Today’s guest on the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast is Mark Solis, head coach at Olentangy High School in Lewis Center, Ohio. Solis has been the head coach for the past five seasons. In five years, Solis has compiled a 47-13-1 record at Olentangy. This includes a berth in the state playoffs every year and an appearance in the state semifinals and quarterfinals in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Last season, Olentangy had an 8-4-1 record and made a trip to the regional semifinals.

Prior to Olentangy, Solis spent two seasons at Lorain High School (Ohio). Before coming to Lorain, Solis was at Twinsburg High School (2007-10), Elyria High School (2004-06) and Ashland Crestview (1999-2003). Across his full coaching career, Solis holds a 148-63-1 record. Solis also is the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator of the U-18 U.S. National Team.

On today’s show, Solis and host Keith Grabowski talk about the football operations staff he formed at Olentangy, using technology creatively and making offseason workouts fun.

Show Notes

1:09 Starting a football operations staff at the high school level

3:46 Preparing ops staff for jobs in the future

5:09 Ideas coming from the ops staff to help the team

6:21 Roles for each member of the ops team

7:55 Utilizing social media with the ops team

9:11 Trusting the kids on the ops staff and adapting your program

11:13 Involvement in managing social media use

12:50 Ops team helping in practice with limited numbers

15:22 Themed workouts in the offseason

18:16 Working with a strength and conditioning coach

20:12 Keeping things interesting in preseason camp