Should we blame the coaches for team losses?

If you read the papers or listen to the commentators after your favorite team has taken a loss, especially against a team that they “should have beaten”, I’m sure you will see many comments to the effect that the coaches did a poor job. In other words, the losses are blamed on the coaches, not on the players. Is this how it should be?

Personally I’m tired of hearing these comments because most of them do not hold up under scrutiny. There’s no questioning the fact that coaches play a key role in whether the team is well prepared to play the opponent. But as everyone should know, if they are to be excellent coaches they must devise a strategy that relies on the abilities of the players. Keep in mind that the best strategy in the world is not worth the paper it is written on if the players cannot carry it out.

The crux of the problem is in player performance. Are the players capable of carrying out the skills needed for their particular position or function? The bottom line when it comes to success on the field is whether the athlete can execute what he must do. If he cannot execute the skills, how can the coach be blamed for his player’s lack of performance? By execution of the skills I mean that the athlete has the technical and physical abilities to execute the skills as needed.

For example, I’ve been watching quite a few professional football games lately and I’m beginning to see a common pattern on most of the teams in regard to what makes them successful. In regard to the offense, the key function of the quarterback is to be able to throw successful passes to gain yardage and eventually a goal. However, in order to do this successfully, he must have receivers that can get free of their opponent.

This may seem like an obvious observation but it is really the crux of many a quarterback’s problems. If the receivers can’t get free he is forced to literally, “thread a needle” with his passes in order to get the ball to the receiver. This becomes very dangerous because the chances of interception increase with every such pass.

The problem therefore is not the quarterback not being able to throw the ball well most of the time, but the receivers not being able to get free to receive the pass unencumbered. This means that the receivers do not have the ability to quickly change directions, accelerate, change speeds and directions as needed to get free of their opponent. This is a specific skill set that usually works well when playing inferior opponents, but not when you come up against excellent defenders.

In the next game that you watch, pay particular attention to whether the receiver is free or free enough to catch the ball without interference and if the ball is thrown well enough to be caught. You will see that most often the receiver could not get free.

Related to this is if or when the quarterback can throw the ball. When it is thrown, how well or how effectively the quarterback can throw the ball becomes all-important. But when the receivers cannot get free the quarterback finds himself in a dilemma: he has no one to throw to. This is why we see more and more balls being thrown away by the quarterback during the game.

Also, when the receiver is not free by at least one step, the quarterback is given the task of “threading the needle” in order to have a successful pass. This puts tremendous pressure on the quarterback which can easily lead to a poor pass. Understand that in situations such as this, precision of the throw is ultra-important. But in order to be able to show this precision he must be in a more non-stressful situation.

Related to this is the ability of the offensive line to hold back the charging defense. If the quarterback sees an opponent coming at him for an imminent tackle, this creates another extreme situation that detracts from precision passing. This again is related to skill execution by the offensive line players. They must have not only the technical ability but also the physical ability to hold back the charging would-be tacklers. This is a situation that relies almost completely on player skill execution, not on the ability of the coaches to coach the players in what they should do.

The fourth problem that I see is related to the first one in which receivers could not get free. In this case, the defenders are not capable of keeping up with or adequately covering the receivers. This usually relates to cornerbacks and safeties but may also involve linebackers. In other words, these players cannot carry out their main job of covering the receiver so that he is unable to catch the ball for yardage or a goal.

The fact that these defensive players are not able to carry out their main functions does not in any way relate to the coaches functions. Part of the problem is that most coaches still believe that the top receivers and defenders with the ability to get free or to keep up with their opponent etc. are born with these skills and cannot be trained or improved. Because of this erroneous thinking, they have no idea how they can improve the skill execution of their players so that they are better able to carry out their main jobs.

If coaches spend time working with athletes to improve their skills by analyzing their movements and creating specialized strength exercises to enhance or correct specific movements or actions, then we can say that the coaches are not doing an effective job. Until then however, coaches and even general managers, cannot be held responsible if the players cannot do what they must do, or more to the point, are paid to do.

To change this situation instead of requiring the coaches to be able to carry out these very specialized functions, teams may be better off bringing specialists on board. They should be capable of analyzing and improving the technical and physical abilities – as they relate to the technical abilities – of the players so that they can better execute the skills of their position.

Please see Basketball Defensive Drills at HSHD for information on coaching high school basketball!

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