Legends Coaching: Mike Cofer

coaching to participate in our clinic. We have had an absolute blast with all of these legends. Uh this week and today with me is Mike Koefer from a place kicker for the Saints, forty Niners and Colts. Mike, thanks so much for being here. I love to be here. Thank you, Chaff. We have talked about in our clinic, Mike, just how coaches have influenced us in our careers and

even post career. Uh. Can you talk about who you try and emulate when you're out there coaching and some of the coaches that may have made an impact in your life. Yeah. Um, you know we talked to our kids a lot. And I'll preface you know what the general information you'd like. But we talked to our kids a lot about in football. You know, when we think back and we think in the high school and even

some of the youth days. You know, I tell these kids, you know, I played baseball, I played basketball, I played football, I played soccer. We all get together twenty thirty years later, we talked about football. It's tremendous and I, you know, I want kids to understand that that that those ideals

that you know, the things you learned playing football. And we talked a ton about it here over the past two days about those are the components, those are the personalities, Those are the behaviors you know that that you develop on and off the football field being around each other, that will last, you know, a lifetime. Um now to alter back to that, probably the biggest influence in my life coaching wise, other than my dad and my mom, um was my head baseball coach in high school. But

he was also the assistant football coach. So so, but but he was that if there's anybody I try to emulate. Ed Walton at Charlotte County Day School just a tremendous man. If I could be half the man that he wasn't in teaching and coaching kids, um, I know I'll be a success. From your perspective. What made him tremendous, you know, I think I think one it was his passion for the game that he was able to translate to us

in the proper way. It wasn't overbearing, you know, it wasn't screaming and yelling and cursing, you know which in the old day, you know, and we call it, we call those days, and we played the old days now. I guess you know that that people probably attributed a lot to football or or you know, competitive athletics in those days. You know, he had that a little bit

of sarcastic to meaner about him. I can't pinpoint one thing other than you know, he he emphasized us that yeah, you can you can win and do it the wrong way, and we're not gonna do that. You know, We're gonna be about team. When we hit the field, we're gonna do it the right way. We're gonna put the work into perfecting our craft, you know, during the week or on off days, and then when it's time to play. He let you play and he let you make your

mistakes and learn from them. You know, you see a lot I feel like today, I see a lot of you know, younger coaches who just trying, they want to manipulate every aspect of the game. And I'm like, listen, you know you've put in the work. You know, now you just got to let the kids go play, and the only way they're going to improve is letting them play, letting them make mistakes, but also letting them be successful and knowing that it was them on game day, not

so much you. I totally agree with you. We we tried to keep our kids from failing, and you know, instead of not accepting failure but embracing failure and using it to learn what success looks like. I completely agree with you on that. Looking at the clinic, UH and taking part in our coaching clinic, UH, what was your experience like and what we're kind of your expectations and now coming out of it, how do you feel? Um? I mean, I I feel great. I feel energized, which

I feel as always. You know, the ultimate goal of any clinic that we go to as coaches is to come out with a renewed motivation, you know, to go back and attack your passion. So, um, it was tremendous to see. You know, you don't realize because because every we we go back to where we are and we work in our little bubble. You know, we don't realize that. You know, there are others who have been through the same path that we have that are doing the same thing.

So it's that it's that uh, you know, that synergy of commonality. You know that, hey, you know we are doing something good. You know, I'm not the only one out here who's spending you know, twelve sixteen hours a day at this and and and not get paid a

whole lot. But um, you know, just seeing seeing meet meeting guys you know that that you know we watched but didn't really know and now getting to shake hands with him and seeing them you know, outside of the game and and seeing how they're giving back to the game is great. But then also you know, the way the way the legend community you know, um integrated, you know some some crucial aspects of of ways to play

new ways, how the game has changed. You know, us us as guys who played back in the eighties and nineties, you know, a little more trusty, you know, and this is the way you do it in my way or the highway. But but the game has changed, and so you have to you know, you have to adapt to it too as a coach. And um, you know, I feel like I'm gonna ramble on a little bit here. Um, you know, everybody, we talked a little bit about it today about how where the kids are different or kids

are different kids. Well, no, the kids are the same. They want to be successful, you know, they want to work hard. It's just the the confines that they're doing it in are different what you did it in. We still love to play. They just played differently than we do. They play on machines. You know. We went out and played in the yard, you know, but they're still playing that. You know, the mind is still thinking the same way.

So you know, I've kind of taken the attitude that it's up to us as coaches and older coaches and experienced, um, you know, mature individuals. We need to adapt back to them. You know, I don't. I don't want to make the kids adapt to me because it's not my game anymore. It's there. So, you know, I feel like there was some presentation on that too, which which is really good. So I appreciate you letting me ramble, absolutely, and I really enjoyed first of all, the brotherhood I saw in

there with our legends. Are former players really getting together and filling that brotherhood, feeling that commonality, and then really taking a look at Okay, what do we need to do as legends in this space? What do we need to do as guys who have played at the highest level of all to make our game better? And so my question to you would be what unique perspective do you think we do have as legends that we can

bring to the coaching space. I think the one thing I always I always revert back to is the respect that we as professionals. And I don't think this has shown enough on television. You know, when you're playing the game and we're competing, and we watched the guys compete on Sundays or Monday nights or whenever we see them compete, we see them. You know, they get confrontational every now and then with each other and things. Sometimes they even

get a little bit out of hand. But I don't think what they're showing television enough is either before or after the game, those guys shaking hands, patting each other on the back, and you know, hey, how you're doing. How How you know how your kids doing? How has the How's how's the wife? How's the growl? How's your mom? You know, the true respect for the time and effort and energy that that each person who has made it to the top level of the sport is put in.

I don't think that's trickled down and not into the high school game where you know, you get into that, you know, lack of respects that that is going to happen on the field in a in a contact sport, but then it carries off the field, you know at the lower levels and if people just begin to they build a hatred. You know, the rivalry needs to be a rivalry, but it needs to stay within the lines.

Have to go outside those lines. And that's another sixteen year old young man, that's another seventeen year old yong Woma. You know, we need to build those relationships, cross boundary, cross team that you know, you went through the same thing I went through. We're fighting the same battle. We're playing the greatest game you know ever invented. You know, to to build what we want to build within ourselves.

So I think they need to show that or or emphasize that a little bit more about how guys really do respect each other even though they get on the field of compete hard, they really do respect each other

when it's all said and done. That is a great point because some people in our game that haven't played at the levels we have played, uh true, don't respect each other and use it as more of a transactional type of experience instead of a transformational where we I believe, really value what the game has done for us as men. And so that's a great point. What have you found um as a challenge or what are some unique challenges

that we do face as legends in this space? Oh wow, I mean every day brings it brings a new hurdle. I mean, I think you realize that, you know, the divide sometimes can be so great, and it doesn't matter where you are. You could be at a high end school, you could be at a you know, a low end school. You're gonna have different cultures, different you know, different races, different philosophies, different religions. Okay, and I think you may

even talked a little bit about this earlier today. Um, you know, nowhere in my opinion, and I was never in the military, but my dad was, and and some people in my family have been in the military. You know, I don't think anywhere else other than the military do you find trying to bring a diversified group of people together, a diversified group of young individuals together to try and generate a common goal that you do in the game

of football. So that's probably the biggest hurdle is to get these kids to understand that, hey, not everybody thinks the way you do. Not everybody looks the way you do, Not everybody responds to situations the way you do. Not everybody came from the same you know, family life that you did, or has been through the same experience as you did. But somehow, some way, we've got to shed all that for at least, you know, forty eight minutes on a Friday night and come together to try and

get something done, you know. So, so I think that's probably the biggest hurdle to overcome in that situation. Sure, and we've talked about just the changes that we have seen or haven't really seen in our kids. What about the game itself when you look at the aim today compared to when you played or when I played. Are there certain things about the games you've seen that have changed,

whether it be rules, techniques things like that. Yeah, I mean we all we all know that the game has has changed dramatically over the last eight to ten years and really accelerated that change really in the last four to five I think, um, and it's definitely for the better. I think we all agree with that. That's where we as coaches who played a different game have to be

able to adapt. And it's hard because the game that that is being played on you know, Sundays now is really although we would like to try and make it the same game on Friday night, it's a completely different skill set. You know, you're you're looking at guys who who can throw the ball fifty sixty yards, seventy yards, eighty yard, I don't know, you're looking at guys that can go up and jump, you know, ten twelve feet

in the air and high point of ball. You know, trying trying to get kids to work outside of their skills set on Friday night is not, in my opinion, is not gonna lead to success. So trying to adapt the new game you know to to a high schoolers skill set, you know, so we still have to figure out ways to run the ball more than they do on Sunday. You know, we still have to figure out how to kick you know, thirty yard field goals instead

of fifty yard field goals. You know. So those adaptations with the way the game is played now, Um, but then you know some of the great stuff going over as far as you know, all the new ways to tackle. You know. We listened to the Charles Bentley today on getting the head out of the game and are ways to play and that incorporated getting the head out of game posture which he talked about and I had I

had heard the Charles speaking at a Glazier clinic. So um, really impressed with with that type of work that he's doing. But breaking it down not so much to an XS and O standpoint, but how do we build these young men and women from a physical stature standpoint to be able to play the game proper? You know, I don't think that was anything that was ever taught to me or to you back in the day. We just said hey,

go do it, you know. But now we've got we've got people who who have scientifically studied the way the body moves and how we can improve those kids, which

in turn will make them play safer. And I thought it was interesting La Charles talking about our kids and their posture and how their lives have dictated the posture because of technology and the smart device and things like that, and so their posture challenges are different than our posture challenges were growing up because, like you said, we were more outside and active and things like that, we didn't have cell phones. So evolving the game around what's happening

in their world too, I think is really something. Uh, this is a contact sport. We all know that we love that piece of our game, but we also want to be able to teach the correct technique that involves the contact, whether it be receiving the contact or giving the contact. What's that balance, like, you think, as far as teaching the physical aspect and in the correct technique at the same time. You know, it's tough because I always always tell my kids, Hey, you know we're outside,

now use your outside voice. You know, you can be mean on the football field a little bit. Okay, It's okay. You know you're not gonna get you know, in detention or anything. You know, you can do stuff here that you can't do in the hallways. This is your time to get it out, you know. So we we have we have contests and games where we try to build um aggressiveness, you know, in Indore, our Indo, our our players. You know, it's stick wars or bag wars or something

of that nature. And but but then you know, we make it, we make it exciting and we're loving them up. Whether whether they win or lose the contest, at the end, we're loving them up altogether. You know, could trying to build that competitive nature into them. And I think, you know, I don't know. I don't know for sure because I don't play games on my phone. I don't play video

games very much. But uh, you know, there there's there's no consequence you know, when you're playing, when you're playing it on the game, you can just reboot and start over. You know, I'm I'm I'm like, come on, guy, you know there's consequence when you actually transition it to the football field on on on Friday night, you're either gonna get the first down or you're not. You know, you can't just start the game over. There are no do overs.

Um so, but yeah, um trying to trying to uh integrate that aggressive nature into the game, continually into the game, but still doing it the right way. It's to us sometimes, but us learning at you know, events like this are

learning some new new techniques, new ideas, new terminology. Even the way you talk to the kids about it, you know, it was there's once one thing that uh you know we we we went over um earlier today, even the way you just talk about it, you know, you know, because kids, That's one thing that I don't think I realized until I got into education. I've been in education

the last four years. You know, I can uh communicate something verbally to a young man or a young woman and I think they hear what I'm saying, but they hear something completely differently. So learning that that that, you know, different people internalized or even here things that you say differently, you know, being a little more explanatory on exactly what you meant, you know, so they can interpret so they

can interpret it correct. Have you found any positive techniques you've used with your parents and talking about physical play and contact sport and anything like that. I don't know if there's any one point, I mean that was one of the one of the uh first or second things I did when we we actually just started our program from nothing. At the school that I met, we had no football program. And in the day and age and a lot of a lot of a lot of schools

are dumping their football programs. You know, we're starting one, and I think that's that seems to be able to past couple of years that are more coming back. One of the first things I did is is, you know, we set up what we call it the gridiron club. You know, where parents can have an active say you know and what we're doing. You know they have they have these are there, you know, their prize possessions. You know, they should have some type of say and how we

may may go about things. Now, of course, you know, to a certain extent, you've gotta have a little bit of a dictatorship. But but you know so, I think instituting given the parents to say in some type of club or booster club format, you know that that that gives it. But making them understand, you know, where where their limits are. Of course, just instructing them on on stuff that you instructed yourself on as far as hey,

new safety items in the game. Um, you know helmets that register you know, impact or stuff like that that they can be tracked so you can get a young man off the field before the next hit. You know. You know, new new innovations and equipment. You know, uh, heat related shoulder pads, heat related undergarments that that you know evaporate heat out, or technology that even tracks you know, are you getting overheated? You know that you can just

track on a phone. So I think us stepping up to new technology and translating to the parents that hey, these are the things that we're doing, you know, to try to try and and um, you know, help the game improve and make sure that that you know, your price possession is doing it to the best of their ability and the best of our ability to make sure that they're going to be safe. Yeah. We talked about this today and that word for me is partnership, right,

being able to partner with the families. Uh. What did

you find most rewarding about the clinic? Um? I think from a personal standpoint, you know, I wanted a lot of questions answered from what the Legends community can do for our program and can do for youth football and getting answers on that you know is what what actions do I need to take, you know, as a program head to to to make sure that I'm utilizing all the previous you know, things that that that I've been able to accomplish in my life making sure that those

I can push those forward through you know, giving back to the to to youth and kids and high school kids that I'm working with now. So so that's been very helpful in talking with you know yourself and and uh Tracy Pearlman and Alexeia Gallagher and all the people with the Legends community, UM as far as how can we value add to our program based on you know, the quality experience that I had through through playing in the NFL. So that's been probably you know key number one.

Second part is just you know, being able to interact with with you know, the other coaches that are in the same situations that that you know I've been in, UM, you know, fairly new coach, you know most of you know. It's sometimes it's it's hard to transition out of playing into coaching. I mean, I work with I'll give you

an example. I work with kickers a lot. I work with a gentleman out of Texas and doing kicking camps and of that nature, and you it just came easy for me, you know, so to try and go coach it. You know, he does a great job the organizer of the camps. He does a great job of breaking everything down analytically, and you know, hey, look you know this is he's a little more scientific about it, you know. And I try to help the kids just from a mental aspect and maybe given them a few pointers because

it just came so naturally easy to me. I just go kick the ball. Okay, yeah, I go kick, you know, but you have other kids who they want to know well, you know, are my hips not getting through? Or is my plant foot too close to the ball, you know, and you know which part of the foot I'm I'm like, you know, I never had to think about these things, you know, So how and how how can I? How can I coach that? You know? I can't coach that?

So learning how to coach better, you know, and realizing that, you know, like we said earlier, you know, kids learned differently. Kids need to be coached a little bit differently, and um learning that hey, you know, there are things that you can pick up, whether it be a terminology aspect, whether it be a physical aspect of how to go about getting the kid in the right position. That that you know, a lot of us is just you know, athletes who just grew up being athletic. We just take

for granted. Sure, you know well. And I think there's a great point here to be made is that there is a balance. There's a balance between the analytics of the game, the science of the game, and then just letting the human peace take over and letting the kid just use his own talent and ability. Like you said, I'll just line up and kick the football. And and there's there's a healthiness to that type of thinking to

where you're not over analyzing. You're not overthinking because we're not robots, and sometimes we in essence freak ourselves out before we even give ourselves a chance to make the play or to kick the ball. Right, So, I think you bring a healthy balance to the other side because you've been there, you've done it, and sometimes we don't need to over analyze it. Put the ball down and

I'm gonna kick him through the uprights. It's as simple as that, right, So that that thought process for current players are even legends now considering maybe looking at coaching, maybe looking at going into this at some point, what

do you think they need to be thinking about. You know, if they have a desire to it, I would I would first probably do it on the volunteer basis, you know, and just dive in and see if the passion is still there, and then under you know, understand that that hey, there are a lot of levels to do it at. You know, there there's the the youth level, you know, ten, ten, eleven, twelve, thirty four, you know that area. There's the high there's the high school level, there's you know, then then there's

a collegiate level and even the pro level. And you know, different people's personalities, you know, cater to different different time zones, you know, in a young person's life on how they're going to be able to interact and mentor and guide them. So um, you know, I would say, if you have, if you have a desire to do it, don't miss out given a shot. Because you know, you keep mentioning in the word transformational. I learned more from these kids

every day than I can ever teach them. I'll be honest with you about that, and uh, it is it has taken me from being an old fuddy duddy, you know, to be in someone who can who can now you know, feel like they can live in the in the current world, you know, and not not not be a nerd per se. But yeah, I think that's the biggest part of it is you know, how can we how can we pour into these these young lives because there's so much bad

out there today. We realize that there's a lot of bad out there today, and you know, with the way technology has transformed the world and with all the um you know, access to two different things that these kids are that they're thrown at these kids is um you know, we've got to be able to guide them through it. They've got to experience it. I feel, you know, hey, you got experience, you got new both sides of the coin.

But then trying to say, hey, you know this really in in the world and in dealing with humor and that this is the right way, well, and I would say that it's about that concept of pay it forward. And I would encourage any legend or current player that wants to take a look do exactly what you said, Start with a volunteer space and then see what area, what level you really enjoy and pay it forward because of what the game has done for each one of us, I think is so powerful, and we are the keepers

of the game. We are as the men who have played at the highest level. The game will thrive or not thrive based upon our involvement, and so we need to control that narrative. And Mike, this has been fantastic. I've really enjoyed talking with you and thanks so much for being here. And you have been listening to our NFL Legends podcast. This has been the NFL Legends Podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at nfl dot com. It can