The art of being a head coach

[Deep_Freeze]

I think there was a massive dearth in quality coaching in the NCAA from about 1995-2010 or so. It was all about recruiting and you would see coaches like Pasqualoni, Fulmer, Bowden, Nutt, etc. who has successful teams that were loaded with poorly coached talent.

They just won if the talent won. Nutt is actually a great example, I knew guys on that team that started and they told me.....'man, that ball is snapped and we are just running around not knowing where we are going.'

We got some of them on our D right now.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

There are a lot of things that come into play if you are a head coach, the most important to me is being a game manager. You have your coordinators, but as a head coach you need to be in charge of play calling. You may not call specific plays, but you can dictate the pace of the game by dictating runs or passes,or blitzes etc.

The inability to manage the play callers is glaring in many cases

 

[conner01]

I respect his accomplishments. One of his greatest assets is getting his players to pay attention to detail. But was that game loss by the Falcons....or won by the Pats?

The falcons could have went up by 11 points with about 3 min to go. Had they run the ball instaed of passing they could have ate up another min or so, or forced the pats to use their TO's. Either way you would have been up by two processions
Passing there was not the right call at all
Sometimes the calls are not so black and white but that one seems to be pretty clear to me

 

[LocimusPrime]

I called both offense and defense my first year as a head coach in 2004, it is very tough to do. Didn't hpget much sleep in those days.

But did you call special steams too? Comeon boss that's lazy

 

[Ranching]

But did you call special steams too? Comeon boss that's lazy

Actually, I did. Lol

 

[perrykemp]

Watching Quinn run up and down the sidelines like an idiot and then choke the game away made me appreciate Red more. I'll take an even keel approach to high school hi jinx any day

Quinn took his team to the Superbowl in just his second year as a HC -- heck he took it to overtime against the GOAT HC and GOAT QB.

Yes they blew it and they blew it bad, however, I'm not willing to place JG ahead of Quinn based on just their Superbowl performance.

 

[casmith07]

Watching Quinn run up and down the sidelines like an idiot and then choke the game away made me appreciate Red more. I'll take an even keel approach to high school hi jinx any day

Screen shotting this, lol.

 

[Ranching]

Watching Quinn run up and down the sidelines like an idiot and then choke the game away made me appreciate Red more. I'll take an even keel approach to high school hi jinx any day

Hey! I'm a HS head coach and I don't run up and down the sidelines. My bad knees and ankle don't allow it. LOL

 

[LocimusPrime]

Actually, I did. Lol

Fine fine fine but did you fill up the water jugs? Comeon

 

[DandyDon52]

Are games more lost than won?

I don't have any data in front of me to prove whether this is more true than not

But as we watch coordinators...in particular offensive coordinators...become head coaches because they can produce high scoring offenses....the job of a GM becomes tougher when trying to decide if an offensive "genius" is head coaching material

Kyle Shanahann just won the job as head coach of the 49ers. And if I am a 49er fan watching that game last night...I have my doubts. And I am sure he is going to call plays. Also notice the Rams just hired Sean McVay (former Commanders offensive coordinator) who also produced a high powered offense and will call his own plays in Los Angeles. Being a head coach is so much bigger than Xs and Os. Feel for the game. Clock management. Handling media. Getting the most out of your players. Managing the varied personalities in the locker room. But more and more....I'm noticing on gameday coach after coach show a lack of feel for the flow of a game...a lack of understanding for clock management. A lack of understanding how to MANAGE you offensive or defensive play callers....

Which leads me to wonder. In this day and age of offensive records falling at a record pace...has the art of being a head coach been lost?

good post, and this is something I have thought about for awhile.
Being a good OC or DC does not mean they will be a good HC, or leader, or organizer etc.
This is why so many fail.
Quinn overall has done a good job, and will now get a new OC.
If they can keep the team intact, and add a few new players, they should be in contention next season too.
I think he learned some things in this loss.

 

[DandyDon52]

The other part in all of this is that coaches tend to stick with what their team does and not deviate from that. This is one of the things that Belichick is so good at, he'll coach his team to attack the opponents' weaknesses and if that means doing something out of the norm...so be it. They have a week to get it down and they do. The rest of the league just keeps doing what they've always done

so true.
JG said before the GB game that they were going to do what they did all year, be the same lol.
But then they didnt run as much , but other than that were the same. predictable, and that helps the other teams defense.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

so true.
JG said before the GB game that they were going to do what they did all year, be the same lol.
But then they didnt run as much , but other than that were the same. predictable, and that helps the other teams defense.

Pretty much every coach in the NFL not named Belichick does it the same. One guy who used to not be that way was...of all people...Mike Martz. Martz would attack weaknesses and wasn't afraid to change things on the fly, even if they had little practice in on a play they had drawn up. Belichick coaches football and players, the other coaches more or less coach a scheme. But, you can bet that Vince Lombardi was more of the Garrett mindset than the Belichick mindset. So was Bill Walsh, Parcells, etc. And the same with Mike McCarthy.

I really don't think Belichick is past the archaic thinking that goes around the league, he's just the smarter caveman of all of the cavemen. While the rest of the league is starting to learn how to make fire, Belichick has made fire and invented the wheel. It's a far distance from inventing the automobile and indoor heating, AC and plumbing...but it's still well past the competition.







YR

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Hard to say it's a lost art when we're witnessing the best coach in the history of the league still winning championships.

He absolutely is...which is why I reject the premise of a process...which never seems to end. Because some coaches actually know how to win on a consistent basis....and are not waiting for Pro Bowlers at every position to start winning. And yes.....Im still not over the Green Bay loss...because in spite of everything that happened in that game....there were some coaching gaffes with the game on the line...that we have tolerated for far too long in Dallas. Certain coaches do NOT make the coaching gaffes that were made with the game on the line. And Garrett is not alone. Clock management, flow of the game....when to snap the ball...how much time do you leave a great QB with timeouts...head coaches need to be thinking about that as the game progresses. Again...we have had some horrific losses that had nothing to do with Xs and Os....and at what point should you expect a head coach to have full command of what they want to do when certain scenarios arise?

 

[DandyDon52]

Pretty much every coach in the NFL not named Belichick does it the same. One guy who used to not be that way was...of all people...Mike Martz. Martz would attack weaknesses and wasn't afraid to change things on the fly, even if they had little practice in on a play they had drawn up. Belichick coaches football and players, the other coaches more or less coach a scheme. But, you can bet that Vince Lombardi was more of the Garrett mindset than the Belichick mindset. So was Bill Walsh, Parcells, etc. And the same with Mike McCarthy.

I really don't think Belichick is past the archaic thinking that goes around the league, he's just the smarter caveman of all of the cavemen. While the rest of the league is starting to learn how to make fire, Belichick has made fire and invented the wheel. It's a far distance from inventing the automobile and indoor heating, AC and plumbing...but it's still well past the competition.

YR

LOL that was funny, but imo your right.
Lombardi though did believe in simplicity, they only had a few plays, and they just executed them well and had the talent.

I think offenses today get carried away with too many plays, and certain plays for down and distance etc.
What may work against one team might not work against some others, so it doesnt pay to not be adaptable to each team you play.
**
Here is a question for you, what do you think BB's strategy was going in, and what changes did he make during game?
I saw him taking notes, in first half, and they did shut down atlanta most of 2nd half.

What player did he try to take out? like when they played dallas last time bill said he wanted to take witten out of the equation, and he did.

 

[Idgit]

He absolutely is...which is why I reject the premise of a process...which never seems to end. Because some coaches actually know how to win on a consistent basis....and are not waiting for Pro Bowlers at every position to start winning. And yes.....Im still not over the Green Bay loss...because in spite of everything that happened in that game....there were some coaching gaffes with the game on the line...that we have tolerated for far too long in Dallas. Certain coaches do NOT make the coaching gaffes that were made with the game on the line. And Garrett is not alone. Clock management, flow of the game....when to snap the ball...how much time do you leave a great QB with timeouts...head coaches need to be thinking about that as the game progresses. Again...we have had some horrific losses that had nothing to do with Xs and Os....and at what point should you expect a head coach to have full command of what they want to do when certain scenarios arise?

If we can get Bill Belichick, or the next Bill Belichick, see ya, Jason. The problem with that is there's been one of those guys, ever, and the one there has been is also unscrupulous and cheats.

We're probably not going to agree on the coaching 'gaffes' in the GB game. Though I will say that I thought our staff made some obvious mistakes with that game plan. The rest of the stuff with the second guessing the play calling and not liking Tony using the whole play clock and the like, it's probably best to agree to disagree.

I will say that I never suggested we need probowlers at every position. I said that drafting and developing talent has become a strength of this organization and that's a good thing. Especially since we can upgrade multiple positions on the starting defense without too much trouble and we no longer have holes offensively to address instead. Having a core competency in finding and developing players is probably the single most important ingredient for success in the NFL. Give me the game winning strip-sack any day over a back and forth debate whether we should have run it or passed it on 3rd and 3 to keep the ball out of Aaron Rodgers hands with 2 minutes to go.