Wisdom from the enemy? Whiner board HC search thread

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Merlin

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The similarity is eerie and freakin me out... Sigh.
 

TheDYVKX

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Hm. Not enough McVay talk. Clearly we are the smarter of the two fanbases.
 

Zodi

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Hm. Not enough McVay talk. Clearly we are the smarter of the two fanbases.

How is he any different than Linehan, Spagnoulo, etc? Hot named coordinator with zero HC experience. Pass.
 

TheDYVKX

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How is he any different than Linehan, Spagnoulo, etc? Hot named coordinator with zero HC experience. Pass.

Every HC, good or bad, had zero HC experience at some point. The majority of them were coordinators. I don't get your point.
 

OldSchool

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Every HC, good or bad, had zero HC experience at some point. The majority of them were coordinators. I don't get your point.
When you aren't sure about a coordinator you attack his lack of experience. It's done by many.
 

Ram_Rally

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How is he any different than Linehan, Spagnoulo, etc? Hot named coordinator with zero HC experience. Pass.
Outside of mcdaniels, who do you want who has head coaching experience? Gruden nor harbaugh are walling through the rams tunnel on Sundays
 

Merlin

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Yeah I want someone who is young with a strong grasp of fundamentals and offensive gameplanning. They gotta have leadership ability too, the type of guy who walks into a room and the players listen. Outside of those things it's all a coin flip, the only real indicator of future head coaching greatness is greatness at the previous level. And even with that there are outliers.

So roll the dice man. No guts no glory. But for the love of God be decisive and make a damn decision. Don't string this thing out to where your new coach is behind the eight ball on hiring the key assistants.
 

Zero

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How is he any different than Linehan, Spagnoulo, etc? Hot named coordinator with zero HC experience. Pass.
Yea pass on everyone who doesn't have HC experience.
Cause nobody ever succeeds going from coordinator
to HC.(y)
 

Zodi

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Every HC, good or bad, had zero HC experience at some point. The majority of them were coordinators. I don't get your point.

You also failed to answer my question. It wasn't rhetorical. How is McVay different than Linehan?

Yea pass on everyone who doesn't have HC experience.
Cause nobody ever succeeds going from coordinator
to HC.(y)

I'm fluent in sarcasm, so...

I say "pass" on McVay not because he lacks head coaching experience, but rather the fact that he's young (lacking general life experience) and hasn't been in the NFL that long. I mean, seriously... are we going to put a thirty year old in charge of an NFL team?

As Rams fans, we've endured inept offenses since 2006, so I get that it's the popular move to latch onto whatever the popular, successful offensive coordinator is. It's only natural. But, I'm a major believer that history repeats itself, and in my opinion, hiring a super young guy to control an NFL team isn't the best move for long term success.

My choice (outside of Payton) is McDaniels, so my opinion is already an unpopular one on this board. Just my two cents tho.
 
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OldSchool

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You also failed to answer my question. It wasn't rhetorical. How is McVey different than Linehan?
I'll answer it with a question. How was Mike McCarthy different from Linehan? Answer is they aren't different and you don't know how a coordinator or former HC will do until he's put in the position. It's so damned funny that us posters on a message board think we have all the answers and that we have the magic cookie cutter formula to make our teams successful and the owners just need to listen to us. And be damned anybody who disagrees with us. The simple fact is we don't know how McVay, McDaniels, Shanny, Gruden, Harbaugh or Vince Lombardi would do as our next coach. Stan, Kevin and Les are going to make the decision based on who sells themselves best in the interview and who is best at pimping their plan and their ideas for the roster. If you think it's anything different than that you're delusional. Just like I am thinking I know who the Rams should draft with which pick and why.
 

Florida_Ram

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An interesting article I thought, for those that haven't already read it.

BY DOMONIQUE FOXWORTH
@FOXWORTH24

All 22 normally focuses on on-field performance. But this week, something different. I want to introduce you to one of my many unique football theories. If you like it, maybe I can share more in the future. If you don’t like it, then I will definitely share more in the future. Let me hear from you.

We are less than a week away from “Black Monday,” the day after the last week of the NFL regular season. It is the day when many failed coaches are fired. Immediately, the newly coachless organizations begin the search for a new coach. Every year, the latest batch of on-field failures repeat the ineffective coach search strategy that landed them with their last loser head coach.

The teams compile a list of the most effective offensive and defensive coordinators and enter into a slow form of speed dating, where the potential coaches travel from team to team, selling themselves. It makes sense until you actually think about it.

Coordinator X is a great coach
We need a new head coach
Let’s hire coordinator X

The logic appears sound. But it is flawed because the skills that are required to become a successful coordinator are not the same skills required to become a successful head coach. Let me demonstrate my point by applying that same logic to the players.

Von Miller is the best football player on the Denver Broncos’ roster, so they should make him the starting quarterback. Absurd, right? Miller is a perfect pass rusher and very few of those skills would help him succeed at quarterback.

The analogy is imperfect, but you get the point. Effective coordinators have shown an ability to find and exploit the weaknesses of their opponents, through immersive film study, creative play design and astute playcalling. None of that would help them in their new duties as head coach.

As the cliché goes, head coaches are the CEO of a team. Like CEOs, they should be concerned with long-term strategic planning and decision-making, managing the cultural and emotional well-being of the team and acting as the face of the organization.

Those things don’t sound like coaching, but they have as much of an impact on a team’s success as game planning.

Too many head coaches underestimate the importance of their new CEO duties and focus on the side of the ball that brought them success. The impact of that on a team is not unlike what happens in other organizations: There is no strategic cohesion, long-term awareness and a culture of apathy develops.

In football, those issues manifest themselves in a few ways: poor clock management, indecisiveness at important moments, missed assignments by players, disgruntled players, harmful leaks to the media, etc.

Some new head coaches go the other way and completely abandon their past as a coordinator, focusing on their responsibilities as a head coach. While I think that tact is more likely to produce success, it is also flawed. In this scenario, the organization is paying the coach more to do what he is good at less often.

But don’t worry, I have the solution. First, teams should not value head coaches more than coordinators. Why not pay the Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Shanahan $10 million a year to be your offensive coordinator? He is certainly worth it.

Next, put coaches through a management combine of sorts, meant to assess their communication skills, emotional intelligence and strategic-planning skills.

Then interview players who have played for him. With those data points, I think a team would at least be using the best criteria to tell if a coach has the ability to be a good head coach.

Finally, they should be sent through head coaching training. Much like a player is more likely to perform well in a game if he has practiced a particular scenario, a head coach will make better decisions if he has learned about the potential results before being faced with a dilemma.

I know this all sounds odd, but in a league that tries to legislate parity through salary caps and scheduling, there are very few areas where a competitive advantage can be gained. This is one way to try to create an advantage.

For the teams that find themselves out of the playoffs every year, rethinking hiring practices seems like a small risk to take.

http://theundefeated.com/features/all-22-want-a-great-head-coach-for-your-nfl-team/
 

Zodi

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I'll answer it with a question.

That's not how questions tend to work. At least, not those from people looking for legitimate information. Rhetoric and hyperbole are fun, sometimes, but I'd like to know what makes McVay so special, compared to other, more experienced candidates.
 

Zodi

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An interesting article I thought, for those that haven't already read it.

BY DOMONIQUE FOXWORTH
@FOXWORTH24

All 22 normally focuses on on-field performance. But this week, something different. I want to introduce you to one of my many unique football theories. If you like it, maybe I can share more in the future. If you don’t like it, then I will definitely share more in the future. Let me hear from you.

We are less than a week away from “Black Monday,” the day after the last week of the NFL regular season. It is the day when many failed coaches are fired. Immediately, the newly coachless organizations begin the search for a new coach. Every year, the latest batch of on-field failures repeat the ineffective coach search strategy that landed them with their last loser head coach.

The teams compile a list of the most effective offensive and defensive coordinators and enter into a slow form of speed dating, where the potential coaches travel from team to team, selling themselves. It makes sense until you actually think about it.

Coordinator X is a great coach
We need a new head coach
Let’s hire coordinator X

The logic appears sound. But it is flawed because the skills that are required to become a successful coordinator are not the same skills required to become a successful head coach. Let me demonstrate my point by applying that same logic to the players.

Von Miller is the best football player on the Denver Broncos’ roster, so they should make him the starting quarterback. Absurd, right? Miller is a perfect pass rusher and very few of those skills would help him succeed at quarterback.

The analogy is imperfect, but you get the point. Effective coordinators have shown an ability to find and exploit the weaknesses of their opponents, through immersive film study, creative play design and astute playcalling. None of that would help them in their new duties as head coach.

As the cliché goes, head coaches are the CEO of a team. Like CEOs, they should be concerned with long-term strategic planning and decision-making, managing the cultural and emotional well-being of the team and acting as the face of the organization.

Those things don’t sound like coaching, but they have as much of an impact on a team’s success as game planning.

Too many head coaches underestimate the importance of their new CEO duties and focus on the side of the ball that brought them success. The impact of that on a team is not unlike what happens in other organizations: There is no strategic cohesion, long-term awareness and a culture of apathy develops.

In football, those issues manifest themselves in a few ways: poor clock management, indecisiveness at important moments, missed assignments by players, disgruntled players, harmful leaks to the media, etc.

Some new head coaches go the other way and completely abandon their past as a coordinator, focusing on their responsibilities as a head coach. While I think that tact is more likely to produce success, it is also flawed. In this scenario, the organization is paying the coach more to do what he is good at less often.

But don’t worry, I have the solution. First, teams should not value head coaches more than coordinators. Why not pay the Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Shanahan $10 million a year to be your offensive coordinator? He is certainly worth it.

Next, put coaches through a management combine of sorts, meant to assess their communication skills, emotional intelligence and strategic-planning skills.

Then interview players who have played for him. With those data points, I think a team would at least be using the best criteria to tell if a coach has the ability to be a good head coach.

Finally, they should be sent through head coaching training. Much like a player is more likely to perform well in a game if he has practiced a particular scenario, a head coach will make better decisions if he has learned about the potential results before being faced with a dilemma.

I know this all sounds odd, but in a league that tries to legislate parity through salary caps and scheduling, there are very few areas where a competitive advantage can be gained. This is one way to try to create an advantage.

For the teams that find themselves out of the playoffs every year, rethinking hiring practices seems like a small risk to take.

http://theundefeated.com/features/all-22-want-a-great-head-coach-for-your-nfl-team/

Great post, and precisely pinpoints my reservation for hiring a head coach purely based on his success as a coordinator.
 

OldSchool

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That's not how questions tend to work. At least, not those from people looking for legitimate information. Rhetoric and hyperbole are fun, sometimes, but I'd like to know what makes McVay so special, compared to other, more experienced candidates.
And if you'd read what I wrote you'd have my answer to the question.
 

TheDYVKX

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Zodi

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For one, he actually has a personality and players listen to him. Linehan had no ability to command a locker room and you could tell. When players don't take you or your message seriously, it's hard to be a HC.

I saw more in this video right here than I ever did from Linehan.

http://www.redskins.com/media-galle...ing-Camp/59bd872a-df8c-4a79-91ac-33fc794a7257

Linehan was fine his first year-- which is why the majority of us Rams fans were hyped for that 07 season. When we started losing is when things fell apart for Linehan. On top of that, part of being a head coach is finding players to fit your scheme and evaluating incoming talent throughout the draft. Linehan failed on both parts, which is ultimately a huge part of why he failed.

McVay has been strictly a positional coach up until two seasons ago when Washington made him their offensive coordinator. A coordinator of two years is ready to lead an NFL team? He would have to be an exceptional individual. Are you McVay guys ready to bank at least the next two years on him being an anomaly?
 

TheDYVKX

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He would have to be an exceptional individual

And by all accounts he is. Chris Cooley said that he had never been taught the finer points of playing TE until 24 year old McVay was promoted. Every single player under him has talked about his character and detail oriented approach. Guys like Bill Callahan praise him heavily for being so good so young.

Back to the Cooley thing, quotes like this get me excited.

“It didn’t matter where Sean came from, how old he was—the dude knew it better than anyone else,” says Cooley. “He was the best.

“I remember, in the first week that he took over, I was finally being coached intricately on some of the things that go into the tight end position. He taught every tiny nuance. I wish I would’ve gotten to work with him a lot longer. I loved all the coaches that I played for. I absolutely did. But I would’ve been better if I had worked with Sean for my entire career. I have no doubt about that.”

The guy is a football prodigy in my eyes. Find me something other than his age that tells me he COULDN'T do it.