Good morning all - fire away at this topic as we are experiencing it first hand.
You are in either the general manager's chair of an NFL team or an AD's chair at the college level. You have an opening at your head coach position. You have narrowed your search to you final few. One of those candidates has stated within the interview process that he will will be the one calling the plays.
Question is: Do you disqualify that candidate because of that?
I know there have been plenty of head coaches successful as play callers too. But I am old school on this subject so here goes.
One of the facets of being a head coach is you cultivate and grow the talent of your players. This also applies to your coaching staff. You want to see your younger assistants take the ball and run, so to speak. You need them to be capable amid the chaos of a game.
Game plans are put into play mid week when a number of other important obligations pull on a head coach's time. That's when the play caller needs to be involved with forming the game plan.
On game day, to me it is real simple. If you want to be a play caller, be a play caller - and leave the rest of the game management to the head coach. The head coach needs to be just as involved with the defense as the offense. He needs to decide do we go on 4th and 1 - not what play to call.
Having dual roles as HC and OC, to me, compromises the team. The very nature of being a successful OC means you get buried in the minutia of the game. As OC, you are generally reacting to what is happening on the field. As HC, you are trying to dictate what is happening and let your assistants figure out how to get it done.
So, to conclude - here is my answer - once I found out my candidate wanted to call plays - I definitely move on from him. I am firmly convinced that that there are just too many in game situations and outside obligations a head coach must address to competently add play calling to his plate too.
Three names - Hue Jackson, Kevin Stefanski, and Ryan Day. All HCs with play calling responsibilities and all with varying degrees of success.
Thoughts?
