Please lock this one up mods

[h1]http://igglesblitz.com/philadelphia-eagles-2/looking-to-atlanta/[/h1][h1]Looking to Atlanta[/h1]
Posted: January 2nd, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 0 Comments and 0 Reactions

The Eagles were set to meet with the top 3 Falcons assistants, Dirk Koetter the OC, Mike Nolan the DC, and Keith Armstrong the STs coach.  Koetter signed an extension to stay with the Falcons and removed himself from consideration for HC jobs.

Good, I say.  The more research I did on Koetter, the less I liked him.  Why?
  • 2-19 vs ranked teams while the head coach at Arizona State.
  • Never beat a conference team from California (USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal) in an away game.
  • Went 21-28 in Pac-10 play.
  • Bragged of his dominance over state rival Arizona (4-2 record).  Of course, failed to mention that Arizona was awful at that time. Best record was 6-6 and in 3 years they won 3 or fewer games.
Koetter did put Boise State on the map as a I-A team.  Prior to 1996, they were I-AA.  The team was 6-15 in the 2 years prior to Koetter.  He was 26-10 in his 3 seasons and really jump started the program to what it is today.

However, Koetter admits that while he was an offensive guru, he didn’t have much in the way of long term vision.

“I’m an X and O guy,” Koetter said. “When I went there, I attacked everything from the X’s and O’s. We didn’t have a lot of stuff you need. We need enough VCRs and TVs to watch videotape. We didn’t have meeting rooms.”

Hawkins was the visionary, the one with the audacity to ask a school and a city for better facilities.

“Hawk is a big thinker and said, ‘Hey, we got to get an indoor facility and a bigger weight room,’ ” Koetter said. “I’m thinking, ‘Hawk, you are not going to get that stuff.’ But he did it. He got it all.

“He asked the people of Boise to step up and commit to make it big time and they did.”

Koetter is a very smart coach and gifted offensive mind, but this sure doesn’t sound like the guy I want to turn my franchise over to.

* * * * *

So what about Mike Nolan?  Much more complex subject.  Mike was the coach in SF for 3 1/2 years.  He went 18-37 and posted one of the lowest winning percentages (.327) in the history of the NFL for a guy who coached in 4 seasons.  Immediately that should rule him out as a failure, right?

Not to me.

Look at the 2005-2008 period.  Nolan drafted/developed a lot of talent:

QB Alex Smith
OG David Baas (now the C for the Giants)
RB Frank Gore
OG Adam Snyder (now w/ Cards…has 65 career starts)
TE Vernon Davis
LB Manny Lawson (now w/the Bengals)
RB Michael Robinson (now FB for Seahawks)
LB Parys Haralson
TE Delanie Walker
LB Patrick Willis
LT Joe Staley
DE Ray McDonald
SS Dashon Goldson
CB Tarell Brown
WR Josh Morgan (now w/ the Skins)
OG Harvey Dahl (was on practice squad, got signed away, now starter for Rams)

Nolan also had the team sign DE Alex Smith.

If you look at that list, you’ll see many of the key players for the SF team that has been so dominant the last 2 years.

If Nolan is such a genius, why didn’t he win more?  Offense.  He hired Mike McCarthy to be his OC in 2005.  Mike then got hired by the Packers to be their head coach.  Nolan replaced him with Norv Turner.  Alex Smith showed promise in 2006.  Frank Gore ran for 1,695 yards and the team went 7-9.  Things were headed in the right direction.  Then, bam.  Turner gets the HC gig with the Chargers.

Nolan promoted QB coach Jim Hostler to be the OC.  Disaster.  The team finished dead last in points and yards.  Nolan fired him after 2007 and turned to Mike Martz.  Alex Smith was hurt, but the offense was improved.  It didn’t result in wins so Nolan was fired.

There were also issues with how Nolan dealt with players.  He questioned the severity of Smith’s shoulder injury and that led to some hard feelings.  Nolan was tough on other players and they didn’t care for his screaming.

The good news is that Nolan learned from that.  He’s a changed man now and gets along with his players much better.  Gone is the fiery screamer.  He’s able to control his emotions much better and the Falcon players love playing for him.  Nolan also got along very well with his players in Miami last year.

The reason to have interest in Nolan is to see if you can find another Belichick type.  Before you roll your eyes, hear me out.  Belichick is the son of a coach and an NFL-lifer.  He was a DC prior to getting the HC gig in Cleveland.  Belichick had a losing record 4 of his 5 years with the Browns.  Then he spent time with the Pats and Jets before becoming the Pats HC in 2000.

Belichick had enough time as an assistant to reflect on why he failed in Cleveland.  He figured out the mistakes he made and learned from them.  Belichick was much better prepared for the Pats job because of that.

Nolan is the son of a coach (father **** was the Niners coach in the early 70′s).  Nolan grew up idolizing his dad and Tom Landry, who his dad worked for.  Nolan went right into coaching after graduation from Oregon.  He’s a football lifer.  Like Belichick, Nolan was a successful DC and that’s how he got his first HC job.

There have been plenty of coaches win the SB with their second team in the last 12 years.  Belichick won 3 of them.  Tom Coughlin won a pair.  Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden were each with their second team.

Clearly, this doesn’t mean you hire Nolan and are guaranteed to get the next Belichick or Coughlin or Dungy.  The point is that coming up short in one place doesn’t mean you’ll fail in the next place.  Nolan’s record was terrible so he’ll have to explain the heck out of that.  There was bad luck.  He inherited a terrible team and also lost his first 2 OCs to HC jobs.  His #1 pick had injury issues and that made things all the worse.

Can Nolan coach?  Yes.  Absolutely.  Can he run a winning organization?  I have no idea.  He’d have to sell me on that in the interview.

I do love his background.  Nolan worked for a variety of teams and coaches.  He’s been exposed to different systems and style of doing business.  He coached in college and the pros. I think that is important.  Nolan has had Top 5 defenses in yards, points, and takeaways in multiple stops.  He’s not riding one superstar player.  He knows how to coach defense.  Nolan is adaptable, having run both the 4-3 and 3-4.

If you could hire a strong offensive staff and get Nolan to fix the defense, the Eagles could be a really good team.  His Niners teams didn’t have the kind of firepower that the Eagles do.

I think Nolan is a longshot to get the job, but he’s definitely worth talking to.  He has a great background.  He’s had success in multiple stops.

* * * * *

Keith Armstrong is a guy that I vaguely knew of  before just a few days ago.  I’ve done some research on him and he’s got my attention.  Is he ready to make the jump to HC?  That’s the big question.

Some have asked whether Armstrong is getting looked at simply as a way to comply with the Rooney Rule (that you must interview at least one minority candidate).  That is absolutely possible.  The league has pushed minority candidates in the past.  They don’t expect teams to hire the guy, but ask that you give him an interview.

This can be a good thing.  The more a guy interviews, the better he should get at it.  One day when the coach is truly ready to get a HC gig, he’ll be able to sell himself in the interview.  It also forces owners and GMs to meet with some coaches they otherwise might not know.

One of the ways that you get a head coaching job is that you have a strong reputation around the league.  Doing interviews can help you build up a reputation, good or bad.  Most guys are going to interview pretty well.  Armstrong may not be a realistic candidate right now (or maybe he is), but teams will be very aware of him moving forward.  That should only help his chances of getting a HC job.

As for his background, Armstrong was in college football from 1987-1993.  He coached DBs, WRs, LBs, and STs.  In 1994 he got a job with the Falcons and then HC June Jones.  Armstrong coached DBs for 3 years, before going to Chicago to be the STs coach for Dave Wannstedt and the Bears.

Armstrong left for the Dolphins in 2000 and stayed there until 2008, when he returned to the Falcons, but this time as the STs coach.

The big thing that jumps out at me here is that Armstrong survived coaching changes.  When Wannstedt was fired and **** Jauron took over in Chicago, Armstrong kept his job.  When Wannstedt was fired in Miami and Nick Saban took over, Armstrong kept his job.  Then Cam Cameron got the job and Armstrong stayed through that as well.

When that many head coaches are willing to keep you on, despite the fact you were hired by the predecessor, that speaks volumes.  You just don’t see that much in the coaching world.

Armstrong has put together outstanding STs units over the years.  He was under a lot of pressure in Miami because Wannstedt fired longtime STs guru Mike Westhoff so that he could bring his friend down there.  The fans and media didn’t like the move at all.  That went away after a year when they saw that Armstrong was a top-notch coach.

Armstrong has done well in Atlanta.  He is fundamentally sound, but also keeps his guys fired up.  Starting DE Kroy Biermann spends time covering KOs.  Here’s what he had to say on that.

“Yeah, I’ve still got to run down there on kicks and knock some heads off,” Biermann said with a laugh. “That’s fun, I’ve always loved that. (Special teams coordinator) Keith (Armstrong) gets us right. Every weekend, he’s ready to roll and his energy is crazy. I love covering kicks for him. That’ll be a thing all year, I think.”

When the STs coach can motivate starting players to play hard on KO coverage, that again speaks volumes.

Here is an interesting video interview I found with Armstrong.  I really like the way he carries himself and speaks.  He has a good presence.  Some assistant coaches sound like assistants, especially STs guys.  Armstrong comes across well.  He said good things, but also gets style points for delivery.  Part of being the coach is passing the eye test and looking/sounding like a HC.

I think Armstrong is a real longshot to get the Eagles job, but he’s another interesting guy for Lurie to talk to.  There is one semi-connection between him and the Eagles.  While in Miami, the GM was Randy Mueller.  Randy’s brother Rick is a personnel consultant with the Eagles so I’m sure Lurie and Roseman will get in touch with Randy to see what he’s got to say.  Who knows, maybe Randy mentioned Armstrong to Rick at some point in the past.
 
liking chip kelly the more and more i hear

pretty good podcast with alot of the coach talk:

http://helmet2helmetshow.com/?p=312

and iggles blitz on chip kelly: http://igglesblitz.com/philadelphia-eagles-2/lets-talk-about-chip-kelly/
[h1]Let’s Talk About Chip Kelly[/h1]
Posted: December 29th, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 56 Comments »

Over the next few days I’ll be writing about coaching candidates.  Since Chip is the most interesting, he is up first and gets far and away the longest piece.  Rather than saying For/Against, I’m presenting the information for you to digest.  I’ll let you know my preference in a couple of days.

* * * * *

Chip Kelly is one of the hottest names in the coaching world. His innovative offense and aggressive style of coaching have changed the game of football from high school through the NFL. When Jon Gruden was fired, Kelly is one of the first people he sought out. Gruden wanted to learn Oregon’s offense. Think about that for a second. Gruden, arguably the most knowledgeable West Coast Offense guru on the planet Earth, chose Kelly above all the other brilliant coaches out there. That was the one guy he wanted to learn from. That speaks volumes.

What was Kelly’s response? Sure, I’ll teach you. Kelly went one beyond that and offered to hire Gruden as his offensive coordinator. Kelly thought they could spend a year together and learn from each other. Gruden thought about the offer, as crazy as that sounds, but his wife made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.

Bill Belichick brought Kelly in to Foxboro so the Patriots staff could pick his brain. Pete Carroll met with him so he could learn about the Oregon offense. Coaches with national titles and Super Bowls are seeking out Kelly to see just what he does and how it works. They want to learn from him.

This is payback, in a way. Kelly spent his younger years meeting with coaches to pick their brains. He visited colleges and NFL teams. He regularly talked to coaches. He went to clinics. Kelly wanted to soak up as much information as possible. Andy Reid played and coached at BYU. That was the first offense that really influenced him. He later learned the WCO from Mike Holmgren. Those two sources are the foundation of his playbook. Kelly built his playbook from the ground up. He took the principles of his high school and college coaches (run the ball) and added bits and pieces from all over to help him create an offense that could be fundamentally sound, simple, and explosive.

Ask Reid about football and he’ll tell you it is all about matchups. Kelly will largely agree. The difference is that Reid focused on his beloved passing game. Kelly sought out ways to create favorable running situations. Kelly loved the passing game earlier in his career, but the coaches around him preached the running game and that has been Kelly’s focus in the last decade.

Kelly played DB at New Hampshire. He wasn’t a star, but the coaches loved his effort and intensity. Upon graduation, Kelly went back to his high school and became the offensive coordinator. He had been a QB in high school so going back to that side of the ball was a natural fit. Kelly held this job for a few years.

While in high school, Kelly had befriended a rival coach named Sean McDonnell. When Kelly got into HS coaching, McDonnell had moved on to Boston University. Kelly would go visit him to learn the game and see football at the next level. McDonnell moved on to Columbia and in 1990 hired Kelly to come there and coach DBs and STs and work with the Freshman team. Kelly was the defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins in 1993. In 1994 McDonnell got the job as offensive coordinator at UNH and hired Kelly to be the RBs coach. He did that for the next 3 years.

At that point there was an opening on the staff for the OL coach position. Head coach Bill Bowes brought in some candidates to interview. Kelly let it be known that he wanted the job. He didn’t have OL coaching experience, but did a good enough sales job that he got the position. This was a key moment. Kelly took a big risk by going for that job. It was outside his comfort zone. Failing there would have affected his coaching future in a big way. Kelly felt he knew football well enough and could learn what he needed about coaching OL.

Kelly is a very driven person. He likes challenges. He is extremely smart and hard-working. If a challenge can be overcome with brains and effort, he’ll get the job done. And that’s exactly what happened. Kelly installed a zone blocking scheme and the run game thrived. RB Jerry Azumah set the I-AA record for career rushing yards (6,193) and ran for 2,195 yards as a Senior in 1998.

McDonnell became the head coach in 1999 and chose Kelly to be the OC. That was the good news. The bad news, Azumah was gone and the offense didn’t have a stud RB to be the foundation of the attack. Kelly went to several schools and looked at some other offenses. He then came back to UNH and installed the spread option. UNH scored more points and won more games in 1999 than the year before with Azumah.

In 2004 QB Ricky Santos hit the field for Kelly. They were together for 3 seasons. Santos was somewhat of an afterthought when he was recruited, but he became a huge I-AA star. He rushed for 1,403 yards and 30 TDs. He threw for 13,212 yards and 123 TDs. UNH didn’t win a title, but made the playoffs all 4 years and had some postseason success. WR David Ball also put up huge numbers. He broke Jerry Rice’s record for career TDs.

Kelly started to develop some buzz in the coaching world. He had a QB, RB, and WR all set major records under him. The offense was good for 400 yards and 30 points virtually every week. And this was at New Hampshire, not exactly a football power. Kelly talked to some bigger schools. Nothing worked out. Tom Coughlin offered him a job with the Giants. Kelly was interested, but it was only Quality Control – Offense. Kelly would be assisting other coaches and more of an information guy. He turned down the offer because he wanted to coach. Kelly wanted to remain a coordinator.

Some say Kelly is arrogant. He’s picky about jobs. He’s picky about how things are done. He’s very demanding. Those around him think Kelly is more confident than arrogant. He’s always seeking out other coaches for ideas on how to improve his team. Kelly isn’t married to a specific offense or scheme. He does what works. Kelly certainly believes in himself and his ideas, but not blindly. If it isn’t working, he will make changes. He does have a lot of self confidence. Think about saying no to Tom Coughlin to keep your job as the OC at New Hampshire. You have to really believe in yourself to pass that opportunity up.  

Kelly’s patience paid off when Oregon coach Mike Belotti offered him the OC job for the Ducks. Gary Crowton was the OC for Belotti, but moved to LSU to run their offense. Here is Nike owner and Oregon alum Phil Knight’s explanation of how Kelly got the job.

“Mike Bellotti figured that out. And it’s a little bit of a long story. But Bellotti lost to Utah (in 2005). (Then-Utah head coach) Urban Meyer was running the spread (offense) — one of the early adopters of the spread. In fact, some people credit him with being the inventor. Bellotti, when he saw that system, said, “We could use some of that. Literally, maybe within a year or two later, he decided to put in a spread. … He sent (offensive coordinator Gary Crowton) down to work with Urban Meyer. So he went down there and the offensive coordinator for Florida was Dan Mullen, who’s now the head coach of Mississippi State — I told you this was a long story. Anyway, (Mullen’s) from New Hampshire. And he says, ‘The guy who really knows this stuff is Chip Kelly up at the University of New Hampshire.’ So Crowton, when he came back he had some rough edges to the spread and he started calling Chip Kelly on Sundays saying, “This came up and I didn’t quite know what to do with it.” And Chip always had an answer. So, when LSU came and picked up Crowton, Bellotti knew he’d been talking to Chip Kelly, so he went to get Chip Kelly.”

Interestingly, Crowton also was the OC at New Hampshire early on his career. One small state, 3 offensive gurus (Crowton, Mullen, Kelly).

I think you know that Kelly delivered huge results at Oregon. Here are the numbers from his 2 years as the offensive coordinator.

2007 – 9-4 … Rushing 6th , Passing 64th, Overall 10th, Scoring 12th
RB Jonathan Stewart was #7 in the nation. QB Dennis Dixon was 2nd on team in rushing

2008 – 10-3 … Rushing 2nd, Passing 67th, Overall 7th, Scoring 7th
Jeremiah Johnson and LaGarrette Blount were the top rushers. QB J Masoli was 3rd.

QB Dennis Dixon is the key guy to talk about here. In his first 3 years, he threw for 18 TDs and ran for 3. Kelly took over as the OC in his Senior year. They didn’t have a full offseason together because Dixon was playing minor league baseball. Belotti was really upset, but Kelly traveled to watch Dixon play and said nothing but good things. That got their relationship off to a strong start. Dixon was great at QB that year. He got the Ducks off to an 8-1 start. He was Heisman material, having thrown for 20 TDs and run for 9 more. Unfortunately he tore up his knee. He tried to play through it against Arizona, but got hurt even worse and that ended his season and Oregon slumped without him. They did win their bowl game 56-21.

In 2009 Belotti stepped down to become the AD at Oregon. Kelly got his first head coaching job. Here are the numbers.

2009 – 10-3 … Rushing 6th, Passing 98th, Overall 33rd, Scoring 8th
RB LaMichael James 9th in the nation. QB Masoli finished 2nd on the team in rushing.
Losses to Boise St, Stanford, Ohio State. Key wins: Utah, USC.

2010 – 12-1 … Rushing 4th, Passing 39th, Overall 1st, Scoring 1st
RB LaMichael James led the nation. Kenjon Barner 2nd on the team. QB Darron Thomas 3rd (93-486-5).
Lost to Auburn in National Title game. Key wins: Stanford.

2011 – 12-2 … Rushing 5th, Passing 68th, Overall 4th, Scoring 3rd
RBs James, Barner, and Thomas were 1-2-3 in rushing on team. QB only had 56 rushes.
Losses to LSU, USC. Key wins: Stanford, Wisconsin (Rose Bowl).

2012 – 11-1 … Rushing 3, Passing 66th, Overall 4th, Scoring 2nd
Kenjon Barner 5th in the nation in rushing. QB Mariota 2nd on team.
Lost to Stanford. Key wins: Fresno State, Oregon State.

I’ve made mention of where the QB finished in rushing so that you can see this isn’t Cam Newton or Tim Tebow type of football. Those guys carried their offenses on their back. Kelly is a firm believer in feeding the RBs.

Oregon had 4 10-win seasons prior to Kelly taking over. He’s won 10 or more each year. He has the only Rose Bowl in in school history. And he’s done all this without Oregon turning into a recruiting power. Oregon is an A+ program, but it is still in the state of Oregon. Most recruiting powerhouses are in football states (California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia). Oregon gets some stars but not nearly the same amount of elite recruits as other schools.

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of Kelly’s background and track record.

* * * * *

So the discussion now turns to Kelly and the NFL. Can he succeed in pro football? Yes, absolutely yes. That doesn’t mean he will. We see coaches with great NFL backgrounds who fail. Circumstances are a key factor for every coach.

Most people play the “Steve Spurrier card” in regard to Kelly. Joe College will hit the NFL and make a fool of himself. The situations could not be more different. Kelly is a workaholic. He is incredibly driven and has worked his way up from the bottom. Spurrier was a Heisman Trophy winning QB at Florida. He was arrogant. He believed that he truly was smarter than others and could win in the NFL by doing things his way (work smarter, not harder). In college, Spurrier was always the smartest coach on the field. That wasn’t the case in the NFL and his inability to deal with that fact made him a failure.

Kelly is the guy with the chip on his shoulder. He wasn’t a star player. He didn’t start his coaching career in the SEC and ACC like Spurrier did. Spurrier was the OC at Duke by his 3rd year. Kelly was still a high school coach in his 3rd season of coaching. Kelly will not be out-worked. Spurrier is famous for playing golf in the afternoons. One of the criticisms that Oregon boosters have with Kelly is that he won’t attend their offseason golf outings. He sends his assistants. Spurrier plays during the season on a regular basis.

Kelly won’t come to the NFL thinking he knows more than the other coaches. Kelly has met with NFL staffs over the years. Initially it was to learn. Over time he became the lecturer so that they could learn. He still takes away whatever nuggets of wisdom that he can. Kelly loves learning the game of football and still sees himself as a student of the game.

Can Kelly’s offense work in the NFL? Complex question. The first thing I think you have to understand is that Kelly doesn’t see himself as having just one offense. He’s noted for the spread option, but isn’t married to it. If he was made coach of the Patriots, Kelly would run a passing offense that featured Tom Brady. Kelly has had athletic QBs at UNH and Oregon so he’s run the spread option.

I’m sure he’d love to have an athletic QB like RG3, Russell Wilson, or Colin Kaepernick to run his full playbook, but the key for Kelly is to have a smart QB who is accurate. Jake Locker is a great athlete, but highly inconsistent passer. Tim Tebow is a big, strong guy, but didn’t always make good reads when running the option. Those guys might drive Kelly a bit nuts.

Kelly is all about numbers. If he can make you worry about his passing game and leave fewer guys in the box, he will run. If you stack the box, he will throw. If you load up the outside, he’ll attack the inside. And so on. This isn’t rocket science. Kelly wants to see where you line up your defenders and then he will attack the weak spots. These basic principles already work in the NFL. Watch Brady and Manning at the LOS, looking over the defense. They want to attack the weak spots in the defense.

Kelly isn’t a “plays” guy. Spurrier was. Reid and Mornhinweg definitely are. Kelly will tell you to focus on players, not plays. Think back to the Skins game. The Eagles threw the ball to TE Evan Moore at one of the most critical moments in the game. The design of the play worked. Moore was open. The pass was accurate. Should have been a TD. The problem is that football isn’t chess. You can’t think of the players as pieces who will do as you wish. You must account for the human element. That generally means focusing on your star players. Get them the ball in crunch time. Don’t focus on surprising the other team. Out-execute them.

If he comes to the NFL, Kelly will adapt to the players he has. Over time he’ll shape the roster to be exactly what he wants, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking what you see at Oregon is exactly what you’d see in the pros. Kelly is smart enough to know that you can use multiple QBs in college, but in the NFL you need one star QB and the team is built around him. That means limiting him as a runner.

One of the recent stats that has helped to show Super Bowl teams is sack differential (sacks for vs sacks against). Kelly hates sacks. His philosophy is to blame them on the QB. Always. Kelly thinks the QB should get rid of the ball. 2nd and 10 is better than 2nd and 17, as he loves to point out. Oregon was in the Top 12 in fewest sacks allowed from 2009-2011. This year they are down at 37th. Having a Freshman QB will do that to you. Oregon has rushed the passer well in his time as HC.

Kelly will bring somewhat of a collegiate atmosphere with him. When asked why his WRs at Oregon are such good blockers he said, “We’re not gonna throw to ya if you’re not going to block on the perimeter.” Are you listening, Jeremy Maclin? Some NFL players will be put off by a coach who gets on their case about things like blocking. You can just hear the thoughts going through the player’s head…”Did you draft me to block or catch TDs?” He won’t say it, but you know he’ll think it. Some coaches are able to motivate the NFL players and they have success (see Jimmy Johnson). Greg Schiano brought some of that to Tampa. Other coaches are seen as college guys intruding on life in the NFL and they fail (Lou Holtz most famously).

Players are held to tough standards. Kelly hates underachievers. From a clinic talk he once gave, “If a player is a 5.0 player (40-yard dash speed) and plays at 5.0, that is what we want. Do not be the 4.6 player who plays at 5.2 in games.” In other words, give me the guy I can trust, the reliable player. I don’t want the guy who has potential, but doesn’t play up to it. Kelly preaches about effort. He likes to say that the team who plays hardest the longest generally wins. This is absolutely true in college and high school. The NFL is about execution more than effort, but that’s still a big part of success. You want teams that go hard in practice and in games. The coach sets the tone for this.

In college, practice time is very limited so Kelly came up with some creative ways to do things. He does little to no teaching on the field. That is practice time. Teaching goes on in the classroom. You then put those concepts into action in practice. You sure can’t argue with the results. The scouts and coaches who have watched his practices at UNH and Oregon say they are amazing. Coaches and players fly around the field. There is constant motion. Everything is mapped out to maximize every possible second. If Kelly thinks one drill needs 3 minutes, that’s how long it is. He doesn’t go with some generic guidelines. He literally times out how long each session should last and plans accordingly.

This would have to change somewhat in the NFL. There is substantially more practice time. You’re also not teaching just basic concepts. Things are more complex in the NFL. You need more time to be thorough.

One thing I love about Kelly is that he sees himself as a teacher and understands that the players won’t learn if you don’t explain things the right way. Kelly points out that players today love to know why things are done a certain way. Instead of using the old “because I told you so” line, Kelly teaches his coaches to tell the players why something is done. If you can’t explain why something is done a certain way, maybe it isn’t the right thing to do.

I am not sure how much of Kelly’s style of coaching during games would follow him to the NFL. He loves to go for 2 in college. Oregon starts a lot of games up 8-0. Kelly wants to put the opponent on their heels right away. And he’s not afraid to fail on the attempt because he expects to score plenty of points. Kelly hates to kick FGs. His team has hit 5, 9, 13, and 16 FGs in his time as coach. Remember how bad Penn State’s kicker was early this year and how Bill O’Brien would go for it all the time on 4th down? That PK still hit 14 FGs on the year.  That will likely be the lowest total for an O’Brien team and it is close to the most for a Kelly team.

I’m sure Kelly would be more aggressive about going for 2 and going for it on 4th downs than most NFL coaches, but he might dial down what he does at Oregon. Kelly is smart enough to understand there is a big difference in pro and college football. Few college games swing on one play. Generally one team is clearly better than the other. The NFL is a league of parity. Many games have one key moment. There is a fine line between aggressive and reckless.

* * * * *

The case for the Eagles to go after Chip Kelly: Greatness. Chip Kelly isn’t a coach that is available all the time. He is a winner. He is innovative. He’s also smart enough to know that he doesn’t know everything. He’ll mix his ideas with some conventional NFL wisdom. Jimmy Johnson came to the NFL with no pro experience. He was smart enough to ask questions and learn what he needed. He took his college ideas and mixed them with NFL ideas and built a dynasty. Like Johnson, Kelly is tough on his players. Kelly believes in competition. Either you get the job done or I’ll go to the guy behind you. This worked for Johnson. It is working for Pete Carroll in Seattle.

If Kelly does succeed, he could be a great coach. He’s got the potential to be special. Why not take the chance on greatness? There will always be another hot coordinator next year or the year after. Kelly could be one of those rare coaches that will haunt you if you pass on him.

I think Kelly would fit in well with most of the Eagles personnel.  He loves RBs.  He’d have a great group to work with.  Kelly prefers athletic blockers to massive guys.  He likes TEs that can catch the ball.  He would find a way to use DeSean Jackson, but it seems Kelly prefers bigger WRs.  The one obvious hole is at QB.  Kelly could find his own guy, as most coaches prefer to do.  Foles might be part of the short term plan, but likely would not be the long term guy.  He could be your backup and that would be just fine.

One of the big concerns with Kelly is his lack of NFL experience. How would he put together the right staff? Kelly is more connected than people think. Tony Dungy’s son Eric plays at Oregon. I’m sure Kelly would talk to Tony and seek advice on staff ideas. Kelly is friendly with Belichick. Kelly is friends with Bill O’Brien at Penn State. O’Brien has NFL connections. Kelly could talk to Pete Carroll for ideas. Kelly hasn’t coached in the NFL, but he’s not a complete stranger to the league and coaching circles.

Kelly would be a great change from Andy Reid. Eagles players have gotten used to doing things Andy’s way. Kelly would come at them from a whole different perspective. The roster is young enough that most guys would probably be comfortable with the collegiate feel that Kelly would initially bring. Kelly isn’t afraid to be the bad guy. He suspended LeGarrette Blount for most of his Senior season after Blount threw a punch at a Boise State player. Kelly suspended star CB Cliff Harris (Reuben Frank’s favorite all time Eagle…just ask him!!!) after Harris got in trouble in his final season at Oregon. Kelly will bench those players who aren’t getting the job done. He’s not afraid to play Freshmen. He does what he thinks it will take to win. Simple as that.

Seems to me that after a couple of years of disappointing play, the Eagles could use someone like that.

The case against Chip Kelly:  Being a great college coach and a great pro coach are two very different things. Kelly was able to collect good runners, solid blockers, and athletic QBs and move them around to create favorable matchups and deliver explosive offenses. That helped him to win a lot of games, but when facing teams with NFL talent (Stanford this year, LSU in 2011, Auburn in the 2010 title game), Kelly and Oregon came up short. Oregon wasn’t blown out. They weren’t embarrassed. They did lose. His teams were just 1-2 in bowl games.  Scoring 55 on Washington State is nice, but that doesn’t mean you’ll win in the NFL.

The Pac-10 (or 12 if you prefer) has not exactly been a juggernaut since 2009. USC wasn’t at an elite level.  The Reggie Bush days were in the past.  Cal, Oregon State, and the Arizona schools were up and down.  Stanford was the one team that rose up. Kelly and Oregon inflicted losses on these teams to keep them down, but you’d be more comfortable if one other program was really pushing them. Oregon has played some good non-conference games. Kelly isn’t afraid of being challenged. Just happens that the conference has been down in recent years.

Kelly has never faced big time pressure. He’s already the best coach in Oregon history. The media out there gets on him at times, but would be nothing like the scrutiny he would face after a big Eagles loss. At Oregon he basically only answers to one person…Phil Knight. And as long as Kelly wins, Knight will only whisper sweet nothings in his ear. In the NFL Kelly would have to deal with an owner, a GM, and million-dollar players. You can’t just get rid of the NFL guys you don’t like.

QB development is a strange subject. Kelly has gotten great production from Ricky Santos. He turned Dennis Dixon into a Heisman candidate. He got Darron Thomas to play at an even higher level than I had realized. This year Freshman Marcus Mariota is having a great year. The problem is that aside from Santos, these guys are playing for a year or two and then something happens. Jeremiah Masoli was suspended and later kicked off the team. Thomas foolishly went pro (which makes you wonder if there was something else going on). Bryan Bennett was projected to be the starter this year, but lost the job to Mariota. While there has been success, none of this really went according to plan. In the NFL you must find a franchise QB and build around him.

You can spin this that Kelly only had one special talent to work with (Dixon) and that was only for a season or you can point out that other coaches found one guy and got him to play at a high level for 3 or 4 years. In the NFL Kelly would have to find his guy and they’d need to stick together. That’s how you win titles.

Kelly could manufacture yards and points in college due to his ability to call plays and find weak spots in the defense, but that’s not good enough in the NFL. You must have the right QB and he must play at a high level.  Kelly is very tough on his QBs.  He was hard on Santos back at UNH.  Kelly is very demanding and that can rub some people the wrong way.  Would his personality work in the NFL?  That is a huge question and can’t be brushed aside easily.  College coaches are dictators.  NFL coaches have a lot of power, but have to answer to more people.

* * * * *

Resources

Great set of links on Kelly, his offense, and his ideas.

Kelly and Urban Meyer video.  Don’t worry, no nudity.

Oregon football stats

Smart Football on Chip Kelly’s offense

Age 49

1990 – Columbia (DB/ST)
1991 – Columbia (OLB/SS)
1992 – New Hampshire (RB)
1993 – Johns Hopkins (DC)
1994–1996 – New Hampshire (RB)
1997–1998 – New Hampshire (OL)
1999–2006 – New Hampshire (OC)
2007–2008 – Oregon (OC)
2009–present – Oregon

For fun, I put together the All-Chip Kelly team from his time as HC at Oregon.

QB Marcus Mariota
RB LaMichael James
RB Kenjon Barner
TE Ed Dickson
OL Max Unger
OL Carson York
OL Fenuki Tupou
OL Mark Asper
OL Kyle Long
WR Jeff Maehl
WR Lavasier Tuinei
ATH De’Anthony Thomas (runner/receiver/returner)

DL Dion Jordan
DL Brandon Bair
DL Kenny Rowe
DL Nick Reed
LB Spencer Paysinger
LB Casey Matthews
LB Josh Kaddu
S TJ Ward
S Patrick Chung
CB Walter Thurmond
CB Cliff Harris

Chip is very good with RBs and Safeties.  This list isn’t loaded with elite NFL talent the way that Carroll had at USC or Johnson at Miami.
 
StillIn729 said:
I'm so on the fence about chip kelly at this pt
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i think i want us to go with either kelly or o'brien..

as one of the guy's said in the podcast i posted, with kelly you have a chance to get a GREAT coach (his ceiling being extremely high) and the 'worst case' being you fire him in a couple of years if it doesn't work out
 
StillIn729 said:
No BoB lol, I'll be heartbroken I went to PSU
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true..

i know nothing about marrone (since i only watch a handful of college games if any).. what's the deal with him?

and with mccoy, i'm not really sure what to make of him.. yes he has had to be versatile going from tebow one year to manning the next.. but i just dont know.. the AFC west is an abysmal division and i wonder how much of his success was based on facing those division foes, having manning/tebow and the defense playing as well as it did for them for portions of last year
 
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I'm not really a fan of McCoy, to be honest I like Josh McDaniels

I think he got a raw deal in Denver his first time around
 
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^ i'm not a fan of mcdanials..

didnt like how he was so quick to clean house in denver with guys who obviously have talent.. seemed to eager to want to emulate belichick, without realizing belichick took on his fair share of talented headaches and putting them to good use

belichick knew he had leaders in house that would keep or get those guys in line
 
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http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/...-commits-to-penn-state-after-eagles-interview
[h1]Bill O'Brien commits to Penn State after Eagles interview[/h1]
By JasonB on Jan 3, 11:02p 3

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Patrick Smith

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Unbeknownst to pretty much anyone, the Eagles did in fact hold an interview with Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien today. However, this evening he announced that he would be staying at Happy Valley.
"I'm not a one-and-done guy," said O'Brien. "I made a commitment to these players at Penn State and that's what I am going to do. I'm not gonna cut and run after one year, that's for sure."
Click to expand...
O'Brien's decision likely was mostly due to the fact that no one was going to pay his $18 million buyout and that Penn State sugar daddy Terry Pegula handed him an extra $1.3 million to stick around another year. But certainly Penn Staters will enjoy the ra-ra go team sentiment.

I've said from the first whisper that I don't understand the interest in O'Brien and I don't see how he's got the resume or track record to take the step up to NFL head coach. Plus, like everyone, I'd certainly like to see him stick around to help get the Penn State program on track. In 2 or 3 years I think he could be a much more attractive candidate than he is now.

So really, good news for all. Our pals over at Black Shoe Diaries are certainly happy.

The big takeaway from me for this story is that the Eagles are having interviews with big name guys (and whether he's qualified to be an NFL coach yet or not, he's a famous name now) and keeping it completely quiet.
 
and trotter on reid:

 "I love Reid as a man, but if the talent was equal, we'd lose because he was outcoached. We'd question him as a defense"
 
http://igglesblitz.com/philadelphia-eagles-2/final-coaching-breakdown/
[h1]Final Coaching Breakdown[/h1]
Posted: January 4th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

I’ve written a lot about Chip Kelly, here & here. I wrote about the Falcons coaches the other day. Let’s now take a look at some other candidates. I won’t cover these guys as extensively since these guys are better known. There is less mystery with them.

First, let’s talk about Bill O’Brien for a minute. On Thursday night he agreed to a new deal with Penn State. The Eagles did meet with O’Brien on Thursday. We don’t know how badly they wanted him. We don’t know how serious O’Brien was about leaving. Apparently he got a raise for himself and his staff. He also got more control regarding the athletic department. We’ll have to wait and see what all this means. With O’Brien out, that removes a candidate that several teams were interested in.

* * * * *

* OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS *

MIKE MCCOY  - There is a lot to like about McCoy, the OC for the Denver Broncos. Most people point to the fact that he’s done good work with a variety of QBs. McCoy has gotten good production from Jake Delhomme, Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow (to a lesser extent), and Eli’s brother. It says a lot when you can coach that collection of guys and make it work. Going from Tebow to Peyton is like jumping from a Model-T to the friggin’ space shuttle.    

McCoy is young (40). He played QB at Utah and tried to make a go of it in the NFL, but wasn’t good enough. He was with the Eagles in the 1998 Training Camp. I attended that TC for a couple of days, but don’t recall him so much as Bobby Hoying’s incomplete swing passes to Duce Staley’s feet. He played in NFL Europe and the CFL.

McCoy gave that up after 1999 and in 2000 joined George Siefert’s staff with the Panthers. McCoy worked his way up the coaching ladder, working with WRs, then QBs, and then becoming the passing game coordinator. McCoy started with Siefert, but remained in place when John Fox took over the team in 2002. McCoy left for Denver to work under Josh McDaniels in 2009. He was there for 2 years when Fox became the HC of the Broncos. Fox kept McCoy as the OC.

I would prefer that McCoy have some experience in college, but the time in NFL Eurorpe and the CFL helps. You want coaches to have some background in a place with “lesser” players. There is more teaching in those environments. Talent doesn’t rule the day.

I do like the fact that McCoy spent most of his time learning under John Fox. Offensive coaches that spend time under a defensive head coach seem to have a more well-rounded approach to the game. Sean Payton spent time under Bill Parcells. Mike McCarthy spent time under Marty Schottenheimer, Tom Coughlin was under Parcells, and Jim Harbaugh was heavily influenced by his college coach, Bo Schembechler, who had a defensive background.

One thing I love about McCoy is that he was part of the Panthers staff that did a great job with 2 RBs (Jonathan Stewart, Deangelo Williams). The Eagles have a pair of very talented runners in McCoy, Brown. You need to find a way to use them both. McCoy has also played and coached in a variety of systems. He is open-minded and has been able to adjust the offense to the personnel he has to work with. Getting Tebow into the playoffs and actually winning a game was a miracle, even if most of that was on the defense and STs.

While I like McCoy’s adaptability, I am concerned by the question of exactly what does he believe in. McCoy can’t really point to one thing and say “That’s me”. You would need to find out this kind of stuff from him in an interview. What are his specific beliefs? What is his offensive philosophy? McCoy hasn’t had full control of an offense until the last 2 years and running an offense with Tebow and Manning doesn’t tell us much. You can’t go right with Tebow, nor wrong with Manning.

It is interesting to note that Denver led the league in rushing in 2011. McCoy knew that Tebow couldn’t be a normal passing QB and adjusted the offense. The team only finished 23rd in yards and 25th in points, but compare that to the 2012 Eagles. They finished 15th in yards and 29th in points. McCoy got the most out of what he had to work with and did help the team win a playoff game. This year the Broncos are 4th in yards and 2nd in scoring. Even with the great Peyton Manning at the helm, Denver is just 10th in pass attempts. They are 9th in rushing attempts. McCoy might have a Hall of Fame QB, but he knows Manning’s injury situation and isn’t over-using him. Simple, but smart. One of Andy’s big faults was over-thinking things and not going with the simple/smart approach more often.

McCoy is a terrific assistant coach. I do have concerns on whether he is ready to be the HC. He seems to be very much a consensus guy. He likes to talk to other coaches on the staff and put ideas together. This is great at times, but the HC must be someone with a singular vision and style of doing business. He listens to others when they have ideas, but the coach must lead from a position of authority. I’m curious if McCoy can do that. I’m making judgments from watching interviews and reading articles. Clearly you’re much better off meeting him in person and discussing these matters. Could be that McCoy will be very different if/when he’s the head honcho.

I won’t object if the Eagles hire McCoy, but the interview would be crucial in determining that he was in fact ready to lead an organization. Andy Reid had never been a head coach or coordinator for a major college or NFL team, but he showed in his interview that he got the big picture and was the man to lead the Eagles. McCoy could do the same thing.

http://www.denverbroncos.com/team/coaches/mike-mccoy/d0f303a8-afba-4f0d-926a-f19dc6731bce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McCoy_(American_football_coach)

JAY GRUDEN  - The son of longtime scout Jim Gruden and younger brother of Jon. Coming from a football thing is a very good thing. Jay understands the commitment that football requires and what it takes to be successful.

Jay had a strange path to becoming a successful OC for the Bengals. He was a QB at Louisville and still ranks highly in some career categories. The team finished 8-3 in his Senior season. While he was a good college player, Jay didn’t have NFL talent. The Arena League was his home for more than a decade. Jay won the league title 4 times as a player and was league MVP once.

Jay moved to the coaching side of things in 1997 and stuck with that through 2001. In 2002 Jon became the coach of the Bucs and Jay joined his staff. Jay also went back to being a QB in the AFL (seasons don’t overlap). That lasted for a couple of years before he moved back to being an AFL head coach and NFL assistant. Jon was fired after 2008. Jay got a job in the UFL and was there for 2009-2010.

In 2011 the Bengals hired Jay to be their OC. The offense had been very good in the glory days of Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Rudi Johnson, but slumped badly as that group aged and or left. From 2008-2010 the offense was 20th or worse in yards and in points. Marvin Lewis hoped that Gruden could bring a more attacking style of play and some fresh ideas to the team.

Cincy’s offense finished 20th in yards and 18th in points, but did so with a rookie QB and rookie WR as the key players. This season the Bengals finished 22nd in yards, but all the way up at 12th in points. Stats aside, the Bengals had 2 winning seasons in the 20 years prior to 2011. With Gruden as the OC, the team has won both years and made the playoffs both times.

The strongest selling point for Gruden is Andy Dalton. The young QB was taken in the 2nd round and has developed into a solid starter. His rating is in the 80s for both years. He is 19-13 as a starter. He has 47 TDs and 29 INTs. Dalton doesn’t look like an elite player, but looks like he can be a good NFL starter for years to come. Developing rookie QBs is hugely important in today’s NFL.

Gruden was somewhat conservative in 2011 since Dalton was a rookie, but Jay was more able to open up the playbook this year. WR Mohamed Sanu threw a 73-yd TD pass vs the Skins. WRs accounted for 14 carries this year, not counting Sanu. He played QB in some sets and finished the season with 5 carries of his own. Stud WR AJ Green has blossomed into arguably the best receiver in the AFC. Former CFL’er Andrew Hawkins emerged as a threat in the slot. RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis had a career high 1,094 rushing yards. For an offense with so many new/young players, the Bengals had a good year.

I love the fact that Jay was a head coach in the AFL and UFL. Those are leagues where the coach must be very hands on and do a ton of stuff. You can learn a lot. You’re also working with less than great players and that means that you must be creative and do a good job of coaching, communicating, and motivating.

Jay was able to be on a good Bucs staff. I’m sure he learned a lot from Jon, but also Monte Kiffin, OL coach Bill Muir, QB coach Stan Parrish (Tom Brady’s QB coach at Michigan), Gus Bradley, Rod Marinelli, Mike Tomlin, and Raheem Morris. That’s a lot of guys who are either experts at what they do or went on to become head coaches in the NFL.

I think it is fair to question Gruden’s background in the sense that he’s not been part of a great team/organization. Andy Reid came to Philly from the Packers, who never had a losing season while he was there. They won a SB and lost a SB. Reid saw greatness. Jay Gruden was a small part of the 2002 Bucs, but Tampa only had consecutive winning seasons once in the Gruden era.

Is Jay ready to lead an organization? He might be, but the interview would be crucial here. His track record is impressive in an unconventional way. You need to meet with him and come away feeling that he’s got the leadership skills to run an NFL team on his own.

http://www.bengals.com/team/coaches/Gruden-Jay/7c47da98-6b51-4405-998b-2b706069c0b6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Gruden

BRUCE ARIANS  - Arians is a hot name right now. Should the Eagles have interest? Maybe.

I’m hesitant to fully buy in. Arians has done a great job, but there are several reasons to be very cautious with him. The Colts are 11-5, but aren’t really a good team. They basically throw the ball well and that’s about it. You’d love to give Arians a ton of credit, but he’s working with a special player in Andrew Luck. This isn’t Christian Ponder or Jake Locker we’re talking about.

The team has played a soft schedule and beaten a bunch of crappy teams (BUF, JAX, KC, CLE, TEN-2, etc.). I give the Colts credit for winning, but let’s not mistake that for them being a good football team.

Arians has been a gameday coach, but didn’t have to do the offseason stuff that can often make a team so successful. Chuck Pagano is the one who hired the staff. He worked with Ryan Grigson to figure out who to sign and draft. The coaching that takes place from August to December in some ways is the easy part. That’s just football.

The Colts do have a special vibe this year that seems to help them. Arians would not have that in a future job. Win one for Chuck would not be an effective rallying cry for the 2013 Eagles. Over the years we’ve seen interim coaches have success. Jason Garrett took over Dallas in 2010 when the team was 1-7. They were 5-3 for him. Since then, the Boys are 16-15. In college, I’ve seen a coach leave for a job and one of his assistants has coached the team through the bowl. That assistant does well and gets the full time job, only to be a disastrous hire.

As for Bruce’s track record…he was the Steelers WR coach when they won the SB in 2005. Bruce was the OC when they won in 2008 and lost in 2010. He was the OC for Butch Davis in Cleveland from 2001-03. He was the OC at Alabama in 1997 and the head coach at Temple from 1983-88. You can’t exactly call Arians an offensive guru, but he is a good football coach with a good offensive mind.

Bruce Arians is 60 years old. Coaches age like dogs when running an NFL team. What kind of a toll would that take on him? I hope Bruce does get a job and proves me wrong, but I would not hire him. Too many things about him make me nervous.

GREG ROMAN  - I like Greg Roman quite a bit, but for some odd reason he is getting almost no interest. The Niners have a bye week, but no one is meeting with him. I don’t understand what’s going on here. My best guess is that teams perceive Roman to be riding the coattails of Jim Harbaugh.

Roman and Harbaugh worked together at Stanford and SF. They are running Harbaugh’s system, but Roman is responsible for the creative blocking on many of the run plays. His background is with the OL and he’s helped Harbaugh to put the system together.

The system worked at Stanford when the offense was built around RB Toby Gerhart and then QB Andrew Luck. It works at Stanford now, despite the lack of great skill players. The system has worked for the Niners. Willie Taggart was the RB coach at Stanford and took the system to Western Kentucky and led them to consecutive winning seasons. This is more than Jim Harbaugh.

Roman has a very interesting background. I won’t get into too much detail since he seems like a major longshot as of now. In some ways he feels a lot like Andy Reid, except that Roman is the guy from the alternate universe who is the running game version of Reid.

The big question for me with Roman goes back to the “is he ready to run an organization?” theme. Based solely on track record you would say “no”. But again…Reid was never in a position of power prior to getting the Eagles job. Roman might not get a job this year, but I think he’ll be a HC in the next year or two. He’s someone to watch.

Here’s an interesting video if you want to learn more about him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMweQYjC7Rs

PETE CARMICHAEL  - Another “guy in the shadows”. Pete is the OC for the Saints. How much of what they do is credited to him vs Sean Payton?

Pete grew up in football. His dad was a longtime assistant at BC. Pete got into coaching and worked at New Hampshire and worked on the staff with him in 1994. Pete then got a job as QB coach for Louisiana Tech and headed there for 5 years. In 2000 his dad was able to bring him to the NFL. Pete obviously showed he belonged. He’s stayed in the league since then. He worked for Marty Schottenheimer a couple of times.

Sean Payton hired Pete to be the QB coach when he got the Saints job in 2006. Pete took over as OC when Doug Marrone headed off to Syracuse. The offense has been great under Pete, but again the question is how much of that is him vs Payton vs Brees. Sean Payton gave up playcalling duties in 2011 and Carmichael did a great job with the offense. Pete obviously had free reign on the offense this year with Payton suspended. While the Saints have had a disappointing season, the offense is 3rd in scoring and 2nd in points.

The negative on Pete is that he’s never developed a young QB. He’s never installed and run his own offense. He has seen Payton do it up close and personal. He’s been part of a Super Bowl winning team and has had a hand in a record setting offense. I do like the fact that Pete spent time with Schottenheimer, a defensive coach. I think Pete is more likely to see things from a balanced perspective.

Pete is 41 and looks to be one of the up and coming coaches in the NFL. He’ll have to convince teams in his interview that he’s ready now.

* COLLEGE GUYS *

DOUG MARRONE  - Who? Currently the HC at Syracuse. Marrone has had that job for 4 years and is 25-25. That may not sound like much, but you need to understand just how bad Syracuse was when he got there. Syracuse was 3-9 in 2008 with the #114 offense (almost dead last) and the #100 defense. The year before they were 2-10 with the #114 offense and #111 defense. Prior to that the team was 4-8 (no rankings available). Syracuse had become one of the worst programs in the nation. Marrone rebuilt the program one day at a time, one player at a time. He didn’t put in a gimmicky offense. He didn’t load up on junior college players. He didn’t get hold of some elite recruit. Marrone did things in a patient, sustainable way.

Marrone was an OL for Syracuse back in the 80s, when the program was good. He tried to carve out an NFL career, but after 3 years gave that up and turned to coaching. He got in on the ground floor. His first 3 stops were Cortland, the Coast Guard Academy, and Northeastern. Marrone then got a job at Georgia Tech on George O’Leary’s staff. He worked with a young graduate assistant named Bill O’Brien and they became best friends over time. Marrone hit the NFL in 2002 as the OL coach for Herm Edwards and the Jets.

In 2006 Sean Payton got the HC job in New Orleans and hired Marrone to be his OC. That’s a huge move. Hiring an OL coach that you’ve never worked with to come help run your offense…that tells you that Marrone had built a strong reputation around the NFL. Marrone helped run the Saints offense for 3 years and the team had a lot of success on that side of the ball. He then left for Syracuse after the 2008 season.

Marrone is a real interesting candidate. He was part of a dynamic offensive coaching staff in New Orleans. They turned Drew Brees from good QB to record-setter. I can’t stress enough how Marrone’s ability to rebuild Syracuse is incredibly impressive. Former coach Greg Robinson was a complete disaster. Marrone developed talented players on offense and defense. He also brought discipline to the program. Marrone lost a few star players to off-field issues. He put the program above the players. And Marrone took QB Ryan Nassib and developed him from marginal college player to NFL prospect. Nassib threw for 3,753 yards and 26 TDs this year.

I love the fact that Marrone has time in college and the pros. He knows how to teach football to low level players and stars. He understands the grind of the NFL. Marrone has been part of a successful staff and has shown that he can win on his own. If you watched the Syracuse bowl game this year, you could see them running plays that the Saints used to run with Reggie Bush. Syracuse won their bowl game. They finished the year 8-5 and were 19th in offense and 44th in defense. Compare those numbers to when Marrone got there.

I think Marrone qualifies as a leader and a builder. He has the NFL background that you want. He can develop QBs. Ideally you’d love someone who won more games at the college level, but I think that is nullified by the fact the program was at rock bottom and that he didn’t go for the quick fix. Marrone did things the right way. The big question with him is if you think he can be a great NFL coach and also fit. Does he have the right personality for your organization?

http://suathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=602&path=football

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Marrone

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?year=2012&org=688

BRIAN KELLY  - Kelly will lead Notre Dame into the National Title game on Monday night against Alabama. After that, he might get some calls from NFL teams.

Kelly worked his way up the coaching ladder. He was at Grand Valley State for 13 years and went 118-35-2. In his final 2 years, they won the national title. Kelly then moved onto Central Michigan, which was a perennial loser. In his third season, CMU won a bowl game and finished 9-4. Kelly used the spread offense and developed some star players.

After the 2006 season, Kelly left for Cincinnati. That program didn’t need to be rebuilt, but the hope was that Kelly could take it to the next level. And that he did. Cincy went 10-3, 11-3, and 12-1 in his 3 seasons there. The Bearcats were relevant on a national level. That’s when ND came calling.

It is hard to know what to make of Kelly’s time in South Bend. He went 8-5 for his first couple of years. This season the team is 12-0. Supporters will tell you he’s done a great job and the team is going to be good for years to come. Critics will point to some serious luck in putting together the 12-0 record. I don’t want to turn this into a dispute on ND. I just want to focus on Kelly and his part in this.

Kelly got Cincy to 12-0. He then left for ND before their appearance in the Sugar Bowl, which they lost. Kelly now has ND at 12-0. Any coach who can get 2 BCS schools to 12-0 records knows what he is doing. I have a few issues with Kelly, though. What is Brian Kelly football? The 2009 Cincy team was very good on offense. ND is very good on defense. We can say he’s adaptable, but we don’t really know what his vision is at ND. He hasn’t had a chance to get one recruiting class all the way through. He won with different players at CMU, Cincy, and ND. That sounds great, but also works against him in a way. Is it him or the players? I’m scared Kelly might be one of those guys who can outcoach other teams at the college level.

That is great for him and ND, but doesn’t necessarily help in the NFL. You aren’t going to outcoach the other guy in the NFL, just ask Steve Spurrier. You must acquire and develop talent. Kelly is extremely demanding. He can be very dictatorial. I don’t mean this in an insulting way. It works for him in college. The NFL is different. No coach can control everything. Even Belichick needs the right people around him. Kelly is famous for his sideline screaming, at both coaches and players. He’s improved in that area a lot, but I still wonder how he’d do at motivating millionaires. It takes the right personality to motivate them through fear (see Jimmy Johnson).

I’ve got no problem with the Eagles talking to Brian Kelly, but I’d really like to see one more year from him at Notre Dame before I became totally comfortable with him. Definitely someone to keep an eye on.

* DEFENSIVE GUYS *

MIKE ZIMMER  - I think Zimmer is pretty well known since he’s been running an NFL defense for more than a decade now. I won’t go as much into background with him.

Zimmer first came on my radar when running the Dallas Cowboys defense in 2000. Zimmer had been part of the staff since 1994. I thought he was a no-good, idiotic, Satan-loving fool. That all changed when he left for the Falcons in 2007. Suddenly, he was just smarter and seemed much less evil.

Joking aside, Zimmer got my attention in 2003 when Dallas finished #1 overall in yards allowed (2nd in points). Dallas blitzed and blitzed and blitzed. That is when Brian Baldinger made the statement that Dallas didn’t respect or fear McNabb/the Eagles since they were willing to go Cover Zero and keep no one deep, something he’d never seen before. Brian has been Captain Hyperbole ever since, but I digress.

Zimmer was the DC under Dave Campo and Bill Parcells. That’s pretty impressive. When Tuna keeps you around, he must think you can coach. Zimmer went to Cincy in 2008 and has finished in the Top 7 in yards allowed 3 of the 5 years. He hasn’t been worse than 15th.

The biggest selling point for Zimmer isn’t X’s and O’s. He’s solid, but won’t do anything that other NFL coaches haven’t seen. Zimmer is a great communicator and motivator. The Bengals have handed him a group of players that were highly troubled coming out of the draft or in the NFL. Zimmer has been able to get the most out of these guys. He does a great job of talking to them in plain terms. The conversation goes something like this “Do you want to hang out with your idiot friends and get arrested or do you want to get paid a million dollars to play football?” Zimmer doesn’t focus on morals. He’s pragmatic and it seems to work.

I’m a big Mike Zimmer fan, but deciding if he’s ready to be the man running your organization is tricky. He spent time under smart coaches like Parcells, Marvin Lewis, and Chan Gailey. I just wonder if Zimmer is ready for all the non-football stuff. NFL coaching is about so much more than football these days. Zimmer would have to really sell me that he’s ready to be the head man. Love him as a DC, but I wonder if that’s his ceiling. He’s been part of a couple of highly dysfunctional organizations in Dallas and Cincy.

GUS BRADLEY  - Gus Bradley is the DC of the Seattle Seahawks. He worked a season under Jim Mora (the young one) and then stayed on when Pete Carroll took over. Pete’s key mentor is Monte Kiffin. Pete called Monte to ask about Bradley. Monte was the DC in Tampa when Bradley came in to coach the LBs. Kiffin was blown away by the young coach and told Pete to keep him. That’s what he did and Seattle is a rising force partially because of that.

Seattle was 9th in yards and 7th in points allowed last year. They are 4th in yards and #1 in scoring defense this season. That’s impressive for a guy who coached at North Dakota State and Fort Lewis College before coming to the NFL. Bradley spent 15 years honing his craft before hitting the big time. He was ready when Tampa gave him the chance and has done terrific work ever since.

Carroll will tell you that the keys for Bradley are his positive attitude and his teaching skills. He’s able to relate to players because he seems to find the positives to focus on. He also doesn’t just sit there and lecture guys in footballese. He is able to tell stories and come up with dumb sayings. That stuff keeps the players motivated and interested.

There are a couple of concerns. The happy guy approach sounds a lot like Carroll in his first trip through the NFL. That delivered mixed results. Players now see Carroll differently because of his time at USC. Bradley would be an unknown and you wonder if some veterans would think of his attitude as an act. The other key concern is that Seattle is playing great defense, but doing some unconventional things. Could those ideas work elsewhere? Seattle has taken some very odd players and made them into a great unit. Trying to copy that could be impossible and maybe disastrous.

I would love to hire Bradley as DC, but don’t think he’s ready to be a HC quite yet. Definitely someone to keep an eye on.

LOVIE SMITH  - I am a big Lovie Smith fan. His teams play hard. He also knows how to come up with turnovers. 6 times in the last 12 years Smith’s defense was in the Top 5 in takeaways. They led the league 3 different times. That’s impressive.

The case against Lovie is that he was never able to solve the offense in Chicago. He had 4 offensive coordinators in 9 years. The offense never finished above 15th in yards gained. That’s not good. Lovie didn’t have the kind of pieces to work with that the Eagles do and that’s the reason you wonder if he could work out in Philly.

I would absolutely have interest in him as a DC, but it sounds like he’s set on staying a HC. He should. He built a winning team in Chicago. That wasn’t good enough for the Bears, but other organizations would love to get to that point. Buffalo would be an ideal landing spot for him.

If Lovie could convince you that he learned his lessons in Chicago and would be different, that could change your thinking. The problem is that he just got let go. He hasn’t really had the time to reflect on where he erred on the offensive side of things. If I had a strong QB and OC in place, I’d definitely look at him. The Eagles aren’t exactly in that position so I would pass.

* MISC NAMES *

Darrell Bevell – Seattle’s OC. Interesting background and some stuff to like, but track record with young QBs makes me nervous. Russell Wilson has played great, but in a system tailored exactly to him. Bevell did a lot of the same stuff in MIN when they ran a conservative attack and Tarvaris Jackson was the QB. Wilson is light years ahead of Jackson, but my question is whether Bevell can develop a QB to thrive in a more conventional offense. Wilson might do that, but we’re only guessing right now.

Ray Horton – Arizona’s DC. Seems there is a solid chance he gets the HC job in Arizona.

Vic Fangio – SF’s DC. Dom Capers disciple. Has had a few good years, but also plenty of bad ones. Found a home working under Jim Harbaugh. Guided Stanford to 11th ranked scoring defense in 2010. Has posted great numbers in SF, in points, yards, and takeaways. Not sure I see him as HC material, but has been really good for last 3 years.

Kyle Shanahan – Skins OC. Has posted good numbers while the OC in Houston and Washington, but was working under Gary Kubiak and his dad. I don’t trust that. Would like to see him on his own before considering him. Could turn out to be a great coach, but makes me nervous due to his lack of a background outside his comfort zone.

Steve Sarkisian – Univ of Washington HC. Reportedly not interviewing with teams and will stay put for now.

* * * * *

I’ll be putting out the final pecking order probably on Saturday.  This post is super-long already.
 
Well, reports are Chip Kelly is finalizing a deal with the Browns. I don't know what to think; I kind of wanted him as our head coach but I had my doubts. Doug Marrone moved up to the top of my list after reading the article itsabouttime posted. I like coaches who are capable of building a program from the ground up and are good at developing quarterbacks.
 
Looks like Chip is coming to the Eagles, I don't see him returning to Oregon with impending sanctions
 
I dont get the hate for the eagles possibly hiring chip kelly. Im like, hes a new coach. Honestly, thats all that really matters to me. I cant see the future. Who knows if mccoy or whoever would be a bust or not. Its not like the eagles would go anywhere with foles at qb anyway
 
soooooooooooooooooo we're down to mike mccoy, gus bradley and JAY gruden?
 
[h1]http://igglesblitz.com/philadelphia-eagles-2/offense-vs-defense/[/h1][h1] [/h1][h1]Offense vs Defense[/h1]
Posted: January 7th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 44 Comments »

The search for a coach goes on.  I think the top 3 guys left are Mike McCoy, Jay Gruden, and Gus Bradley.  My preference is to go for an offensive guy, but that’s more of a guideline than an absolute rule.  Why O over D?

The NFL is an offensive league.  You are only going to win the Super Bowl if you have a good QB.  Think about recent guys: Eli, Rodgers, Brees, Roethlisberger, Eli, Peyton, Roethlisberger, Brady, and Brady.  You have to go all the way back to 2002 to find a less than star QB.  That was Brad Johnson.  And he was good that year.  He went 10-3 as the starter.  QB rating was 92.9.  He had 22 TDs and just 6 INTs.  Johnson was paired with one of the great defenses in NFL history and led the Bucs to their only title.

Without a top flight QB, you are fighting a nearly impossible battle.  You might win the division.  You might win a playoff game.  Heck, you might even get to the Super Bowl.  History says you won’t win it.

Stud QBs don’t just happen.  They must be coached and developed.  You need an offensive guru who knows how to do that.  In theory this guy could be your offensive coordinator and not the head coach, but the problem is that good OCs don’t stick around long.  They get HC jobs.

Think about some of the defensive coaches we’ve seen over the years.  Lovie Smith left the Bears with a winning record.  Marty Schottenheimer won just about everywhere.  Buddy Ryan was fired in Philly as a winner.  Tony Dungy got canned by the Bucs after putting together a really good team.  Mike Smith is the best coach in Falcons history.  Jeff Fisher did some great things with the Oilers/Titans.

What do they all have in common?  Postseason underachievers.  Fisher and Lovie got to the big game, but lost.  The other coaches weren’t even that lucky.  Buddy and Mike Smith have never won a playoff game.  Dungy did win a SB, but only after he was handed a good offense and Hall of Fame QB.  Dungy had nothing to do with developing that offense.

You must be able to score points and move the ball to in a Super Bowl.  You must have a good QB.  I’m not denying the importance of defense, but as you can see above…having an elite all time defensive guru as your HC doesn’t guarantee a ring…or even a playoff win.

You can point to Mike Tomlin winning the 2008 SB, but that doesn’t work.  He took over a team that had already been built and were already winning.  Plus, the real key in Pittsburgh sure appears to be **** LeBeau.  He became the DC there in 2004 and the defense has been #1 in 5 of the 9 years.  That is amazing.  And even Tomlin/LeBeau are paired with Roethlisberger, who is a stud QB.  Give them Kyle Orton and I don’t think you are looking at 3 SBs in that same period.

I’m open to hiring a defensive guy if he is the best candidate, but the coach must have a real strong sense of the importance of offense and QB play.  Andy Reid clearly overdid it with the passing game, but I also don’t want a guy talking about running the ball, playing good defense, and avoiding turnovers.  That’ll get you division titles, but it won’t win a SB.  You must be able to attack on offense.  Throwing 45 passes is one extreme and playing not to lose is the other.  I want a coach who understands the importance of balance and aggression.  There is a time for each.

Whether it is Nick Foles or not, the Eagles need a QB of the future.  They need a player to build around.  The new coach needs to be able to evaluate Foles and decide the proper course of action.  That could be drafting a QB at #4.  It could be taking one in the second round.  It could mean adding a veteran and then looking to the 2014 draft.  Or it could mean letting Foles play in 2013 and then re-evaluating him next January.

The Eagles need help in developing Foles or finding a franchise QB.  They also need the defense to get fixed.  I prefer hiring the offensive HC and then a strong DC to run that side of things, ala Reid/JJ.  If the Eagles meet with Gus Bradley and he blows them away, that’s fine…as long as he is able to find the right OC.  And that’s not an easy task.

* * * * *

Where does the Eagles coaching search go from here?  How does it change?

I addressed those topics for SB Nation Philly.

* * * * *

A final thought on Kelly.  A few of you have pointed this out and I absolutely agree…if the man had any reservations about coming to the NFL, he did us a huge favor by staying put.  The disaster would have been for him to come for a year and then leave.

As nuts as this will sound…I enjoyed the ChipChase this weekend.  The Eagles last coaching search was 1995.  There was no Internet for me.  I didn’t live in Philly so my only info came through USA Today, ESPN, or ESPN Radio.

It was fun on Saturday to live and die with every report and rumor that came out.  Eagles fans were hilarious as we joked about Kelly.  Someone wondered if the long meal was simply the Eagles attempt to fatten Chip up so he could fit in Andy’s old clothes.  One guy suggested that the Eagles scared Kelly away from the Browns by showing him clips of Jaiquawn and Watkins and then telling Chip those were Banner draft picks.

* * * * *

Several of you guys donated money over the weekend to help cover my expenses for going down to the Senior Bowl.  That is greatly appreciated.  It’s an awesome trip, but isn’t cheap.  I promise to do a great job of stalking Eagles scouts and hopefully coaches to figure out who we’re showing interest in.  I’ll also try to keep Jimmy Bama out of jail, but no promises on that.

* * * * *

Penn State’s Eric Shrive does great charity work.  A group called Uplifting Athletes has him in the running for an award.  You can vote for him by going here.  We’ve had so many horrific PSU stories that it feels good to support a young man that is doing what he can to make the world a better place.

* * * * *

Late Add…David Syvertsen has his list of prospects to watch in tonight’s National Title game.  CB Dee Milliner could be of special interest.  He’ll be a high pick.
 
itsaboutthattime said:
soooooooooooooooooo we're down to mike mccoy, gus bradley and JAY gruden?
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Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said Tuesday in an interview with the Bengals’ official web site he plans to interview for various head coaching vacancies, including the Eagles’, but intends to return to the Bengals.
 
The Eagles requested permission Saturday to interview Gruden, and the Bengals granted permission on Monday. No date or location for the interview has been announced.
 
“I got called to interview for these jobs, I figure I better say yes or they'll quit asking me," Gruden said. “I think it will be a great experience and it's exciting. I have every intention of coming back here. We've got a great group of guys here. We're excited for the future here.”
 
Gruden, younger brother of one-time Eagles offensive coordinator and former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, has yet to coach a top-20 offense in Cincinnati. The Bengals have been ranked 20th and 22nd in his two years as offensive coordinator.
 
The Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday with a 19-13 loss to the Texans. Gruden’s offense managed just 198 yards and six points.
 
“In this business your welcome mat doesn't last forever, and I'm sure mine has probably been kicked off the doorstep,” Gruden said. “People probably want me out of here right now. That's just the way it is in this business.”
 
The Cards have also been granted permission to interview Gruden, who spurned the Jaguars, Rams and Colts last offseason when contacted about their head coaching vacancies.
 
Gruden, who spent 2002 through 2008 on his brother’s Tampa staff, did acknowledge he would like to be a head coach one day.
 
"When you enter the coaching profession you necessarily don’t do it to be an assistant your whole life,” he said. “Eventually you'd like to be top dog and run your own ship. When the time's right.
 
“Every team has their issues and their problems. That's why they're looking. Eventually when the time is right, hopefully I'll get a chance. If not this year, or next year, or the year after. I'll be happy here because it's a great place.”

Gruden is one of 10 candidates the Eagles have identified in their search to replace Andy Reid, fired last Monday after 14 seasons.

They’ve already interviewed college coaches Bill O’Brien of Penn State and Chip Kelly of Oregon, who both elected to return to their college jobs, and they’ve interviewed Broncos defensive coordinator Mike McCoy along with Keith Armstrong and Mike Nolan from the Falcons’ staff. They also were in the mix with Syracuse coach Doug Marrone, who accepted the Bills job.

The Eagles will interview former Bears head coach Lovie Smith on Thursday. They have also been granted permission to interview Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and Colts offensive coordinator and interim head coach Bruce Arians, although no timetable has been announced on those talks.
 
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