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- Jan 16, 2012
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coaches putting players in positions to succeed not just the "playbook"
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10286019/2013-nfl-playoffs-leaders-not-gurus-achieve-most-success-league
This doesn't mean the Redskins or anyone else who is combing the offensive coordinator ranks is doing it wrong. But it is a reminder about where coaching-search priorities should lie. You don't hire a head coach because you like his playbook. You hire him because you believe he's a leader of men. Nothing he draws up matters long-term if he doesn't also come with the ability to motivate professional football players to put it into practice.
"We spend a lot of time as a staff talking about that: What's the best way to teach our guys?" Kelly told me in July after an Eagles training camp practice. "Because the bottom line is it means absolutely nothing what we know because we're not the ones playing."
Kelly's success in 2013 had more to do with his ability to connect with his players and get them to buy in than it did with his offensive schemes. His is clearly a highly intelligent, nimble and thoughtful football mind. But he also showed in his first year as an NFL coach that he grasps the most important of coaching concepts. You build your system to fit your people, not vice versa. Only by working to connect with and understand your players can you figure out the best way to make them -- and yourself -- successful.
The four remaining playoff coaches demonstrate this. Long before he won games with Peyton Manning, Fox took the Jake Delhomme-quarterbacked Panthers to the Super Bowl. Two years ago, when Kyle Orton flopped, Fox rebuilt the Broncos' offense around Tim Tebow in midseason and got to the second round of the playoffs. Belichick has won with teams that set passing records, with dink-and-dunk teams, with defensive teams. He won 11 games with Matt Cassel the year Tom Brady blew out his knee in Week 1.
At USC and now in Seattle, Carroll has become famous for the environment he's created around his team -- a relaxed, upbeat and encouraging football environment in which the cream rises because highly skilled people are put in positions to help themselves and each other succeed. His program is football's version of Google. Harbaugh is quite clearly a maniac, but he's so wholly invested in the role that his players embrace him for his authenticity. He can win with a maxed-out Alex Smith or a developing Colin Kaepernick.
"One thing Tony Dungy told me is that, if you can make individual players better, then they're going to listen," Kelly told me. "So I think when you're dealing with anybody, no matter what business it is, if people understand that you care about them and you want to help them, then I think they're going to take to it."
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10286019/2013-nfl-playoffs-leaders-not-gurus-achieve-most-success-league
This doesn't mean the Redskins or anyone else who is combing the offensive coordinator ranks is doing it wrong. But it is a reminder about where coaching-search priorities should lie. You don't hire a head coach because you like his playbook. You hire him because you believe he's a leader of men. Nothing he draws up matters long-term if he doesn't also come with the ability to motivate professional football players to put it into practice.
"We spend a lot of time as a staff talking about that: What's the best way to teach our guys?" Kelly told me in July after an Eagles training camp practice. "Because the bottom line is it means absolutely nothing what we know because we're not the ones playing."
Kelly's success in 2013 had more to do with his ability to connect with his players and get them to buy in than it did with his offensive schemes. His is clearly a highly intelligent, nimble and thoughtful football mind. But he also showed in his first year as an NFL coach that he grasps the most important of coaching concepts. You build your system to fit your people, not vice versa. Only by working to connect with and understand your players can you figure out the best way to make them -- and yourself -- successful.
The four remaining playoff coaches demonstrate this. Long before he won games with Peyton Manning, Fox took the Jake Delhomme-quarterbacked Panthers to the Super Bowl. Two years ago, when Kyle Orton flopped, Fox rebuilt the Broncos' offense around Tim Tebow in midseason and got to the second round of the playoffs. Belichick has won with teams that set passing records, with dink-and-dunk teams, with defensive teams. He won 11 games with Matt Cassel the year Tom Brady blew out his knee in Week 1.
At USC and now in Seattle, Carroll has become famous for the environment he's created around his team -- a relaxed, upbeat and encouraging football environment in which the cream rises because highly skilled people are put in positions to help themselves and each other succeed. His program is football's version of Google. Harbaugh is quite clearly a maniac, but he's so wholly invested in the role that his players embrace him for his authenticity. He can win with a maxed-out Alex Smith or a developing Colin Kaepernick.
"One thing Tony Dungy told me is that, if you can make individual players better, then they're going to listen," Kelly told me. "So I think when you're dealing with anybody, no matter what business it is, if people understand that you care about them and you want to help them, then I think they're going to take to it."
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