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Coaching Philosophies : a winning attitude or process

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by 2socks, Oct 2, 2015.

  1. 2socks

    2socks Rebuilding Since 1973

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    I started this thread to illicit a discussion about coaching philosophies and processes.

    What do the winning coaches have that the mediocre and sometimes ridiculously pathetic coaches not have.

    Is it attitude? Process? Pure damn luck? What is it and what have you noticed in past successful and mediocre coaches and coaching staffs that you may have come into contact with?

    I am now the defensive coordinator of our team here in Atlanta. I was the offensive and defensive line coach and was asked to look at the defensive scheme after a great campaign to make our line very very good. Our defense is now one of the top defenses in the entire league averaging since I took over 12 pts a game. The last weeks game on 23 rushes we allowed 19 yards. Players are now coming to me and asking if it is ok that they just play defense. A trend by the way that is flattering, but I wonder why? What is it?

    One of the players came up to me in practice last night while I was installing a new blitz called "Superman". He asked if he could see my laminated Depth sheet. Previously he had not been on my sheet and was disappointed. I told him if he had a good attitude, practiced hard and showed me that he wanted to play I would add him to the sheet. This kid has been working his tail off and other coaches and myself had noticed. I was very surprised and humbled at his reaction when he saw he was on my sheet at the number 2 spot for our Mike LB. Zain , is this young mans name and he smiled ear to ear. He looked me straight in the face and said "I don't want to play anywhere else coach - just for you". Man ----- I didnt realize I was this vested. Must say I am a little choked up.

    So what is it what sets the identity? What makes a team who they are? Is it the coaches?, the players?, the fans?

    Since our own line seems to be on the verge of collapse or paper thin, the contrast seems to be so different. And with the rumor floating that a coach is going to be fired ( IMO John Benton/Jack Bicknell) if we loose this week in London , I start this thread with this. I copied it from a article which prompted me to see what Y'all think:

    It's part of an ethos in New England that other teams surprisingly don't copy. Coach Bill Belichick annually tinkers with his lineup on both sides of the ball early in the season. He spends the first four to six games figuring out what type of team he has, and then starts focusing more on what they do well. Perhaps, other teams don't have the luxury (Tom Brady) to experiment, but it's not like Belichick isn't trying to win each game. He's just got another eye on the long term. He knows that titles aren't won in September.

    http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...s-break-the-mold-with-offensive-line-rotation
     
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  2. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

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    Players, Scheme, Coaching in that order. Though it really doesn't help when the coach can't manage personalities and kicks any dissention to the curb. When rather than motivating a very talented player he'd sooner have them traded away.

    Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
     
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  3. DolphinGreg

    DolphinGreg Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    It's too vague a question to pose if you just look an the HC as an isolated individual. There's no coach in the NFL that is responsible for 100% of his teams success. The fact that the majority of successful teams happen to have great QBs does immediately tell you that position plays a big role. But all positions play some role. So whatever particular traits the winning-est coaches may have, it may not be those traits that meant anything. It could be that the traits of the HC were must less important than certain players or how those players fit into the scheme or who they played on a yearly basis, etc.

    A better question to ask would be, what kind of role should a HC play who's not calling the offense or defense? Or what attitude should a HC bring to practice who wants to build a high-powered passing attack around a good young QB?

    Those are more specific questions that might actually have answers. You just can't really ask, what does a coach need to do in order to be success? We all know that scheme, teaching ability, motivational traits, energy levels, etc. all factor in as well as a long list of outside factors like roster, GM, salary cap manager, etc.


    But as far as looking around the sport of football and attempting to find a general set of traits that good coaches have or even what individual traits set the winning-est coaches apart, I can't say. I'm interested to hear what others will though.
     
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  4. Sceeto

    Sceeto Well-Known Member

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    2socks for D-coordinator!!
     
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  5. 2socks

    2socks Rebuilding Since 1973

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    Parlaying off very good points, it is difficult to know really unless we are there to experience it. However, perception is reality so I have my idea of what it takes was also curius what others thought.

    I think it starts by "doing your job" then worrying about other parts. If each piece does its job to the best of its ability then the manager or coach should be able to put simple concepts in place to bring it all together.

    An example : I installed the Bear 46. Our players had no clue. Not because they were no good, but because no-one had ever really taken the time to coach them up 1 on 1. It was just assumed they understood their responsibilities. We had been running a 5-2 for years with little success. We were giving up 40/50 points a game. After just 2 weeks of practice our first game we only gave up 22 points then 16 then 14 then 6 and now it is virtually impossible to score on us. We have 4-5 hats on the ball every play. Simplified and enhanced each moving piece. I noticed the players are starting to develop a little swagger and an attitude. They are realizing we can do this and we are good. No one is encouraging it. It is just happening...................................
     
  6. DolphinGreg

    DolphinGreg Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I'm certainly no football coach but I'm glad to hear you say this because so much of the time people either want to put all of a team's success on an individual player or coach. That's just never the case. The truth is, good coaches consistently make the guys they have look good and by consequence of having a little success, a confidence and swagger tends to develop.

    A lot of people mistake that confidence and swagger for something else and even sometimes claim it has to come first--which I see as being impossible. The truth is, in the real world, confidence emerges out of success. Any person, regardless of whether we're talking football, salesmanship, technical work, etc., needs to have had some amount of success on which to build their confidence.

    That's where you need the coaches and/or leaders. They are the ones who initiate that spark. You need good teaching, coaching, leadership, etc. to develop some sort of initial success. Of course, if that success is good enough others will learn from it and the whole operation may become somewhat self-sustaining. But in general terms, we could be talking about a great QB or WR who's out there making a play in the 4th quarter or a HC who's simply developing a team-first attitude at the beginning of training camp.

    What I love about Belichick is that his players always buy in. But he also has to play by the same rules as everyone else. If his schemes don't work, players will lose faith, even despite his championship background. So, in my eyes, the beauty of a great coach is that he/she is always able to be a difference maker from the sidelines when they need to be. When the players don't have the answer, the coach needs to come up with something that will keep the team competitive.

    What's pretty obvious in Miami right now, is that as the team is losing focus and getting off-track and going out there playing entirely undisciplined football, the coaches don't really have any answer to curb that bad behavior and to get the team re-aligned. That is the toughest part of a coaches job.
     
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  7. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    it all starts with your head coach.he institutes how things are gonna be done from a preperation standpoint, understands how to find the opponents weaknesses and attacks them accordingly, sets the tone for what intensity the team will practice with, and how he communicates his message to his players, in a way that inspires them to be their best, and motivates them so their prepared to run thru walls on gameday..

    Then you need a good personnell guy and staff.
     
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