Football scouting methods

by Steve Belichick

"Considered the bible of scouting techniques" according to the Los Angeles Times , Football Scouting Methods explains the basic scouting strategies and insights of author Steve Belichick. He was widely viewed as the ablest football scout of his time and coached at the U.S. Naval Academy for 33 years; his son is New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a three-time Super Bowl winner. When Steve Belichick died in November 2005, the New York Times headline cited him as "Coach Who Wrote the Book on Scouting," and quoted Houston Texans General Manager Charley Casserly calling Football Scouting Methods "the best book on scouting he had ever read." Joe Bellino, Navy's Heisman Trophy winner in 1960, told the Times that Steve Belichick "was a genius. On Monday nights, he would give us his scouting reports, and even though we were playing powerhouses, I always felt we were prepared because he found a way for us to win." In recent years Football Scouting Methods has been one of the top ten most sought out-of-print books; used copies have been quite scarce. This reissue edition makes the original 1962 text available once again in exact facsimile. The book covers how to scout opponents, recognize defenses, analyze offenses, discover "tip-offs" that reveal the opponent's plays, compose a useful report, self-scout, and conduct postgame analysis. "Steve Belichick taught many younger men how to scout and how to watch film and how to prepare their teams for the next week's game," David Halberstam noted in the Washington Post , and his best student was his own son Bill Belichick, "one of whose greatest skills as a coach to this day remains his ability to analyze other teams, figuring out both their strengths and their vulnerabilities, and shrewdly deciding how to take away from them that which they most want to do." When CBS asked Bill Belichick to name his favorite book, he replied "Well, I've got to go with my dad's. Football Scouting Methods . I'd have to go with that."

Genres: Football, Sports, Nonfiction

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Matt Davenport · Rating 2 out of 5]

Billed as one of the most essential books every football coach should read, this was one of the most boring and least relevant endeavors I've ever forced myself through. All the examples are from 60 years ago, using terminology that is widely irrelevant and the scouting methods are based largely on the assumption that film is hard to access and of limited quality. There are definitely helpful lessons in here, especially in regards to the scouts role on a team and what keys to look for. The book also gives a lot of good starting points for what scouts should do as they first learn and how to best take notes, but again, a lot of these note taking procedures are framed around how offenses and defenses ran over half a century ago.

I gave it 2 stars due to learning some decent stuff and the charts therein that I may be able to use or reference at some point in my career. But hopefully I never need to actually read this again.

[Jimmy Pallotto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who is familiar with the Belichick family this book, the subject, material, and how old is presented will be exactly what you would expect. Those who know Bill is the six time Super Bowl champion coach know his dad’s name just is intimately Steve worked for years on some high-level staffs in part of that wisdom tuition.

It was like myself of 20+ years experience, playing in coaching so we can see the TV is there is no better reviews Waze and methods of scouting an opponent in this book. Person who believes they have nothing left to learn is the biggest phone in the room and ultimately never progresses with that ego.

. I would recommend this book highly for youth coaches, starting with a young team. Earlier coach and player can learn how to identify and communicate with a C, the further they can separation themselves from their peers, and in doing so further, their own development and career.

[Dillon Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading this book I really liked it a lot. It does kind of talk about some offenses and defenses you don't see a lot of any more, but it seems like every year there is that one team on your schedule that still plays old school football and they're normally good at it. This book really helps your understand those schemes and what to look for when scouting them. The top schemes it talks about are the Single Wing Offense, the Straight T Offense, the Wing T Offense, the Okie 5-4 Defense, and the 6-2 Defense. Overall, I think this is definitely a must read book for anyone aspiring to be a good football coach. I really liked the chapter at the end of the book about tip-offs. I actually typed up some of that info up in a word document to give to assistant coaches as a general cheat sheet while breaking down offensive opponents.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think you want to scout football, worth reading. If you want to understand X and O more, it might be of some help. If you want to re-live glory days, not your read.

Steve tells you how to be a very detailed in scouting football at all levels.
I enjoyed this book.

[Steven]

Good historical perspective. Some things never get old.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about coaching football. Although there are times when the details become monotonous and even mundane, the message is embedded in the writing; you need to pay attention to the many small things during your preparation, and the game will be that much easier. Belichick set the standard for scouting the game of football over sixty years ago, and the rules he set down so long still apply today. Although the game of football has changed, and technology has advanced, as it always does, Belichick's principles of preparation and organization remain unfazed.

[GREGORY · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a first year youth football coach, this book was excellent and offered a tremendous amount of suggestions and knowledge. Even for a novice, one can tell based on terminology, the book was written a long time ago, that does not detract from the quality of the information the book provides. It was a hard read at times, but I would highly recommend this book for anyone from novice to seasoned coach.

[Manuel Gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for its time, but mostly outdated now. Still interesting to read it from a historic point of view

[Derek Shetterly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a “football book.” This is a manuscript and a fundamental building block for American football scouting techniques, tangibles and tendencies. Written by the father of Bill Belichick and the “master” of College Football Scouting, Steve Belichick does his due diligence in helping the reader understand the basic nuances of football scouting and the methods and practices - the 7 W’s. A book that must be studied and practiced consistently - not a “once read.”

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

For coaches and fans of the game.

While written on how to scout a football game, it also is required information for all coaches and fans of the game of football.