X's and O's, Or Jons and Joes?

You all know that I'm a sports fan(atic).  Now that I am an intern at a sports talk station, it feels like my habit is being encouraged!  It's like giving an alcoholic a job at a brewery - I get to be around it, but I don't get to interact with it.

For the few hours I'm there, I get to listen to the personalities give their take on various issues.  I don't get to help write any of the material. I don't help edit.  I just listen.  Even when one of them is dead wrong, I just have to sit and take it.  The beauty of my blog is that I get to voice my opinion.  Unfortunately, I don't have the audience that the station gets.

After a week of listening to Kevin Slaten bash Tony LaRussa, I've got to question the validity of his finger-pointing.  I don't believe that coaches at the professional level do that much coaching.  At the pro level, I think it's less about schemes and game plans and more about leadership and focus. 

Seriously think about that for a minute...  In pro baseball, they don't even call them coaches. They are called "managers."  Why?  Because that's what professional coaches do - they manage the egos of their millionaire athletes, they manage the media, they manage the pressure of expectations on players and organizations. Joe Torre is and has been one of the best at this, but even he has had Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankee payroll.

Vince Lombardi, who might be the greatest motivator in the history of pro football, had Paul Hornung and Bart Starr develop into offensive juggernauts and put all three of them in the Hall of Fame. Before Lombardi came to Green Bay, the Packers were a collection of lazy losers. By the time he left, any man on roster would've run through a brick wall if Lombardi said so. 


In the NBA, Phil Jackson has had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille Oneal on his championship rosters.  Phil also had assistant coach Tex Winter and his version of triangle offense, so maybe he's the one-in-ten instance that refutes my argument.  The NBA-adaptation of the triangle offense helped take Michael Jordan from a perennial playoff threat to a six-time World Champion.  The funny thing is that Jackson (head coach) gets the credit for Winter's (assistant coach) system.

(The triangle offense has produced 10 NBA Championships)

However, by and large professional sports is about finding the right personality to manage the athletes on and off the court.  For the most part, pro athletes need to be saved from complacency. I'm not saying that professional players don't need to be coached at all; they just don't need to be coached as much.  They would not be professional athletes if they weren't already exceptional at their sport.  Every great coach has had great players to coach. There isn't a single "great" coach that hasn't had an All-Star, All-American or Hall of Famer on a championship roster.

You'll notice that the few coaches that are considered great haven't reached their elevated status by employing inconsistent talent or repeat felons.  When players don't perform to expectations, the coaches get fired. Like it's anyone else's fault that the players miss free throws, strike out, commit penalties or any other in-game gaffs. The coaches get too much credit and too much blame for what happens during competition.