Bucky Brooks: top traits to look for in a head coach

Coaching traits to seek

Bucky Brooks

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001093960/article/coaching-traits-to-seek-tom-bradys-fall-bakers-crucial-year

The annual mass exodus of fired coaches — and subsequent circulation of the latest hot candidates — has me wondering whether owners and decision makers really understand the traits needed to be a successful coach in this league.

I’m not proclaiming to be the unquestioned expert on head coaches, but I’ve been fortunate enough to play under a Hall of Famer (Marv Levy), Super Bowl champions (Mike Holmgren, Tom Coughlin and Jon Gruden) and distinguished winners (Marty Schottenheimer) during my time as a player, and I believe there are core traits that separate elite coaches from others in the league.

Contrary to the narrative that scheme and quarterback development are paramount when selecting a head coach, the entire team should be considered when interviewing candidates for the role. The best coaches in the league elevate the entire team with their presence and direction, and decision makers should focus extensively on identifying candidates with the potential to build an elite team instead of peppering them with questions about their fancy playbook and game plans.

Although coaches can come in different styles and flavors, the most successful coaches are excellent leaders, problem-solvers and teachers. Here’s a deeper dive into each trait I would want my NFL head-coaching candidate to possess:

1) Leadership ability

Leadership is the most important trait that an NFL head coach must display on a daily basis. From the way he commands the room in team meetings to the way he manages and directs practice, players are looking to the head coach for guidance, instruction and expectations. The head coach should be a visionary — and he should be capable of communicating said vision to his coaches and players, while also establishing the expected standard of behavior and performance.

When I joined the Buffalo Bills as a young player in 1994, they were coming off four straight Super Bowl appearances under Marv Levy. The coach had transformed the “Bickering Bills” into a resilient and determined squad that repeatedly bounced back from shortcomings and failures without falling apart. I watched him give the team a clear sense of purpose each week, while also keeping the long-term goal in mind. Despite advancing to four consecutive Super Bowls, Levy emphasized winning the AFC East, and he made winning the division title the primary goal for the year. He talked about how securing the division guaranteed the team a spot in the tournament, the most important step in making another run at the title. Though the team fell short that year, I saw how Levy’s approach galvanized the locker room and staved off complacency.

In Jacksonville, Tom Coughlin ruled with an iron fist, but there’s no disputing his ability to provide clear direction for the team at every turn. He set expectations in meetings and re-affirmed those beliefs on the practice field. Coughlin didn’t relent in terms of what he expected from every player, and his persistence eventually wore down any detractors, who either came around (like me) or were dismissed. With the hard line established very clearly for each and every member of the team, the Jaguars were able to establish a winning culture that eventually resulted in four winning seasons in his first five years on the job, including a pair of appearances in the AFC Championship Game.

Reflecting on my interactions with Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden and Marty Schottenheimer, I believe their leadership skills played a major role in their long-term success. Although they might have guided their teams in different ways, each provided a road map for their team, and they understood how to get back on track when things went awry. Considering the regular season is more like a marathon than a sprint, it is critical to identify a leader capable of creating a culture and providing a vision in the interview process.

2) Problem-solving skills

If you’re going to succeed as a head coach in the NFL, you must be an excellent problem solver. The players look to the head coach to provide answers whenever they reach a sticking point. Whether he’s encountering a tactical problem or working around personnel woes, players expect the head coach to come up with a plan that enables the team to win, regardless of circumstance. In addition, players want to see the coach make a decision that maintains the culture of the program and re-affirms the core traits that are supposed to be critical to the team.

When I played for the Green Bay Packers, I watched Holmgren nurture the team from playoff contenders to Super Bowl champions by leaning on his previous experience as an assistant coach on two Super Bowl-winning San Francisco 49ers squads to show us how to win. He came up with game plans that enabled us to pull off upsets on the road (see the win over the 49ers in the Divisional Round in the 1995 playoffs), and he repeatedly came up with in-game adjustments that showcased his superb football acumen.

While I don’t believe coaches should be hired primarily for their scheme or tactical prowess, it is important for a head coach to be able to help his coordinators and coaches find solutions in the middle of a game. Better yet, the head coach needs to be able to map out a path to victory when the odds seem stacked against the team. Whether the team is facing injury or an overwhelming opponent, the best coaches find ways to play the game in a way that gives them the best opportunity to win.

Think about how Mike Tomlin keep the injury-ravaged Steelers competitive, and how Mike Vrabel’s midseason quarterback change propelled the Tennessee Titans to a playoff berth. Those are the hard decisions head coaches must make, and how they handle those decisions greatly impacts the outcome of their respective seasons.

When conducting interviews, decision makers had better make sure that the prospective leaders in front of them have a track record of overcoming adversity and solving the problems that inevitably arise during the season.

3) Teaching ability

There more I’m around the pro game, the more I realize instruction shouldn’t differ much from the directions given at the youth and high school levels. Players are students of the game, and they need teachers to show them how to play at an optimal level. The best school teachers provide their students with detailed answers that address the why and how behind the ideas being taught. Similarly, if players are able to understand why they’re being asked to play with a certain technique or occupy a designated gap, they will more fully embrace their role in making the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

With the Kansas City Chiefs, I observed Schottenheimer utilizing a high school approach to help blue-chip players like Derrick Thomas, Dale Carter and James Hasty thrive as defensive playmakers. He was not only detailed with his instruction, but he slowed down the pace of installation to ensure everyone understood exactly how the scheme should be played. The instruction was easy to digest for me as a young player, and it also provided veterans with the details and nuance that they needed to excel within the scheme.

Additionally, Schottenheimer would teach running backs how to carry the football and encourage them to keep two hands on the ball whenever they ran in traffic. He implemented the “Seattle Rule” (runners were instructed to keep the ball tucked away while racing past a cone set 25 yards from the line of scrimmage, and they had to hand the ball to the ball boy behind the huddle at the end of plays) to promote ball security, and he constantly preached the importance of winning the turnover battle every day. The emphasis on fundamentals mimicked a youth football or high school practice, but it worked well, with the coach amassing 200 wins during his time in the NFL.

I watched Gruden and Holmgren operate in similar fashions while teaching the passing game to quarterbacks and skills players. Each coach would harp on the details, from quarterback footwork to the route depths from wide receivers and tight ends to the pass blocking from the running backs. The comprehensive instruction eliminated questions and ensured that everyone was on the same page.

In the NFL, players want to be taught and given tools that will help them perform at a high level. They understand that elite performance leads to a big pay day, and any coach that can provide a road map to better individual play will always have their ear.

From a team perspective, those in the locker room simply want to be led by coaches with the capacity to consistently build winning game plans while also showing outstanding situational management skills. Can the head coach force the game to be played on the terms that enhance the team’s opportunity to win? Does the head coach have the ability to direct his coordinators to play a style that complements each unit and elevates the performance of the entire squad?

When decision makers are going through the interview process to determine which candidates are best suited to lead their respective squads, I can only hope that they take the time to assess the leadership skills and football character of the potential head coaches instead of asking about their playbook or their fancy schemes.