What he found was a culture that pushed specialists to the sideline — literally. Coaches would send kickers and punters to the far end of the field with two words: go kick. No instruction. No development. No respect for the position.
That did not sit right with Coach Nolan. He knew something most coaches had forgotten. The game of football gets its name from the foot. The very first football game played in 1869 saw every point scored off the foot. The specialist is not an afterthought. The specialist is the foundation. So he got to work. And he has not stopped since.
For over five decades Coach Nolan has done what no one else in the private kicking and punting world can claim. He has trained athletes at every level — from middle school beginners finding their footing to NFL competitors performing on the biggest stage in the sport. He has attended over 1,600 high school football games and hundreds of college and NFL games to watch the athletes he has developed compete. He has been on the sideline for National Signing Days. He has been in the photographs. He has been invited to the weddings.
This is not a coaching business. This is a calling.
Coach Nolan holds his USSF B Soccer License, his National Goalkeeper I and II License, and the coveted Dutch KNVB License I and II. He is also the author of the first international best-selling book on college athletic scholarships, NIL, and the Transfer Portal — a resource that warned families about the dangers of the portal years before the rest of the world caught up.
Beyond the field, Coach Nolan hosts Don't Outkick Your Coverage, the only podcast dedicated 100 percent to the high school athlete and their parents, and runs The Athletic Truths YouTube channel — because he believes every family deserves access to the truth about recruiting, scholarships, and what it really takes to compete at the next level.
Every program at The Kickers' Zone is built around one core belief: elite performance does not happen by accident. It requires discipline, preparation, and a complete understanding of what it means to be a specialist. That means training the kick. It also means training the body that delivers it, the mind that controls it, and the family that supports it.
We work with athletes and their parents together — because the journey to a college scholarship or a professional career is never taken alone.
Two free resources where Coach Nolan shares everything the recruiting world does not want you to know.