The Fourth Down System

with Kevin Kelley,
New England Patriots Offensive Analyst in 2021-2022;
Presbyterian College Head Football Coach in 2021;
Pulaski Academy (AR) Head Coach from 2003 to 2021;
2016 All-USA Coach of the Year;
2021 Innovator in Analytics Award Winner (Entertainment Analytics Conference);
2021 inductee - Arkansas Sports Hall of FameKelley's teams were 216-29-1 and won nine state titles;
featured on ESPN, HBO Real Sports, Fox Business News as well as in Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine

Experience an innovative, successful approach to the game of football. For over a decade, Kevin Kelley has gone against conventional football wisdom by going for it on fourth down - every time! Since making this controversial yet statistically sound decision, his teams have achieved unprecedented success, including nine state championships. His basic philosophy: You cannot win by giving the ball back to the opponent after three offensive plays.

The first step to installing the fourth down philosophy is to win over your team and coaching staff. Coach Kelley believes a huge part of the philosophy is the psychological state of your team. The defense must relish the opportunity to stop the opposition on a short field and be mentally prepared to do so at any point in the game.

Using game footage, Kelley shows both successful and unsuccessful third and fourth down play sequences and points out the percentages of going for it versus punting. In this system, third down is treated as if it were second down and quite often a run play can be called on long yardage situations. He also highlights successful play packages he likes to use on fourth down.

Throughout the video, Coach Kelley persuasively argues his position using statistics and pointing out the benefits of always going for it including:

• Changes the "normal" tendencies of defensive coordinators and forces them out of their comfort zone
• Converting a fourth down improves the performance of your team my creating a psychological advantage
• Keeps your offense on the field longer and you get more offensive plays
• Saves practice time - no more working on punt team coverage

Through statistical analysis, use of real game scenarios, and proven success, Coach Kelley creates a compelling argument for using all four downs to improve offensive output and score at a higher rate.

"Just because something's always been done that way, doesn't mean it should continue to be done that way." - Kevin Kelley

45 minutes. 2014.