Post#1900 » by The Consiglieri » Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:32 am
I would point to bill belichek. This is also one of the reasons I hated the Jay Gruden hire, and loved Gibbs so much too. It's fairly straight forward, great coaches are flexible and adapt their strategic approach and tactics to the talent they have available. There are guys like Walsh, and Mourinho, and Lombardi, and Phil Jackson etc, guys with a system who've won everywhere they've coached. They've earned the right to be stubborn and because they typically stick around long term, or have the ability to quickly rearrange a roster (in soccer you can always loan out guys, or transfer them if they don't fit your system, you're rarely saddled with bad contracts in the way you would be in American sports), and as a result their "system" based approach works.
However, the very best coaches are those coaches that see what they have, and then build a system that fits the talent around them. Bellichek has run a defense first, running patriots team to super bowls, he created an offensive powerhouse in 2007, he created a brand new TE focal point attack in 2010-2012, and then built a more flex based attack in 2014, and flipped the script entirely in early october this past falls.
Think about Gibbs from 1981-1992, there were really three different redskins teams in those years, early on when his pass catching tools were weak, but he had a great offensive line, and elite veteran runner, he built the offense around them and the defensive ability to shut down opponents, when the secondary fell apart in 1983, but Monk was healthy again and Brown was at the peak of his powers, he built his attack around a flexibile 50/50 approach with plenty of passing and running, by '84-'85 the running game collapsed, and the teams performance slowly failed too, however mining the USFL for talent as it collapsed brought in an elite WR in Clark, and perhaps the best #3 in the league in Sanders, so by 1987, he'd put the running game on the back burner again, and asked Jay and Doug to throw the ball a lot more, but he switched again by 1989 when he acquired Riggs, and Byner to play a kind of reshuffled version of Riggins/Rogers, and Kelvin Bryant, utilizing the posse and the tailbacks in equal measure with a deep passing game to utilize Rypiens deep passing game.
Great coaches either have a system that flat out works, or have a fundamental ability to identify the strengths of their players, and create a system that fits that roster best.
The worst coaches are the guys who have their system, and stick to it, regardless of results, even when it doesn't utilize the roster's talent effectively. That's what we've got with regards to Wittman, and Gruden, and Trotz. It's common no doubt, but the great coaches produce results consistently either with their system, or show the flexibility of a Bellichek or Gibbs etc to win with any system.
I think the greatest problem with coaches today is ego: far too many believe in their system far more than in their scouting departments, and as a result, force system's on players that don't fit the rosters talent and skill base at all. Needless to say, that problem is present here today in spades, on all of our teams save the Nationals (not coincidentally, the best run organization, best roster, and most competitive side in D.C. alongside DC United).
