NFF Legacy Award Recipients
Biography
Todd Berry became the fifth executive director of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) on March 1, 2016, and he announced this past year that he will step down in January 2024 after an impressive eight-year run.
With a 33-year coaching career under his belt, which included the head football jobs at Illinois State, Army and Louisiana-Monroe, Berry took the reins of AFCA and has led the charge, fulfilling the organization's role as the leading voice for football coaches nationwide. Berry has guided the 10,000-member organization and its efforts to maintain the highest possible coaching standards while making the game as safe as possible.
Serving on more than 15 boards and committees, Berry has played a role in establishing the early football signing day in December, the addition of a 10th assistant coach and passage of the four-game redshirt rule. Berry also led AFCA through the 2020 COVID-19 Season, including his own serious bout with the disease.
Under Berry's watch, the AFCA Convention, the organization's flagship event, which attracts more than 6,000 coaches from all levels of the game, continued to flourish. The country's premier and largest football coaching gathering provides attendees a wide range of educational opportunities while providing them access to a massive trade show hall, featuring all the latest football innovations. Berry brought back the Tailgate Party at the event, giving AFCA members a place to watch the FBS national championship game while catching up with old friends and making new contacts in the profession. Berry also gave every division of football, from high school to FBS, a voice in their divisional coaches' meetings.
Berry spearheaded the first live television broadcast of the American Football Coaches Awards, which took place at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville and aired on CBS Sports Network in 2017. The show featured the AFCA national coaches of the year in all divisions and the presentation of the AFCA Coaches' Trophy.
An All-State quarterback in Oklahoma, Berry matriculated to the University of Tulsa. A knee injury in 1981 cut his playing days short, and after graduating in 1983, he immediately entered the coaching profession.
Berry's association with the AFCA began in 1984 when he became a member, eventually serving on numerous committees. In 2001, he was named to the AFCA's Board of Trustees while serving as head coach at Army, and was re-elected to the Board in 2010 after he arrived at Louisiana-Monroe, rising up to the position of First Vice President in 2015.
