04/19/24
August 02, 2007
Long Distance Coaching is the Wave of the Future: "I'm not so sure that's not the better way to do it, and I've debated that," he said. "You can see so much more, you can do things," he said. "I tried not to interfere with the guys upstairs because they know what they're doing. But, every once in awhile, I'd drop a little note to them and say, 'Hope to get this,' or 'That corner's playing awfully tight.' "You're really a cheerleader most of the time down on the sideline. ... I enjoyed being upstairs, I really did. I sat down, had a nice time, had a cup of coffee. I felt like a newspaper guy. I was even able to watch television."
It's a tradition that AFL (Aussie Rules football) coaches sit in the box and contact the bench via telephone to call for interchanges, tactical switches etc. There are assistant coaches and field runners who convey messages to players. Head coaches come down for the quarter, half and three-quarter breaks. I figure that because the AFL field is so large, the higher view gives a better perspective of the overall shape of the game.
posted by owlhouse at 09:21 PM on August 02, 2007
This was very entertaining, catfish, and it raised some interesting points. Maybe having the head coach up in the booth is a better way to go. Leave the motivational stuff for the locker room and the ranting for the position coaches. They probably know better who has screwed up than the head coach does anyway. As an aside, my son is Penn State bound this month. At 5'11' and 280, he was actually toying with the idea of walking on for football, just so he could have Joe Paterno scream at him for being so lousy. He says, with tongue firmly in cheek, that it would have made his whole Penn State experience something special.