Two of the NFL’s newest head coaches, 32-year-old Raheem Morris in Tampa Bay and 32-year-old Josh McDaniels Denver have something in common with Mike Shanahan and Don Shula.
As this article reminds us, Coach Shanahan was 35 when he took over as head coach of the Raiders in 1988. And Coach Shula was 33 when he was named head coach of the Colts in 1963.
Young coaches are not new to pro sports. And though many recently-hired coaches may not have had head coaching experience, as Ravens president Dick Cass points out, “they still had tremendous coaching experience.” In fact, says Cass, “All had been coaching their entire adult lives.”
There’s a saying: “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”
That philosophy is one that Coach McDaniels embraces:
“The way I coach and try to lead is by being more prepared than everybody else, trying to do that on a daily basis because I think that is what players respond to. The relating to players and all that stuff … I’ve coached older players, I’ve coached younger players. I don’t think age is a factor. What they care about is what I’m saying and whether or not it’s going to help them win.”
Article by Eric Musselman
6 Responses to “For Every Minute Spent in Organizing, an Hour is Earned”
By Brian on Feb 11, 2009 | Reply
I completely agree, for every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned. Each time I am prepared prior to practice, the better the results I get from the players.
By Nes on Feb 11, 2009 | Reply
Being prepared for practice (developing a practice plan, etc.) is often overlooked because it’s easy to just “wing it”. For those of us who have limited gym time, every minute counts. Thanks for the reminder!
By Elaine on Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
My girls COUNT on me to be organized. It’s not their job. Their job is to follow my plan for them. As a result they win on the field, but more importantly they have a sense of structure and they know they can depend on me.
By Coach Dooley on Feb 15, 2009 | Reply
I agree … my biggest mistake was having 1000 things in my head and trying wing it at practice…making up drills on the spot, which created to much dead air in my practices.
Having a practice plan, tailored to my team’s personel, has resulted more organized sessions and team skills growth …
My Favorite Quote:
Nothing is taught until it’s learned ….
Nothing is learned until it’s taught…..
By Shane on Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
I have been coached by coaches who come prepared to practice and coaches who just wing it. As a player I feel more confident about the week and I feel more confident at game time knowing my coach that prepared us is putting us in a position to be successful.
I remember two things that two of my coaches did. First my basketball coach would always come to practice with the practice plan on a 3×5 card. Our practices were crisp and effective.
My football coach would always have a 10 min meeting with his coaching staff prior to practice to outline the days practice.
Both ways were very effective and our practices didn’t drag on. We were always in good shape because we did meaningful things during practice.
My football coach taught me this when coaching: “Assume they know nothing.”
By Don Ervin on Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
Another great piece of advice,being organized and planning practice sessions and game procedures ahead of time is most important,when coaches are unorganized they set the stage for their players and or students to also be unorganized and unatentative.
Coach Dooley’s favorite quote is right on the money, I observe so many people that do not understand and absolutely do not know that teaching comes first and is prerequisite to coaching, [TEACHING FIRST AND COACHING COMES SECONDLY,There must be some substance to coach on or about.
Don Ervin,
kom_ervin@yahoo.com