A Message To The NFL Owners: Please Stop Recycling Coaches
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 10:16AM Joe Simmons 
The NFL needs to stop recycling bad coaches. Its apparent that very few coaches can get jobs in a field that is dominated by good ole boys. Guys like Leslie Frasier and Rob Ryan have the credentials to be head coaches but they can't get a job and are delegated to the coordinator position while the likes of Wade Phillips and others keep getting hired to run teams with little or no success.
Lets look at some of the recent hires that have done well. First you have to start in Pittsburgh. It pains me to give the Steelers props but hiring Mike Tomlin, a young coach with no head coaching experience was genius. Tomlin has found a way to win a Super Bowl and continues to do well on a daily basis.
Last years Super Bowl Champions were lead by Sean Payton who had no head coaching experience, but he brought in a new identity and new innovation to a team that needed change and a chance to operate out of the ordinary. Payton is the anti - Parcells of all the Parcells disciples. He is a perfect mix of of old school and new school techniques and should be commended for his success.
Guys like Rex Ryan came to the Jets from the Ravens without any head coaching experience whatsoever. Rex does it with brass and emotion, and look at the success he has had. Rex led the Jets to the AFC Championship last year only to get beat by another first year head coach in Jim Caldwell of the Colts.
Take a long look around the league now. The teams that are doing the best in the league, with the exception of the Patriots, are teams with new coaches. These teams are doing it with coaches with little or no head coaching experience. In my estimation, this is a sign that its time teams stop recycling old coaches and start giving the new guard a chance to manage these elite franchises.
The league now has parity and its because everyone is bringing in new and unpredictable innovations. Not the same old boorish techniques that have been around since the early 1970s. Take a look at the last two Super Bowls. The participants were all lead by fairly new head coaches who have waited their turn and finally got a chance to succeed. You had the Steelers (Mike Tomlin) vs. Cardinals (Ken Whisenhunt) and the Colts (Jim Caldwell) vs. the Saints (Sean Payton). If this isn't a testament to a league that needed changes, nothing is.
Hopefully the NFL will continue to pursue younger coaches and open the door to those coaches without any head coaching experience. The success rate of guys like Mike Shanihan and Norv Turner has already been established. Teams have been preparing for what they have to offer for over 10 - 15 years. It has to be harder for them to connect with today's players and they have already achieved all the success that they will ever achieve.
We saw what happened when Joe Gibbs came back to the Redskins, they looked like a team that had never played a football game before. You see how the Dallas Cowboys look right now as well. Some people feel like they need a big name to lead their team while the real teams make their own name with someone they like.
So owners, please pay attention. There is a reason why guy's like Herman Edwards, Steve Mariuchi, Dick Jauron, John Gruden, and others are in the booth now even though they are young enough to still have an impact on a franchise. Their time has passed them by and new coaches are making their name.
Sure there will be stories of guys like Romeo Crennell and Charlie Weis. The Dennis Green's of the world will have their failures as well, but give these guys a chance to fail once before you give someone else a chance to fail three times.
Stay Breezy. Im out.
Reader Comments (7)
Yeah.. Next year guys like John Fox will get jobs and all hes done in Carolina is lose.
Cowboys will probably pursue Bill Cowher when they should be pursuing Leslie Frasier.
What do you think about College Coaches moving to the NFL?
@RJ it almost never works out. But when it does they win championships.
Winners - Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer*
Losers - Pete Carroll, Steve Spurrier, Dennis Erickson
Notice Barry Switzer gets an asterisk because anyone could have won with that team.
Great post, Crazy Joe. I'm tired of seeing all these re-treads getting shots, but like you said: it's the good 'ol boys system, just like any other place of business. What a shame.
HELO ROOM DALLAS COWBOYS WILL NEVER GET BACK TO THE SUPER BOWL UNTIL JERRY JONES IS GONE..................dang joe petes been at seattle how long ?.............i knew u hated USC.........................fans of the NFL world --- the league is so tough and balanced and with the salary cap its tough for teams to win......most of the time its not the coaches its the salary cap keeping more teams balanced, and also some of these owners having their egos so far up their ass they think they know more about the game than the players and coaches themselves......EXAMPLE ........AL DAVIS.........JERRY JONES.......u get the point ?..........question.....if jerry jones owned the bucs or seahawks or bengals or bills or redskins whatever, do you think he would have the same financial success that he has had in dallas ?.....answer is heck no he wouldnt because the team he ownes is the most popular NFL franchise in the world...any ass plucking ego owner could make money with dallas..........ive been saying this since the 90s.......dallas will never win a superbowl again while jerry controls things......those two owners havent done shit since they basically got rid of the guys who had everything organized.........you talk about the two most ego selfish pricks out there..........dont let that HBO football special fool you........................................................
@wildcard - when I was referring to Pete Carroll I was talking about his initial coaching jobs with the Jets and the Patriots. I love what he did at USC. In fact I probably rooted for USC harder than any other team out there while he was coaching.
You are right about the Cowboys and the owner. The reason he recycles coaches is because they give him control.
The point of the article was to stop recycling coaches. Not sure how we ended up talking Jerry Jones but I am glad you brought it up my friend.