Portis 26
Madden Freak
As we all know, some of the coaching greats established their own coaching "trees" whereby coaches that had been under them went on to go on and prove very successful head coaches in their own rights, and then guys they mentored went on to be successful, and so on.
The most famous example of this would be the Bill Walsh coaching tree - Bill Walsh himself having learned from such greats as Don Coryell and Paul Brown.
Offspring of the Bill Walsh coaching tree include Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Andy Reid, and many, many others.
Many of the coaches under Bill Belichick have gone on to become head coaches but they have not been very successful. Josh McDaniels and Eric Mangini are the latest cases in point, but you could also include Romeo Crennel and various others.
Why has the Belichick coaching tree not been so successful? You would think that the emphasis on team, on character, on innovation and so forth, would all prove successful.
My theory is that Belichick's offspring have learned the wrong lesson from their master.
Belichick prides himself on taking difficult decisions (benching Bledsoe for Brady, cutting Lawyer Milloy, trading Deion Branch etc) and on not bothering with pretending to be a nice guy - he almost revels in being an old grouch.
The wrong lesson that his disciples are learning therefore is that it's a good thing to take really controversial decisions (see McDaniels trading Cutler, feuding with Marshall) and being a grouch (McDaniels has revelled in his arrogrance, as has Mangini).
The lessons they ought to have learned are team, character, innovation and hard work.
Instead Belichick's guys are taking needlessly controversial decisions and riling everyone up needlessly.
No wonder they haven't done very well.
The most famous example of this would be the Bill Walsh coaching tree - Bill Walsh himself having learned from such greats as Don Coryell and Paul Brown.
Offspring of the Bill Walsh coaching tree include Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Andy Reid, and many, many others.
Many of the coaches under Bill Belichick have gone on to become head coaches but they have not been very successful. Josh McDaniels and Eric Mangini are the latest cases in point, but you could also include Romeo Crennel and various others.
Why has the Belichick coaching tree not been so successful? You would think that the emphasis on team, on character, on innovation and so forth, would all prove successful.
My theory is that Belichick's offspring have learned the wrong lesson from their master.
Belichick prides himself on taking difficult decisions (benching Bledsoe for Brady, cutting Lawyer Milloy, trading Deion Branch etc) and on not bothering with pretending to be a nice guy - he almost revels in being an old grouch.
The wrong lesson that his disciples are learning therefore is that it's a good thing to take really controversial decisions (see McDaniels trading Cutler, feuding with Marshall) and being a grouch (McDaniels has revelled in his arrogrance, as has Mangini).
The lessons they ought to have learned are team, character, innovation and hard work.
Instead Belichick's guys are taking needlessly controversial decisions and riling everyone up needlessly.
No wonder they haven't done very well.
like Bill did.
