mmillman
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Switzer's attitude was that if you had the best players and assistant coaches, you had the best chance for success -- period. As he said on Tuesday, "Do you think there's any mystery why I won and guys like [Steve] Spurrier didn't? Spurrier didn't have the players in Washington. Neither does Gibbs the second time around, and neither did [Bill] Parcells in Dallas. Not like Jimmy and I did."
This philosophy is so contrary to what we're taught to believe -- to what most coaches insist that we believe -- that is seems crazy. Whether or not you buy into it, you have to concede this: It refreshingly gives credit to the men who play the game, rather than to the control freak wearing the headset.
Consider Switzer's reaction when the two-time defending champion Cowboys, in his first year as coach, fell into a quick 21-0 hole to the 49ers during the 1994 NFC Championship game in San Francisco: "I gathered the players on the sidelines and said, 'What is a coach supposed to say to a team that's down 21-0 five minutes into the game?' They stared back at me, and I yelled, 'At least we've got 55 minutes to get back in this sum*****!'"
For the record, the Cowboys nearly did before losing, 38-28. The defeat, naturally, was roundly blamed on their head coach, who to this day doesn't dispute that he was at least partially culpable. "We should have been more conservative before halftime -- that's my fault," he said Tuesday as we arrived at the home of his daughter, Kathy, just around the corner from Doug's. (Barry's third son, Greg, a songwriter, lives in Nashville with his wife and two children).
This philosophy is so contrary to what we're taught to believe -- to what most coaches insist that we believe -- that is seems crazy. Whether or not you buy into it, you have to concede this: It refreshingly gives credit to the men who play the game, rather than to the control freak wearing the headset.
Consider Switzer's reaction when the two-time defending champion Cowboys, in his first year as coach, fell into a quick 21-0 hole to the 49ers during the 1994 NFC Championship game in San Francisco: "I gathered the players on the sidelines and said, 'What is a coach supposed to say to a team that's down 21-0 five minutes into the game?' They stared back at me, and I yelled, 'At least we've got 55 minutes to get back in this sum*****!'"
For the record, the Cowboys nearly did before losing, 38-28. The defeat, naturally, was roundly blamed on their head coach, who to this day doesn't dispute that he was at least partially culpable. "We should have been more conservative before halftime -- that's my fault," he said Tuesday as we arrived at the home of his daughter, Kathy, just around the corner from Doug's. (Barry's third son, Greg, a songwriter, lives in Nashville with his wife and two children).
