Rating: NR| Episodes: 3 | Runtime: 60 minutes
Release Date: February 4th, 2026 (USA)
Studio: Zodiac Features
Director(s): Matt Waldeck
Writer(s): Matt Waldeck / Chuck “Chico” Kyle & Mark Hodermarsky (inspired by book)

Let’s go!

Who’s Chuck “Chico” Kyle? It’s a question many football fans today will probably ask when coming across Matt Waldeck’s docuseries revolving around the Cleveland St. Ignatius High School coach’s fortieth and final season wearing the headset. Heck, it’s one many people involved in the game will ask too. Unless they read his book The Object of the Game. Unless they played on his team. Unless they’ve been paying attention to his undeniable impact on the game.

Waldeck checks all three of those boxes. Kyle was his high school coach not long after publishing the book that interviewees Urban Meyer and Tony Romo read from during the course of his three-episode series. Matt knew the stories about Kyle being recruited to ascend to the big leagues only to turn every offer down because he valued the work of educating and shaping young men’s minds both on the field and in the classroom as an English teacher.

Even so, Waldeck also knew that Roger Goodell and Bill Belichick’s respect for the man wasn’t enough to make audiences invest in a documentary about an Ohio coach calling it a career—eleven state championships or not. So, he went back to that book and its inspirational chapters that Kyle is quick to explain work in all situations, sports or otherwise. Preparation, Enthusiasm, Discipline, Sense of Duty, and Courage. Then he found other football legends to bridge the gap.

Do Sean McVay and Tony Dungy talk about Kyle? No. They talk about the game. About what it means to those who play and coach. About what it does to prepare young men to be good human beings in life when their own careers inevitably end. Whether they took those lessons directly from Kyle’s teachings doesn’t matter when them being ingrained in their attitude and mission show they work. It proves what Kyle has done for four decades is about more than football.

He’s a fantastic subject as a result. This is a private “Christ-centered” school, so faith plays a big role in who Kyle is and how he conducts himself. His speeches play like sermons written for each specific moment to motivate those around him into being their best selves for everyone else in that locker room. And he always speaks with love in his heart and a smile on his face. He builds these boys up so they want to run through walls for each other and not just their coach.

The main source of footage stems from two playoff games from Kyle’s last charge, but we also catch glimpses of him doing his thing throughout the years. There’s archival news footage of the excitement that came from winning the first state title. There are interviews with former players (St. Ignatius alums always have their graduation year listed next to their names) commending his impact on their lives. And there’s Kyle in his car just speaking off the cuff.

Episode One does a wonderful job splicing in the talking head interviews with the aforementioned names alongside Mike Tomlin, Robert Smith, and others. Everything is timed conceptually and thematically with the first half of one of those playoff games and the juxtaposition between success and adversity to really drive home the way his lessons put players in the mindset to win even when it seems all hope should be lost. Nothing is over until that last whistle.

Episode Two is the longest and clumsiest. I loved the montage pitting state titles against the tragedies unfolding alongside them (Oklahoma City Bombing, 9/11, etc.). A pivot to NIL (name, image, and likeness) rights makes sense due to how it changes motivations for kids from growing through the love of the game to chasing money, but it’s a noticeably isolated topic with little overall narrative payoff before the episode finishes with the second half of that playoff game.

Episode Three pushes most of the talking heads aside to focus solely on the end of Kyle’s season and showcase how he conducts himself; the love felt for him by his family, community, and opponents; and how he cannot help but find purpose and encouragement in what should be the lowest of low moments. He is seventy-one years old and still as fiery and poignant as ever. He’s pulling quotes, thanking everyone in earshot, and reminding us how the journey trumps the result.

It’s a heartfelt ride that contextualizes the importance of sports (team building overall that can be applied to less violent activities) to the human condition on all sides of the ball. You really get to see how one person can become a constant source of support for hundreds and thousands of people simply by being there and acknowledging the winning and losing is secondary to the learning. That holistic approach just happens to often lead its beneficiaries to the former.

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Chuck “Chico” Kyle on the football field.