Today’s guest on the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast is Mike Sirianni, head coach at Washington & Jefferson College, an NCAA Division III school in Washington, Pennsylvania. Sirianni is in his 15th season as head coach of the Presidents and one of the winningest head coaches in Division III football. The team is coming off an 11-1 season last year and made it to the second round of the D-III playoffs for the first time since 2014. Sirianni has a 139-31 overall record as a head coach at Washington & Jefferson, giving him a winning percentage among the best active NCAA football coaches at all levels with at least 10 years of experience.

Prior to becoming the head coach, Sirianni worked as the offensive coordinator at Washington & Jefferson. Now as the head coach, he still works with on the offensive side and calls plays for the offense. Before Washington & Jefferson, Sirianni worked one year as the offensive coordinator at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Sirianni began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. He spent three years working with the wide receivers, the same position he played while at Mount Union. As a player, Sirianni won a Division III National Championship with Mount Union in 1993.

It today’s podcast, Sirianni and host Keith Grabowski talk about what he learned from playing and coaching at Mount Union, how he shapes his practices, and his focus on the success of his players.

Show Notes

1:14 What made Sirianni want to be a coach

2:36 Mount Union experience shaping his coaching now

4:25 Preparing for every opponent the same way

5:35 Getting the ball to your best players

7:01 Importance of formation/plays and how the game has changed

8:24 Enjoying the strategy and play-calling of football

9:27 Balancing being flexible and sticking to the scheme

12:06 Philosophy of running an up-tempo offense

13:46 Creating the personnel to run an effective up-tempo offense

16:14 Using the RPO in an up-tempo offense

19:05 Importance of activities outside of football, two-sport athletes

21:05 Stance against having spring practices in pads

22:42 Enjoying any level of college football

24:12 The Winning Edge