Holmgren & The Total Control Coach Conundrum
With Mike Holmgren's itch to return to coaching already getting to him, the 2010 class of coaching candidates continues (check it out, a run on C's!) to intrigue.
Along with Holmgren - who just stepped aside in Seattle - Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Herman Edwards and, of course, Bobby Petrino.
It's tough to forecast where the openings will emerge before the 2009 season begins but there could be openings in Buffalo, Jacksonville, Houston, Carolina, Minnesota, Chicago, (editor's not...not) Baltimore, Dallas and Cincinnati depending on how things go in those cities.
And while all of the veteran coaches I mentioned will want a heavy say in personnel matters (probably with total control), it will be interesting to see if any teams are willing to cow to that demand.
If you look at the best teams in the league - for example, the Patriots, Giants, Eagles, Cardinals, Steelers and Chargers - and the teams on the rise (Atlanta and Miami) all have prospered under a separation of coaching/personnel department. Certainly, Bill Belichick has a major hand in all personnel decisions in New England but he trusts his lieutenants on that front. That's why, when Scott Pioli left for Kansas City, Belichick brought in Floyd Reese to help new VP of Player Personnel Nick Caserio. It's too much for a head coach to deal with running the team on the field and the pro and college scouting departments away from the field.
Holmgren was stripped of his personnel power in Seattle and never was entirely pleased being there after he lost it. That's part of the reason he left. But it will be hard for him - or any of these veteran coaches - to find a team willing to turn over the entire program to one guy no matter his previous track record.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Holmgren & The Total Control Coach Conundrum.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.nbcsports.com/system/mt-tb.cgi/11463
18 Comments
Leave a comment
About this blog
Drilling deeply into the mantle layer of America's Passion, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran offers up quick hits and insights on all things NFL.
Alliteration Tom? Really?
Possible opening in Baltimore? Are you kidding me?
AKA alliteration.
POSSIBLE OPENING IN BALTIMORE!?!??!?!?!?? you mean the orioles?!??? are you an idiot? do you know anything about football? do everyone a favor and go back to whatever it is the f--k you do and please STOP writing about anything remotely related to sports. in fact, just stop writing period, you knuckleheaded clown.
POSSIBLE OPENING IN BALTIMORE!?!??!?!?!?? you mean the orioles?!??? are you an idiot? do you know anything about football? do everyone a favor and go back to whatever it is the f--k you do and please STOP writing about anything remotely related to sports. in fact, just stop writing period, you knuckleheaded clown.
Who is to say that a special teams coach who now has one year of head coaching experience, but just lost his defense coordinator who completely ran the defense isn't potentially in trouble? What about the possibility of a Flacco slump and a defense that isn't as good with out Rex Ryan suddenly becoming a 4-12 team? And then is any coach in the NFL safe at 4-12 that doesn't have an expensive contract with lots of years left on it? Even those aren't safe, ask 8-8 Mike Shanahan...
Mike Sullivan obviously hasn't followed Ravens football. His statement makes no sense in the context of the Raven's management philosophy (continuity), which we Ravens fans are familiar with. As well, Tom Curran hasn't a clue.
"Who is to say that a special teams coach who now has one year of head coaching experience, but just lost his defense coordinator who completely ran the defense isn't potentially in trouble? What about the possibility of a Flacco slump and a defense that isn't as good with out Rex Ryan suddenly becoming a 4-12 team? And then is any coach in the NFL safe at 4-12 that doesn't have an expensive contract with lots of years left on it? Even those aren't safe, ask 8-8 Mike Shanahan..."
Mr. Curran,
Please strike Baltimore from your list of 'potential' openings. Were you watching last year, or did you just fail to see the success Harbaugh had with the same cast of characters Billick did not? I mean 'AFC Championship' success.
Your argument about the Ravens defense being not good without Rex is laughable. D coordinators come and go (i.e. Marvin Lewis, Mike Nolan, Ryan) and there remains one constant in Baltimore. Solid D. Do your research before you 'blog.'
Isn't the point here speculation? I don't think it a huge leap to speculate that Baltimore could have maybe had a lot of things go its way last year. No Patriots in the playoffs, Colts being taken out in the first round by San Diego, and Chris Johnson never returning in the Tennessee game. They made the best of all those opportunities and that is too their credit, but does it prove Jim Harbaugh is a great coach who is hallowed and beyond being fired if this season does not go as well as last? Bart Scott is gone, Ray Lewis is a year older and Suggs is unhappy being franchised. Linebackers make that defense work. Plus role players like Jim Leonard have left. There are these types of scenarios in every NFL city and to say that all 32 head coaches are safe based on last year is over looking the fact that 11 teams changed coaches last year.
I just think the speculation is valid about Baltimore and tried to list a few reasons why people might think that.
dude. are you kidding me? The Ravens? Even if we have the worst season in franchise history, the Ravens NEVER fire a coach after one mediocre season. NEVER. We are not the Redskins or the Raiders. The Ravens never skip a beat after losing defensive coaches and aging linebackers. And we certainly won't miss a step with the loss of Leonard( a 2nd string safety) because our starter dawan landry is bacl. Look at landry's worst season and compare it to Leonard's best season. And I defy you to find one team that endured what the aravens did and still made it to 4 minutes of the Super Bowl. 1. losses to their entire secondary, 2. nose tackle,3. right guard, 4.right tackle, 5.a rookie qb starting, 6. a fullback handling most of the rushing duties, and 6.a rookie head coach.
The speculation isn't remotely valid. My guess is you're trying to stir up some controversy and get as many responses as possible to your blog. It certainly has worked but it still makes you look like a complete idiot.
dude. are you kidding me? The Ravens? Even if we have the worst season in franchise history, the Ravens NEVER fire a coach after one mediocre season. NEVER. We are not the Redskins or the Raiders. The Ravens never skip a beat after losing defensive coaches and aging linebackers. And we certainly won't miss a step with the loss of Leonard( a 2nd string safety) because our starter Dawan Landry is back. Look at Landry's worst season and compare it to Leonard's best season. And I defy you to find one team that endured what the ravens did and still made it to 4 minutes of the Super Bowl. 1. losses to their entire secondary, 2. nose tackle,3. right guard, 4.right tackle, 5.a rookie qb starting, 6. a fullback handling most of the rushing duties, and 6.a rookie head coach.
The speculation isn't remotely valid. My guess is you're trying to stir up some controversy and get as many responses as possible to your blog. It certainly has worked but it still makes you look like a complete idiot.
Umm I am not Tom Curran using an alias to drum up controversy. I am a much more handsome man than Tom Curran.
The Baltimore Ravens have only ever had 3 head coaches in their 13 season so to say that they have a pattern with their hiring and firing of coaches is a little naive. Marchibroda got 3 seasons as an expansion coach and went 16-31. Billick got 9 seasons and went 80-64, 5-3 in the playoffs and won that super bowl thing, and Harbaugh has coached 1 season is 11-5 and 2-1 in the playoffs. There is no pattern there.
And football has 3 aspects and in my opinion Leonard was the special teams MVP of the playoffs. Zbikowski is not as good as Leonard and you will see a large drop off there.
Sullivan - you're an asshat. That is - you wear you're ass where your brain should be. Curran made an obvious error here - and I'm a Steelers fan. Baltimore is not going to fire a playoff coach that has established a rapport wtih his team if he has one bad season. Sorry, you're wrong.
I hate the Ravens, but I still understand the game and respect that the franchise knows how to build successful teams. Ozzie Newsome is not the kind of GM to fire a coach after one losing season. Never going to happen.
So Brian Billick went 13-3 and then 5-11 in his last 2 seasons and then got fired by the owner not by Ozzie Newsome. And who is to say he has a rapport with his players? How many plays did he call? How many substitutions did he make? I have a very big feeling Cam Cameron called every offensive play and Rex Ryan called every defensive play. The rapport with the players could go away very quickly if they start 1-3 with losses to the Chargers, the Patriots and either the Chiefs or Browns how much of a rapport will be left?
Mike Sullivan -- you are an idiot!
Asshat: loved your comment, even though you are s steelers fan.
Forgot -- Tom Curran - do you even watch football?
yeah, my bad on baltimore...brain fart...as you were...
Crabcake55 and asshat my mission is now complete. Being insulted in a blog comment section was the last piece of earth research I needed to obtain and I will now be able to rejoin my people when there ship passes masked by the lunar eclipse on July 7, 2009.