Winning the Off-Season: How JV Coaches Can Elevate the Entire Program
When the final whistle blows and the season officially ends, there’s a natural exhale that happens. The grind of game weeks, practice plans, injuries, film, and logistics finally slows down. For a lot of people, that’s where football stops for a few months.
But for programs that consistently succeed, the off-season is where the real separation begins.
At the JV level, it’s easy to feel like your job ends when your schedule does. You’re not calling plays on Friday nights. You’re not the one answering questions at booster meetings. You’re not always in the spotlight. But make no mistake—JV coaches can have an enormous impact on the direction, culture, and success of a varsity program during the off-season.
In fact, some of the most important work a JV coach does happens long after the last JV game is played.
Understanding Your Role in the Bigger Picture
The first step in being helpful to the varsity program is understanding what your role actually is. JV coaching isn’t about running your own independent program. It’s about serving as a bridge—between youth football and varsity, between raw potential and Friday-night readiness.
That mindset has to carry into the off-season.
Your job isn’t to reinvent the wheel or prove how much football you know. Your job is to support the vision of the varsity head coach, amplify it, and help execute it at the developmental level. The best JV coaches I’ve been around understand that alignment matters more than ego, and consistency matters more than creativity.
When the varsity staff sees you as someone who is dependable, aligned, and willing to do the unglamorous work, doors open. Trust grows. And your influence expands.
That’s not to say everyone will be satisfied with that role forever. Not everyone is like me, satisfied with staying at the JV level for the long run. But there’s an old saying in coaching; “Grow where you’re planted.” Don’t look to greener pastures while still in the place you’re in. As a JV coach, aspirations are great, but remember to do the job in earnest while you’re in it. Don’t half ass it.
Helping With Film and Breakdowns: The Silent Backbone of Success
One of the easiest ways for a JV coach to make themselves invaluable in the off-season is through film work. Film never stops. Self-scout, opponent breakdowns, cut-ups, tendency reports—it’s endless. And for a varsity head coach, it can feel overwhelming.
This is where JV coaches can step in and take real ownership.
Breaking down film doesn’t require being the smartest football mind in the room. It requires being detailed, consistent, and reliable. When you offer to help with breakdowns—and then actually do them well—you immediately become a trusted piece of the operation. No detail can be too small or seem unimportant. This past month alone, I’ve done a down and distance study, a run play study, 3rd down study, efficiency and explosiveness study, OL study, even field position study, all for the sake of giving our Varsity staff the most information possible for their new season
Even more important, film work makes you a better coach. You start to see patterns. You notice how varsity defenses fit runs. You recognize route structures and coverage adjustments. That knowledge flows directly back into how you teach JV players and prepare them for what’s coming next.
The off-season is also a great time to review your own JV film with a varsity lens. Watch your players not as they are now, but as who they might become. Ask yourself: Who could help us next year? Who needs another year in the weight room? Who plays the game the right way?
Those insights are incredibly valuable to a varsity staff making long-term plans.
Here’s a tip when it comes to those kinds of studies: some coaches can feel overwhelmed (or even annoyed) when you send them constant film updates in the off-season. It helps to create a Shared Google folder or some sort of cloud space where this information can be stored for anyone to check out, without the constant need to email when they’re done. I’m hoping, for your sake, that people think that you’re doing “too much” as I’ve been told in the past, but if it’s for the good of the program, then who are you hurting?
Contributing to the Playbook Without Complicating It
Another area where JV coaches can quietly help the program is in playbook refinement and creation. This doesn’t mean adding pages or dreaming up new concepts just to put your stamp on things. In fact, it usually means the opposite.
JV coaches live in the world of teaching. You see firsthand which concepts translate quickly and which ones take months to click. You see where terminology breaks down, where rules get fuzzy, and where players consistently struggle.
That perspective is gold.
Helping the varsity staff streamline language, clarify rules, or tighten up teaching progressions can have a massive impact—especially when the goal is getting younger players ready faster. Sometimes the best contribution a JV coach can make is asking simple questions like, “How do we want this taught to a sophomore?” or “What’s the non-negotiable coaching point here?”
In my own case, being a Special Education teacher helps that process. Teaching to the lowest common denominator can be a Godsend, and for development from the youth up to Varsity, is the biggest help you can provide. For example, last year, I proposed to our Varsity HC transitioning to Gap-Down-Backer blocking in our Power and Counter run games. In doing so, we simplified the teaching from our previous schemes and increased our production of those concepts at all levels.
This season, I’ve been tasked with helping our Varsity Head Coach begin work on a new system that will help our programs where it’s struggling, and my biggest task will be helping to create the teaching system behind it. Once that’s finished, my friend and assistant, Coach Whitmore, will then build a Pop Warner version of the offense for our Youth Program to use, as he also coaches at that level.
When playbooks evolve in a way that keeps the core intact but improves teachability, everyone wins. And JV coaches are uniquely positioned to help with that process.
Learning Together: Clinics, Conversations, and Growth
One of the most underrated ways JV coaches help a program in the off-season is simply by continuing to learn—and then sharing that learning the right way.
Since beginning this blog, I have come into contact with and become good friends with many coaches around the country. Each coach I’ve been able to talk with has given me great insights into different areas of the game, and I’ve been able to bring this knowledge back to our staff to help increase their knowledge too.
Another great tool is football clinics. Going to clinics, whether in person or online, isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about exposure. It’s about hearing how other programs teach the same concepts you already run. It’s about finding better ways to explain, drill, or sequence what you’re already doing.
When JV coaches attend clinics with the varsity staff—or even just stay engaged in post-clinic conversations—it strengthens alignment. It creates shared language. It builds trust. Our own state clinic is in March this year, and most of our staff will be attending. While the football information is always great every year, the time spent together is invaluable, as it’s almost 24 hours together, communicating, bonding, and creating shared memories to build your staff culture moving forward.
And while you may think that you’re spending your off-season becoming the next Andy Reid or Bear Bryant, the key here is humility.
Instead of coming back and saying, “We should run this,” the better approach is, “I saw a really good way they taught this—might be worth looking at.” That difference in tone matters. Programs grow when ideas are shared collaboratively, not competitively.
The Weight Room: Where Culture Is Built
If Friday nights are where culture is displayed, the weight room is where it’s built.
JV coaches can have a huge influence here. Being present, engaged, and consistent in the off-season strength program sends a powerful message to younger players. It reinforces that development doesn’t pause when the season ends.
Helping supervise lifts, track attendance, encourage consistency, and reinforce standards creates buy-in. Players notice which coaches show up. They notice who cares enough to be there when it’s not mandatory.
The weight room is also where JV coaches can help identify future leaders. Who shows up early? Who works when no one is watching? Who encourages others? Those traits matter just as much as squat numbers when projecting varsity contributors.
Doing the Little Things That Keep a Program Running
Not every off-season contribution shows up on a whiteboard. Some of the most impactful work happens behind the scenes.
Inventorying equipment. Organizing storage rooms. Labeling jerseys. Cleaning up film databases. Updating depth charts. Helping plan off-season schedules. Supporting youth camps. These aren’t glamorous jobs, but they matter.
When JV coaches take ownership of these tasks, they remove stress from the varsity staff. They also reinforce a culture where everyone serves the program, not their title.
The truth is, programs don’t fail because of a lack of football knowledge. They struggle because of disorganization, burnout, and misalignment. JV coaches who help in these areas become culture carriers.
Building Relationships That Last
Perhaps the most important thing a JV coach can do in the off-season is build relationships—with players, with fellow coaches, and with the varsity head coach.
Off-season conversations matter. Checking in with players. Encouraging academic progress. Talking football without pressure. Reinforcing expectations. These interactions shape how players view the program.
When JV coaches and varsity coaches communicate regularly in the off-season, it creates continuity. No surprises. No mixed messages. Just a shared vision executed at every level.
My Head Coach, Aaron Rivers, and I have been working together collaboratively now for 13 years. I started out as his DC when he was the head of JV, and now that he’s running the program I’m running his JV for him. Through the years and seasons, through thick and thin, we’ve shared a love of football and this program that’s grown into a great partnership and understanding. He knows and trusts that I’m going to put in the work to build the future of this program, and I trust that he’s going to make the right decisions and ask for help when he needs it. We’ve taken road trips to colleges and other schools to talk scheme with coaches together, we’ve spent days and evenings drawing up plays on whiteboards together, and we’ve created a friendship that will last, all because of the trust we have built through this program.
Closing Thoughts: Serving the Program, Not the Ego
At the end of the day, the best JV coaches I know all share one trait: they see their role as a service position. Not lesser—just different.
The off-season is your chance to serve the program in ways that directly impact its future. Through film work, teaching insight, weight room presence, organizational support, and relentless alignment, JV coaches can elevate everyone around them.
And when the next season kicks off, when those JV players step into varsity roles more prepared, more confident, and more connected, you’ll know the work mattered.
Because that’s the JV way.
Teach it. Rep it. Build it.
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