09-07-2021, 11:58 PM
This is a fascinating question… thanks for posing it.
I’ll try not to be too long winded, but I find this very interesting.
If I were to try and sum up the role of a coach in one sentence, it would be: To make the team better than the sum of its parts.
This applies equally to a low-talent roster as well is a high-talent roster. Can the coach make the team perform better than the talent it has.
I’ll draw comparison to the Miami Dolphins. At the 2019 they also hired a new head coach, who was also in the super bowl (Flores got the same late start that Taylor did). Miami gutted their roster and started the season allowing the most points in NFL history. Flores was able to take a roster with the talent level to win 2 games and make them a 5 win team. Considering the talent on the roster, I feel his coaching that year was very good, even though they didn’t win a ton of games.
On to the crux of the question, I think of a coach’s role similar to planning for a business or “war games” with 3 levels – Strategy, Operations & Tactical. All of which are important to the team success.
Strategy – This is the team philosophy, identity and offensive & defensive schemes that the staff wants to run.
Operations – Implementation of the strategy – getting the right coaching staff to teach the schemes, getting player personnel/talent needed to execute, and game planning.
Tactical – Engagements. This is the on the field play. Play calling, time management, execution by the players and on-field player leadership.
All 3 areas overlap with and provide feedback to each other. If you don’t have the players to implement the scheme (strategy), then either the scheme needs to be modified or you have to get the right players.
And all 3 areas are important - if you have the right scheme (strategy) and right players/coaches (operations), but your play calling and in game management is crap, you still won’t be successful (the LA Chargers under Lynn comes to mind, losing games they should win because of poor execution on special teams and clock management).
From a Bengals fan perspective, we’ve had issues in the past 2 years getting all 3 areas to mesh and work together.
- “Lou hasn’t had the right players to execute his scheme”
- “Jim Turner: not having the right coach to get the most out of the o-line talent on the roster”
- “With a weak o-line, burrow should not have been put in a position to throw 40+ times a game (play calling)”
Hopefully the Bengals are now in a position where the scheme and players mesh, we have the right coaches to teach it, and it is reflected in the on-field execution. And we get the most out of the talent we have on the roster.
I’ll try not to be too long winded, but I find this very interesting.
If I were to try and sum up the role of a coach in one sentence, it would be: To make the team better than the sum of its parts.
This applies equally to a low-talent roster as well is a high-talent roster. Can the coach make the team perform better than the talent it has.
I’ll draw comparison to the Miami Dolphins. At the 2019 they also hired a new head coach, who was also in the super bowl (Flores got the same late start that Taylor did). Miami gutted their roster and started the season allowing the most points in NFL history. Flores was able to take a roster with the talent level to win 2 games and make them a 5 win team. Considering the talent on the roster, I feel his coaching that year was very good, even though they didn’t win a ton of games.
On to the crux of the question, I think of a coach’s role similar to planning for a business or “war games” with 3 levels – Strategy, Operations & Tactical. All of which are important to the team success.
Strategy – This is the team philosophy, identity and offensive & defensive schemes that the staff wants to run.
Operations – Implementation of the strategy – getting the right coaching staff to teach the schemes, getting player personnel/talent needed to execute, and game planning.
Tactical – Engagements. This is the on the field play. Play calling, time management, execution by the players and on-field player leadership.
All 3 areas overlap with and provide feedback to each other. If you don’t have the players to implement the scheme (strategy), then either the scheme needs to be modified or you have to get the right players.
And all 3 areas are important - if you have the right scheme (strategy) and right players/coaches (operations), but your play calling and in game management is crap, you still won’t be successful (the LA Chargers under Lynn comes to mind, losing games they should win because of poor execution on special teams and clock management).
From a Bengals fan perspective, we’ve had issues in the past 2 years getting all 3 areas to mesh and work together.
- “Lou hasn’t had the right players to execute his scheme”
- “Jim Turner: not having the right coach to get the most out of the o-line talent on the roster”
- “With a weak o-line, burrow should not have been put in a position to throw 40+ times a game (play calling)”
Hopefully the Bengals are now in a position where the scheme and players mesh, we have the right coaches to teach it, and it is reflected in the on-field execution. And we get the most out of the talent we have on the roster.
