Subject: How to be a great X’s and O’s coach
Date: October 20, 2026

You know you need a system. You know you’re supposed to commit to it.

But what system do you commit to, for the rest of your life?

I tasked my Muse AI with finding interesting blog posts for me. Past and present, since not that many people are writing good blogs anymore.

Yesterday it came up with a blog post called “How to Do Great Work” by Paul Graham. It’s more like a small novel so I haven’t torn through the whole thing. Just the first section.

Anyway, the post is about how to find that thing you want to be great at doing. The single thing that you are good at, passionate about, and has the opportunity to actually… well, be great.

Nothing unusual.

Then he talks about the big missing piece… how do you find that thing?

Mr. Graham has a simple answer, and I think it is a good answer for those coaches trying to find the right system:

“The way to figure out what to work on is by working. If you’re not sure what to work on, guess. But pick something and get going.”

That’s it.

The first system I dove into was the Georgia Military College 3-5-3 Defense. I loved it. We could have been very good at it. But after two seasons, I made a switch because I did not have a mentor.

Could I have found a mentor? Absolutely. In 2007, I didn’t know how to do that though.

I found the Miami 4-3 Defense. I became even more passionate about it, and found a few really knowledgeable coaches willing to teach me.

I still love that defense, but I do not think most high school teams (and near-zero youth teams) have the athletes and/or coaching staff to use it right. Time and place were not right for me.

Then I found the 4-2-5 Defense. First it was the TCU variation, which is still the foundation of my system. Over time it was simplified with the help of many other coaches to better fit small high school programs.

Later we were able to simplify it so that youth coaches and middle school programs across the country have been winning football games with it.

Then, over time, the 4-2-5 Defense faded away. Not that I ran something else… it just became less important. We started becoming more multiple, morphing into a 33 Stack and 3-4 Defense at times.

And today, I don’t care about numbers. I care about the foundation.

I’m an Umbrella Run Fits guy.

The defensive front that everyone is so hung up about? It doesn’t matter to me.

Fronts are just alignments. Alignment is a lever to support the Umbrella. Same with the stance, key reads, and assignments. ASKA supports the umbrella.

Your practice plans and the drills you run support your ASKA. It’s all in a system.

The point of all this is not where I arrived, but how I got there.

I started working. My Christmas list in 2005 was nothing but Georgia Military College 3-5-3 Defense tapes (yes, VHS tapes). That’s all I wanted to do.

You find your thing by starting a thing. Anything.

Don’t declare yourself a 4-2-5 Defense guy. Don’t even declare that you are a defense guy!

Just get to work.

JDFB Gold is a great place to start. We have a special offer when you join this month:

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​~ Joe Daniel