I want to begin by telling you emphatically that this is NOT A RESOLUTIONS article. I’m not doing this to tell you how much better my life will be thanks to a new found purpose in my life to write. I’m merely going to try to be more regular on this thing than I have ever been. In what format or what I will choose to focus isn’t really the point, I’m more just going to do what I feel, and write what I want to write about and let the critics be damned. All three of you. So instead of confining myself to sports, I may one day decide that I want to review a movie that I just saw (chances are that won’t happen that often because I only go to theatres for the action stuff, and well I’m just not that well versed). Maybe I will throw my two cents in on this fiscal cliff, if I’ve somehow managed to stay on as opposed to falling off it. The point is, I want to use this as a sounding board until my voice becomes clear to me- if that even makes sense to any of you.
So when I thought about what I wanted to write about with my very first foray into 2013 analysis, I found a ton of material on beginnings and ends. Seven head coaches, and four GM’s woke up this morning in the NFL not knowing where their next paycheck will come from. All of them with families and other support systems that depend on their salaries to provide. But the fact is no one would argue with any of their firings. One coach in particular, the longest tenured head coach in the four major sports, was let go and you could have swore that it was years in the making. Andy Reid has never been a popular man in Philly. His faults were right there before us and as a Giants fan, and a Philadelphia hater, there was always this little glimmer of hope that he would screw up a big decision. One thing you couldn’t deny was his ability to coach and prepare his teams. His record speaks to a level of consistency that allowed the Eagles to not only build a new stadium through its revenue accrued through years and years of building a winner, but also tells a tale of what truly matters.
If fourteen years and 5 NFC Championship games with one Super Bowl trip (a loss to the Patriots) is looked upon as failure then you’re probably a local yoke who’s had an ax to grind with Reid for years. But stepping away from the 215, you can be sure that Reid is nationally looked upon as a successful coach who could set his team up for success but just couldn’t go all the way. Eight out of the 14 years, he led them to 10+ wins. Compare that with the previous 14 seasons, with 3 head coaches, the Eagles did that 7 times, four with Buddy Ryan at the helm. There’s something to be said about that kind of consistency and much of that can be credited to Reid and the front office. Fourteen year tenures don’t happen in pro sports and its something to be marveled at when considering the longevity that he was able to have.
But no one will deny that a clean break was needed for all parties. Sometimes that’s what’s needed. The Browns got a new owner, and realized that the Pat Shurmur, Tom Heckert combination had to go because a new regime had come to town. Ken Whisenhunt lost his job once the losing streak of the Arizona Cardinals reached a mind numbing 10 after starting the season off 4-0. Meanwhile, the only member of Whisenhunt’s staff that didn’t get released was Ray Horton who led a pretty solid defensive unit and is widely considered a very hot coaching commodity. God forbid, the Cardinals should lose the next Mike Tomlin from right underneath their noses. Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson handed power over to Russ Brandon and they fired Chan Gailey one of many should be assistants who got promoted to head coach and realized they were in way over their head. Speaking of guys who should be coordinators, Norv Turner returns to the market and is available to any team hoping for a quick fix. Who knows he could wind up in NY to try and salvage the Jets QB situation if they find that trading Mark Sanchez is near impossible. The task of figuring it out will not be Mike Tannenbaum’s. The Jets GM was fired but Woody Johnson, the owner of the Jets, kept Rex Ryan basically throwing all the blame of this season’s sub .500 record at the feet of the man making the personnel decisions. Oh and coaches who should be coordinators aren’t just offensive guys, Romeo Crennel had his second head coaching stint end in horrible fashion with a 2-14 mark and a legion of Kansas City fans hoping and praying for Black Monday to come.
The one that really surprised people were Lovie Smith. After starting the season off at 7-1, Smith saw his Bears lose their status and their ability to control their own fate. Ultimately they watched Adrian Peterson run wild, sowing up the MVP award in the process and almost set the single season record falling 9 yards short. A 10-6 record should buy you a one year window at the least, but Bears fans have had 9 seasons of Lovie and while the show was often a good one, it went on too long without a good enough finish to warrant more of the same.
So what if anything did we learn? Easy, that winning doesn’t guarantee you a job, but losing guarantees that you won’t have one. That despite all the assurances you get from your boss midseason, that can change in a hurry. What we didn’t learn from Black Monday? Simple- how to figure out who’s the best person for each job. If we did, then perhaps there would be no firings. Hiring employees is a very tough job, but hiring someone to lead employees is an even tougher job. The person has to be a willing listener and a fervent believer in what he’s doing. He has to inspire while maintaining a level of humanity that players can go and feel heard. He has to be someone feared but loved. He has to be someone everyone is willing to believe in. The head coach has many tasks that sometimes don’t get told to them when they are hired for the job. The responsibilities are endless.
I remember watching the Tom Coughlin documentary via the NFL Life series on the NFL Network and saw how he had to change aspects of his personality to reach his team. Sometimes that kind of wholesale change is necessary. He kept his belief in strict but fair. He continued to insist on the five minute rule. He worked his players into a unit that doesn’t beat itself. He shaped a champion but he did that while changing parts of himself for the betterment of the team. I don’t pretend to know what it takes to be a successful head coach. That is a round the year job that has no real rest period. Their busy season lasts from July till hopefully February if everything works out right. That’s when they work 18-20 hour days during the week, see their families occasionally and if they are good even have to miss holidays. Then they get a few weeks off before having to go into day long meetings about shaping the team for the future as the NFL Draft approaches. It takes a level of commitment that has to be evident from the moment they enter a staff.
The 95 Browns documentary from the same NFL Life series showcased a staff that had a ton of familiar names but back then, they were middling coaches and paper pushers hoping for an opportunity. The level of focus and attention to detail oftentimes begins there. Its easy to say now that certain guys would make it but who’s to say that Bill Belichieck is this special had Tom Brady not still been on the board at pick 199? Nick Saban was the defensive coordinator at Cleveland, and he’s had success as a head coach…in college. He’s still trying to destroy footage of his Miami years. Kirk Ferentz is also successful at college but only doing a mediocre job. Jim Schwartz, after a year, has watched his team regress in Detroit. Then there’s Thomas Dmitroff who has GM’d the Falcons into a number one seed….that evidently NOBODY is afraid of.
There really isn’t any real indicator of future success to point to when looking for a head coach. Its trial and error. You will pick a winner and sometimes you will pick a loser, but like any good poker player you have to know when to fold them. Seven teams will be looking to make a change this offseason. Seven teams will turn their fortunes over to the hands of a head coach who will come in with a thick binder and a set of skills that either will impress or overwhelm the employer into giving them the job. But sometimes its just about walking in to the right door and into the right situation. 14 years ago, Andy Reid did. He took that team from 3-13 in 1998 to 11 wins just two years later. Lovie Smith took a 7-9 team to 11 wins two years later and a Super Bowl appearance a year later. In these two instances, Reid had the opportunity with that 1999 team to draft a franchise QB in Donovan McNabb and Lovie Smith took over a team that three years prior had gone 13-3. They had both walked into favorable situations, and taken advantage. There’s an opportunity awaiting the next Eagles head coach, the next Bears head coach, the next Chargers head coach, the next Browns head coach and the next Bills head coach as well. There’s a chance that somebody will walk through that door and get the opportunity they so richly deserve and they were truly fit for. Until then, there will be more head scratching hires and more reason to doubt. The lesson here is, there is no formula for success, but we do know the recipe for disaster.
acebook
witter
The Lazy Eye of Sports 