the structure of football

Question
Hi coach louis,Youre time is much appreciated.My name is Jonathan and im a keen football fan from Manchester,England.My question is pretty general but im sure you will be able to help.For some time ive been a huge fan of the nfl,And was wondering how the sport is structured,Regarding the teams and leagues?Are there more pro teams out there apart from the nfl and if so what leagues do they play in,Also are they connected to the nfl?Thurthermore how does college football fit into all this?Finally it would be great to find out what the term "west coast offence"means?Thank you for your help,Jonathan

Answer
Jonathan -

I saw your question in our "question pool", and thought I could help you out some.  Its a great question, with an answer that most American fans wouldnt know.  SO I will break it down for you as clearly as possible.

OK, you like the NFL I see.  That is the TOP league in football.  IF you are a player, thats the ultimate goal.  AS you know it is hugely popular, with salaries that are beyond belief, even to the last man on the bench.  Now, the NFL has really only one other league that is technically connected with it - NFL EUROPE.  This is used as a minor league of sorts.  Teams send players in need of more work / experience to this league. That is the reason that the NFL Europe league does not run side by side with the regular NFl season.  SO that is NFL Europe.

Now it gets a little strange.  OK, now, college football in America is confusing to explain and understand.  AS you know, 99% of players in the NFL are "drafted" from college football. It looks, from the outside-in, that they MUST have some sort of connection between the two.  But they dont.  Over time, it has just become the way it is, with college players being drafted into the NFL.  It serves as the true NFL minor leagues, much more than NFL Europe does. But in reality, they are 2 very seperate leagues and levels. But players, fans, and coaches alike know that playing in college, for the most part, serves as a 4 year training and a try out for NFL teams.  Also remember, there are several different levels of college football here in the US.  We go through divisions 1-3.  1 is the highest, which includes the major schools you probably know like Miami, Ohio State, USC, etc.  I think there are about 130-140 teams in Division 1.  After division 1 comes 1 AA. Then comes 2 and 3, which are made up of smaller schools (judged mostly by the number of students who go to that school). Players from each of the divisions are eligible to be drafted in the NFL, but it gets alot less likely as you go down a division, since the better players usually go to the higher division to play ball. AS you go lower, the amount of scholarship money allowed to be given goes down significantly.     

Alright, next.. Keep in mind I am listing these in order from top to bottom in regards to the level of play / talent... If I made a diagram that showed the different levels of football, the NFL would be on top, NFL Europe under it, DIV 1 college football next, 1 AA under dividion one, and so on.  So under all college ball is The Arena League.  Here is where I have to explain further how I am listing this.  So far on the list, the order has fit into 2 categories - talent level and the next step in time.  In other words, a player goes to college, then could either go to NFL or Europe.  But the Arena league shakes that up a bit.  Even though it is ranked below college ball in terms of the talent, most players have already played in college before they get into Arena ball.  IF a player ends his college career, and cant make it in the NFL or NFL Europe, but still wants to play football, he could try out for an Arena team.  There are 3 major league in Arena - Arena 1, 2, and 3.  Arena one is getting popular, and pays ok, but 2-3 arent there yet.  Most arena players have to have a full time job because they cant make enough to survive on their football play alone. This is very different from regular traditional football but is still considered a possible step.  Along with Arena is semi-pro.  These are leagues that have teams, most of whom do not pay their players at all.  These teams are mostly made up of either ex college players, arena players or ex arena players, sometimes players trying to make it to arena of the nfl, sometimes players leaving the NFL, and in some cases, players who havent played before, except maybe in high school, but want to give it another try.  BAsically, semi-pro is full of players who either couldnt make it in the next level after high school, or have already made it in football but their time was up at the higher levels, but they arent ready to stop playing yet.

The lowest on the totem pole in both the level of play and in the order is high school.  This is usually the first step to get into the list above.  You can play at a higher level after high school without ever playing in high school, but it is very difficult and rare.

The tricky thing to remember in this whole explaination is that even though these levels are connected, with players almost having to play at the level below to move on, very few of them are in reality connected.  The leagues do not share money, or anything else to assist the other leagues.  Basically, the reality is that the higher leagues use the lower leagues as recruiting tools and training levels, but dont actually have anything to do with them.

Whew... Ok the West Coast Offense.  Nothing much here other than a name.  Bill Walsh when he was in San Francisco, developed an offense the relied on moving the ball around the field by passing, short passes using running backs more than usual, and a little different style in running.  This became known as the West Coast Offense (San Fran is on the West Coast of the US).  These days, it has become a popular term in football.  Just like anything else in the world, over time the true meaning  gets distorted a bit, especially when the media gets ahold of a term.  Now if an offense even resembles or has a single factor of the true west coast offense, the sportscasters will call it that.  Its pretty pityful.

Well, hope this helped you out some.  Just remember to look at the list in order of talent, not necessarily age or the order in which you would have to play.  Even though you usually play in college BEFORE Arena, college is considered a higher level.  Best wishes and keep watching.  Youll see exactly what I am saying in all this madness.

Coach Perl