrass anyone. We averaged 20 points per game. Up until the Boston game, we only had one TD scored against us.

Regards,

Gary W. Whittemore
11 Tanglewood Road
East Walpole, MA 02032
781-828-5400 x225 (Work Phone)
gary.whittemore@sarnafilus.com (Work E-Mail)

“Mr. Reed, I love your books. I have almost all of them. Its the absolute best resource for new and expienced coaches.
Jess Wilhite, Arizona

“Coaching Youth Football 3nd Edition, is the most informative football book I have ever read. (I have many books on the subject.)” Dave Marcotte, Seabrook, NH Rams (4th - 6th grade)

“Just got your book and it is great. Have had 6 losses in last 4 years and 5 of those were on one team with 22 of 34 players being absolute rookies. Your special teams should help me out a lot because this has been my weakest area and I like some of your practice ideas. It is nice to know I do some things right. Thanks again. Donald P. Cantwell, Sales Director, 248-685-0050

“I have purchased your book on youth football and it has done very well for our team. 1999 Record, 1-8;
2000 Record, 10-2 (with your book and double wing) ” Rick Regalado, Santa Monica Pop Warner second-year assistant coach [Note from John T. Reed: The double wing is one of the few offenses I recommend in Coaching Youth Football.]

“My name is Mike Nelson and I have just finished reading your book Coaching Youth Football 3rd edition. It was an easy read and very thorough. Much of it is very logical and common sense. Thank you for writing a book geared to youth football. I am still analyzing the GAM defense and the single wing offense with no cadence and no huddle. I tried to use a similar defense modified from a 5-3, but did not use the Air approach to the defensive ends. Still, we were successful after its implementation. But your GAM appears to be the finished product of what I have been trying to devise. I will be getting your GAM book soon to learn as much as possible as soon as possible so I can effectively coach it this coming season.” Thank You, Mike Nelson

“I’ve been through the GAM book a couple of times now, and it would be hard for this book to be any better. Its a bit redundant to state, but I am a huge fan of your books, and this book also is excellent.

My favorite sentence in this book is: ‘Bury football's sadistic conditioning rituals.’ After 4 years of highly organized youth and school football in early 1970’s Texas, I quit football in 9th grade. Those useless grass drills, performed in 90 degree heat, were part of the reason. I didn’t mind the running. I continued to play high school basketball, which had far more running. But I was a kid, and large parts of football practices were simply not any fun. Your comments about this were right on.

An Idea:
My brother and I love the shrunken field situations drill from your ‘Youth Baseball Coaching’ book.

I'm going to try the same thing at the very end of next year's football practices- esp. for special teams. We will take helmets and shoulder pads off, keep hands in pants (no talking or touching with hands), squeeze formations as tight as possible, use no ball, and fit and freeze everything with substitutions.

I really think this will have value for all 3 phases. I also think 4 reps a minute is possible.

Good luck, and don't run out of power,” Greg Cotharn, Ft. Worth, TX

“I have been coaching Youth Football for 9 seasons. My teams have had some success (we were league champs in 1996), but over the last couple of years, our win total had diminished. I had a feeling that some of the problem was the fact that we were using the same offense for a couple of years (Wishbone) and everyone had game tape on us (We are not allowed to scout, but are allowed to tape our own games). I have been an assistant coach for all of my 9 seasons and have had trouble trying to convince others, that changing our stale offense was a good idea. This past season, I moved up an age group (10 and 11 year olds). The head coach on that team was a defensive coach. He said that I could do whatever I wanted on offense. I had been reading your books since 1997, but was never given the green light before, to implement any of your ideas. I decided to use the Wing-T this past season. I also decided to use the all game no huddle that you talked about in the 1st version of your Coaching Youth Football book (That took some selling).

In our first game, while running our no huddle, we actually got called for 2 delay of game penalties. The kids were wandering around and not looking for the board (I used the Magna Doodle, which you discussed in your Clock Management book). We ended up winning the 1st game 12-0 despite our poor no huddle performance.

By the second week, we looked like a completely different football team. The no huddle was clicking and we rolled up 22 first half points. We ended up playing subs for the entire second half.

Our third game, started much like the second. We rolled up 2 quick touchdowns and went on to win the game 20 -0. Several weeks later we ran into the coaches from the opposing team. They said that we had them reeling the entire first half using the no huddle style. He also informed me, that our team had run 73 offensive plays that game.

At seasons end, we had outscored our opponents 172-30 and came in second in our league at 6-1-1. We had 20 kids on our roster, many of whom played both ways. Fatigue was never a problem.

I wanted to thank you for sharing your knowledge about the youth game with others. Your material has helped me to become a better coach. You have also inspired me to read something other than Sports Illustrated.

I have always liked the idea of using the GAM defense (10-1 from your old book). In 1997, I actually got the head coach to try it for the last 3 weeks of the season, since we were getting smoked every week anyway. It definitely stopped the bleeding. I was not able to convince him to use it the next season. I suspect, if we had used it from day one in 1997, we would have had a much better season.” - Jim Lochner

“I have read your coaching youth defense. I have used your coaching ideas in both football and baseball, and have good success.” Russ Bill, Pitman, NJ

Review by Scholastic Coach® editor Herman Masin
“Reed is a West Point graduate, a Harvard MBA, owns one wife and three teenage sons, milks the mind of every sport technician he meets, is a youth-sport authority of staggering proportions, and is massively bright, intriguing, and controversial. All of which are strikingly exemplified in his latest writings: Gap-Air-Mirror Defense for Youth Football, Coaching Youth Football 3rd edition, and Youth Baseball Coaching (Can be controversial, but is always intriguing).” Herman Masin, Editor, Scholastic Coach® and Athletic Director magazine, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, 212-343-6372

“YOUR BOOKS ARE THE BEST, MY TEAMS HAVE HAVE WON 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THE LAST 3 YEARS WITH THE 10-1.”
THANKS COACH KAREY

“I wrote to you at the start of the season, letting you know that I used your books last year (1999) as a guide. I was Head Defensive Coach and the team went 8-3. This year I became Head Coach and again used your books and philosophies as a guide - especially defensively. I happy to report that the team went 10-0 and won the County Championship! We only give up 24 points all year (and 6 of those were on a kick return). We ran a 10-1 or 8-3 80% of the time. All year, we could hear teams that were scouting us saying it would be easy to run on us and even easier to pass. I had a good group of kids who believed in our defense. We drilled our linemen to cover their gaps first, then find the ball. Our linebackers aggressively attacked the offensive ends, keeping them on the line and stopping the off-tackle plays. Our ends stayed home. Our cornerbacks would string the wide plays out (on the few occasions the play got outside our ends) to the sidelines. Our 'safety' played parallel the whole season, anywhere from 5 -10 yards off the ball. We posted 7 shutouts. The kids took pride in the defense. Offensively, we scored 250 points. I had an Offensive Head Coach who did a great job, but he'll stay down next year, whereas I'll move up to the next weight class. I look forward to putting a lot of your offense philosophies in place next year when I take a stab at running an offense (now that the defense is in place!). Once again - a big thank you. Your philosophies just make sense to me coaching at this level. An 18-3 record the past two years provide the proof!” Skip Brown

“My name is Steve Cozad and I am the head football coach at Lyons-Decatur Northeast High School in Lyons, NE. We are a small 11-man [team] school in our state with an enrollment of 108 students. We incorporate many of your ideas as well as Don Markham and Hugh Wyatt’s on offense and in regard to how we organize practice. The result the in our two years here is a 9-8 record (6-3) in 2000. The school was 15-65 the previous 10 years before we got here and on an 11-game slide. We have kept everything very simple for our kids and fortunately we have 32 young men who care very deeply about each other and play way over their heads. I just finished visiting with John Aldrich in Cedar Falls and have ordered his materials. This summer we had Don Markham in town for a camp with our kids and several other schools who use the double wing. I believe too many coaches, especially at our level (high school) try to make this sport too difficult and what you are doing is phenomenal. Anyway, feel free to contact me any time at (402) 687-2864 (Home) or (402) 687-2363 or (402) 687-2349 (School). Keep up the great work.”

“I thought I would save this email until we were finished with our season. I am the Southern Marin Pop Warner Head Coach at the Pee Wee level. We, my assistant coaches and myself, purchased your book quite by accident in June of this year.

My previous experience as a Head Coach started 2 years earlier at the Junior Pee Wee level, where we went 2-6. It was a tough year I was a new coach and we had all new kids. Our second year we were on the build and ended 4-4. The tragedy was a great group of kids and inadequate coaching. We knew we needed a better mouse trap and went shopping the next year, before moving up with our kids.

I think as a whole your book was excellent. We built our practices around your structure and tended to quote it periodically as "the book of John" during practice.

Our first game was a little disappointing. We were smoked by Vacaville 26-0. They are hands down the best team at our level and should continue to Florida to the championship. Unfortunately, our best player failed to certify (older/lighter), he was one lb too heavy. This put my both my offense and defense in chaos. Another coaching error, I was not on top off the situation.

We regrouped, made some defensive changes and gave up only 6 points over the next 6 games. Our modified 8-3 gave up only one TD and scored several times during that stretch. We coached, drilled, scouted and used only one defense through out the year.

We finished our year 6-2, losing our final game to Vallejo on a last minute interception ran back for a TD. We had lost 2 key players to injury and our defense allowed one TD plus the interception.

Looking back, the single most important bit of information, that we all knew intellectually but never put into practice, was SCOUTING. We filmed every team and drilled on their offensive and defensive tendencies. We could no sooner imagine heading into a game blind, than going to work in your underwear. We surprised and appalled at the number of teams that never scouted us. Alhough, the time and energy it took was amazing.

I remember watching our current JPW team go through the same growing pains with a first year coach and no returning players. During a game one of my kids made the following comment, "Boy those Scouts really suck..." To which I replied, "Hey, that was our team 2 years ago, we had a lot of first year players." He turned and stopped me in my tracks with, "And you guys had absolutely no idea how to coach" All this time I thought the kids really didn't know the difference.

This year everyone noticed, the kids, the parents, our Southern Marin teams and more importantly the opposing teams. Thank you for contributing to a great season.

Sincerely,

David Neseralla
Southern Marin "Braves" PW

“I just wanted to tell you that my junior peewee team begins the playoffs tomorrow. We finished the season at 8 - 0 -1. The Single Wing has been awsome. Power, Spinner, Buck series and a few surprises always keep the defense guessing. Two weeks ago we came from behind to defeat a team that was undefeated and unscored upon with two 4th quarter TD's 12 - 8. I’m sure we will face them again in the playoffs. This was their first defeat in our conference since the championship game in 1996. As you can tell I am extremely proud of my kids.

I have two offensive units that have done very well especially with the WEDGE play. I hope to write back with more good news. Thanks again,

An update since the last note. We won the State Championship on Sunday against the team I wrote you about. The score was 25 - 16.” Greg Laboissonniere

“I am interested in ordering the following books, "Coaching Youth Football, 3rd ed.," and "Football Clock Management." I already have "Coaching Youth Football, 2nd ed." but your updates look well worth the purchase of the new edition. I also have your book, "Coaching Youth Football Defense, 2nd ed." I coach in Pop Warner at the Mighty Mite division (7, 8, and 9-year-olds).

Your books have been a huge help. I read them in anticipation of my first year as a Head Coach in little league football and have since compiled a 15-3 record, including an undefeated 8-0 season this year. Y'know, you are legendary amongst the youth league coaches on the net. I think your books are so helpful because it not a dry X and O treatise. You tell it like how it is in the real world. I also feel like I'm "hearing" you talk, and not like I'm reading a book. Anyway, the books have been a huge help. Thanks so much! Sincerely,” Dave Potter, Head Coach, Durham Fighting Eagles, 2000 CFF Mighty Mite Football Champions

“I bought your book "Coaching Youth Football" second edition last year (1999) and "Coaching Youth Football Defense" second edition this year (2000). Both are excellent books. They make sense. I plan to buy the third edition CYF and the new G-A-M Defense books very soon.
“Last year (1999) the head coach for our Mighty Mite team (7-8-9 year olds) would not let us use the gap-air-mirror defense. He thought it was too vulnerable against the pass and break away runs up the middle, plus I think it was to unconventional for him. But, I was able to at least talk him into using the single wing offense for some of our plays. This worked especially well because most of the time our center was getting clobbered by a nose guard. Although, most of our success was due to the fact that our Q-back was very fast running the sweep, and for the most part, playing "tag" to score touchdowns. Our final record was 5-4-0. Not bad for a bunch of kids who never played tackle football before and a bunch of coaches who never coached little kids football before.

“This year however, I am the Head coach for the Mighty Mites. A year wiser and able to implement your strategies. We only run the G-A-M defense. Works like a champ. We have had 3 shut outs so far this season and when we played a strong offensive team, the most points scored was 26. We played 3 teams that have been averaging 35-48 points a game. Of those games, we went 1-2. The scores being a 14-0 win, 12-26 loss, and 6-20 loss. After the games were over, the opposing coaches were in amazement and didn't have a clue what we were running defensively. In fact, one of the opposing coaches told me that he couldn't sleep for 2 nights in a row just thinking about it. This guy thought we were doing something illegal because sometimes there were 10 guys on the LOS. When my assistants wanted to change up the defense, say to a 4-4-3 or a 7 diamond, I would not let them. I said, "don't fix what ain't broke." Of course, after hearing what the opposing coaches were saying, I only had to say this once. As for being weak against the pass, the results are mostly in. We have had ~15 passes thrown against us this year. 3 passes were complete for a average gain of about 4-5 yards, 3 passes were intercepted by us, 4 passes were incomplete, and the rest have been QB sacks. The kids love it when the opposing teams try to pass. They just eat them up. We also coached the kids and practiced on how and when to pick up a fumble and when to fall on it. In doing that, we scored a touchdown when my kid picked up a fumble and ran it 45 yards for a TD (Head Coach was very pleased). Last year he would have just fallen on it. We also scored a safety this year for a total of 8 defensive points. Last year we didn't score defensively. Additionally, we held two teams to no first downs for the entire game. Next year, I plan to get someone to keep better statistics.

“Our record so far this year is 5-2-1 with one game left. I predict a victory. We don’t preach winning to the kids at this level because Mighty Mites is more of a training division and there are no playoffs, but the coaches and parents sure like it (winning). Thanks for writing and publishing these books. I recommend them to coaches that need some direction. I know I did. I played JH, HS, and College football and thought I knew a lot and I do, but I knew nothing about coaching little kids football.
Dave Cox
“P.S. Just one more thing I learned about little kids football without reading it in your book (found it in the book after the fact) and its kind of funny but needs immediate correction. A lot of times the offensive linemen make initial contact with their man, then turn around and want to watch the play. Most of the time the guy that they made initial contact with, makes the tackle in the backfield. I have told the kids that if they would sustain their blocks instead of turning around and watching, they can watch the RB run for a touchdown instead of watching them get tackled in the backfield. They like that idea and it seems to work most of the time now.

[Subsequent email] “I also want to update you on the last game of the season. As I predicted, we won. 17-0. Our defense scored a touchdown by interception and we also scored another safety. That makes 16 points scored defensively this year. After talking to the head coach of the opposing team after the game, he informed us that their “star” running back almost gained 1000 yards this season. I think the coach thought he would get it against us. Well, we shut him down and the one and only first down they got the whole game was due to us jumping offside on a 4th and 4. In fact, the “star” was the kid that got caught in the end zone for the safety.

“Anyway, we had a successful season at 6-2-1.” Dave Cox

“I have coached Pop Warner Pee Wee's for 5 years. When I first started I was, like all coaches, lost. I searched everywhere for info about coaching. I finally found your book on some web site and promptly ordered it. It was great, but still not satisfied I called you and spoke to you about ‘coaching youth football.’ We had a great conversation. We spoke about your son, my Navy career and, of course, football. You were very generous with your time and helpful concerning my new football team.
Anyway, my New Canaan, CT Bulldogs finished 6-1 this year and our first play-off game is this Saturday against the Danbury Trojan's who have, in the past, made it to Florida. Honestly, I am not using the single wing, but more a knock-off of Coach Freeb's offense. http://jvm.com/coachfree/ However, my defensive coach does use your gap-8 and we have been VERY successful with it. We stop the run and absolutely love it when they throw! More importantly I learned the lesson that it’s not how you block but knowing who to block that really counts. We spend a lot of time on the ‘freeze’ in practice and make sure everyone knows who to get. Thanks.” Donald S. Worthley

“I am writing you to thank you for writing your Coaching Youth Football books. I have just finished coaching my first team of any kind, a Junior Pee Wee Pop Warner team, in Green Bay, WI. With your books as the backbone of my coaching strategy we compiled a very sucessful 5-2 record.

It is interesting to note that I came across your website a year ago when I was scanning the Internet looking for information on the single wing. I was on a reference material hunt about this great offense, and having grown up in Menominee, MI, home of Coach Ken Hofer’s single wing, I wanted to learn more. In someways it became an obsession. Along the way I came across your materials, I studied them, noted how much of a contrarian I was, how fascinating to learn you are an advocate of the offense for youth football.

After collecting other direct snap books through inter-library loan, trading video tapes, bookmarking websites, I came to the realization that I needed an outlet for my newly acquired knowledge. This past summer, I threw my application into the local Pop Warner coaching circles. To my surprise I was chosen as a head coach. I was expecting/hoping for an offensive coordinator position at best. I did not have a son playing, he's two years old, nor did I play high school football, but I wanted to give coaching a try. I felt like it was my responsibilty to show the Green Bay area that the single wing was alive.

I immediately poured over your two books formulating my plan. This became more than a hobby of researching the single wing, it became the responsibilty of a whole team of young players. Being no defensive guru, I immediately decided on the 8-2-1/10-1 defense you recommend. It sounded great to me. Next I needed to figure out which version of a direct snap
offense I wanted to use. After e-mailing back an forth with a few new coaching friends across the country I decided to give the direct snap, double wing with an unbalanced line offense a go. I figured I wanted to spread the work load around, so two wingbacks seemed the way to go. With the help of a coaching colleague and the Tierny and Gray book, our 10 play
offense was ready to go.

My assistants were on board with everything I had in store. They must have thought you were coaching this team instead of myself at times because I referred to you and your techniques so often. The important thing was they were sold and we put into motion our plan.

Both the offense and defense created a great deal of havoc over the course of the season. I was approached many times about our offense, because most football people in the area have heard of Menominee's single wing (it's 1 hr north of Green Bay and often play area teams) and asked where I was from. I admitted my background with a smile.

We scored 144 points, averaging 28 points in our 5 victories. We rotated our TBs and WBs every series to not only get them playing time, but not to get them banged up. Eight players scored touchdowns this season. Our no huddle, warp speed game plan worked to our advantage all season as well. One other note to youth coaches, utilize pulling linemen. The kids love it and it works well. Ironically the coaching staff needed the convincing, not the players.

Defenseively, we as a team grew in understanding of what we were trying to do and the players and coaches got better each week. None of our coaches had any defensive background, so we learned together. In all we held our opponents to 8 pts/game, created 18 turnovers, and held the top team in our league to 15 and 6 pts in each of our losses. They were a stronger, bigger and well-coached team. We gave them everything they could handle, with opportunities in each game to actually win the ballgame. Those were actually my two favorite games to coach.

We also scored one defensive TD and had one safety. On special teams, we went with the squib kicking game and were lucky enough to recover 5 kicks too. We found that the other teams began to kick short, maybe because of our influence. We really never punted either, although we generated 4 turnovers on punt pressure. Teams stopped punting against our defense after that too.

We repeatedly reminded our team that this game came down to blocking and tackling and we practiced form tackling, bear crawling, blocking every practice. Like you have written the bear crawling takes time and it did get better every week, our oponents were unable to run insidenor outside due the great play of our disciplined ends.

Again thank you for the great resource. I felt like a had a hidden gem in our corner the entire season.” Adam Wesoloski, De Pere, WI

“I HAPPENED ACROSS "COACHING YOUTH FOOTBALL" & "COACHING YOUTH FOOTBALL DEFENSE" WHILE LOOKING FOR BOOKS THAT WOULD HELP ME UNDERSTAND THE SCHEMES THAT MY SON'S TEAM WERE USING. YOU ARE RIGHT ON WITH CONCEPT THAT YOUTH FOOTBALL IS DIFFERENT THAN BIG LEAGUE FOOTBALL. IRONICALLY, AS I WAS WATCHING MY DAUGHTERS 7TH GRADEVOLLEYBALL GAME LAST NIGHT I DREW A PARALLEL BETWEEN THE OVERHEAD SERVE IN YOUTH VOLLEYBALL TO THE FORWARD PASS IN FOOTBALL (THEY DON'T WORK VERY MUCH). I'M SURE YOUR COMMON SENSE APPROACH WOULD LEND ITSELF TO SUCCES IN ALL YOUTH SPORTS.” Steve Kane

“Jack,I thought I would send you a note of thanks for helping the Jr. Pee-Wee Panthers of Eagle River Alaska to another perfect season.We spoke on the phone at the beginning of the season this year and I purchased your book "Coaching Youth Football".I had previously bought "Coaching Youth Football Defense" when I started coaching 4 years ago.I have been using your basic 10-1 or 9-2 defences since the beginning.I started as a Mighty Mite coach,"7,8 and 9 year olds" for the first 2 years.These last 2 years I moved up to Jr Pee-Wee basically following my boy up.We have lost 1 game in these 4 years which actually occured in my second season when I was away moose hunting.One of my assistant coaches wasn't a convert and changed things around for the game I was gone.We had already beat this team earlier in the season decisively. When I started coaching I new little about the game as I was a boxing and martial arts trainer/coach.When I instituted your 10-1 the first year everybody thought I was nuts.I liked it from the start because of the way it used the natural agressivness of small kids coupled with there lack of sophistication and passing ability.
“My 1st season we were 10-0 in Alaska and traveled to Washington state and played there 2 best teams. We won 13-7 and 6 -0. This was the 1st season of Pop Warner in Alaska while Washington had been playing for years. This season we are 9-0 and have out scored our opponents 261-50.We won last night our 1st playoff game 38-7.We have one more game in conference on Sunday against a team we beat 2 weeks ago 40-0.
“I appreciate the input from your books, Jack and we are planning to play outside to the regionals.” Mike Huston

“I have utilized the single wing and your Gap Air Mirror all year with great success. We are 5-0 and average giving up about 40 yards per game. You have been a great help. I have also bent the ears of Coach Aldrich qand Coach Racely all year long. They have also been of great help.” P. A. Colquitt

“We played our first game employing your 10-1 defense and single-wing offense and won 28-0. Our offense ammassed 192 yards while our opponent had -48! We could have scored more, but we emptied our bench and used seven different
halfbacks giving the reserves some invaluable experience.” Kenny Glavin

“I’ve purchase three of your coaching books. Which, by the way, are the most useful coaching books for Pop Warner coaching I’ve ever read.” Devon Price

“We coach in a league that covers McHenry County, Illinois and Walworth & Kenosha Counties in Wisconsin. I bought "Coaching Youth Football" this past spring and it was truly a revelation. Dave read the book and felt the same way, so we decided to use the book as a "victory blueprint" for our 11-12 year old team this season. We use a 20 yard "chip shot" kickoff, which we are able to recover about 50% of the time (we kick deep after we get a big lead). When we punt (which isn’t often) we shift to it quickly from the I-formation. In 5 games, none of our opponents have even touched one of our punts (we down them when they stop rolling). Our only fake punt this season was successful because we lined up in punt formation, then shifted to I and threw a pass to the slotback while the guy who was supposed to cover him was waiting deep to receive the punt. We haven't mastered blocking punts (yet), but we make sure that we catch them and average about 14 yards per return (that means the opposing punt team nets less than 10 yards). We don’t get to return many kickoffs, but in the past couple weeks we’ve started to return them well into enemy territory. We kick our extra points (which is worth 2 points in our league) and we’re getting so that we make about 80%. We use the formation and principles of the 10-1 defense, although we move the 2 & 4 positions back about 2-3 yards (they seem to a better head of steam to hit people that way). We also work some line stunts and blitzes into it. On offense, we use 16 plays (with integrated blocking schemes) from only 3 formations. They're all from books by high school and college coaches. Although we usually send the plays in with a rotation of players, we use hand signals to run our 7 primary plays at warp-speed. The result: Our kids are 5-0, they've outscored the opposition 173-0 and they're having a blast. Thanks for helping to make us look so smart.
Coaches Eric Strutz and Dave Sheedlo, Stateline Comets, Sping Grove, IL

“Hi Coach.Last year i purchased,Coaching Youth Football, Defense,and time management books.Since then with Gap 8 defense and some of the other strategies learned from your books our youth football team has been 16-1-1.Only loss was in the championship game.Teams shut out 12.Thanks,Coach.” Coach Armando A.Castro (Roanoke,Va.)

“I ordered your book, Coaching Youth Football about 4 weeks ago and I said I would keep you up to date on how we're doing.

“We played a team today (our first game) that usually finishes in the upper half of the city standings. They are an inner city team w/an abundance of talented athletes. Last year we lost to them 35-0. This year, using the methods in your book and your 1993 offense we dominated the game in a 18-0 win. It could have been worse because we had 2 td's called back for holding down field. The worst part was that they were unnecessary because the TB had a clear shot to the end zone. We actually ended the game by taking a knee at the goal line on 3 consecutive plays (they burned their TO's trying to adjust to the warp speed no-huddle)

“After the game I had park commissioners and parents from the opposing team coming up to me commenting that they had never seen such an organized team. They were asking how we ran all of these different plays and never huddled. I guess they never even noticed our assistant coach relaying the plays in via the dry erase board.

“Our defense is nothing special ( I've begged the D/coordinator to read your section on defense), but we controlled the ball almost the entire game by running a play that we call wildcat, it's just a combination of the wedge and off tackle, (I whisper to the tailback which route to take before the play, in this age group I can be out there on the field w/them) We averaged 7 yards per carry on this play. Only a fidgety coach who wanted to diversify things stopped us with a couple of reverse calls and an interception on a look in pass.

“The point is we lined up power right and let the TB pick his hole and he would rip 7 yard run after 7 yard run. We could have won by more if we had only run two plays, the off tackle and the sweep. Considering the fact that we only have to go 8 yards to pick up a first I fully expect to control the ball 70 percent of the time.

“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how much your book has meant to me and my team. If we win the city I'm sending you a trophy. Thanks again,” Merrell Chittenden, Southland Wildcats (7 and 8 division)

“Congratulations on a masterpiece!” J. Mastromatteo

“I happened across your website as I was looking for books. I needed to get them into my hands ASAP. I figured I could order more than I needed, in the hopes that something would be beneficial. I ordered, from Amazon and Borders combined, 27 books on football, and I ordered all your books. I have read all your football books and a very large part of the other books. I was, at first, skeptical about your books because they didn't come from one of the traditional publishers, but I really wanted all I could get my hands on, so I bought them in addition to the orders I had placed on Amazon and Borders. These other books are packed with some good information. However, the ones that were specifically for youth football were written by folks who obviously had not spent much time with kids. The non-youth ones were far too complex for kids. However, I really like what you had to say about the youth game. I followed your link to Hugh Wyatt's page, and bought his Double Wing videos. They are fantastic.
I have read [your] Coaching Youth Football and Coaching Youth Football Defense. I must say, they are outstanding.” Jody Hagins

“Tonight my Freshman Football team from Palo Verde High School won their opening game, 22-0, against Parker. While many people contributed to this evening's success, including a group of lads who worked hard and played hard, I wanted to write and thank you for your book Coaching Youth Football 2nd edition, which I purchased months ago. Your many insights have influenced my approach to this, my first real season as a coach, and my first season as Head Coach. You have made a real contribution to the way I conduct our practices, my approach to teaching ( they need to know their assignments, don’t they) the game while allowing a group of 13 to 15 year old boys, many from broken homes, to show up and actually play a game with spirit, enthusiasm, and even a little courage. Thank you, Sir. I will be reading Coaching Youth Football for a long time. Gary Grimm

“I can’t tell you how I appreciate your book Coaching Youth Football. I wish this thing could be mandatory reading for prospective coaches at all youth levels before they throw a whistle around there neck. Well, After the first three days of practice I realized that I had not only forgotten a lot of what I learned about football but also I learned that I knew nothing about coaching. So I surfed on the net a few hours found your site and ordered your book. It has been a tremendous reference source and a teaching tool for me and i am certain it will be for the other coaches on our Team.

I am Phillip Sherrill a contracted Engineer for the US ARMY Space and Missile Defense Command. I am also a U.S Army Reserve Major. I wanted to coach the offensive and defensive lines because the year before (mighty-mite group <70lbs) the line was considered a "blob" as you described in your book. A place to put the "fat" players...I thought that was incredibly unfair. I have played football at nearly every level from high school to the Canadian Football League. After the first week of coaching (I am the first assistant) our JR PEEWEEs I felt as if I had forgotten so much. I am certified member of the group you identify in your book who think because they played somewhere they know everything about coaching but in truth know absolutely nothing about coaching football.” Phil Sherrill

“… I am a rookie assistant coach of my oldest son’s team in the Dayton, OH area, and have just recently finished reading "Coaching Youth Football". I've found it to be extremely informative…Thanks again for the book,” Michael Burke

“First, let me say that I have just devoured your two books on Youth Football: Coaching... and Y.F. Defense. They are so complete and to the point. I am in my third year as a youth football coach. I have coached 5 & 6 year olds for two years (one as assistant and one as head) and this year I am an assistant for 7 & 8 year olds (moving up with my son). I only wish that I had your books for my season as head coach last year! We were 5-3 with a 13 kid team. It was my rookie head coaching season and I made plenty of mistakes - although those around me were thrilled. I'm already envisioning the 10-1 defense!! It makes so much sense for youth football, but no one has the guts to run it! My teams sound like they're just like yours were - slower kids who need a coach with OOMPH! Thanks for writing your books.” Greg Hart, Philadelphia

“Last year we were the Eagles and went 9-1 and won the league championship using the offense and defense from your books. This year, a friend of mine is coaching in that league. He asked his son and the son of his assistant coach what team name they wanted. They asked to be the Eagles, because of our success the previous year. Plus, they asked their fathers to please run the same offense and defense as we did. The two kids in question had to play against us three times last season” Casey Lewis, Pleasanton, Ca

“Every youth coach would learn from this book. It’s OK with me if they don’t—I would rather not coach against a coach with this knowledge!” Russell Hack, McCloud Redskins, Choctaw, OK

“I have read Coaching Youth Football and found it extremely useful. It has been passed around my coaching staff. We employed this defense last season and found it very effective. It was an integral part of winning the championship at the 8-year old level in the North Georgia Youth Football League. In eleven years of coaching it was the most demoralizing defense I had seen.” Jimmy Chambers, Blackwell Bears

"I bought your 'Coaching Youth Football' book and had a fantastic season. Your book was the difference between having an enjoyable winning season and the alternative. One play that we ran that scored a touchdown every time was the fake reverse. We ran the reverse to the outside and when a team would stop it, we would come back later with the fake reverse. Thanks," Vince Icenogle

“I enjoy your books and had great fun using them during my first year of coaching. They were a great help. The 8-9 year old team I coached went 5-3. Between the single wing and our on-sides kicks I had two different coaches cussing me out (we won both of those games). [Note by Reed: Think what they’d have said if he used the 10-1.] Long live the contrarian approach! Thank you again for your advice on finding the books I am looking for.” Rick Wilburn

“I really enjoyed your book Coaching youth Football that I purchased last year. I read again and again. I coach 10-13 yr. olds in Northcentral West Virginia. I’ve been coaching youth football for 15 yrs. This past year we won the league Championship and went undefeated 12-0. I knew going into the season that we should have the best team in the league, as we lost in the champ. game the previous year and we were returning 7 starters off. and defensively.
“I used parts of your strategies, but not all. I used your kickoff, kick-return, and punt-block strategies. The punt block was most effective. We blocked 70% of the punts attempted against us. We didn’t even have a ‘punt return’ team.
I ran a Power-I formation on offense. I also used your Hurry Up Single Wing offense with the as an alternative offense. I had a ‘star’ running back that I have coached for 6 years ( I coached 8-10yr. olds for 6yrs.), so I would let him call a lot of plays at the line of scrimmage. I signal all my plays in, so I would signal to him what play I wanted, or signal to let him choose. The biggest problem I had with this offense was teaching the line blocking assignments. We could never predict where the defense would line up. Would they shift to the unbalanced line? Would only one or two guys shift? I taught my RB to read the holes in the defense and call the plays, but I just couldn't always tell my line what to do, because of the innumerable scenarios.
“I will not have a very good team this year, so I might gamble and use the 10-1 to try and even the odds a little.
“I love coaching youth football. Thanks for writing books that are really useful at this level. Most books I read are on the College level and give me little info. that I can use without much adaptation. Your information goes directly from the page to the field.” Thanks again, David Cottrill

“Thanks to your inspiration (Coaching Youth Football), The Alexander park Cardinals finished the regular season 9-0-1. We lost the championship game, but we still had a helluva season. Six simple plays and hurry-up offense had everybody on their toes! Next season we will work on perfecting a weak-side blast to counter their stacking to the strong side. Regards” Richard Morsink, Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada

"I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your book. I was made head coach of our Bantam Football team (ages 9-10) here in Grove City, PA. I used a number of ideas from your book, Coaching Youth Football. Our team went undefeated (8-0) this season. We scored 160 points and only gave up 18. Your book played a huge role in our success. Thank You!" Sincerely, John C. David

"Still struggling to get the head coach & coordinators to follow your advice. The ironic thing is I point out some of the more successful teams in our league using a lot of the techniques from your books." Name kept secret to avoid trouble with fellow coaches

"I have been a youth coach for the past 5 years at a middle school in Evans Ga. Before I came here the school had a history of bad teams. They lost every game 3 years straight. We have had a great turn around in the last two years going 4-2 both seasons. I can recall a game in my first year first that we had minus yards total offense in one game. The kids now believe that winning is expected.
“I am convinced that our players are no better athletes than in the past. The difference is we adhere to many of the philosophies you detail in your book. Although we don't run the exact schemes on offense and defense that you do, we make sure that the fundamentals such as tackling techniques, staying low and knowing who to block are stressed each day. When I talk to other coaches whose teams are doing poorly I tell them to RUN! and get your books. Privately we laugh at the teams in our league who do things the wrong way.
“One team insisted in kicking off to our best runner. He promptly ran the kick off for a touch down. We always squib kick to the left sideline. When our kicker objected to the squib kick, I told him he could kick it in the air if the ball could travel to the 5 yard line. I have only seen one 13 year old with a strong enough leg to to it. We have also closed our offensive splits on our o-line. Teams no longer blitz their linebackers because they can't penetrate. Your book truly opened my eyes as to how things can be done to make a team better.
“Again when any coach asked me for advice about coaching whether its youth or higher levels I always suggest your books. Many coaches on the web via coaching bulletin boards ( toby's and BC. ) bring up questions you answer in your coaching books. I consider myself to be an apostle of your coaching beliefs. If you ever come to Georgia for a clinic, please make it known via your web page or on other football posts. I promise to bring as many unknowing football heathens as I can." sincerely, Dan King

“Congratulations on a must-read, instructional coaching book for youth coaches. We initiated several of your concepts this season with tremendous success. Offensively, we adopted a single-wing, no-huddle, no snap count, warp speed style of play. Averaging 21 points per game, allowing 4.5 points per game and gaining 252 yards per game enabled us to tally a 6-1 record.
“This midget (10-13) team had gone winless the two previous seasons. There were 20 players and 11 of these young men were playing organized football for the first time. Play calling was done on a 24x48 board (a three-digit system) utilizing 4 running plays and 1 pass play. Keeping it simple and basic allowed for better execution and more fun for the kids/parents during the games. We broke so many big plays that our time of possession and number of plays dominance were less than we had planned, but the stress and strain inflicted on the opponent helped us to control the momentum and destiny of the game.
“Mistakes were minimal, 4 bad snaps and 4 illegal procedure penalties in 7 games. The no-huddle, hurry-up offense wore down the opposition and helped our guys control the game on both sides of the ball. Our #1 play was an off-tackle (single-wing, direct snap to RB) with double team blocking by the E and WB and a contain man block by our FB. This play averaged 12 yards per try. It was unstoppable. We ran it a multitude of times every game. Nobody defended it and we stayed with what worked. I'm glad we heeded your advice, didn't stop ourselves and stayed with what we had time to practice each week. Your tip on working everything to the friendly side was a real plus in our favor. The information in your book made for a very enjoyable football season.
“Thanks for helping me to know how to get young players better prepared to play winning football. My first year coaching experience was very rewarding." Ken Hopkins, Offensive coordinator and Special Teams Coordinator, East Lincoln Mustangs, Charlotte, NC [Note: It is unusual for rookie youth football coaches to be much more than worthless observers. John T. Reed]

"What a great book you have written. Even though I played college football, and my dad was a head football coach in Texas for over 30 years. I have learned a tremendous amount about youth football from your book. Thanks so much for sharing you experience with the entire football world." Max Moss

“Just wanted to say thanks for the thoughts that you have shared in your book. This was my first year as a head coach of a Pee Wee In-House team called the Mundelein Raiders. This is a first-time player league for kids 8-11. We implemented just about all of the practice techniques that you discussed in the book and it really worked for us. The tackling drills especially worked good and our concentration on special teams really paid off. I have just ordered your clock management book and will certainly indulge myself in it as soon as possible.
“This year we implemented the single wing. I spoke to John Aldridge and got his thoughts and read his book and watched his spinning fullback tapes. Your advice in putting in no more than 10 plays really worked as we averaged about 16 points per game and scored 128 points in an 8 game season. I am in the process of reading it again and evaluating how to better use your thoughts next season.
“I was also wondering if you know when or where the next symposium is being held ? I missed it last year and want to go next time. Once again thanks for the great book.” Mike Santiago

“I was asked this season by my son’s head coach (first year) to help coach, something I've never done. Though I was one of your described 'incompetent' coaches, I recognize my limitations and coach accordingly. Three years as a mediocre high-school player and watching NFL is my background. I bought your book to prepare, based only on its obvious title. I was expecting only a basic introduction with lots of drills and play diagrams, and had no idea how much wisdom was really in it.
“At first, the unspoken agreement was that my duties would be largely administrative. But whenever the opportunity arose, I would inject some Reed stuff, like insistence on low hitting and blowing the whistle on lousy tackles. We saw our tacklers improve and our line started beating some much larger lines. When next asked, I suggested walking through plays that were burning us, moving more players up on the defensive line (seven seemed like a lot), and using scrimmage plays to double as hitting and conditioning drills to conserve practice time. I wasn't single-handedly turning this team around or anything like that, but this head coach did begin to think I might know something, and was warm to 'my' ideas. I was reluctant to tell him about Reed, because I didn't think he or the experienced assistant coach would be too hot on coaching out of any book.
“After a couple more weeks of him seeming to like my input, I finally gave the head coach your book. He read the intro about the typical junior coach, then took your self-test, and you gained another fan. He implemented as much as was practicable immediately. Our expansion team, incidentally the lightest in our division, went 4-0 since then, and finished 5-3, which I'm told is unheard of for a new team in our league. These two coaches have a lot going for them, so of course it wasn't all Reed that did it, but you can't argue with the record. I couldn't get my book back until he ordered two more, which was fine with me.
“Other Reed techniques we started working on immediately were: more walk-throughs (real eye openers), less collision and more tackling drills, putting them on the dummy when they didn’t tackle right, 10 minute drill time limits, better use of precious practice time, reducing the number of offensive plays, use of no-huddle offense to help comply with minimum play, kicking tough-to-field kickoffs, gap-8 defense, recognition of the low percentage of pass plays, and weak player strategies (especially the weak wide receiver, who was covered by a decent player most of the time). All had varying degrees of effect, and some obviously take more time to learn than others, but no Reed method we tried was unsuccessful.
“Just wanted you to know your methods are effective and fun to use. Keep writing!” Doug Jones, Elko, Nevada

"I want to thank you for writing Coaching Youth Football. I have used it for all of the three years I have coached my son's Mitey-Mite defenses. Over 2 1/2 seasons we are 22-5-1. The book is a security blanket with tattered edges and dog-eared corners." Thanks again, Jeff Byrd

"I hit over two hundred web sites before I found yours. I bought seven books from Amazon.com (not including the ones I already had). Not a SINGLE book or website I went to had anything remotely useful to me. I read that worthless piece of trash ASEP named after your books, I read Tom Flores's book, I got college drill books, and I was LOST.
To be honest, I made up my mind when I ordered your books that if they were as little help as the other crap I'd shelled out my government-given paycheck for then I was going to write off getting books and just make up my own system. Fortunately your books saved me from that blaze of idiocy. I can see other youth coaches out there who weren't lucky enough to get your books giving up the same as I did.
Most of the books out there on coaching youth football are written with noble purpose and pathetic means. Tom Flores's book "Youth Football, Coaching and Playing" has no plays, no defenses, and little technique advice. Half the pictures of the kids show incorrect three point stances. That ASEP book can't make up it's mind between flag or tackle football.
The other direction is the books on college or high school level. Most of those are too complex even for me. I've got a book on my shelf that might as well be written in Yiddish for all the good it would do me as a youth coach, even if I understood it, because the stuff in it is just too complex for eleven years olds to digest, much less apply in a game.
Web sites almost never have really useful information I've noticed. Probably because few youth coaches want to put their plays and defenses on the web where the opposing coaches can get them. That's part of why I ran the "I": because I couldn't find a reliable play book for youth football and the only offense I thought was simple enough was the "I" formation. I didn't order your "CYFB" book at first because I thought it was that ASEP thing thanks to that incorrect Amazon.com review. (Speaking of which, did they ever fix that? I've been sending emails to their customer support center but I haven't heard back yet.)
It's no wonder that coaches don't trust authors... look at the trash that's out there. I've found ONE author I trust to give me accurate advice, and that's YOU. Thanks!" Derek Wade

"John, I would really like to thank you for your book "Coaching Youth Football". I have been using your ideas for about 4 years now and have had great results. I had previously used the single wing before I read your book and had good results with it, however your ideas enhanced it so much better. Every year I would skim through the book to get ready for the football season. Well last season I moved down to the Jr Mites (the brand new kids, none of them have ever played before, ages 7-8-9), and thought that I knew everything so I didn't read as well as I should have. After last Saturday we lost the game that the winner went on to the playoffs, we were tied 13-13 at half and ended up losing 38-13. Boy was I depressed at the let down by my defense. But after the game when I was watching the video I realized that the boys hadn't let down as much as the coach (that's me) had let them down by not demanding the right technique, I had taught them, however did not do enough REPS for them to learn. I sat down and read your book again and have also ordered your book on defense and realize that you never know enough to stop learning. As I read and realized the details that didn't teach I knew where the problem was. (Isn't reality tough to swallow sometimes.) Thanks for the great book, Rich Adam.

"I am one of your described 'incompetent' coaches. However, I know it, and have nothing to prove. Three years as a mediocre high school player twenty years ago and watching NFL is my background. My son's head coach wanted some help, and I volunteered to fill in the gaps and help with administration while I learn the game from this very experienced player but first year coach. We're in a small league and it is very difficult to get parents to commit to any help at all. I bought your book to prepare. I had no idea how much wisdom was in it. Our head coach is convinced you can't get football from a book. Near the end of the second week, I suggested he work on form tackling drills, and I started blowing the whistle on lousy tackles. Our tacklers improved. Then I said we aren't getting low enough and need to stress bear crawls and low attack. He saw our lines improve and take on some much heavier lines. Recently I asked our head coach walk through defenses for plays we've been getting burned on and reinforce assignments. We need another game to see if we have results, but he loved the idea, and is convinced I have coached before and thinks I know what I'm doing. I guess as long as I know my limitations, it's OK to fool him. If and when he is convinced my "ideas" are helping, I'll give him the book.

Just wanted to let you know your book is effective and FUN to use." Name withheld until after season

"By the way, of the six head coaches in the Kodiak Football League, two of us are using the 10-1 straight from your book, one Junior Division and my team. The other coach is running your single wing (He was smart enough to order BOTH your books before the season began!) We're the only two undefeated teams in the League. Frankly, I think the league SHOULD use your methods, Coach. They work. Just a comparison that you might want to put on your web site:
There are six teams in our league, three in the junior division (9-10 year olds) and three in the senior division (11-12 year
olds.)
One team in each division uses your methods straight from your books. My team, the Kodiak Lions Club Lions, and the
Arctic Bears.
Both teams using your methods are undefeated.
Both teams using your methods have not allowed a touchdown in their last two games (and the Bears have only allowed three all season.)
Both teams have been penalized fewer times than any other team in their division.
Both teams have made at least one score in their last three games on defense.
Both teams have not allowed a complete pass in their last two games.
Both teams have allowed a total of five first downs in the last games played. (The Bears allowed three, we only allowed the Chiefs to get two yesterday.)"

[Here is a subsequent email from Wade]

"Well, we won our fifth straight game tonight, 20-0. This makes the third consecutive game that our defense has shut out our opponents, which was darn lucky, because we fumbled on first or second down on every one of our first five possessions. The Eagles have obviously been working on stripping the ball, which they did VERY well. They also put four guys shoulder to shoulder in front of my center and nailed him right at the snap on every play. It took a while for the adjustments to take hold and we were then able to get outside on some sweeps that scored in the third and fourth quarter. On the plus side, I made some subbing changes just to give some of the kids a chance, and one of our third string players at halfback took a sweep 60 yards for our second touchdown. We also had some great tackling turned in by one of our players that at the start of the season couldn't tackle his way out of a damp kleenex. Coach, you would have screamed your throat out to see this little guy run a picture perfect DE route and just absolutely smash the running back on a sweep. I don't think I could have performed that play any better. It looked like it was choreographed.
"I need to give you another thank you. After the game we had a pizza party at the local Pizza Hut. I was late because I was talking with the league coordinator about a schedule change. When I walked in my team gave me a standing ovation. It actually brought tears to my eyes to realize how much faith these kids have in me as a coach. Most of that I owe to you. Between your books and this patient dialogue we've had I have learned more about football in the last month and a half than I learned in five seasons on the field. Twenty four of the best kids in the world have had the chance to learn what playing as a team and winning as a team feels like thanks to the help you have given me. Thank you." Derek Wade

"We had our jamboree on Saturday. I thought I would tell you that we did fairly well, scored 4 touchdowns. We didn't score any touchdowns last year. But the main thing is the ball control, we gained good yardage on nearly every play while eating up the clock. If it were a real game and not a 15 minute offense and defense scrimmage, we probably would have had the ball the whole quarter. We ran only four plays the whole day, off-tackle, sweep and crack back sweep, dive, reverse and half-back run/pass option. We ran all plays out of right formation however, we will run out of right and left formation during real games, and we will have an inside trap as well as Dr. Keuffel’s half-back pass and a few more plays that attack the weak side. My hardest hitter on the team, we used him on the crack-back sweep to crack back on the defensive end. He yelled "hey," then the D.E. turned his body and [our crack-back blocker] just rocked his world and it was completely legal. The other coaches were even patting him on the dome and congratulating [him] on what a terrific hit, but they were so geared up about the hit that they forgot that the play went for 10 yards. I didn't run it again all day. Thanks for the books. The head coach wanted your number so he could buy your book. I gladly gave him your number. His wife is going to buy one of your books for his birthday that is coming up soon." Allen Shriver, Modesto, CA.

“We kicked off our season with a hard fought 12-6 victory over a tough team. My tailback scored both TDs one on a two yd off tackle (single wing power right of course) after a 75-yd drive, and on a 94-yd end sweep for the game winner. He ran for nearly 200 yds. My fullback ran for around 50 yds as well. I have also instituted the spinning fullback and it is working very nicely. I wanted to thank you again for your books. GO SINGLE WING!!!!!! Thanks again!!” Greg Laboissonniere, Coventry Rams, Coventry, RI

“By the time I read your book last year, it was too late to implement the single wing offense. So,... I put it in this year. This season we had 12 practices before our first scrimmage and 15 days before our first game. It surprised me how quickly our 8 to 10 year old players picked up the offense. To date, we have had two scrimmages and one game. In those contests our offense has racked up 872 yards of total offense! Our defense has held the three opponents to a combined -49 yards of offense. By the way, our first team defense has yet to step on the field. The concepts in your book have definitely worked for us.”
Yours, Chris Thesing

"My squad is probably similar to your 97 squad in that I do not have any blazing speed at running back. I have better than average speed but, have very quick lineman who can pull and trap effectively. I look forward to using the off-tackle trap along with a blast or seam. The sweep may work also depending on how quick our opposition is.
Thanks again for your wonderful books and spending some time to help a youth coach. Your books are by far the best thing out there for volunteer youth coaches such as myself and I am grateful that you have taken the time to thoroughly document you experiences." John Bova, Dallas, TX

"I just wanted to let you know how much I have used your Coaching Youth Football Books. The insight you provide has been a great reference tool and a confidence builder. I am currently the Director Of Coaches for a Youth Football League in Lake Dallas, Texas. I have recommended your book to all of my coaches and the feedback I have received from them has been very positive.The thing I like most about your book is you discuss your actual use of the ideas you describe. Most books I have read looks good on paper but is not very practical or has not been tested on the field. Keep those books coming!! Thanks and God Bless" Phil Byers

"Mr.Reed I just wanted to thank you four your books about coaching football. Your books have been a major influence on coaching style. My team has exploded on the scene with the single wing offense, most teams are still trying to figure out what we did to them last year, wait til this year....Thanks" Coach Luke J. Hardiman , Warwick PAL Patriots Midgets 11-15 year olds

"Let me begin by thanking you, once again, for your advice." Edward J. Crossley, Oldham, England (Called from England to tell me his team did great using my single wing.) I asked how old his players were. He said, "My youngest is 19 and my oldest is 53." Apparently, they are in a British semi-pro league.

"Great book!" Don Stuck, Fort Rucker, AL

"I was mad that I did not find this book sooner. Your no-huddle offense...is working very well. The kids picked up on things very easily and enjoy the different way to run an offense." Lee Liddick, Duncannon, PA

Second message from Lee Liddick: "Second year running [your] offense and it is still going strong. Our pony squad is now using it." Lee Liddick, Duncannon, PA

"Most of your offensive strategies/philosophies are ringing true for us. We're averaging 34 pts/game, almost 500 yards total offense per game and between 50-60 offensive plays per game. Recently we beat the Steelers 59-20, scoring the most offensive points in the history of the league. We recovered 4 of 7 onside kickoffs. On offense, we're basically unstoppable. I can tell you that I know had I not found your book, I might have done OK, but certainly would not have done as well as we have without it. Keep writing about football. My son can't wait to graduate from college and begin coaching at the high school level so he can try it there." David Garic, Radcliff, KY

"I am using your offense now. My coaching staff is now convinced. We won our only pre-season game 45-0 and are 2-0 in the regular season. In the pre-season game, we recovered five fumbles, returned an interception for a TD, and held the opponent's offense to negative yardage. We didn't even allow a first down. Our last game was played against coaches who were former NFL players. We won 18-12. I did not coach these 10-year olds until this year and previously they had never won a game for two seasons. The 10-1 works." Tom Overton, St. Louis

"This book by far has made this game/sport very easy to understand. Keep up the great job and hope you plan on writing another one. I could use a double dose." Claude Chiasson, Waltham, MA

"I have been involved in football at all levels from youth to jr. high, service ball for over twenty-five years. I must have a library with 100 books, tapes, etc. The most cherished one is Coaching Youth Football by Jack Reed. I have read it several times and get something new from it each time." Dick Bosco, Barstow (CA) Youth Football

"Please send me two copies of the second edition of Coaching Youth Football Defense. I really used and enjoyed your other books! Tim Mitchell, Denver, CO

"I have enjoyed your two books immensely. I have been coaching youth football with the same team, boys 11 + 12, for thirty-five years. I learned a lot from you on your approach to coaching." Kent Buyea, Cheektown, MI

"I found your book, Coaching Youth Football, very informative. Please, keep up the good work in youth football and your good writing." Roger Mathis, Garland, TX

"I would like to thank you for your time and effort in this book. your book helped to bring to the front of my mind many ideas and concepts that I had at one time held important. We often get tunnel vision and lose track of good ideas. You also had some good ideas that were new to me that are of interest, such as the 10-1 defense." Gordon Knopp

" I coached the Jr. Midgets Pop Warner Football Team in Hopewell Junction, PA to a 10-1 season. Your books Coaching Youth Football Defense and Coaching Youth Football were just great. It opened my eyes to a lot of information and know-how of coaching Pop Warner. You are right on the money when it comes to coaching at this level." Al Polidore, Wappingers Falls, PA

"I read your books Coaching Youth Football and Coaching Youth Football Defense. Both books were extremely valuable. You have managed to cut through many of the myths, half-truths, and misconceptions held by parents, spectators, and (unfortunately) many coaches at the youth level." Victor J. Bierman, Jr., South Bend, IN

"I am a fifth-year football official. Your book, which is well organized and very readable is tremendously helpful, even though it is geared for coaches." Holly Newman, North Bay Officials Association, CA

"Thank you for writing Coaching Youth Football, the overview on page one paragraph one was a true wake-up call. Your book gives an excellent breakdown in all phases of the game." Lawrence Warner, Riverside, CA

"Love your book. Every coach should buy it. It's the basic common sense of the game." Ron Gasper, Metairie, LA

"I have been asked to help coach the junior varsity team of our youth football program. Thu first thing I did was go to the book store. I am glad to say that your book was the one I decided to buy. It was filled with lots of great information on coaching at this level! I urged the other four coaches to read it also and they loved it too. Thank you for putting out such a good book." Marty Malone, Lisbon, OH Little Indians

"I have read both Coaching Youth Football and Coaching Youth Football Defense. I enjoyed both. You have compiled some wonderful info. I have been coaching youth football for the last 5 years, starting in Colorado Springs, CO and now in Warner Robins, GA. I mainly coach 8 to 10 year olds now but I started with 11 to 13 year olds. I really like your 8-2-1 and 10-1 defenses. Last year I coached the Bandit Mighty mites, we went 8-2 and made it to the championship game where we lost 8-6. I used the Wing-T offense with a 6-2 defense. My 6-2 was actually more like your 8-2-1. The year before (1995) I noticed that the best teams in our league were using a 6-2 with the cornerbacks on the line of scrimmage out wide to stop sweeps. This seemed to be working for them and I tied it. As you can see by our record it worked effectively. This was the best season I ever had coaching. Thanks for all the information in your books. I plan to use as much of it as I can during the upcoming season. Thanks again, and I look forward to your next book." Michael Harvey, Warner Robins, GA

"Coaching Youth Football is excellent. It's excellent for giving insights to coaching YOUTH football players." Bob Brown, President, Eagles Athletic Club, Detroit, MI

"I write to you because I have used your books with great results in coaching the flag football team to 18 consecutive wins, sending them up to the tackle program that just won our area's Superbowl for the first time in over 15 years. The 8-2-1 makes sense at my level, as there is very little successful passing at this age." Ed Blackford, Adams, CO

"I have 2 of your books, Coaching Youth Football and Coaching Youth Football Defense. The two best books I have. I have been coaching for about the same time as you, and I am currently with Jr. High aged boys." Bud Meech, Aurora, CO

"Very informative" John O'Neal, President/GM, Cincinnati Junior Football Association Panthers

"First let me say I really enjoyed your books on youth football. I am an assistant coach for the Detroit Eagles PAL football team. I showed your book to my head coach, Robert Brown; he enjoyed it so much he told me that he telephoned you about it. I myself would love to meet you to further discuss your opinions on linemen play. I am the Bass Guitar player for the singing group The Spinners. We'll be performing in the Bay Area on July 16, at the Vallejo County Fair. I would like to have you come as my guest. Thanks for your help." Darrell Smith, Detroit, MI

"I've been meaning for 6 months to write and tell you how much I enjoyed and how much I learned from reading your books on youth football. Last fall I decided to form a team of 8th graders who attended (mostly parochial) local schools which did not offer jr. high football. (Our city youth program is only for 10-12 year olds) I read numerous books but I found yours to be uniquely frank, insightful and 'right on' about the utmost importance of stressing simplicity, repetition of important things and elimination of so many ridiculous practices that our high school coaches in the '60s put us through as a macho rite of passage. I totally agreed with your 'contrarian' philosophy (we printed tee shirts with 'Dare to be Different' on the back) and it served us well. We went 4-2 against opposing 8th grade teams despite having inferior talent (we only had seven eighth graders sign up, so I was forced to recruit nine seventh graders and three sixth graders who were little brothers. Only four players had experience in the youth league program out of our 18 players) largely, I believe because of our unconventional single-wing offense and 10-1 'stop the run at all costs' defense-both inspired by your book. We had seven total plays, but 80% of our yardage came from the off tackle, sweep, and wedge plays. Going with a no-huddle offense surprised a number of teams, especially during the first few plays of the game. We did tire at times with our minimal depth by the end of the game. The silent cadence and direct snap to the tailback eliminated almost completely the two greatest 'drive stoppers' in youth football, false starts and fumbled handoffs. We only had one offensive offside penalty all year and only three fumbles (all after a hit). The biggest thing I liked about the single wing was that anybody could take a snap and run off tackle. We let twelve of the eighteen guys on the team carry the ball last year and our stud tackle scored the winning touchdown and extra point in our last game of the season when our tailbacks were banged up, on his only two carries of the year! Special teams got duly emphasized, as you preached, and with good results. We returned a kickoff for a touchdown, blocked a punt for another, and gave up no returns for touchdowns by opponents all year. We quick kicked 50% of the time on third and long, and often made 30-40 yard net gains. All in all, I had a very pleasant experience and I owe a lot of it to you and your books. Thanks again and keep writing." Bill Fitzgerald, M.D., Beloit, WI

"Everywhere I turn on the Internet people are pointing me towards your books." Eric Derry, Beavercreek, OH

"After about four or five youth coaches on the Internet recommended your books to me, I wrote down your Web address and visited your site. Please send your two youth football books." Jimmy Daniel, Montgomery, AL

"Outstanding book. Very well written. Great book." Bob Collins, Atlanta, GA

"I think I have all of your football books. They are good and the stuff I tried works good. I have a 7th grade team here in Aurora, CO and so far this season so good 3-0! I love the way you have written your football books." Bud Meech, Aurora, CO

"The best stuff I've found on youth football." Jimmy Daniel, Montgomery, AL

"I wanted to write and compliment you on your two books Coaching Youth Football and Coaching Youth Football Defense. Your practical approach covers the essentials for success at the youth level and I believe also has a great deal of applicability to the high school level. They certainly helped my 're-entry' into the coaching ranks. I was co-captain of the '78 Navy team that beat BYU in the inaugural Holiday Bowl and defeated Army 28-0 enroute to a 9-3 record. As an Ensign I stayed on [at Annapolis] as a graduate assistant coach. Keep up the good work." Nick Mygas, Virginia Beach, VA [Note: John T. Reed graduated from West Point (Army).]

"I am a jr. high coach. I purchased your two football books about a month ago and they are great. Your books are of great help and they should be must reading for any new youth coach. " Garth Benham, Spokane, WA

"I just had to write to tell you how much your book helped me in the last two years. Last year, I was asked to coach my son's 7th & 8th grade football team. This was the first time I had a chance to coach a team or be involved with a football program since my playing days in the early 80's. By chance I picked your book up at the bookstore and started reading it. I used your book to develop a game plan for the team. Last year [1996] we won our division and finished 4th in the state. This year I'm proud to say that we went undefeated and won the Alaska state title. I utilized the warp speed no huddle offense. I did send in a new receiver each play, although we ran the ball 95% of the time, it did allow us to pass when we needed it. This year we did make a new wrinkle to the offense, by bringing in the wr and placing him by the other two backfield blockers we were able to open up some huge holes. Also, our reverse worked great scoring 80% of the time from anywhere on the field, after it we set it up by pounding the opposite side. We also added a center screen pass, which also worked great. Your 10-1 defense has worked so well, it is unbelievable!!! Over the course of the last two years we have had a total of 8 shutouts with 5 coming this year. I did learn a valuable lesson in our second game last year. The safety or the person in the back position needs to be the fastest, biggest, and definitely the best tackler on the team. I had figured that by having a fast player who could tackle would be the best person for that spot. Boy was I wrong. The boy I had back was just too small to handle a big back who broke through the line. I made a change to the player on the team who had all the attributes, and we were able to shut down the rest of our opponents in our division. We were beaten in the state tournament, basically because we were a very small team and was dependent on speed. The night before the game it snowed 8 inches and they only plowed the center of the field. We lost 20-8. This year, we were able to put everything that I learned from your book to great use and the season was a complete success. The funniest thing about this entire letter is that when I told people what Offense and Defense I was going to use, they laughed at me, including my own players. Now everyone thinks I'm a genius and I owe it all to you. Thanks for everything. I'm sorry this letter was so long but with your help I was able to make a huge impact on 24 of the greatest kids I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Thanks again!! Sincerely, Dan Blair, AK

"I purchased both your books on Coaching Youth Football early this year and implemented many of your ideas in coaching a Heart of America Pop Warner Mitey-Mite team (7 to 9, 45 to 80 pounds) this fall. This is my first season as head coach. Seventeen of my 25 players were rookies. All of my assistant coaches were rookies. I showed them your books and loaned my defensive coordinator my defense book.

"We used the 10-1 defense and the single wing offense you recommend and used 6 of your 7 plays (I took out the hook pass). We didn't use a white board to send in plays; instead we used large magnetic numbers on a metal shelf which we held up for the players to see. Otherwise, I ran the offense just like you suggest.

"We went 7-2 and missed the playoff round by 1/2 game. The two losses were our second and third games and we lost to teams we would have been able to beat had we played them later in the season. Our seventh and eighth games were against previously undefeated teams and we beat them both. Our offense scored 22 touchdowns and our defense only allowed 9 for the season. If it weren't for your book, this season probably would have been as disastrous as last year.

"By the way, my oldest son played on the Jr. Bantam team and his coach also read your books. They went 6-2, were in the playoffs and just barely missed going to the championship game." Doug McKinzie, Park Hill Mitey-Mite Panthers, Kansas City, MO

"Just finished reading your book, Coaching Youth Football, 2nd edition, and really enjoyed it. My son's team won their league championship---defeating a team that followed your book almost to the T. I believe our kids were lucky, but I think that next year we should try to put in some of your ideas.

"I liked your advice to run the ball---we passed a lot but were on that day. We made a lot of special teams errors and let the other team score 14 points. Also I liked your kickoff strategy...The team we beat kept our star returner from breaking one by doing just that." Robert L. Brookey, Tulsa, OK

"I have been a Pop Warner coach for the last 8 years. This year my Jr. Midget team from Independence, MO advanced all the way to the Nationals in Florida. We only had 16 registered players...I think your book Coaching Youth Football is a really good source of information." John F. Hix, Independence, MO

"Denmark calling. Thanks for your great books. They have been an unbelievable help in my coaching. There isn't a matter or issue that you have not covered. My name is Michael Christensen and I'm coaching adults in a club called Horsens Stallions in Jutland in Denmark. I'm Danish with an American wife. I'm looking forward to reading your latest book about clock management. I have been coaching 8 years in all. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge." Michael Christensen, Denmark

"Stop selling your books in the state of New Jersey! Your philosophy for the 8-2-1 and the 10-1 defenses make so much sense that my opponents will surely use it if they get their hands on it. Up to now I have been relying on the fact that these coaches would not be caught dead buying a book on youth defenses since most of them feel they could write them.

"I am the president of our local Pop Warner team, but more importantly an assistant coach with the midget level in my third year. Being new to coaching I consider myself lucky in purchasing your Coaching Youth Football Defense as my first tutorial. Wow! What an enlightenment, at least for me. Not so the rest of my coaches who say the 8-2-1 will not work. This includes my head coach who refused to let me use the 'eight' until the fifth game of our season. This is when we were 1-3 with less than moderate success with a 5-4 defense. And even then he very reluctantly capitulated because he was probably well sick of me shoving your book in his face. Nonetheless, he gave me a whole 60 minutes to show our boys the scheme in preparation for a very unpredictable team with great speed. Well, guess what! We beat them in the last 50 seconds of play. This was to me and anybody else I spoke to that witnessed this game, one of the greatest youth games I have seen in my ten-year involvement.

"We proceeded to stop their bread-and-butter sweep and held up the middle charge to near zero. Their only offensive touchdown came from a Hail Mary pass (an obvious pass interference no call.) Our new defensive philosophy for the rest of the season was the 8-2-1. By the way, we finished 6-4 but not because of the defense.

"Anyhow, thanks for a great couple of books and giving me a great insight to youth football." Michael Byers, Brick, NJ

"My name is Ciro Minopoli and I am the head coach of the 92-pound Waldorf Wildcats (Waldorf, MD) I have been coaching for 3 years. We are 36-0 and have won three straight county championships. I run a single wing, power I, full split T offense.

"I have read many football books. However, your book is great!!! It's the first book I can relate with. We agree on so many things. My wife thinks that your book must be comical because I often laugh while reading it. I have asked my defensive coach to consider your gap-8 defense.

"Our special teams were weak last year and I plan to use your book to help us get better at that. Thanks for writing a book we youth coaches can relate to." Ciro Minipoli, West Bethesda, MD

"I just got both your books on coaching youth football. Although I'm not a youth football coach my son plans to play it this year. I do coach, but at the high school level. I really enjoyed your books and found myself agreeing with many of the things you said in both. I believe that too many coaches today pattern their plan of operation from the pros or big-time college." Rick Whobrey

"I am a pee wee coach for a Pop Warner team in Wolfboro, NH. I have only been a head coach for 1 year and will be starting my second year this August.

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed your books on coaching youth football and coaching youth defense...the reason I am writing to you is to just let you know how much the other coaches in our league and myself enjoyed your books!!!! Dale Rehm, Wolfboro, NH

"About a year ago I found your Coaching Youth Football book at Media-Play and I have been a fan of your work since that day. I coached for a long time at Judge Memorial Catholic High School before I move on to diocesan work" Daniel John, Salt Lake City, UT

Wow, what an eye-opening experience. After an 0-8 season, we used the contrarian approach to completely change our team, and it worked! Your ideas and examples help make a slower, smaller team competitive. The single wing offense confuses opponents and gives us the advantage. We turned our team around to a 3-4-1 season, and gave the league champions their only defeat of the season! I can't wait for Volume Three!!! David Birdsong, Suffolk, VA

"I purchased your book, Coaching Youth Football (2nd edition). I would like to compliment you on an outstanding job. This book is definitely what I needed. I like your advice on keeping things simple and dealing with parents." Michael Spicer, Hanford Youth Football League

"I recently finished your book Coaching Youth Football. It was excellent. Your book should be mandatory reading for all youth football coaches. I read Coaching Youth Football Defense about six months ago and am convinced that your defensive philosophies are correct. My team will run the 8-2-1- almost exclusively this season. Thanks again for two wonderful books." Jeramie Gibson, Nitro, WV Minicats

"Thanks for your advice to be patient on my center single-wing snap. I certainly would have panicked if not for you and a couple of other coaches. Shortly after I e-mailed you, my centers started to get consistent! We had our Jamboree this Saturday and we had 1 bad snap out of 50! I appreciate your books and the promptness with which you have answered every question I have asked." Jim

"On August 1, I started my first year as head coach of the Coventry Rams Pop Warner JPW team. I ran the defense last year. I happened to find your book ( COACHING YOUTH FOOTBALL) at the bookstore and I am very impressed with many of your ideas and insights. I was really intrigued by the sound of a 10 - 1 defense, however at this time I prefer the 8-2-1. I used the 5-4 and 8-2 last year . I had 30 kids last year..., so the weight fell on my shoulders to get all the rookies and minimum play players into the game on defense. The defense I used to get "27" different players their playing time was the 8-2. I accomplished this by using my 3 best players at LB and Safety on each of three squads (blue, gold, white) and the most obedient kids at end . So on three squads I was able to get 24 different kids into the game. After the 2nd game of the season all my kids had they're minimum plays by halftime for the rest of the season. I just lined em up and said make a tackle. The only time we gave up a long run was the first game of the season ( gave up three around end) this was the only game we got blown out of all year, we also lost 3 onside kicks that day. After reading your book I realized that they were using your system!! Talk about an eye opener. We ended with a 4-4-1 record with virtually no offense. This year I am running the single wing exclusively. In practice it's looking good but only game time will tell, I 'm confident it will work. I have 31 kids this year. I feel I'll be able to run 2 offenses capably and I know the 8-2-1 is going to work even with my rookies on the line ( I've got em on all fours, My big guys fill the holes, My little guys get through the holes and make tackles). The most valuable tool in your book , to me, is the practice schedules and the oomph of reps. In 3 weeks this team is nearly as disciplined as the team I went to the 1996 Super Bowl with as an assistant coach. ( My son's pee wee team). I have to say that a good coaching staff has helped me to implement many of your principles. Thanks for a FORMAT THAT WORKS!!!" Greg Laboissonniere, Head Coach, Coventry Rams JPW, Coventry, RI

"Your book Coaching Youth Football is excellent, I read a lot of books but none explained clearly, concise, and in detail as yours. Thanks again I sent a fax order this morning for your other coaching football books. Thanks again," Tony Carchietta, NJ

“I just picked up your book last week...Needless to say I love your approach and have ordered 2 more copies for my assistants.
[subsequent email] I've written you before with rave reviews of your book and how effective your defense and offense have been for our teams...We have used the system for 3 years and are undefeated twice at the 4 and 5th grade levels and once with the 6th grade level. This year's 6th grade team (my co-head coach's brother's team) is currently 3-0. We have used the 10-1 defense and the single wing, no huddle, warp speed offense. Only with a few variations. Again, thanks for such a wonderful publication.” Rocky Goodwin, Shreveport, LA

"Thanks a lot for the Football Coaching Lessons Learned. Your approach to football is unique and so simplistic and realistic." Daniel W. Freeman, Charlotte, NC

"I was the assistant coach of my son's team this last season. This was my first year and I enjoyed it very much. I have read both of your books (offense and defense) and you have given me some great ideas and things I want to try with our team." Chris Pond

"I tried the 7-diamond defense this week on an opponent who runs the T-formation all day. We held them to negative 64 yards, no first downs, had 4 sacks, and 2 fumble recoveries. The defense is so strong that the pressure just kills our opponent. At the same time, it lets our guys go wild and just fire out. We have wanted aggressive players and now we are getting them! My kids are loving it. They have renamed it the 'Diamond Cutter' after a wrestling move on TV! The linebackers actually enjoy playing down in the 4-point stance better than playing off the line." Ric Lancaster, Bammel Middle School, Houston, TX

"Thanks for the book. I have implemented the offense with a few twist of my own and have out scored my opponents 90-14 in four games and we are getting stronger every week. To our advantage we have no players going both ways and just run the other team down. We are in first place in the east Texas jr. football Pop Warner league." Steve Hedricks offensive coordinator TYLER PANTHERS Pee Wee Division

"I must write and tell you how much I enjoyed your books. I have always intended to coach youth football at some point, and this year a friend asked me to help him coach a 5th and 6th grade team. I was so excited I charged off to the bookstore, where I came across your volumes. As you have heard many times, they are dead on the mark excellent coaching books--instantly, recognizably superior to the herd of other coaching books.
I have always thought that youth teams should run a no-huddle offense, use a gap-8 defense, and constantly kick-off onside. Your experience doing this proved that my theories work, and I was fascinated to read of the real life consequences, discoveries, and coaching tips you related in the book. I learned so much. In many, many areas of coaching your thinking had gone much deeper and been much clearer than my thinking. I especially liked your ideas on how many reps are needed for various skills, and how some skills deserved "once a season" repetitions (stealing the ball from the ball carrier, etc).
I have been careful to be very positive about the systems my head coaching friend uses for our team, but it has been amusing to see our coaching staff make the typical youth coaching mistakes you pointed out in your book. It has been like watching a car wreck in slow motion as we coaches have sabotaged our team's chances at every turn. I am a professional salesperson, but my best attempts at selling your theories have fallen short time and time again.
Finally 2 weeks ago, our head coach was gone for a Thursday practice and a Saturday game. I was promoted from position coach to offensive coordinator for the practice and the game. I immediately purchased a Magna Doodle, shaved our mammoth offense down to 5 running plays and 1 passing play, and spent the practice and the pregame warmup practicing the no huddle offense (w/my rookies alternating at flanker).
We won the game 13-0 against a team that would otherwise have beaten us soundly. It was our second win in 4 tries, and by far our best performance. In one practice and one pregame warmup we went from a clueless, fumbling, offsidesing, illegal proceduring, delay of gaming mess to a relatively coordinated offense. We wore the opposition down and scored both TD's in the 2nd half on simple running plays. Our defense was helped tremendously b/c we were able to get our rookies playing time on offense.
My friend came back to town this week, listened to the other assistants rave about your no huddle offense, and went right back to his mammoth offense. We lost this Saturday's game 20-0, stopping ourselves on every offensive possession, and playing our rookies on defense where they missed crucial tackles.
I can't wait to coach next year! I will insist on being an offensive or defensive coordinator! You have a like-minded football disciple here in Texas! Thanks again for your excellent, excellent book."
This guy said I could give his name but I am withholding it for his own protection.

"Great book for a youth coach. Youth football is not the NFL. Makes the game fun when boy can succeed." Charles Marcucci, Barlow Juniors, Boring, OR

"I coach youth football in St.Louis and have read your coaching football and defense books and found them to be extremely informative and helpful. I'm writing to you for advice on stopping the single-wing. I figured that since you knew how to run the offense so well, you also knew where it was vulnerable. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to convince the head coach to use your ideas on offense or defense. However, another coach in our league does use your systems. In fact, he's quoted on your book. The first time we played them, their offense ate up our defense. They didn't beat us with the big play, they just kept running the ball for 5,6,7 yards a pop. Late in the game, when we were up by 3, we couldn't stop them. They kept running the ball and ended up winning by 9 points.
"Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. My email address is coachrex@hotmail.com. Thank you for your time and for all your help in becoming a better coach." Rex Anderson

"I just finished reading your books. They should be the 'Bible' for all youth coaches." Chuck Klausing, College Hall of Fame Coach, Indiana, PA

"Jack Reed put into words a number of concepts that I had only considered in the abstract. The result for our team was a more potent offense, a stronger defense and more wins! I would recommend Coaching Youth Football to anyone involved in coaching at this level." Chris Thesing

"We had a team of 9 and 10 year olds, 25 of em. We used the warp speed, no huddle offense all season and the 8-2-1 defense. We finished the season at 5-0-1 and won the championship, no playoffs, we just had the best record......Our only tie was against a team that had 2 outstanding running backs that copied our single wing most of the season after we beat them in the jamboree......The real game (the tie) was a very cold and rainy day that was miserable to play in....some boys opted out when given a choice to go in on substitution.....It was that miserable. We sent the game into overtime where both teams scored a td and 1 pat.....(college football system)...We only get one series though in our league......The game ended 20-20 and we took the championship by virtue of the best record.....Your system was great.....We tinkered with defense a lot and did better with the 8-2-1 with our talent.....The 10-1 seemed to limit our cornerbacks for some reason. They never seemed to be sure about containment on run plays and when to cover passes....Don't know why, but dropping them back seemed to help.......We went 3 games in row with no points scored on this defense and ended up with a composite score of 140-28 for the season......pretty good! The offense was beautiful and I have already tinkered with some new variations on it for next year...Such as a new code for play calling....multiple formations and better utilization of talent.....Can't wait.....the biggest improvement over last year was the lack of fumbles with the direct snap and minimal handoffs......The only thing we never seemed to get proficient at was the kickoffs...We had one returned on us for a td and rarely had any spectacular returns ourselves....We tried some of your ideas and just didn't seem to ever get in a groove with anything....I'm sure it was a lack of oomph....Never had the confidence to try your ultimate kickoff return with the little huddle and handoff.......Anyway, it was a great year and I enjoyed it very much.....Sometimes, going undefeated can work against you.....Kids really get cocky and overconfident....Humble pie can be a benefit. I wouldn't trade the feeling of being champs for anything and want to thank you for your books. They were really a major part of our success..... Rocky Goodwin, Shreveport, LA

"I just finished reading your book Coaching Youth Football and I was amazed at how little that I really knew about football. I will probably adopt as many elements of your coaching as possible. I really like your no-huddle & play-signaling techniques. Your book has been the best I have found to date. Your book has become my must read for follow coaches. I am planning on installing a Warp Speed no huddle Option I and I love the thought of 'Endless Streaks.' I was laughing so hard when I read that it hurt. It was also the first time I had heard of such a move and I will definitely use it. Thank you again on releasing such a great football book. Coach Eddie Van Weele.

"I am writing to let you know of the wonderful success I had utilizing the gap-8 this year. I am from Louisville, KY. I am a 41-year-old dentist who played high school and college football. My son plays on a optimist team ages 10-11 year old. There are 10 teams in our league. We are the 10-11 yr old Highview Mustangs. This is the first year I had been head defensive coach. I had read your book last year Feb 1998 just to see if it had any useful information. By June 98 I had decided to use the Gap-8 for my sole defense. I was not greeted with much optimism by our head coach. No one had ever heard of it. We used it in college for a goal line defense. I was determined to use it when we started in August. To make a long story short, we went 12-2, won the Jefferson County Optimist Championship and came within one game of playing for our state championship. Not bad when you consider the majority of our team were 10 -year olds. They will all come back this year and play as 11-year olds. The results were staggering to say the least. We had a powerful offense that produced over 30 pts/game and a gap-8 defense that gave up 5.58 pts/game. Never before in this league had anyone seen the gap-8. By the time we made it to the playoffs, other teams were trying to emulate the gap-8 without much success. Coaches would come up to me after the games and ask what we were doing and where I learned this defense. I felt like a real defensive master! I did however share bits and pieces with some of my close friends who coach. I have read the letters on your web page and wanted to let you know of our success with the gap-8. I will be refining some things for this season, but most of the hard work is complete since our boys learned it last year. I would like to ask if you know of any books in circulation that give more info and options on the gap-8 and 10-1 defenses. I can't find the book by Drew Tallman. Please let me know where I can find any additional info on these defenses. Your book is a tremendous asset. It is simple, direct and a pleasure to read. I guess you could say we are another success story. People in youth football in Louisville, KY now know the Highview Mustangs are for real! I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much for the gap-8. It truly does work." Sincerely, David C. Jones DMD

Hello, my name is Grady Holdridge and I am a youth football coach residing in Reno, NV. I am 35 years old and have been involved with organized football for approximately 24 years. I have been coaching youth football for the last 5 years, after coaching stints in both High School and the Junior College level. I came across your website and found it to be quite interesting. I moved to Reno 2 years ago. I have 2 young boys and signed them up for Pop Warner and helped coach my first year as an assistant coach. We went 1-8 that year and it was miserable. The next year I took over as Head Coach. My Defensive coordinator gave me John Reed's book 2 weeks before the season started. I was going to use the typical pro offense until I started reading John's book. I could hardly put the book down until I read the whole thing and once it was complete I adopted John's philosophies for both Offense and Defense. We went 7-3 that year and lost 2 of the games with :08 seconds left and the other with under 1:30 when time ran out with us in possession and the ball on the opponents 30 yard line. Other teams had more talent and we still either beat them or made a heck of a game of it. This year we're moving up a division and I'm totally excited about the materials I was able to come across by coach Hugh Wyatt and the coaching clinic he'll be doing in San Jose later this month. I had major success last year after learning of the basic concept of the Single-Wing and drawing up my own plays with its formation. What can happen if I were to be able to have a genuine play book formulated around this offense? Please feel free to contact
me at 888-465-4227 7:30-4:30 p.s.t. or 775-786-5631 evenings. My e-mail address is buypremium@aol.com or renohldrgs@aol.com. This Offense has captured my imagination and I look forward to having other coaches around the league hear of and want to check out the Offense the "Reno
Chiefs " will be running in 1999. It was a very enjoyable experience. I almost feel as if we didn't even scratch the surface of both the Offense and Defense's true potential. If all goes well this year, I'll probably be committed to the philosophy for many years to come. Thankful in Reno, Grady Holdridge

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Thanks,

Jack Reed