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Here's a fix to the NFL's tired policy of blocking coaches from interviews
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/h...d-policy-of-blocking-coaches-from-interviews/
Stop me if you've heard me say this before, but the way the NFL polices the hiring of coaches, and assistant coaches in particular, requires a radical change. The rules are heavily prohibitive and make it too easy for a team to preclude its lower-tiered coaches from pursuing promotions elsewhere.
It's an archaic system. It suppresses the talent pool, and it does so at a time when fans and owners often are underwhelmed by options to replace coaches. It's especially not a good look when people are bemoaning the product on the field and the stalled player development on many staffs. The time for change is now, and I suggest altering the process to allow an individual assistant coach to be able to usurp his club's denied interview request at least once in his career to explore an outside coordinator opportunity.
As it stands, if Team A is conducting a search for a new coordinator and Team B has a young quarterback coach or offensive line coach, for instance, who Team A wants to hire as a primary play caller and leader of its offense or defense or special teams, Team B can block that process from ever taking place. Nip it in the bud. Never even let them speak.
Team B can decline the interview request out of hand, refuse the opportunity to even communicate with the other team, and move on as business as usual. It doesn't matter if that assistant coach has never had much leverage before, and might be on a one-or-two year deal with only one year remaining. It doesn't matter if Team B, in this case, already has an established coordinator in place and no short-terms plans to promote that position coach. It doesn't matter if he is among the lowest-paid coaches in the league at his current position, or one of the highest. They can bury the request and squat on the coach's rights for the length of his contract.
Now, in many instances, Team B will take note of the increasing allure of this (potentially) rising coach and reward him with a longer and more lucrative deal ... but there is no guarantee he will rise to that coordinator rank with this current team, and there is always the threat that 11 months later the entire coaching staff will be looking for work if the current head coach of Team B is fired. That's how it works.
It's difficult enough terrain for a young position coach and his family to navigate, constantly trying to gauge whether it's a better idea to gamble on himself -- and take a one-year deal or resist Team B's advances to lock-in now on a multi-year extension altogether and allow his current deal to expire at the end of the 2017 season. Then you have to weigh whether the coordinator job that Team A hired -- after you weren't allowed to interview -- is going to prosper sufficiently to keep the position, or if Team A might come after your services again the following year. Oh, and any decision to stay with Team B and let your deal expire in the process is complicated by the knowledge that if your quarterback tears his ACL in training camp (if you are, say, a QB coach), or your stud edge rusher shred his triceps in the firstpreseason game (if you are, say, a defensive line coach), that could have a deleterious impact on your degree of appeal to other potential employers at the end of the season.
Fortunes can turn in an instant in this league, teams can go from first to last after a few stars go down, and guys off 4-12 staffs generally aren't in high demand.
Just this year, the Eagles blocked multiple advances from other teams for quarterback coach John DeFilippo, 38, who was on his way to being a coordinator elsewhere. And, with Philadelphia so heavily invested in second-overall pick Carson Wentz as its franchise quarterback, giving up a bounty in trade to land him, I understand the reaction with the rules as constituted. Also, Adam Gase, off an exceptional rookie season as a head coach in Miami, has no intention of letting the Rams interview his offensive line coach, Chris Foerster. Foerster, of course, was a big part of constructing the dominant run game that helped transform Jay Ajayi from inactive obscurity to a Pro Bowl back. You can see why new Rams coach Sean McVay, who will be calling the plays in Los Angeles, would want to talk to Foerster. And under the current rules, I'd have done the same thing if I were the Eagles. I get it.
The Eagles have blocked multiple teams from interviewing QB coach John DeFilippo. USATSI
But when the Lions block quarterback coach Brian Callahan, 32, who just signed a year ago and is stuck behind a rising whiz coordinator in Jim Bob Cooter, from the chance to interview for a play-calling coordinator job, well, I think you'll agree we have a problem. This isn't a coach the Lions groomed and developed for years, nor someone with a deep ties to the organization. And Callahan isn't going to be calling plays for Matthew Stafford as long as Cooter is there -- and Cooter is not going anywhere unless someone gives him a head coaching job. The Lions are bullish on Cooter for good reason.
So, where do we go from here? How do we keep this bottle-necking of talent to continue year after year? How do we deepen the pool of head coaching candidates by getting more of these talented coaches to the coordinator level sooner? Is there an easy potential solution to this tricky problem? Well, perhaps my proposal could help. I had an idea the other day, and after running it by a few general managers and coaches and top coaching agents, I still think it makes sense.
"IT'S BECOME TOO HARD FOR GUYS TO GET PROMOTED AND TO GET SOME FRESH BLOOD INTO THE COORDINATING ROLES. TOO MANY RETREADS."-- an NFL coaching agent
What if every assistant coach, those who never have been a coordinator, is given one exemption, or veto, to use if asked to interview for a coordinator job his current team blocks? A request is made, your employer notifies you of the interview slip, and you have the option to use that one-time get-out-of-jail-free card to interview for the position even if they otherwise would reject the request.
Again, it would not apply for assistants with prior coordinating experience. And if multiple requests come in the same year for multiple coordinating gigs, well, you and your agent must do your due diligence and pick the one most suited to you and most inclined to hire you. But at least this is a starting point to put some of the decision-making in the process back in the coach's hands, at least on a muted level. It would continue to respect the NFL's contractual laws and its adherence to an anti-tampering policy that Park Avenue holds so dear.
The Lions are bullish on offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, for good reason. USATSI
But at least there is an out clause of sorts for a certain coach to pursue a potentially life-changing opportunity. It would request some strategy and skill for the coach, and I'm all for that. And perhaps over time the number can be expanded to two exemptions, or, gulp, maybe even three. But starting here makes sense.
"If that rule was in place we could have had our guy already," said one team exec currently involved in a coordinator search.
"I like it," said one NFL coach who is still trying to assemble a staff on his side of the ball. "Empower the coach to make that call when he absolutely feels like he has to."
One coaching agent said: "It might actually make my job more difficult in some respects, figuring out when to use that clause, but I love that idea. It's become too hard for guys to get promoted and to get some fresh blood into the coordinating roles. Too many retreads."
I ran it by my pal Amy Trask, former Raiders executive extraordinaire and someone who in many ways I feel like could be the conscience for the league and who is generally pretty brilliant. And she had but one complaint at first blush.
"Why only a one-time exemption?"
So maybe, just maybe, we're on to something here.
Perhaps I now have a new cause to champion after politicking the Competition Committee and NFL coaches and GMs and league office officials about the need for a developmental league for so many years. I'll certainly corner some bigwigs at the NFL's spring meeting, before the Competition Committee meets there, about my coaching exemption proposal. And I'll continue pushing for a roster designation for concussed players -- IR/Concussed -- similar to MLB which would allow players not to count against the active roster while in prolonged protocol, like Luke Kuechly, this season.
At a time like this, with the league ripe for new ideas and with a 30-year-old, Sean McVay, just hired by the Rams as the youngest head coach in NFL history, it seems particularly counterintuitive to have somewhat draconian rules in place restricting the upward flow of labor. It's time to rethink the status quo, and be open to suggestion.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/h...d-policy-of-blocking-coaches-from-interviews/
Stop me if you've heard me say this before, but the way the NFL polices the hiring of coaches, and assistant coaches in particular, requires a radical change. The rules are heavily prohibitive and make it too easy for a team to preclude its lower-tiered coaches from pursuing promotions elsewhere.
It's an archaic system. It suppresses the talent pool, and it does so at a time when fans and owners often are underwhelmed by options to replace coaches. It's especially not a good look when people are bemoaning the product on the field and the stalled player development on many staffs. The time for change is now, and I suggest altering the process to allow an individual assistant coach to be able to usurp his club's denied interview request at least once in his career to explore an outside coordinator opportunity.
As it stands, if Team A is conducting a search for a new coordinator and Team B has a young quarterback coach or offensive line coach, for instance, who Team A wants to hire as a primary play caller and leader of its offense or defense or special teams, Team B can block that process from ever taking place. Nip it in the bud. Never even let them speak.
Team B can decline the interview request out of hand, refuse the opportunity to even communicate with the other team, and move on as business as usual. It doesn't matter if that assistant coach has never had much leverage before, and might be on a one-or-two year deal with only one year remaining. It doesn't matter if Team B, in this case, already has an established coordinator in place and no short-terms plans to promote that position coach. It doesn't matter if he is among the lowest-paid coaches in the league at his current position, or one of the highest. They can bury the request and squat on the coach's rights for the length of his contract.
Now, in many instances, Team B will take note of the increasing allure of this (potentially) rising coach and reward him with a longer and more lucrative deal ... but there is no guarantee he will rise to that coordinator rank with this current team, and there is always the threat that 11 months later the entire coaching staff will be looking for work if the current head coach of Team B is fired. That's how it works.
It's difficult enough terrain for a young position coach and his family to navigate, constantly trying to gauge whether it's a better idea to gamble on himself -- and take a one-year deal or resist Team B's advances to lock-in now on a multi-year extension altogether and allow his current deal to expire at the end of the 2017 season. Then you have to weigh whether the coordinator job that Team A hired -- after you weren't allowed to interview -- is going to prosper sufficiently to keep the position, or if Team A might come after your services again the following year. Oh, and any decision to stay with Team B and let your deal expire in the process is complicated by the knowledge that if your quarterback tears his ACL in training camp (if you are, say, a QB coach), or your stud edge rusher shred his triceps in the firstpreseason game (if you are, say, a defensive line coach), that could have a deleterious impact on your degree of appeal to other potential employers at the end of the season.
Fortunes can turn in an instant in this league, teams can go from first to last after a few stars go down, and guys off 4-12 staffs generally aren't in high demand.
Just this year, the Eagles blocked multiple advances from other teams for quarterback coach John DeFilippo, 38, who was on his way to being a coordinator elsewhere. And, with Philadelphia so heavily invested in second-overall pick Carson Wentz as its franchise quarterback, giving up a bounty in trade to land him, I understand the reaction with the rules as constituted. Also, Adam Gase, off an exceptional rookie season as a head coach in Miami, has no intention of letting the Rams interview his offensive line coach, Chris Foerster. Foerster, of course, was a big part of constructing the dominant run game that helped transform Jay Ajayi from inactive obscurity to a Pro Bowl back. You can see why new Rams coach Sean McVay, who will be calling the plays in Los Angeles, would want to talk to Foerster. And under the current rules, I'd have done the same thing if I were the Eagles. I get it.
The Eagles have blocked multiple teams from interviewing QB coach John DeFilippo. USATSI
But when the Lions block quarterback coach Brian Callahan, 32, who just signed a year ago and is stuck behind a rising whiz coordinator in Jim Bob Cooter, from the chance to interview for a play-calling coordinator job, well, I think you'll agree we have a problem. This isn't a coach the Lions groomed and developed for years, nor someone with a deep ties to the organization. And Callahan isn't going to be calling plays for Matthew Stafford as long as Cooter is there -- and Cooter is not going anywhere unless someone gives him a head coaching job. The Lions are bullish on Cooter for good reason.
So, where do we go from here? How do we keep this bottle-necking of talent to continue year after year? How do we deepen the pool of head coaching candidates by getting more of these talented coaches to the coordinator level sooner? Is there an easy potential solution to this tricky problem? Well, perhaps my proposal could help. I had an idea the other day, and after running it by a few general managers and coaches and top coaching agents, I still think it makes sense.
"IT'S BECOME TOO HARD FOR GUYS TO GET PROMOTED AND TO GET SOME FRESH BLOOD INTO THE COORDINATING ROLES. TOO MANY RETREADS."-- an NFL coaching agent
What if every assistant coach, those who never have been a coordinator, is given one exemption, or veto, to use if asked to interview for a coordinator job his current team blocks? A request is made, your employer notifies you of the interview slip, and you have the option to use that one-time get-out-of-jail-free card to interview for the position even if they otherwise would reject the request.
Again, it would not apply for assistants with prior coordinating experience. And if multiple requests come in the same year for multiple coordinating gigs, well, you and your agent must do your due diligence and pick the one most suited to you and most inclined to hire you. But at least this is a starting point to put some of the decision-making in the process back in the coach's hands, at least on a muted level. It would continue to respect the NFL's contractual laws and its adherence to an anti-tampering policy that Park Avenue holds so dear.
The Lions are bullish on offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, for good reason. USATSI
But at least there is an out clause of sorts for a certain coach to pursue a potentially life-changing opportunity. It would request some strategy and skill for the coach, and I'm all for that. And perhaps over time the number can be expanded to two exemptions, or, gulp, maybe even three. But starting here makes sense.
"If that rule was in place we could have had our guy already," said one team exec currently involved in a coordinator search.
"I like it," said one NFL coach who is still trying to assemble a staff on his side of the ball. "Empower the coach to make that call when he absolutely feels like he has to."
One coaching agent said: "It might actually make my job more difficult in some respects, figuring out when to use that clause, but I love that idea. It's become too hard for guys to get promoted and to get some fresh blood into the coordinating roles. Too many retreads."
I ran it by my pal Amy Trask, former Raiders executive extraordinaire and someone who in many ways I feel like could be the conscience for the league and who is generally pretty brilliant. And she had but one complaint at first blush.
"Why only a one-time exemption?"
So maybe, just maybe, we're on to something here.
Perhaps I now have a new cause to champion after politicking the Competition Committee and NFL coaches and GMs and league office officials about the need for a developmental league for so many years. I'll certainly corner some bigwigs at the NFL's spring meeting, before the Competition Committee meets there, about my coaching exemption proposal. And I'll continue pushing for a roster designation for concussed players -- IR/Concussed -- similar to MLB which would allow players not to count against the active roster while in prolonged protocol, like Luke Kuechly, this season.
At a time like this, with the league ripe for new ideas and with a 30-year-old, Sean McVay, just hired by the Rams as the youngest head coach in NFL history, it seems particularly counterintuitive to have somewhat draconian rules in place restricting the upward flow of labor. It's time to rethink the status quo, and be open to suggestion.
