Industrial Psychology, and Why Adam Gase Will Fail as a Head Coach

[normaldude]

CLARIFICATION: This thread is about what a coach says to the public. It has nothing to do with a coach's decision to bench & cut certain players.

Approach A (Diplomatic): "Part of it is my fault, part of it is Tannehill's fault, part of it is the o-line. We need to work better as a team."

Approach B (Publicly Call People Out): "It's the o-line's fault" (link) and "He needs to play through pain" (link)

Adam Gase has been going with approach "B", but he's better off going with approach "A".

In order for a head coach to pull off approach "B", and publicly call people out, he needs a great deal of street cred.

Adam Gase doesn't have that street cred. He's a rookie head coach, with a losing record, who never played college or pro football. Virtually all NFL head coaches at least played some college football.

Veteran NFL players are going to think "Who the hell is this nerd, publicly saying that I need to play through pain, that it's my fault, publicly throwing me under the bus. He's never had his bones broken or blood shed on a college or pro football field. He wouldn't last 5 seconds in my world".

There's a good chance that the team is already quitting on him, mailing it in, and just collecting paychecks.

From an industrial psychology perspective, I predict that Adam Gase will fail as a head coach. Given his background (rookie head coach who never even played college football), and given his public persona (publicly call people out, publicly throw them under the bus), I highly doubt veteran warriors will be willing to sacrifice their lives & bodies for him, and follow him to the gates of hell.

As I said on another thread, Adam Gase might be better suited to be a strategist (offensive coordinator).

 

[NBP81]

I have no degree in industrial psychology, but I do own and run a construction business, not that it compares to running a football team, but neither does your post so... I will tell you this though, for whatever your employees have in mind, finishing early, making bonuses whatever, if someone or a group of guys prevents the good ones from reaching their goal because they either suck, or dont give a **** they relentlessly let me know about it until I satisfy their request.... because the good ones are rare and essentially the ones who make the business work....

Happy players today are the good ones, because the coach just cut 3 bad ones.... unhappy players today are the guys who feel pressure to perform better, they're not happy right now, because now they have to ****ing work to keep their job.... If Gase loses the locker room over this, it just means we had a locker room full of bad workers.... simple as that...

 

[normaldude]

I have no degree in industrial psychology, but I do own and run a construction business, not that it compares to running a football team, but neither does your post so... I will tell you this though, for whatever your employees have in mind, finishing early, making bonuses whatever, if someone or a group of guys prevents the good ones from reaching their goal because they either suck, or dont give a **** they relentlessly let me know about it until I satisfy their request.... because the good ones are rare and essentially the ones who make the business work....

Happy players today are the good ones, because the coach just cut 3 bad ones.... unhappy players today are the guys who feel pressure to perform better, they're not happy right now, because now they have to ****ing work to keep their job.... If Gase loses the locker room over this, it just means we had a locker room full of bad workers.... simple as that...

I agree with your post, but your post has nothing to do with my post.

My post was about publicly calling people out and publicly throwing them under the bus.

I edited my original post for clarity.

I have zero problem with the fact that "coach just cut 3 bad players".

 

[ANUFan]

How many more approaches are we going to have to try before we finally acknowledge maybe the talent is not good enough?

 

[psfign]

I don't necessarily think Gase will be a good coach, I'm still in the wait n see mode, but the OP's logic is non-sense.

 

[NBP81]

I agree with your post, but your post has nothing to do with my post.

My post was about publicly calling people out and publicly throwing them under the bus.

I edited my original post for clarity.

I have zero problem with the fact that "coach just cut 3 bad players".

Half of the people he called out in your link arent on the team anymore... message sent. And maybe Im wrong here, but I bet Tannenbaum felt he was being called out too, which is a ****ing good thing IMO...

 

[Austin Tatious]

The publicly part may be true.

Regardless, forcefully informing employees that they aren't cutting it is part of the real world. If Byron Maxwell steps inside when he is supposed to contain outside, the staff has every right to put him in his place. If Maxwell is soft on tackling on the edge, same thing.

I am a managing director of a large international law firm, I assure you that being taken to task in a forceful way by clients and senior attorneys is part of the deal. If someone is too soft to handle it, they are gone in short order. I have been on the wrong end of it before. I had tenacity to get there.

I do not buy into players running the asylum. We are seeing a lifeless bunch who are playing stupid, incompetent football. They are not disciplined, they are out of position, they lack competitiveness, they aren't getting stronger in the offseason, they lack toughness, etc. There are million dollar contracts at stake. I don't buy into the itty bitty feelings of some 24 year old who has been coddled since 7th grade. If he can't handle it, he shouldn't be here. We need men.

 

[eric1317]

Behavioral psychology: Why Gase's approach may be the best way. In order to eliminate unwanted behavior you must have consequences for said behavior. Preferably natural consequences such as losing your job for not doing it correctly. You also need to reenforce desired behavior(see Gase's comments on Anaya). Punishment deters unwanted behavior, reinforcement encourages desired behavior. Street cred is BS. Consequences trump street cred.

 

[normaldude]

Behavioral psychology: Why Gase's approach may be the best way. In order to eliminate unwanted behavior you must have consequences for said behavior. Preferably natural consequences such as losing your job for not doing it correctly. You also need to reenforce desired behavior(see Gase's comments on Anaya). Punishment deters unwanted behavior, reinforcement encourages desired behavior. Street cred is BS. Consequences trump street cred.

I have ZERO problems with cutting players, benching players, etc.

This thread is about what a coach says to the public.

 

[NBP81]

I have ZERO problems with cutting players, benching players, etc.

This thread is about what a coach says to the public.

Thing is, even if he doesnt say it in the PC, he cut them the day after....

 

[Austin Tatious]

Agreed. Also, if any player can't see how poorly things are going and that attention needs to be given to mistakes, then they also lack judgement. You want to be 1-5? There will be consequences and if you can't see that, you're too stupid to be on the team too.

Literally no position group, except for maybe receivers, are a net plus for the team. And, frankly, the receivers are not good enough to think they are above anything either. I question their collective separation ability right now.

 

[psfign]

I have ZERO problems with cutting players, benching players, etc.

This thread is about what a coach says to the public.

Which has nothing to do with succeeding or failing as a coach.

 

[utahphinsfan]

As for approach A, Diplomacy is telling people what they need to know & want to deny/avoid it.

That said, I personally don't think it matters 2 sh**s what AG says to the "public".

Ask yourself this; how would the meatball & the principal have handled this and what would they have said?

 

[Dr. Phin]

I agree with your post, but your post has nothing to do with my post.

My post was about publicly calling people out and publicly throwing them under the bus.

I edited my original post for clarity.

I have zero problem with the fact that "coach just cut 3 bad players".

It isn't "throwing them under the bus" when everyone with "eyes to see" know that these guys sucked!

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Building a winning team -Bill Walsh

First of all, thanks for the informative thread and the outside the box thinking and excellent approach that fit the generalizations that Gase is unfit for a head coaching position.


Here is an interview with Bill Walsh that highlights much of you have brought to the forefront:

Do you see a link between managing and coaching?

Management today recognizes that to have a winning organization, it has to be more knowledgeable and competent in dealing with and developing people. That is the most fundamental change. The real task in sports is to bring together groups of people to accomplish something. In the old days, the approach was rather crude. The organization would simply discard a player who did not fit a specific, predefined mold. If a player did not conform to the way management wanted him to behave, or if he made the organization uncomfortable, it got rid of him. That was the typical response.

Today, in sports as elsewhere, individualism is the general rule. Some of the most talented people are the ones who are the most independent. That has required from management a fundamental change in the art and skill of communication and in organizational development. Most important, there has been much more recognition and acknowledgment of the uniqueness of each individual and the need that people have for some degree of security.

. . .

How does that translate into winning teams?

Those teams that have been most successful are the ones that have demonstrated the greatest commitment to their people. They are the ones that have created the greatest sense of belonging. And they are the ones that have done the most in-house to develop their people.

. . .

What is the biggest obstacle to creating this kind of organization?

The coach must account for his ego. He has to drop or sidestep the ego barrier so that people can communicate without fear. They have to be comfortable that they will not be ridiculed if they turn out to be mistaken or if their ideas are not directly in line with their superior’s. That is where the breakthrough comes. That is what it takes to build a successful, winning organization.

That approach was certainly critical to the success of the 49ers. It contributed to an environment where our team could be more flexible and adaptable in responding to the unexpected moves of our opponents.

I tried to remove the fear factor from people’s minds so they could feel comfortable opening their mouths. They knew they could be wrong one time and then, when they got a little more information, change their opinion and not be demeaned for it.

. . .

What do you think are the essential management skills of a successful head coach?

The role of the head coach begins with setting a standard of competence. You have to exhibit a strong working knowledge of the game. The head coach must be able to function effectively and decisively in the most stressful situations. And the head coach must demonstrate resourcefulness—in particular, he is responsible for designing a system of football that is not simplistic. The head coach’s system should never reduce the game to the point where he can blame his players for success or failure simply because they did not physically overwhelm the opponents.

Successful coaches realize that winning teams are not run by single individuals who dominate the scene and reduce the rest of the group to marionettes. Winning teams are more like open forums in which everyone participates in the decision-making process, coaches and players alike, until the decision is made. Others must know who is in command, but a head coach must behave democratically. Then, once a decision is made, the team must be motivated to go ahead and execute it.

Full article here: To Build A Winning Team