There are two approaches for preparing for the next season. The first is what I like to refer to as “revolution.” This is a sudden, radical and complete change.

Revolution in offensive football works like this. The coach sees a talented group of receivers and quarterback coming back. He and his coaches say, “Let’s run the air raid.” They buy the system off the shelf or otherwise learn the air raid system. The language is adapted, and everyone becomes a “freshmen” as far as language is concerned.

Evolution is much different. This is a process of continuous change from a lower, simple form to a higher, more complex state.

The purpose of any offseason analysis should be to find the areas in which improvement can be made and then determine the to evolve the offense.

Phase 1: Get a big picture view

Breaking down the season and looking at statistically by a number of different parameters help determine where you need to improve and what research you need to do for next year’s team.

No matter what level of football you coach, there typically will be a 20 to 25 percent turnover in terms of personnel each year. While the main job of the offensive coordinator is to determine the concepts, schemes and techniques that best fit personnel, having a strong understanding of what you faced in the season before helps formulate the plan for the next group. The numbers help you make predictions about how much offense you need in the next season and as what you might be able to expect from your opponents.

Use Hudl reports or a similar program to break all of this down and get an in-depth look at the past season.

Here is the process we use for preparing the data for analysis. Enter all data for your plays and your opponent’s defenses, including the following information:

• Quarter (time of game sheds light on both you and your opponents)
• Field position
• Hash
• Down and distance (use P-and-10 for the first play of a possession to differentiate)
• Play type (run/pass)
• Result
• Formation
• Motion
• Play
• Defensive front
• Linebacker alignment
• Defensive line stunt
• Defensive blitz
• Defensive coverage

Once all of the data is entered for each game, go through and click on each game and create one large playlist so that all offensive plays are grouped together.

Export the list as an Excel file, then the data can be sorted, filtered and looked at in a number of different ways

Then prepare a down and distance report that gives the following information:

Situation, number of times

• P-and-10
• 1st-and-10
• Second-and-long
• Second-and-medium
• Second-and-short
• Third-and-plus-10
• Third-and-7 to 9
• Third-and-5 to 6
• Third-and-2 or 3
• Third-and-1
• Fourth

With this information, you can begin to dive deeper into each of the downs to find trends in what you did and what your opponent did.

Keith Grabowski finished a 27 year coaching career before joining USA Football full-time. In addition to hosting USA Football’s Coach and Coordinator Podcats, he also serves as director of football operations. He previously coached at every level beginning at the youth level, then 15 years at the high school including his role as a head for coach eight years and then the collegiate level for eight years as  offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at both Baldwin Wallace University and Oberlin College. Follow him on Twitter @CoachKGrabowski.