Interesting article about successful head coaches

[psubills62]

Saw it in my ESPN magazine and I thought it could easily apply to us. To summarize (especially for those who don't have ESPN Insider, or the time to read it), the article discusses how to try and pinpoint which coordinators or assistants will make great head coaches. They looked at a lot of elite head coaches (Belicheck, Parcells, Levy, etc.), and found some qualifications that make it likely a coach will be successful:

1. They were between ages 41 and 49.
2. They had at least 11 years of NFL coaching experience.
3. They were assistants on teams that won at least 50 games over a five-year span.
4. They had only one previous NFL head-coaching gig.

The guy that they focused the article on who fulfills all of these requirements is Marty Morninwheg, current OC for the Eagles. I don't know much about his history with the Lions as HC, but I do know that the Eagles' offense (while sucking against Dallas), broke their offensive scoring record as a franchise two years in a row now. That seems to be a fairly impressive offense.



Sorry if this was already posted. If I get bored tomorrow (not too likely), then I may try to post some important quotes from the article.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/news/story?id=4797666

One of the interesting quotes:

Good coordinators, it turns out, don't always make great coaches.

...Before his next search began, [Philly exec Joe] Banner analyzed 16 "elite" coaches who had appeared in at least two Super Bowls. He was startled to learn that many of the NFL's greats -- Bill Parcells, for instance -- weren't coordinators for a long or particularly successful period of time. And seven elites -- Chuck Noll, Jimmy Johnson and Marv Levy among them -- hadn't been NFL coordinators at all.

FYI, the article is mainly based off of an NYU study of elite head coaches.

[Novacane]

Re: Interesting article about successful head coaches

Interesting article but no way I'd want Marty Morninwheg

[PECKERWOOD]

Re: Interesting article about successful head coaches

I'd be willing to learn more about him, I'm open ears.

[psubills62]

Re: Interesting article about successful head coaches

I'd be willing to learn more about him, I'm open ears.

They specifically mention in the article some awful blunders (like winning the coin toss in OT and deciding to kickoff) as HC of the Lions. He also had a 5-27 record with the team in two years.

That being said, it also talks about how he's learned from his past mistakes. He also mentioned the Lions' ownership and how he'd like to be the HC of a team that has a different style of owner (talks directly to the HC).

I'm sure VERY few people would be happy with this hire. But it seems to be true that successful head coaches are lousy on their first stint and good in their second.

I don't know if I'd be sold on him, but I certainly think he's worth looking into. Especially after the Eagles' offense broke their franchise scoring record in 2008, just to break it again in 15 games this season. If we want an offensive-minded coach, at least give him a look.

[Historian]

Re: Interesting article about successful head coaches

Pass on Morningsickness.