Ray I don’t disagree. What I struggle with is (and I genuinely don’t know the answer) what happens the year after a team shits the bed so badly losing 6 straight (if it happens) AND they retain the HC ? Are there recent examples of something like this where the next year the team drastically improves? I have this nagging feeling that the answer is “no” but I want to be wrong seeing as McCoach will be back in what I pray
won’t be a lame duck season for him. Anyone know of any recent success stories ?
This is a fair question.
I don't know the answer.
I suspect there is a lot going on behind the scenes that I am unaware of. I won't let that "specific lack of knowledge" limit me in what I feel needs to be improved. I will resist letting the "specific lack of knowledge" force me to take the simplest apparent solution.
What I can do is try to analyze a perceived problem and come up with a generalized answer. Let me give you an example.
Play Calling.
We appear to be "inconsistent" with our play calling. When I say inconsistent, I am saying sometimes the plays work and sometimes they don't. What can cause this kind of problem?
1) Did the offensive players work in a well-defined and coordinated effort?
a) If the team did perform well in this regard, did it work?
b) If the team did not perform well in this regard, did the play still work.
If the team did perform well and the play worked, is it a play we can successfully use all the time against an appropriate defense? If so, can we repeat that success with our lower tier players?
If the team did not perform well and the play failed, can we identify the specific problems that caused that failure?
If the team did not perform well and the play still succeeded, can we identify why? Is it something we want to incorporate as a new play, or will we be better off getting the players to perform as they were instructed?
My generalized answer to these questions is:
1) We always want our players to perform as directed. If we stumble onto a potentially better play, we can develop it, but in the end, but if all our players are "freelancing" as opposed to "staying on script" we are doomed.
2) After we make this kind of analysis, then we are in a much better position to make improvements. Those improvements can be getting better, or more of a specific "type" of player to suit the team's needs. It might put focus on a problem with sloppy technique with individual players or across the board. We may see that there has been poor recognition of defenses causing our problems and we need plays that can be "effectively" changed at the line of scrimmage.
This is just a "rough cut" of how I feel we need to analyze the team's performance in order to improve the team.
Just getting angry and yelling about a perceived problem is no way to get better.
Feel better? - Maybe.
Make improvements? - have you won a lotto recently? - LOL
Remember, no team has all-stars at every position. We need to be able to get the most out of what we have and that demands good coaching. Good head coaches are not readily available so we better make sure we can "grow our own" via post season study and continuous improvement in the coaching staff. That is where our HCs should be coming from!
