Most football offensive coordinators rise early on game day but not as early as Max Campbell, who is up hours before sunrise. That’s not because of nerves, adrenaline, or anything related to football’s grind-set mentality. It’s because Campbell’s games actually kick off at daybreak — at least where he’s coaching from. His team, the Daemons of Monza, plays in Italy, but Campbell, who is 24 years old, calls offensive plays from a conference room nine time zones away in his hometown of Eugene, Oregon. In a field that does not lend itself naturally to remote work, Campbell appears to be the world’s first fully WFH football coach. (A disclaimer: Campbell is my stepnephew; I see him once a year or so at family gatherings.)

“I like doing it with gold through the single,” Campbell says in heavy football jargon to his Italian quarterback, who is between drives on the other side of the world and also on Campbell’s TV. “What do you think about that? Like trips right, gold 27, you either take your shot to the whip or a comeback.”

When remote-work culture meets the world of football, there’s no place for barking dogs, household chores, or weak coffee-shop Wi-Fi. So on game day, Campbell turns the conference room at his office day job into an offensive-coordinator’s booth. The game plays on the TV, screen-mirrored from Campbell’s laptop. An opponent scouting report sits taped on the long table, and pens and legal pads are scattered around, useful for throwing in frustration. Campbell clutches his call sheet as he conducts a four-hour speakerphone WhatsApp call to Matteo Piccoli, his co–offensive coordinator on the field in Italy, who wears a coach’s headset on one ear and holds his phone to the other. When the team’s defense takes over, the phone gets passed around the sideline to Campbell’s quarterback and offensive teammates. During the week, Campbell sends his players and fellow coaches video cut-ups and notes from a football-playbook app called Hudl, all in a Google Drive folder. He texts with each player individually after analyzing video footage from practices with humorous instructions embedded to be sure they read his messages (“Text Coach Max your celebrity crush”).

It all sounds radical for a sport rooted in tradition. But football is a results business, and Campbell is getting them.The Daemons are in first place in their division at 7-0, averaging 29 points per game. They earned a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs and are headed directly to the semifinals.

The absence of a coach yelling, lecturing, motivating, and chewing out his players in........

© Daily Intelligencer