Overall rating: (1.3 of 5.0 possible)

Available through: www.barnesandnoble.com

Coaching Youth Football is described on the back cover as, "...a great resource for youth football coaches working with 6-14 year old athletes." The person who wrote this brief apparently didn't read the book, or they wouldn't have added the phrase, "It describes in detail how to teach kids important football skills and strategies..."

Let's start with the few things the book does well. For one thing, it'll certainly take less time than trying to list everything the authors screwed up.

The authors did an admirable job of providing a list of priorities for a new coach. They carefully discuss the importance of teamwork, learning to coach your own child, and where to find additional coaching materials and resources.

Unfortunately, the authors lose some credibility when they descend into touchy-feely concepts like not criticizing players. They feel that it only hurts the player's self esteem. Fine, I can agree that too much criticism will injure a player's confidence and be counter-productive, but the A.S.E.P. authors say you shouldn't use any! It's a good thing "Bear" Bryant never read this book or he might not have won all those national championships. I also hope nobody goes back in time and gives a copy to Vince Lombardi!

The authors do go on to describe some of the features of effective communication, and I feel that this is actually one of the stronger parts of the book. Included in the chapter on communication is an admonishment I agree with 100%: to hold a preseason parents' meeting. Unfortunately, they give very little advice on what to cover, saying only, "...describe your background and your approach to coaching." (p.31) No mention of informing parents of team rules is made, nor is discipline discussed.

The book also does a decent job of explaining how to teach. A large part of coaching is teaching, but many coaches of all experience levels are not familiar with the three styles of learning or how to invoke them in an educational setting. This section is one of the few saving graces for this book.

Another well-covered responsibility of coaching is the necessity for tight and disciplined practice planning. Unfortunately, attempting to follow the sample practice plan included in Appendix A will leave you ready to play your first game in late October, assuming that you started practicing in early August.

I found the chapter on safety to be woefully inadequate. To begin with, the authors recommend a physical examination every two years. I have never heard of any youth sporting association in America that does not require a current physical before practices begin. Every sports association I am aware of requires an annual physical.

Further mistakes were made later in the chapter. One was the "A.S.E.P. Fact" that the injury rate for youth tackle football is 15%. This is pure bunk! According to the National Youth Sports Coaches Association (N.Y.S.C.A.) gymnastics has the highest injury rate in youth sports, and that rate is only 9.21%. Where this statistic of 15% came from is beyond me, but my best guess is out of the imagination of the authors. According to them, almost two kids out of every twenty are injured in football every year. The N.Y.S.C.A.'s stats are closer to 3%.

Absolutely no mention whatsoever is made of the symptoms and treatment of concussions, although bruises, scrapes, cuts, and sprains are lightly covered.

Chapter six is where this book really begins to fall apart for the serious coach looking to improve his knowledge of the sport of football. It is in this chapter where the authors, who have apparently never been on a football field, attempt to teach you how to coach the sport.

The most irritating and frustrating mistake the authors made was in trying to include flag and touch football in the scope of their book. Football is such an incredibly complex sport that even books devoted just to one side of the game generally get it wrong half the time. Trying to include flag, touch, and tackle football rules, and offenses, defenses, and special teams for all three in a book of only 167 pages resulted in a confusing and poorly thought-out mishmash of barely explained systems and skills. The authors would have been much better served to pick one sport of the three and write solely about that.

Perhaps if they had done so, they might have gotten some of the information correct! On p. 77, figure 6.7 is a drawing of the Wing-T "100" formation (Wing right) that is incorrectly labeled "Single-wing formation." Furthermore, three pages later, the 4-3 defense is shown, and described as "typical for youth football!" Just to make things even more annoying, the defense is shown lined up incorrectly against the split back "Pro" formation!

In chapter seven the lunacy continues, as the authors both incorrectly describe and sketch a three point stance for offensive linemen on page 95. They do the same things wrong on page 99, again both showing and describing the halfback's stance incorrectly.

Pass protection blocking is described on page 103, but no mention is made of actual blocking techniques beyond the first step of the pass blocker. Completely ignored is the importance of protecting the inside gap.

Page 116 shows a passing tree unlike any I've ever seen before. No "In" or "drag" route is shown, and the diagram only shows routes four through nine. According to the book, patterns 1, 2, and 3 are reserved for the running backs, but they are neither documented nor shown anywhere else in the book.

It is not really my intention to list every single error and inconsistency within the pages of this book. After all, I'm only allowed so much space on my web server. I believe that the foul-ups I've shown provide enough of a stopping point for any coach interested in purchasing this book. The poorly performed research, inadequate safety chapter, and clumsy attempt to include three sports worth of material combined to make this, bar none, the absolute worst coaching book I own.

The book contains zero information on selecting offensive and defensive schemes, or choosing personnel for specific positions. There is also nothing approaching a "playbook".

No mention whatsoever is made of mechanical advantages for offensive linemen, although "base", "fold", and "double team" blocking together got one whole paragraph on page 146.

I give the book the following scores:

Readability: 2

At times the book seemed written like a comic book, and much of the wording seemed chosen specifically to insult the reader's intelligence.

Usefulness: 1

With its inaccuracies overshadowing the very few times the authors got their facts right, the book honestly makes delving for its nuggets of truth too time consuming to be worthwhile.

Practicality: 2

Most of the drills described require a football at most. Unfortunately, most of the drills described are pointless and will not serve to improve your team in any significant fashion.

Overall score: 1.3

I do not recommend this book to any serious football coach seeking to improve himself as a student of the game. At $12.95, the book was also somewhat expensive, considering the lack of material it contained. Many of the books for sale at USA Coaches and Coaches Choice are far more detailed, better written, and the same price, or even cheaper.