“We want coordinators to be a head coach but that doesn’t always work out” Steve Smith Sr’s insight on being a head coach
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Pat Mcafee and Steve Smith SR.
With the 2021 NFL regular season over, the coaching carousel has begun. There are a total of 7 head coaching vacancies at this point and it’s possible more are in store. With some firings being controversial, some obvious, and some being mutual, we have a full boat of reasons we’ve heard for the firings. Whether or not the reasons are genuine, they play at least a bit of a role in the decision-making process.
Everyone knows that the head coaching position is extremely difficult as it comes with so many more roles as opposed to just a coordinator role or a specialist role where your focus is just your group of players. Former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith SR. was recently on the Pat Mcafee show to discuss the difficulties of the head coaching spot.
Related: Shocker! Miami Dolphins fire head coach Brian Flores, first of 3 firings in one day
Steve Smith Sr on what it takes to be a head coach
The Pat Mcafee show is a great place for former NFL players to come on give an opinion on what they think about things in the league because Pat is very open and allows just about anything to be said. So he recently brought Steve Smith SR. on and he had this to say about the head coaching carousel “I think a great example is Anthony Lynn. He is a great man, he’s a great leader of men, he is not an offensive coordinator right but sometimes we want offensive coordinators or defensive coordinators to be the head coach and that doesn’t always work out.”
He further added, “You gotta know what your strengths are you have to be willing to admit your weaknesses but don’t glance over them allow your weaknesses to say hey I’m gonna be a head coach but I’m gonna bring in smart coordinators to allow them to do their jobs and then I will manage everything else and that’s what Bill Belichick does that’s where some other coaches do but then there are the other guys who don’t and it’s hard and it’s a selected few and you gotta pay a lot of money to figure out if a coach is good or if he isn’t and that’s the tough part about it.”
Investing in personnel at any level in the NFL is a risk but Smith SR. makes a good point about it being a costly risk. Your head coach is the one who makes the big money and calls all the shots. Of course, there are the times where the established coaches hit the open market and we have an example of that this year with Brian Flores but, more often than not teams have to look to someone either at the college level who needs to make the step up or a coordinator on one side of the ball. They are proven to be great at what they do which is why they get put up for these head coaching roles but it’s a completely different game to manage a whole team.
Also read: “Rodgers, Not Brady”: Aaron Rodgers named first-team All-Pro quarterback over Tom Brady
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Roshan Anand
(278 Articles Published)