The Steelers didn't even have an offensive coordinator in 1974 when they won their first Super Bowl. Play calling was a collaborative effort between Chuck Noll and the quarterbacks.
Today the Steelers have 15 assistant coaches. There are separate coaches for inside and outside linebackers.
Baseball teams used to have four coaches. The Pirates had eight last season, which doesn't include the full-time bullpen catcher or the minor league staffers who joined the team in September.
There are two hitting coaches, and even old-timers insist that's necessary. One can keep an eye on the field, while the assistant can go down the runway to review an at-bat on video with a hitter. Funny, but Pedro Alvarez still winds up hitting .243
NHL teams used to be coached by one person. It was groundbreaking when teams started hiring one assistant, even if his main purpose was to serve as a drinking buddy for the head coach. Today, everybody has at least three assistants, including one who handles goaltending.
Baseball added a bench coach a couple of decades ago. The bench coach keeps an eye on details that might escape the manager during a game.
When Jim Leyland and Lloyd McClendon started their major league managing careers, they were given Bill Virdon as a bench coach. The feeling was that Virdon, a veteran of managing 1,918 games, would be the ideal aide for a first-year manager. He could keep things calm in case the manager got overwhelmed or Leyland was out for a smoke.
The idea of bench coach could work in the NFL, too. Mike Tomlin is proof of that.
An NFL sideline is chaotic. People are constantly yelling, swearing, sweating, bleeding. Some coaches are on the bench, some are upstairs in a booth, communicating via headsets that sometimes work properly.
There's a lot to handle. We don't know exactly how the Steelers sideline operates, but it appears that Tomlin maintains a policy of speak-only-when-you're-spoken-to with his staff. You don't see people approaching him to initiate conversations and make suggestions.
Maybe that's where some of the details get away, like clock management.
Let everyone else handle the x's and o's. Tomlin needs a guy who can notice the Steelers are getting cheated out of time as the clock incorrectly runs. They need someone who can remind the coach it's in his best interests to spend a time out rather than let 38 valuable seconds tick away until the two-minute warning.
Tomlin has shown no particular aptitude for managing the clock, and his cavalier answers when questioned about those matters about suggest he doesn't think it's all that important.
But it is. Knowing how to use the clock is part of coaching.
If he doesn't want to tackle the job, give him someone who can handle that responsibility.
When you already have 15 assistants, what's one more?
---
--SLIPPING THROUGH
If you've been to a game at Heinz Field, you're familiar with the NFL's stringent security policies.
There are metal detectors, visual searches and a requirement that bags are see-through. You can wind up in a five-minute debate over whether a lipstick represents dangerous contraband.
So how did protestors in Carolina get through the gates with professional rappelling equipment and a giant banner that they used to interrupt the Monday night game?
Maybe they arrived late, when the priority seems to be getting people inside the stadium quickly rather than really paying much attention to what they're doing.
It's another reminder that the procedures are more about the appearance of security than actual scrutiny.
---
--BUDDING STAR
Pitt's season has taken a sour turn over the last two weeks with visits from North Carolina and Notre Dame.
One positive development in Saturday's game was Jordan Whitehead's two touchdowns. The gifted freshman has been helping on defense. He reminded that he can be a significant weapon on offense, too.
---
--EARLY MVP
For all the money the Penguins are paying Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury has been the team's best player through the first month. By far.
No comments:
Post a Comment