Straight answers about The Coach's Board, the newsletter, The Faceoff Podcast, The Roster and partnerships.
The Coach's Board is a community for the people building youth sports: founders, club directors, facility operators, league and tournament organizers, coaches, athletic directors, and the investors and brands around all of it. At the center is The Faceoff Podcast, long-form conversations with the founders and operators doing the building. Around it are the Monday News Roundup, Special Reports from industry events, and The Roster.
Paul Variano founded The Coach's Board and hosts every episode of The Faceoff Podcast. He coaches youth travel hockey and played club hockey at Cornell. The Coach's Board is published by DUBBset Inc., a Delaware corporation doing business as The Coach's Board, based in New York.
Adults who work in youth sports: the people who run clubs, facilities, leagues and tournaments, the coaches and athletic directors, the founders building products for them, and the investors and brands that back them and sell to them. If you're new, the homepage has a starting point for each: founders, operators, investors and brands.
Email paulvariano@gmail.com or reply to any issue of the newsletter; we read every email. For a partnership, use the form at thecoachsboard.com/partners. For a story, use thecoachsboard.com/tips. We're @thecoachsboard on Instagram, X and TikTok, and The Coach's Board on LinkedIn and YouTube.
Long-form conversations with the founders and operators building youth sports, on the record about what they got wrong before they got it right, and what an operator should do with it straight away. Episodes run thirty to forty-five minutes and are published in full.
Video on YouTube, audio on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and an RSS feed for any other podcast app. Every episode also has its own page at thecoachsboard.com/podcast, with the player built in.
Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Each episode gets its own written edition in the newsletter: five takeaways from the conversation, where to find the guest, and who's next.
Guests are founders, operators and investors building in youth sports with something specific to say about how it actually works. If that's you, start at thecoachsboard.com/partners: tell us who you are and what you're building, and we'll set up a short intro call to see if it's a fit. Know someone we should talk to? Reply to any issue or send us a tip.
A prep call first, so we learn your story and map the conversation with you. Then the episode, recorded remotely on Riverside or in person in New York: thirty to forty-five minutes, on the record. Nobody gets published without seeing the cut first, and you see the clips before they post.
The founders and products on the record with The Coach's Board. Each entry has its own page at thecoachsboard.com/roster with what the company does, who founded it, and a link back to the Faceoff episode or newsletter edition where they were featured.
Submit it at thecoachsboard.com/roster/submit: the company, its website and category, the founder, and a logo if you have one. Paul reviews every submission. A place on The Roster isn't an endorsement. It's a record of who has been on the record with us, tied to the conversation where they were featured.
A way to get in front of the people who run youth sports and the people who fund it. There are four kinds. Founder, operator and investor partnerships are built around a partner episode of The Faceoff Podcast. Brand partnerships are sponsorships of the podcast and the Monday News Roundup, a spotlight on The Roster, or something custom. The Coach's Board is supported in part by these partnerships, and paid content is identified as paid.
The prep call; the full episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts; the written edition, sent to every subscriber; short clips for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, X and LinkedIn, which you approve first; a launch post from The Coach's Board on LinkedIn, a repost from Paul and a mention in the Monday News Roundup; a permanent episode page; and your logo in Featured in The Faceoff on the homepage. A product spotlight on The Roster is an add-on.
Every partnership is quoted to fit, so there's no price list. Tell us who you are and what you want from it at thecoachsboard.com/partners. We reply within two business days with a time for an intro call, then send a quote for the package that fits.
Yes. Brand partnerships include sponsorship of The Faceoff Podcast, sponsorship of the Monday News Roundup, a spotlight on The Roster, or a custom package built with you. The audience is the buyer: club directors, facility operators, league and tournament organizers, coaches and athletic directors, and the investors and brands that follow them. We share current audience numbers with your quote.
Our coverage of industry events, session by session, for the people who couldn't be in the room. So far: SBJ's Game Changers and LeagueApps' NextUp '26. Each goes out as its own edition of the newsletter and lives at thecoachsboard.com/special-reports.
Please do. Use thecoachsboard.com/tips, with a link if there is one. We read every submission, and the good ones end up in the next issue.
Yes. The Shop at thecoachsboard.com/shop has tees, hoodies, hats, a mug and a tote with The Coach's Board crest, printed to order and sold and fulfilled by Fourthwall.
Share links freely, and quote short excerpts with credit and a link back to thecoachsboard.com. Please don't republish whole articles, newsletters or episodes without written permission.
We collect what you give us, like your email address, and basic information about how the site is used. We use it to send the newsletter, answer you and run the site. We don't sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising. The full Privacy Policy is at thecoachsboard.com/privacy.
Still have a question? paulvariano@gmail.com
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