Real coaches of genius

Matthew Hill, Special to the News

Published September 24, 2006 at midnight

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Americans love good fiction. When we’re watching a movie, reading a book or staring at the TV, reality changes. The fat guy can pull the hot chick. The geeky girl can become prom queen by removing her glasses. The guy at the end of the bench can make the game-winning catch. Tom Cruise can be a samurai. Anything is possible.

The problem occurs when we forget how to separate truth from fiction. We ask out girls who are hopelessly out of our league. We come home with black eyes and bruised ribs from fights we picked after spending all day watching The Contender marathon and convincing ourselves, around hour five, that we were fighters. And we’re certain that if our team had a better coach, we’d win it all.

The idea that an NFL head coach can turn a lousy team into a winning team is true fiction.

The past 10 years we’ve seen high-profile coaches such as Bill Parcells, Jon Gruden and Joe Gibbs lavished with praise for turning teams into winners. Never mind that each coach inherited teams that were simply missing a few pieces, pieces that the coaches brought with them. Curtis Martin, running behind a revamped line led by Kevin Mawae, became Parcell’s workhorse in the Jets’ turnaround. Keenan McCardell teamed up with Keyshawn Johnson to make Gruden’s passing offense good enough to win with the dominant defense already in place. Gibbs received accolades for the Redskins revival, but was it him or playmakers such as Portis, Brunell, Springs and Moss that made Washington a winner? The truth is it’s easy to look smart with players who make plays.

Which brings us to Sunday night’s showdown of the current geniuses of the NFL. Bill Belichick and Mike Shanahan are regarded as master motivators and two of the most innovative men in the NFL. It’s a widely held belief that the Patriots and the Broncos would be lost without their head coaches. Wrong. The ones that are starting to look lost are the coaches themselves.

The more players the Patriots lose (go-to receiver Deion Branch being the latest), the more Belichick looks like the coach who led the Browns to four losing seasons in his five-year stint from 1991-1995. Shanahan is praised for his system that can turn any back into a Pro Bowl rusher. When the vaunted Bronco O-line struggles, so does Shanahan’s system. Maybe it’s just me, but I doubt the system would work in Tennessee.

I am not arguing that every coach in the NFL is equal; what I am saying is every coach works long hours, has leadership skills, and knows how to game plan. They wouldn’t be where they’re at if that wasn’t the case. What it boils down to is victory usually goes to the coach with the best players. Belichick is a prime example. He lost at Cleveland and finished 5-11 his first year with the Patriots. The wins only mounted after starting a little-known quarterback named Brady. Pure genius.

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