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May 19, 2015Let’s be honest: Everything we think we know about “NFL head coaches” is based largely on generalizations rooted in mythical archetypes we’ve created with a side dish of guesswork. And here Cleveland Browns fans sit, once again, with an inexperienced coach — still impossibly young in head coaching years — who “needs time to develop.”
This is the same thoughtful playbook that ends up with coaching trees that only appear to be the healthiest arboreal versions of themselves right down at the roots while the leaves do their impression of the month of October. It’s how we end up talking about systems and schemes as if you can make a proper football team cocktail with a nice glass, good liquor and rotten mixers. Browns fans in particular are uniquely experienced with expensive and horrible-tasting concoctions. And goodness, do we imbibe.
Browns fans in particular are uniquely experienced with expensive and horrible-tasting concoctions.
I’m always reminding myself of the inherent dangers of believing in anyone enough to think time is the missing ingredient to their eventual achievement. In the name of “fairness” to the demands of establishing oneself as an NFL coach, I’ve frequently lobbied that it’s not been enough or it’s too soon to fire a coach and been wrong. I’m also keenly aware that the nature of sports and of NFL football is to try and build hope and positive thinking into even the worst struggles, because one of the most convincing variables that we’ve decided that is part of the equation for any successful organization is that time.
It’s not our fault that we believe that. We get parity shoved down our throats as a company line of NFL football. With a parity party as a selling point screamed more loudly than anything else, it’s a natural conclusion to think that parity plus time will yield something resembling quality football. It’s one of the cruelest of tricks by the NFL because time is the most precious ingredient for any sports fan. It’s kind of the most important ingredient to humanity as far as I can tell. Is it even a debate? “Shorter of breath and one day closer to death,” and all that.
We spend that time hoping and working to dissect everyone who gets elevated to the largely unenviable throne of head coach of an NFL football team. And yes, I called it unenviable for the same reason that I might call the President of the United States an unenviable position. The comparables between the two gigs are even more pronounced when you write them all out. Granted an NFL coach doesn’t get to make decisions about the military or their supplemental army of weaponized drones, but ride with me for a second.
The President’s job is enviable because of power, and that power is pretty undeniable, but it’s not without compromise or interference. The President has the machinery of government from lobbyists and giant corporations, to the other branches of government and even including, you know, the voters. NFL coaches aren’t the highest paid millionaires in the locker room in most cases, and despite having the elected position, being undermined is always a risk with any president or NFL head coach. Except that the President at least has a guaranteed four-year term. There are plenty of NFL coaches who get less, even if they’re paid for the full contract.
And who would want the gig anyway? We’ve all heard that mused about both the job of being President and also the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. I digress.
Right now it just feels like Mike Pettine is the kind you can believe in by granting him our most precious resource. Based on one year’s experience with Pettine, he seems worthy of betting on. He’s far from perfect, but one of the more perfect things about him is how freely he admits that he doesn’t know everything. He takes massive pride in his specialty — his defense — while also seeming to want to make his apprentice Jim O’Neil better. That, in and of itself isn’t one of those defining characteristics that “guarantees” your coach is going to be a great one, but I find it indicative of the kind of person I want to believe in. Manager focus on those above them while leaders focus on those below.
It’s actually a characteristic that seemingly burned Pettine a little bit in his first season. We’ve worn out multiple keyboards, in a carpal tunnel of love, writing about Kyle Shanahan and his messy departure from the Cleveland Browns. In Pettine’s first year, he seemed to take a hands-off approach and respected his coordinator’s space to let him work. In the end, what transpired was Pettine losing control of his team when his specialty was sitting on the sidelines. Granted that wasn’t all Kyle Shanahan’s fault, but any head coach who thinks they can positively impact their team in an overarching way must be frustrated when one of his departments is dragging down the overall team one disappointing snap at a time.
So rather than stick to that methodology, Pettine went out and hired John DeFelippo and got himself some flash cards in order to learn the offensive formations. Nate Ulrich recently reported that Pettine was diversifying his knowledge, and I am going to assume from my outsider’s position that it’s in direct response to the Kyle Shanahan experience.
“I’m with [DeFilippo] every step of the way as far as, ‘Here’s what we’re implementing today. Here’s what’s going in,’ ” Pettine said. “I sit in on the install meetings, and I carry a playbook around.”
When one door closes, another opens, but this isn’t just about walking through the right ones. When a door closes, another opens and it could be a door you’re better off nailing shut with two-by-fours. It’s one thing to learn about the other parts of your program in order to better manage the overall team, but it’s quite another to start pretending that you’re going to become an offensive guru in the mold of Chip Kelly just by starting to study in the shadow of your fiftieth birthday party.
And just because I’m talking about NFL coaches, I don’t think I’m allowed to write it without talking at least once about Bill Belichick. But it really is instructive to look at how the perception of Belichick has transformed over the years from being just a defensive coach to one who’s known for his great working relationship with the offense, most notably Tom Brady. Maybe that’s just perception, but it’s fueled by actual success on the side of the ball the coach isn’t really known for. Pettine was never going to achieve that look in his first couple years, but he certainly could if he’s hired the right people and if he really does study up and stay in his proper lane.
Who knows if he can or if he can’t. I’m just an outsider1 who watches a lot of press conferences and reads a lot of articles. I have my wide-sweeping generalizations about what an NFL coach is or isn’t, what works or doesn’t, but really that’s me misapplying an overly intellectualized feeling supported by “evidence” that is largely made up anecdotes that seem smarter than they really are. These are the kinds of anecdotes that help you win a sports talk radio debate, but really wouldn’t be useful to the real people who put in the real work trying to build a successful NFL franchise. The guys who build successful things do have axioms and “rules” for how to manage their processes, but let’s not pretend like the things we hear them quote are the ultimate and only reality of how they do day-to-day activities.
Regardless of all that and without trying to fit Mike Pettine into a mold comparing him to positive examples in order to intellectualize the idea that he’s on the right path, I’m feeling good about him and giving him more time. That’s about all any of us should ever commit to, and yet it feels like a half a compliment and it shouldn’t. This isn’t about saying “well any good NFL coach is going to need at least three years, and maybe four to prove they’re the guy.”
As noted above, I’m rejecting that kind of faux evidence and re-iterating that time is about the most valuable thing any of us have in humanity. There should be no bigger compliment, so I’m going to stop cheapening it.
- I have covered some training camp, but that’s like five weeks out of a whole year. [↩]
9 Comments
Good piece. I do think that now that the D is more established, it gives Pettine more time to do things like learn the offensive playbook. It’s important that the coach have as firm a grasp on the O as the QB so he can call for adjustments or at least sound off on them with the OC and QB. It’ll also be interesting because Pettine has some O experience from his dad and earlier coaching days, though obviously this is a whole different level. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more discussion on sidelines this year, which is a good thing.
“Right now it just feels like Mike Pettine is the kind you can believe in by granting him our most precious resource.”
Craig, you gave your children to Mike Pettine?
“In Pettine’s first year, he seemed to take a hands-off approach and respected his coordinator’s space to let him work. In the end, what transpired was Pettine losing control of his team when his specialty was sitting on the sidelines.”
Um, I like Pettine too but is that what happened? Kinda remember Shanahan being showered in rose petals until the week after Mack went down and the center position let in more foot traffic than a Walmart on Black Friday. And Manziel and no prep and alcohol and no punt returner or something like that. Let’s not turn Shanahan into a convenient pinata because he’s an egotistical ass who’s gone now. He was plenty responsible for the wins they did get.
Good article. I’ve been thinking the same things about Pettine. I certainly hope he is given ample time to make his mark on this team. He is very smart and I am hoping that he can become an offensive-minded coach that makes a difference on that side of the ball. However, as much as I love his demeanor and am optimistic of his future, he still has a lot to prove. We still don’t know if he can be a winning coach in this league. I think this second year will tell us a lot about what he’s learned and what kind of coach he really is.
Nah, he gave him his smart phone.
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What total blather! Mike Pettine lives, eats, and sleeps football and has for quite awhile now. His players love playing for him and he is arguably the most knowledgeable HC the Browns have had since Belichick left. Time is precisely the variable which a guy like Pettine needs to build his team and run it his way. Hopefully Haslam has figured this out by now. When you get a knowledgeable, motivated, professional, dedicated football coach like this, the owner needs to do what Modell never learned how to do — shut up, sit down, and stay out of the way!
This is the make or break year for this coach,If he was great we would have finished last year better than we did. Though as a first year coach I will give him a pass,and it’s not all on him….someone on offense last year could/should have done something no matter how bad the QB was to make things work. No one did,no one even seemed to try once things were going downhill…..I sorta want to put that on the coach,but it was his first year. So he either lifts the team to great hieghts or allows it to wallow in failure, The best way to show my point I guess is that Marty would have gotten us at least in to the playoffs last season,with the same team. So make or break if we flop this year,it means he doesn’t fit as a head coach….anywhere. He didn’t come in with multiple year plans,and hope he could make it work. If he stands by his words and is the guy he will win if not then he should remove himself from the equation.
Actually, the research shows that NFL coaches typically do better if given 4-5 years of time to work. First time coaches especially need a few years to hire and draft their players, and it also takes time for the institution (Cleveland Browns) to absorb their knowledge and influence. Moreover, coaches learn on the job, like anyone else.
Would you want to fire a guy just as he is developing a mastery of his trade? Only for someone else to benefit from it?