Taking Over a Program with Leadership, Staff, and Culture before Game 1

Taking Over a Program

A Research-Based Survival Guide for Head Coaches

This is not a playbook.
It’s the leadership system most coaches never get.

Most coaching resources focus on schemes, drills, and tactics.
Very few address what actually determines whether a coach survives — and succeeds — in a new job:

• Staff alignment

• Culture installation

• Discipline under pressure

• Parent and administrator boundaries

• Leadership credibility in the first 90–180 days

Taking Over a Program is a research-based, experience-tested guide for coaches stepping into a new role; especially in challenging or struggling programs.

This course focuses on everything that happens before the first whistle, when most coaching careers are quietly made or broken.

WHAT MAKES THIS COURSE DIFFERENT

This product is built on Industrial-Organizational Psychology research and real coaching experience, not motivation or personality-driven leadership advice.

You’ll learn how effective leaders actually:

• Build trust and authority

• Diagnose systems before intervening

• Create predictable accountability

• Protect themselves from emotional decision-making

• Prevent parent and staff pressure from eroding standards

This is leadership science applied to football programs.

No clichés.
No hype.
No “championship mindset” slogans.

Just clear systems that hold up under pressure.

WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR

This course is designed for coaches who are:

• Taking over a new program

• Stepping into their first head coaching role

• Inheriting a struggling or unstable program

• Promoted internally and suddenly leading former peers

• Feeling pressure from parents, administration, or staff

• Carrying anxiety, stress, or imposter syndrome early in a new job

If you’ve ever thought:

“I know football — but this part feels overwhelming.”

This course is for you.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

This course walks coaches step-by-step through the early phases of taking over a program, including:

• Stabilizing yourself as the leader before making changes

• Assessing, categorizing, and building an aligned staff

• Hiring and interviewing assistant coaches using behavior-based methods

• Installing non-negotiables without confrontation

• Delegating responsibility without losing control

• Identifying and developing real player leaders

• Selecting captains without politics or popularity contests

• Enforcing discipline consistently, even in gray areas

• Handling academics as a behavioral standard

• Managing parent communication and setting boundaries early

Everything is delivered through short, focused video lessons supported by printable reference materials and tools coaches can return to throughout the season.

WHAT THIS COURSE IS NOT

• ❌ Not an X’s and O’s clinic

• ❌ Not a motivation talk

• ❌ Not personality-based leadership advice

• ❌ Not theory without application

This course is about systems, behavior, and decision-making, the things that determine whether your program holds together when pressure hits.

COACH & CREATOR BACKGROUND

This course is created and taught by a coach with 25 years of coaching experience, including:

• NCAA Division III college football

• NCAA Division II college football

• High school head coaching experience

• Extensive experience taking over, rebuilding, and stabilizing struggling programs

In addition to on-field experience, the course is grounded in formal education and research:

• Master’s Degree in Education

• Graduate training in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

The material combines:

• Leadership science

• Organizational psychology

• Real coaching decisions

• Hard-earned lessons from programs that weren’t easy

This is not theory from the outside.
It’s research applied by someone who’s lived it.

FORMAT

• Video-based lessons (designed for busy coaches)

• Printable reference guides and tools

• Structured, sequential modules

• Built to be revisited during the season

WHY THIS MATTERS

Most coaching careers don’t end because of scheme.

They end because:

• Culture erodes

• Discipline becomes emotional

• Parent pressure wins

• Staff alignment fails

• The head coach burns out or loses credibility early

Taking Over a Program exists to prevent that.

If you’re stepping into a new role — or trying to survive one — this course gives you the leadership systems most coaches never get but desperately need.