All high school football coaches spend hours a year drawing plays for offense, defense, and special teams. Some coaches even draw their drills and off-season layouts. But all of this takes hours to create (remember this - I will explain later).

In today’s post I will share the results from my twitter poll, give you some thoughts on each, and share which one I would use if I was still coaching today.

Here are the twitter results of my football play drawing program poll:

1. Hudl

69% of coaches use this program

As expected, Hudl has monopolized the football play drawing programs because it comes with video cut ups, data analysis and it is an all-in-one operating system. Each year they are adding services and growing. I was at the coaching convention when Hudl was introduced and thought this was the best program out there and I used it for years.

Coaches can export their files to a pdf to share with others. But, the only way to share and get help with the play drawing is the co-worker must also have Hudl.

The biggest downfall to using Hudl is once a coach spends hours creating drawings, schemes, and playbooks - all this stays with the Hudl account you created it on. The coach can not take his hours of work with him to his new job unless his previous head coach gives sharing permission.

2. PowerPoint

15.2% of coaches use this program

PowerPoint came in at #2 in the poll and this program is available and easily accessible to everyone who has Microsoft.

With PowerPoint the coach is able to change the template colors, design, add sound, and add video. Able to share with anyone else in the world who has PowerPoint.

The best part of PowerPoint is the creator of the presentation, template, playbook, or game plan owns it forever. So when you leave to another school, the entire package goes with you. You do not need any special permission from the previos employer - it’s yours to keep forever. Lastly, PowerPoint is it is used world wide, easy to use, and templates are easy to create.

3. Playmaker

10.5% of coaches use this program

I have never used Playmaker so I had to look it up. When I searched Playmaker there are several products like this available. I could not narrow down the exact program the coaches used but in general all Playmaker programs allow coaches to create playbooks, plays, and everything else mentioned above.

Again, I am not to familiar with this program and there were too many on the web to be specific. If you know about this program and use it, send me an email and tell me about it.

4. Visio

5.2% of coaches use this program

Visio is the least used football play drawing program by high school coaches who replied to the poll above. But, Visio is the #1 play drawing program used by colleges and universities.

Visio gives the coach a blank page that can be manipulated to create multiple templates, schemes, and plays.

I was not aware of Visio until the end of my career, but I do wish I learned about it soon. This program is a game changer!

Visio lets you transform a blank sheet of paper and create diagrams, including organization charts, game plans, templates, plays, and playbooks. Plus, when you leave to a new school - it goes with you.

My Play Drawing Picks in Order

1. Visio

2. PowerPoint

3. Hudl

4. Playmakers

Why Visio?

Getting back to my first paragraph “But all of this takes hours to create” is the main reason I would use Visio as a football play drawing program. If I am going to spend hours a week creating templates, plays, playbooks, game plans, etc. I want it to belong to me so if I ever move on to another school I can take it with me. I made it - I want to keep it.

You can do the same with PowerPoint but the templates you can make with Visio are next level.

Hudl is great because it is a full service operating system but if you leave the school, everything you made - stays.

Playmaker, again I am not too familiar with it.

Visio in Action

Check out how easy it is to use

Would you be interested in learning more about Visio?

Take 13 seconds and email me the words “tell me more” and I will take care of the rest.