“We have a workforce that’s making a difference in our future. Without a great teacher, we don’t have good student achievement. Without good student achievement and student outcomes, we’re not going to have great communities.” - Britton Banowsky, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff Foundation
The College Football Playoff Foundation’s Mission
The College Football Playoff Foundation seeks to elevate the teaching profession by inspiring and empowering teachers. Through their many innovative programs, CFPF works to ensure that teachers receive the resources, recognition, and professional development they need to promote student success.
Extra Yard for Teachers
The CFP Foundation’s core program, Extra Yard for Teachers, is dedicated to inspiring and empowering teachers in four core areas: resources, recognition, professional development, and recruitment and retention.
This annual celebration week in September motivates schools to support the teaching profession by sharing recognition initiatives and encouraging individuals to share stories of educators who have made a life-changing impact on them. This week culminates in “The Big Day for Teachers,” where the CFP Foundation collaborates with sports, education, and corporate organizations to surprise educators nationwide.
Research shows that exceptional teachers who receive private and public recognition plan to keep teaching for nearly twice as long. By publicly celebrating teachers at sporting events and games, the CFP Foundation is working to uplift the teaching profession and retain educators.
Honored Schools
Founded by Honored in 2020, Honored Schools is an in-school teacher recognition program aimed at recognizing great teachers, elevating student voices, and creating a consistent culture of teacher appreciation within school communities. In 2025, we were honored to hand over leadership of this initiative to the College Football Playoff Foundation.
Since the transfer of leadership, the College Football Playoff Foundation has nurtured and grown the program beyond belief. In their first year, they received over 8,000 nominations across five cities. And this year, they’ve expanded that reach to include over 290 schools across 10 cities in the United States.
CFPF’s Support for Student-Athletes
CFPF not only supports educators, but they also support student-athletes. In partnership with Dr. Pepper, they run the Go Teach program to recruit great teachers into the workforce.
Through their program, they identify student-athletes who are interested in entering the teaching workforce and provide them with a grant to help offset the cost of their teacher certification. Providing access to teacher certification programs as early as high school has significant effects on diversifying the pool of teachers and ensuring students have access to high-quality, affordable pathways into the profession.
Student-athletes also possess a unique skill set that directly translates into success as educators and educational leaders. From self-discipline to cultivating a team-centered environment where everyone feels valued, athletes’ skills are beneficial in laying the foundation for becoming an educator.
CFPF’s Transformational Impact
In conversations with the Executive Director of the College Football Playoff Foundation, Britton Banowsky, he shared a moment that reminds him of the incredible organizational impact.
In 2023, their organization invested in renovating a library at Eliot Arts Magnet School in Altadena, California. In January 2025, as the Southern California wildfires significantly damaged the school, including the library, the CFP Foundation set their sights on restoring the damage. In partnership with the College Football Playoff Bowl Games, they provided the necessary funding to re-establish the library.
Through the community celebrations for the restored library, Britton witnessed firsthand the hope and resilience among the education sector and the impact CFP Foundation has across the country. It’s moments like these that encapsulate the undeniable impact and importance of organizations such as the CFP Foundation.
If you’re interested in learning more about the College Football Playoff Foundation, you can visit their website at https://cfp-foundation.org/ or listen to their feature on Inspiring Teachers: The Honored Podcast.
