The job of being a college football head coach includes many different dimensions and components. One of the central tasks of a head coach — as opposed to an assistant coach — is to coach the coaches. The head coach has to tell the assistant coaches how he wants the team to be coached.
A head coach has to give his assistants a certain degree of freedom, but if that freedom isn’t translating into the best possible results, or if that freedom isn’t serving the team’s full needs, the head coach has to step in and say, “Wait a minute. I want you, as my assistant, to be empowered to coach as you see fit, but I get to make some demands if I think they’re necessary for the betterment of the whole team.”
Lincoln Riley has to balance giving Alex Grinch leeway with — on the other hand — an insistence on simplifying the defensive scheme and letting players do what they do best. It’s a complicated dynamic, but it’s a discussion which needs to happen behind the scenes if USC is going to make the most of this season.
We talked about this and more in our San Jose State review podcast. Ian Hest is the co-host and producer of the show:
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