whose only job is being a mean son of a *****? I don't claim any football expertise, but looking back, most great coaches I remember had players who feared/respected them. Those players knew that anything less than 110% got them benched or fired. I'm not asking Sumlin to be something he's not. Spend the money to hire someone to do it for him. Like the former football coaches serving as assistant principals everywhere.

Ya, when someone like Kyler totally misses the football accuracy board, coach should say "You're done with practice today, go run 26 miles now."

Agree with OP!

MD20/20 said:

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whose only job is being a mean son of a *****? I don't claim any football expertise, but looking back, most great coaches I remember had players who feared/respected them. Those players knew that anything less than 110% got them benched or fired. I'm not asking Sumlin to be something he's not. Spend the money to hire someone to do it for him. Like the former football coaches serving as assistant principals everywhere.

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How do you know Sumlin isn't?

Champ Bailey said:

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MD20/20 said:

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How do you know Sumlin isn't?

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Yeah... He fired the pool guy, right?

No, the head coach creates the culture. If the HC is a light touch, only a very influential assistant could counteract it, and only with the athletes who immeditely report to that assistant.

A guy doesn't need to be a screaming, psycho hard-ass to be a good football coach, he needs to hold players accountable, know his crap (probably the least common failing among head coaches), and have an incredible attention to detail.

Coaches Hot Seat is a pretty rambling blog, but somebody posted a link/excerpt from it a few months ago and I found their musings on organization, preparation, and attention to detail fascinating. They spelled out what makes a good coach, and it ain't screaming and yelling.

Quote:

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Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant term for Attention To Detail was attention to "the Little Things" and is summed-up in the below great quote and video from the Bear:

"If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can't live without football. I've had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home."

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John Wooden, who in our minds is with Paul Bryant one of the five greatest coaches in American collegiate sports history had this quote about "Attention to Detail!"

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

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"Leaders grasp DETAILS!" We could go on for quite awhile passing along quotes about the importance of "Attention To Detail" or as Paul Bryant said, "Talking to you about Little Things as long as you are here," but the important point is that it's VITAL for head coaches to focus like a laser beam on all the details that surround the coach in their job if they hope to be a consistent Winner and Great Coach.PERIOD!

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In 2008 a couple of Coaches Hot Seat members were in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for about a week on business and to see Alabama practice in the run-up to Bama's second Spring Game under Nick Saban. We were with a good friend of ours that played for Paul Bryant in the 1970s, and thus we had as much run of the Alabama athletic complex as anyone could get under what is the Uber-organized Nick Saban and what we saw in those few days was fascinating in that EVERYTHING was accounted for within Saban's program at Alabama which was best summed up by our friend that played for the Bear:

"Saban may be more organized than Coach Bryant and Coach Bryant was the most organized man I have ever known."

Attention To Detail and a focus on The Little Thingsdo that and you as a coach and team will WINif you know how to coach the X's and O's of the game of football mind you!

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Being an SOB doesn't make one a great coach. Plenty of SOBs were terrible coaches because they only knew one thing -- being an SOB. The few that did well did it because of other traits, not being an SOB.

You have to find a good mix. Players will tune you out at some point if all they get is you screaming at them. And fear isn't really a good motivator -- it wasn't really ever one, so I wouldn't say it is today's youth solely that can't take it. How many Aggies quit at Junction? Yes, guys like Landry did attempt to motivate by fear, at least in part -- it was mostly related to a player not playing or getting cut; it isn't like that isn't the case on virtually all competitive sports teams in, well, history. The Landry era Cowboys won by good talent evaluation, and good schemes, Landry's motivational techniques, to the extent they used fear, were pretty far down the list on why the Cowboys were successful. Plus, if you read stuff from Cowboys players in the 60s and 70s, those guys that had problems with Landry's style were more concerned that he came across as cold and uncaring. In reality, Landry just didn't want to get involved emotionally with his players. John Madden seemed to carve out this middle ground very well, but he could only stomach (pardon the pun) coaching for a decade.

A lot of guys that you've never heard of were SOBs to their players. Not that he was the biggest SOB ever, but Norm Van Brocklin is one example. He feuded with Fran Tarkenton while coaching the Vikings. He quit and went to Atlanta, but he wasn't very good at either place. Tarkenton is in the HOF and NVB isn't.