Monday August 31, 2009

The Stong Attributes of the Best Coaches

The Strong Attributes of the Best Coaches
I had a nice conversation with Larry Williams the talented writer for TigerIllustrated.com yesterday about coaches, coaching staffs and Dabo. He has a wonderful, two-part interview up with Dabo on their site today. It got me thinking about coaches and their identity.

The best thing any coach can be is himself. I said several times last year that if Dabo would just be Dabo then that would be good enough to win the job. He has so many great qualities in his personality that will make it easier for him to grow into a terrific head coach. So in today’s blog, I wanted to look at some of the qualities of other successful coaches.

Conviction
Maybe the best example of having conviction is Joe Paterno. When he believes in something, everyone knows it. Paterno is not afraid to fight for what he believes in. I do think Dabo is mislabeled as one of the “nice guys” in the business. Dabo can play hard ball on certain issues and is not push-over.

Winning Ugly
I am not a fan of Al Groh but he can win the ugly games. I think that goes with experience. A brilliant, experienced coaching staff can shorten a game when needed and turn right around the next week and lengthen it when needed.

Ralph Friedgen is another great example of winning a close, low-scoring game the ugly way. Sometimes you have to be able to win a field position game and patience and experience can be a key.

Fixing the Problem
An assistant that worked with Friedgen once told me, “Ralph has won at every level. Think about that. How many guys have won in college then went on to the NFL and won too? The reason is Ralph knows how to fix things. He is the best at fixing whatever ills a football develops.”

I thought that was brilliant. A football season is long and inevitably something will always break. Friedgen knows how to diagnose the issues, prioritize them and fix the biggest issues first.

Attention to Detail
John Wooden was the “Wizard of Westwood” and perhaps the greatest coach in any sport. The first day of practice each year he would start by teaching the guys how to put on their socks. That’s right, Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton spent the first practice each year learning how to put on their socks instead of taking sky hook shots.

In an ESPN interview, Wooden explained, “We had a lot of blisters, and I found out that a lot of the players didn't smooth out all the wrinkles around their heels and around their little toes, places where the blisters are apt to occur. Then I found out that they didn't lace their shoes properly and oftentimes they wore shoes that were a size too large.

With all the quick-stop turning, changes of direction, changes of pace on a hard floor you have in basketball, this would cause blisters. So, I thought it was very important that I'd check their shoe size and how they put their socks on. I hoped they would take a few extra seconds to smooth out the wrinkles around the heel and the toes and hold the sock up while they put their shoe on. I think it was important. And I know from the time I started in high school that we greatly reduced the number of blisters that we'd have, so I continued that throughout my coaching. I know a number of players laughed about it. They probably still laugh about it now. But I stuck to it. I think to some degree it helped team unity. I believed in that and I insisted on it.”

Preparation
An Alabama assistant told me about Nick Saban and said, “This guy is the ultimate when it comes to preparation. He is so detailed oriented. This guy covers everything. No stone is left unturned. I have never been around anyone that is this detail oriented.”

Motivation
A former assistant coach that worked for Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech had this to say about the head coach of the Hokies, “I have not been around a guy that could get his players to play as hard as Beamer did. He had a bond with the players and they respected him. I am not sure exactly how he did but his players played harder for him than anyone I have been around.”

Recruiting
No one could charm the mommas and dads like FSU’s Bobby Bowden. He won many games because he first won many recruiting battles. He won many recruiting battles because he won many mommas.

Toughness
I would guess about 30 former players who played for Danny Ford have commented to me about the physical nature of his practices. Joe Bostic tells a story about how brutal practice was one day when coach Ford was an assistant in charge of the offensive line. He said that all they had left were three offensive linemen because the other guys got hurt or were cramping. So Coach Ford borrowed two tight ends and moved them inside and continued for another hour and a half.

Coach Ford’s former players claimed that the games were the easy part. If you could make it through Tuesday’s practice then the game was a piece of cake.

Player Relations
Burton Burns played for Tom Osborne at Nebraska and he tells great stories of his admiration for the former head coach of the Huskers. Burns says he still calls Coach Osborne and still respects him as much as any coach he has ever encountered. Osborne had the reputation of really loving his guys and the feeling was mutual.

Competitive Spirit
I wrote in a blog one time that I wanted the next coach at Clemson to be the kind of guy that would be driving home after a loss and have to pull over on the side of the road to vomit. I wanted the kind of guy that wants to compete and hates to lose. I have never met Pete Carroll but that is the way his players describe him. Every day there is competition at every position. Carroll wants to see his guys compete in every aspect of their lives in every day of their lives.

These are just a few. There is more than one way of doing things but I do believe that you have to be yourself. Dabo has a genuine nature about him that players see and respect. It is the reason he is a good recruiter as well. However, Dabo is tough enough on some issues and is no pushover. I know Dabo will be a very successful head coach at some point and believe that will that will be here at Clemson and sooner rather than later.

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Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, Delores Weaver, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy.