Creating a Championship Program

with Tom Wilson,
Dowling Catholic (IA) High School Head Coach;
Has led Dowling to seven straight Class 4A State Championships (2013-19) with an 87-6 record during that run - the only team in Iowa history to win seven state championships in a row at the 4A level

Program organization is one of the most important aspects of establishing and maintaining a championship program. In this video, Tom Wilson walks you through his keys to a successful program, focusing on three main objectives: planning, communication, and organization.

You will learn his methods for developing people, building relationships, building trust, and developing the student-athlete.

Point System

Coach Wilson shares a point system he's created to hold student-athletes accountable for their athletic and academic development. This system rewards academic achievement and consistency of effort with participation in multiple sports and training programs both in and out of season. Athletes can also lose points for conduct violations.

Unified Training Program

In the era of specialization, Coach Wilson counters this trend by sharing the benefits of a unified approach that promotes multi-sport athletes. The unified training program requires all athletes train in a similar manner, and also makes it easier for coaches of sports that depend on off-season weight training to recommend their athletes to participate in other sports.

Give your school a better chance for overall success by making it possible for the best athletes to participate in multiple sports. Not only is this a great video for any football program looking to take it to the next level, this is a blueprint for success in high school sports in general!

Improve Communication Within the Program, and Out

You'll learn several methods for improving your communication with coaches, players, parents, community, youth feeder systems and college recruiters. Coach Wilson explains how he sets up various committees and councils and what their roles are. He explains how he uses social media to promote his program, as well as how he invites members of the community to meet with coaches on occasion. He shares examples of newsletters, social media posts, postseason player meetings and more. See how this level of planning and organization can help you outperform your competition

Coach Wilson describes a system of evaluating and recommending players to colleges based on their potential to play football at the next level. Coach Wilson also explains that it's important to be realistic with your athletes and their parents about what their chances are at the next level and what to expect in the recruiting process.

Organizing a Championship Season

Coach Wilson shows you his in-season organization, giving you a comprehensive list of what it takes to consistently remain on top. This includes:

• Practice schedule examples
• An outline of his daily practice schedule, including what the focus for each day should be
• How to adjust the practice schedule in the case of having to rely on a large number of two-way players
• Game day and Saturday schedules are described for a typical game week
• An overview of coaching assignments for film study, game day, and pre-game activities
• How he organizes sideline communication and how he constructs his offensive installation schedule

Coach Wilson concludes this video with his thoughts on the key differences in coaching at small schools as opposed to large schools and how coaches can adapt their approach to be successful in any situation.

This video gives you the tools necessary for building a championship program. Start fostering relationships, developing trust, and sharing strategies that allow your academic and athletic community to work together in the pursuit of excellence.

56 minutes. 2017.