My last year in Little League, I was on a really good team.
Our first baseman could hit, and hit for power. Later in life he would be part of the offensive line protecting me our senior year in college, and he would go on to play football at Holy Cross.
Our catcher would also be protecting me our senior year as the left guard. He could also hit for power.
We had a speedy second baseman who sported one of the slickest gloves I’d ever seen. I’m not sure he made an error the entire season. He could also pitch extremely well for us.
As for me, I manned shortstop and the mound. Held those spots down fairly well if I’m being honest.
Our manager knew early on that the team had potential, and he would be rewarded, as we advanced to the World Series in our league. Although we lost, in rather dramatic fashion, as I surrendered a walk-off, series ending home run that I’m not sure has landed yet. That is a story for another time…
But early in “spring training,” our manager knew of our potential, and did not want to see us squander it. We were playing a scrimmage game, against the Reds, but we were struggling. Our squad was making errors left and right, and frankly some of them were boneheaded. After I made a mental mistake in the field, throwing to the wrong base on a routine play, our manager called time out and, taking a few steps out of the dugout, gestured with his hand around the field.
He wanted us all to take a lap around the park for our mistakes.
There we were, running around the field as the Reds looked on in wild amusement. Even our catcher, who was running without removing his equipment. The “tools of ignorance,” as former catcher Harold “Muddy” Ruel named them.
That story comes up often at family dinners, given the fact that the manager of that team was my dad.
I was thinking of this moment recently when word came from New York Giants’ training camp that their new head coach Joe Judge was imposing something similar on players who made mistakes in practice.
Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard – who admitted that the last time he was assigned penalty laps was middle school – spoke about the laps after practice:
It’s going to take everybody to buy in if we want to be the team that we said that we wanted to be. I think we have to buy into what Coach Judge has in store for us. If that’s what he has in store for us, running laps for mistakes, just don’t make mistakes. That’s a simple way to get out of doing that. But I’m embracing the change and I’m all for it.
Time will tell whether this penalty system will have a positive impact on the roster. At least one NFL Hall of Famer, Sterling Sharpe, thinks it is going to end “badly.” But there is another story here: The story of the Bill Belichick Coaching Tree.
There is no doubt that five years after he retires, Belichick is a first-ballot entry into Canton, to be enshrined alongside players like Sharpe and other coaching legends. But if your coaching progeny was a factor in such election, Belichick might end up on the outside looking in. Here are the ten coaches who spent time under him that have gone onto become NFL head coaches:
- Al Groh, New York Jets (2000)
- Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Browns (2005–2008), Kansas City Chiefs (2011–2012)
- Nick Saban, Miami Dolphins (2005–2006)
- Eric Mangini, New York Jets (2006–2008), Cleveland Browns (2009–2010)
- Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos (2009–2010)
- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions (2009–2013)
- Bill O’Brien, Houston Texans (2014–present)
- Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions (2018–present)
- Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins (2019–present)
- Joe Judge, New York Giants, (2020–present)
That is a combined record of 193-277-1 in the NFL.
What is it about the Belichick coaching tree that has led to failure – for the most part – when these coaches get out on their own?
For some of Belichick’s former players, the problems begin when his former assistants try too hard to emulate their old boss. “There have been mistakes,” said former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, “When you try to clone Bill Belichick’s style and it’s not who you are, it’s going to come off as disingenuous. You’re not going to feel real to players, and players can feel that. That mistake has been done in the past by his coaching tree.”
NFL players can read a coach like a book, and when you come off like someone you are not, that is going to have an impact. Some examples of this include Patricia, who has seemed very Belichickian during press conferences, and O’Brien, who has tried to handle the player personnel moves and made some rather head-scratching decisions. As has Belichick. But where the Patriots’ head man has the rings to back up his moves, O’Brien does not.
Another aspect to Belichick’s coaching style that might have an impact on his disciples who go onto their own gigs is Belichick’s ownership of everything that happens in the building. The head coach involves himself in everything that happens, on both sides of the football. I’m reminded of a great video of Belichick and Tom Brady talking about facing the great Baltimore Ravens’ safety Ed Reed:
This is a fascinating conversation with two football minds trying to figure out how to beat one of the game’s best safeties. But do not overlook this fact: Here’s Belichick, the defensive-minded head coach, working with his quarterback. At the end of the of the conversation Brady then drops in this line: “I’m going to see Bill for a little bit.” As in Bill O’Brien.
The point is this: Belichick had a hand in everything that was happening, serving as a backstop for all of these coaches under him. When they got out on their own, that backstop, those guardrails, were gone.
And when the backstop is perhaps the greatest coach in NFL history, you can see how that can serve as quite the safety net.
Then there are the moments when perhaps some of Belichick’s former disciples try to assert themselves as their own man, their own head coach. We saw this with Josh McDaniels drafting Tim Tebow, forever tying his time in Denver to the unorthodox QB. We also saw this when McDaniels basically ran Jay Cutler out of town. Trying to assert themselves in front of a new team and with a new organization – by trying to prove they are not Belichick – they shoot themselves in the foot. “You can’t replicate what they have up there, right?” said former Patriots tight end Dwayne Allen. “A lot of people have tried and failed.”
By trying to prove themselves, and in a sense replicating what Belichick has done in crafting teams his way, these men failed.
Before Judge this year there was Brian Flores a year ago, becoming the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Does this quick story sound in any way similar?
On a sweltering August morning early in training camp, Miami Dolphins first-year coach Brian Flores made a mistake.
It was a mental lapse involving the defense, the sort of thing he rails against every day. And so Flores did what his players do as punishment in such situations, sprinting across the field into the corner, slapping a wall designated for the acknowledgement of mistakes in practice and then hustling back to rejoin his team.
“I’m going to lead by example,” Flores said.
Like Judge this season, Flores a year ago was forcing players to take sprints to acknowledge mistakes. The difference? Flores put himself on the same level as his players. While the first-time head coach made some mistakes last year, perhaps most notably in how he handled Kenny Stills, he got his players to buy in. A team that most thought was “Tanking for Tua,” looking to finish 0-16 and secure the potential rights to the Alabama quarterback, played for Flores down the stretch to finish 5-11.
That included a Week 17 win in New England, over Belichick, in a game the Patriots had to have. With the loss New England fell out of position for a first-round bye, and were bounced from the playoffs a week later.
If I’m betting on the first Belichick disciple to have sustained success, it is Flores. If you look at the moves that he has made this off-season, that Miami team looks ready for a sustained run of improvement under his stewardship.
Then there is the new man in New York. Judge now faces an uncertain future. But if history has shown us anything, the rest of Belichick’s coaching tree has struggled to find their own, genuine identity in front of their new players. How he handles things going forward is going to go a long way towards determining his fate. But this start, you can see how in Sharpe’s words it is going to “end badly.”
Except for Nick Saban. While Saban did struggle in the NFL, when he returned to college he flourished. Maybe that might have Judge rethinking that Mississippi State job?
Of course there is one element to this question regarding Belichick’s disciples, and their struggles when compared to the success of the mentor.
Belichick’s quarterback.
During the tremendous two-decade run in New England, Belichick’s quarterback during the great run of division titles and Super Bowls was Tom Brady.
None of his proteges had a passer of Brady’s caliber. Not by a long shot.
So while some of his former coaches had quite the backstop in Belichick himself, the head coach had a security blanket of his own in TB12. Brady could mask a lot of mistakes in terms of coaching and roster-building
Perhaps the real reason that none of the branches off the Belichick tree have enjoyed the same level of success is that none of them had Brady. Perhaps if O’Brien can finally get the Houston Texans deeper into the playoffs, with a great quarterback of his own in Deshaun Watson, we can start to test this part of the theory a bit more.