The following are quotes from the Arizona Cardinal offensive coordinator Todd Haley who was confronted by one of his players when the player was taken out of the game. What stuck was his comment on “players coach.” My experience in pro sports is that a player’s coach is the equivalent of a lack of discipline and structure. Look at the records in every major professional sport and nary a player’s coach has won consistently. This is not an old school idea; it is the way to be successful and accountable. Todd I tip my hat to you. You got me interested enough that I might actually watch a series of down of the Super Bowl, a non event in the Gambetta household.
I only know one way to do it, and that’s how I’m going to do it, Haley says. I was taught by one of the best about how you coach and how you have success, and that person was Coach [Bill] Parcells. I take some heat from it sometimes in this day and age where people say you’ve got to be a player’s coach and all this stuff. Well, that’s not me. I’m wired a certain way, and that’s not going to change.
Your dream as a coach is to be able to coach guys and they want to be coached, they want to be pressed, they can take you getting on their butt, Haley said the next night. It makes it so much more fulfilling when they rise up and play to their abilities. It’s a special feeling to know you had something to do with it.
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