Comments on: Can Coaching Get in the Way of Good Football? https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/ An Introspective Steelers Site Tue, 03 Jan 2017 15:50:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Steelers Opponent Preview: Pittsburgh West Visits Pittsburgh East | Going Deep: https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1185 Fri, 16 Oct 2015 07:07:14 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1185 […] I felt at the time that the Patriots game seemingly being winnable was as much due to the defense as the offense. (I also wonder how well the offense would have done if the coaches had stopped trying to relay information to the field and just told Ben to call the game. I guess this goes back to Ivan’s post earlier this week.) […]

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]]> By: elpalito https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1169 Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:26:46 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1169 It all comes down to trust, doesn’t it? I don’t cater to the idea that being a ‘non-player’ is detrimental to a coach – you shot that down nicely by bringing up Robinson and there are other situations as well (Gretzky was a pretty poor coach, too). But it is a trust issue. Coaches believe in their systems – those systems elevated them to their situations. So when they run into that supremely talented player, the coach has to learn to trust that that player can succeed within his system…but also outside of it. Then the coach has to trust that ‘outside the system’ isn’t a bad thing when it comes to that player. At the same time, the player has to trust the system AND also be willing to swerve outside when necessary. When that balance is struck, it all works. I think we saw that play out over the first couple of seasons between Big Ben and Haley.

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]]> By: Rebecca https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1113 Tue, 13 Oct 2015 19:16:29 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1113 The creme de la creme – Ivan and Hombre : )

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]]> By: cold_old_steelers_fan https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1105 Tue, 13 Oct 2015 18:59:27 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1105 A great article followed by great commentary by hombre. I love it.

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]]> By: Rebecca https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1101 Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:13:55 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1101 Great analogy, skyfire. As a conductor, if I let my singers do whatever they like we have anarchy. Someone has to have the overriding vision. But if I try to force them into a mold I lose the best of them. Wisdom lies in knowing where that balance is – and it is constantly shifting.

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]]> By: skyfire322 https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1076 Tue, 13 Oct 2015 05:41:47 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1076 This is a wonderful article, Ivan. I could read this for days and days!

There definitely needs to be a perfect balance between coaching and letting them play. It’s almost like a ballet, or conducting a symphony.

To me, if a player (or team) is over-coached, I believe there are some underlying trust and confidence issues. On the other hand, if one is not coached enough, they may fall into a false sense of security and have the “Superman” mentality.

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]]> By: hombredeacero https://goingdeepsteelers.org/2015/10/12/can-coaching-get-in-the-way-of-good-football/#comment-1071 Mon, 12 Oct 2015 13:31:51 +0000 http://goingdeepsteelers.org/?p=1902#comment-1071 Ivan, wow. You’ve taken on a subject that one could literally write a book about and done it justice in a blog post.

Let’s agree that it starts with good talent. Dan Rooney has said that when asked about the Steelers success “You have to have the players.” But you also need coaching

Neal Coolong wrote, I think while he was at USA Today, that he suspects that one of the reasons why the Steelers let LeBeau go was because they knew it was Polamalu’s last year. And think of what Polamalu did in LeBeau’s system – he essentially did what he wanted. Sure, LeBeau had him move up to closer to the line of scrimmage in recent years. But Tory had a license to freelance, and he did just that.

I’ve never read anything about what coverage was called in the 2008 AFC Championship game, but it would not shock me to learn if that wasn’t at least a partial ad-lib by Polamalu. We know James Harrison’s big play a week later was pure improve.

I bring that up, because no one’s schemes were more complex than Dick LeBeau’s.

I think I wrote here a week ago in another comment, that when he was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2000, Tim Lewis admitted that when he was hired in 1995 as defensive backs coach, he didn’t understand LeBeau’s system until the Super Bowl later that year.

Can too much over coaching get in the way of allowing natural talent to flourish?

Well, think back to what Chuck Noll said to Dick Hoak after Franco Harris took his first preseason run and improvised his way to a 90 yard plus touchdown:

“Dick, don’t over coach the kid.”

That would seem like common sense, but Steelers Nation has seen assistant coaches trying to force unnatural systems on to players. Joe Walton’s offense was a perfect example. With Merril Hoge, Tim Worley, Barry Foster, and Warren Williams, this was an offense built to run. But Walton wanted to pass. And while the offense might have been suited “OK” to Neil O’Donnell’s talents, it was not suited to Bubby Brister’s talents.

Similar comments can be made about Kevin Gilbride’s offense. It didn’t suit Kordell Stewart’s talents.

At the end of the day, this comes down to the old “Nature vs. Nurture debate.”

I think that Mike Tomlin is a head coach who understands how to strike the balance.

One of his best quotes, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to be available on the internet, came when he was a rookie head coach. He was asked about something, and he said (and this is a paraphrase from memory):

“Schemes are overrated. Execution is far more important. I’ve been associated with some brilliant schemes that failed quite frankly because they were poorly executed. And I’ve also been associated with schemes that, quite frankly weren’t that well-suited to the situation they were in but succeeded nonetheless because they were well executed.”

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