Who is the Typical AFM Reader?

At AFM, we like to think our readers are the smartest coaches in the game. They’re the ones who understand that coaching requires a lifetime of learning. They also know that the best way to be a smarter coach is to take every opportunity to learn from other successful coaches who are wiling to share their schemes, plays, drills, strategies and personal experiences. That’s what they look to AFM for and that’s what we try to deliver in every issue.

The more we know about our readers, the better we can serve them. So every year we conduct several surveys that not only give us facts and figures about our audience but also give readers a chance to provide their input about AFM and suggest how we can improve our magazine and our web site. We love getting your feedback, which is generally constructive and mostly positive, and your ideas help us plan our future issues and online content.

This year, 469 coaches took the time to answer the 26 questions on our 2012 reader survey. If you were one of those coaches, thank you. The picture of a typical AFM reader that you painted is that of an experienced coach, primarily at a high school, who is passionate about learning more about football and is a very loyal and involved reader of AFM.

If you’re our typical reader, you’re 46 years old and you’ve coached for 23 years. You’ve been reading AFM for eight years and you spend one and a half hours reading every issue. You share your copy with other members of your staff and you also keep every issue for future reference. You’re very satisfied with AFM’s content and visual appearance. You spend more time reading AFM than any other coaching publication and you consider it your favorite. If this sounds like you, consider yourself “typical” – in a good way.

As for the reader feedback from our survey, many readers like AFM just as it is. To them, we’re grateful for your kind words. Our favorite comment was from the coach who said, “My only complaint is that I wish you could put it out twice a month.” Many others had ideas on how we can make AFM better. Most of the suggestions fall into the “more” category – more articles on just about every topic you could imagine, from youth to the NFL, on both sides of the ball, both on and off the field. While some of the subjects you requested might not appeal to large numbers of our audience, we will do our best to cover them, if not in AFM then on AmericanFootballMonthly.com in our “Web Exclusives” section.

For those who suggested we include more drills, in this issue we’ve added a second Drills Report. Plus, there are some excellent drills included in our punting feature and in Dale Baskett’s Speed Report. If you have unique drills that have worked well for you, we encourage you to submit them for publication.

For those who asked for more special teams coverage, in this issue you’ll find an in-depth feature on preparing your punting and your punt return units as well as a kickoff coverage clinic article. If you’re a special teams coach, we invite you to send us your ideas for future articles.

For those who want more of everything, we suggest you head online and explore our archive of over 150 back issues of AFM and peruse our collection of over 2,000 coaching articles on AmericanFootballMonthly.com. Our collection of content is the largest coaching library in the world and you’re sure to find dozens of features that match your particular interest.

If you have additional comments about AFM or suggestions but didn’t get a chance to participate in our reader survey, you can contact us at any time with your feedback or post comments on our Facebook page. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you and being your number one resource for coaching information for years to come.


                        John Gallup
                        Editor & Publisher