People are focusing on the wrong thing

[C.Biscuit97]

With all the speculating about who or next coach is going to be, I think something has gotten forgotten in the whole process. I generally believe that a head coach at the NFL level is very overrated. Bottomline, you need talent or you won't be successful. The fact is the best organizations in the NFL have front offices that make the head coach interchangable. For example:

 

- San Diego can fired Marty S. after going 14-2 and hire a coach like Turner, who was a loser in both of his previous stints as a head coach. All they have done is win 11 straight games and look like the best team in football.

 

- The Steelers can watch Cowher leave and hire a coach in his 30s for his first head coaching gig ever. 2 years later, they hoist the Lombardi.

 

- The Colts lost Dungy and replace him with a guy who barely breathes and went 26-63 as a head coach at Wake Forest. He promptly wins his first 14 games as a NFL head coach.

 

- The Packers have been almost an annual playoff team led by 3 different first time head coaches (Holmgrem, Sherman, McCarthy).

 

- Baltimore fires a coach that won a Super Bowl and replaced him with a special teams coordinator. All he's done is go to the playoffs twice in 2 seasons and to the AFC championship game last year.

 

Any good organization starts at the top. For all the silly talk of Ralph being cheap, we are always middle of the pack in player salaries. Furthermore, history has shown that FAs rarely make that much difference in turning a team around. You build through the draft. Drafted players are easier to retain for the team that selects them. Additionally, how many quality QBs, offensive and defensive linemen hit the market? When they do, they is probably a good reason: injury & replacement in the wings (Brees); way too experience (Haynesworth); age (Faneca).

 

The bottomline, IMO, is this is really mainly on Buddy Nix. If we draft like we have under TD and Levy, no coach is going to do well here. However if Nix drafts like how he did in SD (and it's early but last year's draft looks very promising), a lot of coaches could thrive here. That is the key to being a successful organization. So despite the silly thought that Frazier won't be a good coach because he doesn't yell, it is a complete fallacy. Frazier won't be a good coach if we continue to draft guys like Mike Williams, JP Losman, and Donte Whitner (thoguh I still believe he is a good safety but he will never justify being #8). IMO, it really is that simple.

[Gugny]

With all the speculating about who or next coach is going to be, I think something has gotten forgotten in the whole process. I generally believe that a head coach at the NFL level is very overrated. Bottomline, you need talent or you won't be successful. The fact is the best organizations in the NFL have front offices that make the head coach interchangable. For example:

 

- San Diego can fired Marty S. after going 14-2 and hire a coach like Turner, who was a loser in both of his previous stints as a head coach. All they have done is win 11 straight games and look like the best team in football.

 

- The Steelers can watch Cowher leave and hire a coach in his 30s for his first head coaching gig ever. 2 years later, they hoist the Lombardi.

 

- The Colts lost Dungy and replace him with a guy who barely breathes and went 26-63 as a head coach at Wake Forest. He promptly wins his first 14 games as a NFL head coach.

 

- The Packers have been almost an annual playoff team led by 3 different first time head coaches (Holmgrem, Sherman, McCarthy).

 

- Baltimore fires a coach that won a Super Bowl and replaced him with a special teams coordinator. All he's done is go to the playoffs twice in 2 seasons and to the AFC championship game last year.

 

Any good organization starts at the top. For all the silly talk of Ralph being cheap, we are always middle of the pack in player salaries. Furthermore, history has shown that FAs rarely make that much difference in turning a team around. You build through the draft. Drafted players are easier to retain for the team that selects them. Additionally, how many quality QBs, offensive and defensive linemen hit the market? When they do, they is probably a good reason: injury & replacement in the wings (Brees); way too experience (Haynesworth); age (Faneca).

 

The bottomline, IMO, is this is really mainly on Buddy Nix. If we draft like we have under TD and Levy, no coach is going to do well here. However if Nix drafts like how he did in SD (and it's early but last year's draft looks very promising), a lot of coaches could thrive here. That is the key to being a successful organization. So despite the silly thought that Frazier won't be a good coach because he doesn't yell, it is a complete fallacy. Frazier won't be a good coach if we continue to draft guys like Mike Williams, JP Losman, and Donte Whitner (thoguh I still believe he is a good safety but he will never justify being #8). IMO, it really is that simple.

I agree, C. Biscuit. While I do like a certain type of person to be a head coach, it does start at the top. Furthermore, I think who the coach brings in as O-Coord and D-Coord is more important than who the head coach is, as well. I am a firm believer that Bill Bellichick is an incredible coach; one of the best of our time. But they dynamic, and the success, of the team changed when Romeo and Charlie took off. They were still a formidable team without those guys, but they weren't the powerhouse they were with them. I realize they had personnel changes and injuries, and that's a testament to Bill B.'s abilities. But those coordinator roles, along with the draft, are what makes teams great.