National Coaches Day: Thank You to the Coaches Behind the Game

Tuesday, Oct. 6, is National Coaches Day, a chance to recognize the people teaching the game at every level. For public-school football, that recognition belongs to head coaches, coordinators, position coaches and volunteers across the country.

The observance traces to President Richard Nixon’s Proclamation 4157, signed Sept. 19, 1972, designating Oct. 6 that year as National Coaches Day. It recognized coaches as teachers and mentors, emphasizing their role in helping young people learn teamwork, discipline and how to handle winning and losing.

Football gives those lessons a daily setting: learning an assignment, accepting a correction, preparing for an opponent and responding when a play breaks down. There is a place in that work for the starter, the scout-team player and the freshman still learning where to line up.

Today’s thank-you goes to the coaches who take time to explain a drill again, make room for a new player and hold a team to a standard of effort and respect. It extends from the biggest public-school programs to the smallest, and to coaches in every sport.

If a coach made a difference in your life, today is a good day to tell them. Name the lesson. Share the memory. Let them know it stayed with you.