Head Coaches: To go young, or not?

[GregParks]

https://pfnewsroom.com/column/its-time- ... r-coaches/

James Larsen has a column up arguing for younger coaches to get an opportunity at the Memphis job. We've probably had discussions here about this topic before, but it did get me thinking about what the UFL should be looking for in its HC prospects. The USFL and XFL seemed to have diverging thoughts on the subject, with the USFL tending to hire more established names and the XFL wanting younger, less experienced coaches (with a few notable exceptions).

Younger coaches will come cheaper and be hungrier, wanting to move up the ladder in the profession. You are less likely to have the issues the USFL ran into where their HCs at times were very hands-off and treated the job more like a vacation. If the UFL wants to be a league of opportunity, that should extend to coaching staffs as well. 

The argument for established coaches is they can give the league an air of legitimacy and perhaps get the league more press, at least in the short term. If, as a league, your priority is on developing talent so they can reach the NFL, it helps to have coaches with a track record of doing just that. Coaches who are more experienced can tap into a wider tree of assistant coaches to bring in. Older coaches are less likely to make the kinds of silly in-game coaching mistakes that we see more often in spring leagues (though they're by no means immune). 

I don't have strong feelings either way on this one I guess. Would be interested to read y'all's thoughts on the topic. 

[MGB01]

Blevins should be the clubhouse leader not strictly out of making good (though it would help) but whatever defensive issues the Stallions were having seemed to go away when he showed up. Not that defense is Memphis' #1, whoever is the QB (with Bean doing the PS thing) will be the most conditioned one in the league cause he's running every snap. But Doc would join Jeff Brohm (Louisville) and Dell McGee (Georgia State) as XFL1.0 alum on the the head coaching level.

Smith could be the guy, though Memphis probably wouldn't be it for the above reasons--the football version of Riker turning down captaincies until getting the one he wants.

But the league's already headed that direction anyway. Even Flop wasn't all that long ago considered to be the next hotshot, so I don't think they're exactly looking at dragging out Pepper Rodgers' ghost.

 

[4th&long]

https://pfnewsroom.com/column/its-time- ... r-coaches/

James Larsen has a column up arguing for younger coaches to get an opportunity at the Memphis job. We've probably had discussions here about this topic before, but it did get me thinking about what the UFL should be looking for in its HC prospects. The USFL and XFL seemed to have diverging thoughts on the subject, with the USFL tending to hire more established names and the XFL wanting younger, less experienced coaches (with a few notable exceptions).

Younger coaches will come cheaper and be hungrier, wanting to move up the ladder in the profession. You are less likely to have the issues the USFL ran into where their HCs at times were very hands-off and treated the job more like a vacation. If the UFL wants to be a league of opportunity, that should extend to coaching staffs as well. 

The argument for established coaches is they can give the league an air of legitimacy and perhaps get the league more press, at least in the short term. If, as a league, your priority is on developing talent so they can reach the NFL, it helps to have coaches with a track record of doing just that. Coaches who are more experienced can tap into a wider tree of assistant coaches to bring in. Older coaches are less likely to make the kinds of silly in-game coaching mistakes that we see more often in spring leagues (though they're by no means immune). 

I don't have strong feelings either way on this one I guess. Would be interested to read y'all's thoughts on the topic. 

Yet 3 of 4 playoff teams were highly experienced coaches, Wade Phillips, Mike Nolan and Skip Holtz.  And Bob Stoops won XFL championship.
Becht  is the exception and he has lot of NFL playing experience.

So the experience is paying off in UFL.  Having said that - for the right coach its no problem.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Coaches are one position where there is an abundance of veteran, recognizable talent that can be had for a reasonable price.

You look at the NFL, and they mainly pick position coaches and coordinators for new head coach hires. There's an existing development pipeline there. Inasmuch as the UFL wants to focus on younger hires, focus on those younger hires at the position coach level. Very rarely does the NFL pick a college or UFL head coach and put them right into another head coach position. Those that do, don't do very well (see: Steve Spurrier).

The XFL, as we all recall, took a strong gamble on name-brand players as coaches. They struck gold with Becht, who's been a tremendous asset to the league even though almost nothing in his resume suggested he was ready for this kind of position. But the others, even though they had experience as position coaches, flopped. Rod Woodson, Hines Ward and Terrell Buckley had a combined record of 6-24, four of those six wins coming against another coach in that group. It was ugly.

I don't think the UFL has had enough of a time span to focus on promoting from within yet, but a pipeline system similar to the one the NFL uses and eventually hiring new coaches from within the league's assistants is a path where they should eventually go.

[GregParks]

You look at the NFL, and they mainly pick position coaches and coordinators for new head coach hires. There's an existing development pipeline there. Inasmuch as the UFL wants to focus on younger hires, focus on those younger hires at the position coach level. Very rarely does the NFL pick a college or UFL head coach and put them right into another head coach position. Those that do, don't do very well (see: Steve Spurrier).

 

I think this would be ideal, but I do wonder if there's a fear from coaches in the NFL (and college for that matter) that if you take a detour outside of that environment, it may get harder to break back in. I look at the UFL season timeline and if you are a coach that has NFL aspirations, by the time the UFL season is over and you're available to be hired, coaching staffs in the NFL and college are basically filled. So I wonder if even position coaches (Blevins aside as he was asst. ST) might be wary of crossing over. 

[mnrlgrey]

I think the ideal coach for this league is probably someone like Becht. He's young(ish) and inexperienced but hungry to do well because he wants to move up in the coaching world. But with a small enough resume that he has to stick around for awhile to prove himself first and doesn't expect a large salary. Then there's the huge caveat that he's actually pretty good as a coach. 

That last part is obviously the hardest. The league can throw a rock in any direction and hit a young guy who is eager to prove himself, but finding one who can actually be a good head coach is a crap shoot. Even for pro sports franchises that have been doing this for decades, it seems like such coaches fail more often than not, and this is a league that has been around for a year (or 2/3 depending on how you look at it, not that it matters much). 

Putting myself in the shoes of a random fan in Memphis or Houston I'd absolutely want to see a name brand coach come in next season to take over. It also probably helps a little with marketing. It's not the best thing for the league though if they can find coaches like Becht but that is obviously the hard part. 

[4th&long]

I have no problem with young good coaches. 

Having said that with a lack of big names on the field having a Bob Stoops, Holtz or Wade Phillips does add some credibility and attention to league.

I'd love a Pete Carroll to sign on or Jimbo Fisher - someone done with the 12 month grind but still wants the excitement of coaching.  Its working for Nolan, Wade P and Stoops.And it would certainly help the league.  

[Coffeeeyes]

The original issue the league had with the signings of Buckley, Ward, Woodson and Brecht was that none of them were legitimate coaches in their own right. You can’t just take a punt on NFL name talent with half a season of “coaching assistant” (aka internship) experience, put them in a HC role and expect a solid ship to form. The HC’s are literally less experienced than their coordinators. (Ironically, the best one in the group was the one with the least NFL experience too, Brecht).

The UFL should aim to promote from within such as AJ Smith or move to hiring name-brand coaches that are actually legitimate. The irony is though, that you will rarely find famous NFL talent that desire to take that route, and a lot of them get snapped up by NFL teams, such as McCown