The Cleveland Browns have named Wadsworth High School head football coach Justin Todd as the 2025 Cleveland Browns High School Coach of the Year, honoring more than a decade of leadership focused on character, purpose, and the holistic development of young men.
Browns youth football manager Hannah Lee said Todd’s impact reaches far beyond wins and losses. “This recognition isn’t just about wins,” Lee said. “It’s about the way Coach Todd pours into his players every single day. His commitment to building character, teaching responsibility, and helping young men grow into confident, capable leaders is extraordinary.”
Todd views football not as an end, but as a platform. “We are in the man-making business,” Todd said. “Football is simply our platform.”
That philosophy traces back to Todd’s own high school coach, Chet Looney, whose leadership and genuine care for his players inspired Todd to pursue coaching as a calling. Todd credits a pivotal moment during a college bye week—watching Looney lead with purpose—for changing his major from business to education and setting him on a life of service.
Those lessons were reinforced during Todd’s time as a student-athlete at Mount Union, where elite preparation, discipline, and culture became cornerstones of his coaching approach. Today, Wadsworth football is built on three pillars: teamwork, sportsmanship, and character.
“My players must know I care more about them than I do a win,” Todd said.
Todd emphasizes that habits formed on the field: preparation, accountability, resilience, and emotional control, translate directly to life beyond football. “Football is a classroom for life,” he said. “The lessons they learn here will matter long after their last snap.”
That mindset extends into academics and service. Todd leads a program with a 100% graduation rate and prioritizes community involvement through service projects, including food drives, senior center support, holiday assistance efforts, and local fundraising initiatives.
“These are not extras,” Todd said. “They are essential.”
While Todd’s teams have enjoyed success on Friday nights, those closest to the program say his true legacy will be measured in lives shaped, not games won. “Wins are temporary, championships fade,” Todd said. “But the impact we have on young people lasts a lifetime.”
Todd will receive $6,000 in funding for the Wadsworth football program and will represent the Browns as a finalist for the AFC’s NFL Don Shula High School Coach of the Year award. He was also officially named a top-10 finalist for the AFC honor, which will be announced in early January 2026.
