I think we are all struggling with a team's performance and how it relates to being a coaching issue or a player issue. I have been all over the place with it out of expectation frustration. and wanting success. I came across this article which may ground us a bit. Whichever way you look at it --it is not an easy issue to resolve. The Jack Gibson quote at the end may not give us hope. Sorry for the cut and paste and length of the article
“Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing” NFL Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi (1959-1967).
As in many other parts of life, including business and politics, the cutthroat world of professional sport has seen the demise of many a once much fancied and revered leader – the coach.
But if the 2014 National Rugby League (NRL) season is anything to go by, it seems to be happening on an increasingly regular basis and, even more brutally, early or mid-season.
This year in the NRL a record seven or nearly half the coaches in the competition have either been sacked by their Club’s Board or announced a premature departure in response to the poor performance of the team on the pitch.
The first sacking happened after just a handful of games into the regular season.
The last and most recent victim had spent almost the entire second half of the season coaching a young, talented team knowing the axe could fall at any moment.
Ironically, it was a “performance review” conducted by another former coach who had himself been sacked from his last Club, which was used by the controversial CEO to persuade the Board to dispense with his services.
In the last English Premier League season (EPL), it was coaching carnage with 12 of the 20 Managers sacked.
This apparently rising trend isn’t confined to the NRL or EPL but is being played out across a variety of professional sports where sponsors and fans, closely followed by the boardrooms who rely on the sponsors and fans, expect results and demand immediate answers when their team is not meeting their start of season high expectations.
And in the small coaching pool that makes up the NRL Competition, these sacked coaches often simply end up at rival clubs via a musical chairs type process.
“If we can play like that every week we'll get some level of consistency” Sir Alex Ferguson, Manager Manchester United (1986-2013).
When a team is consistently underperforming and losing matches - who is responsible, and if it is the coach or manager, does sacking them lead to better outcomes?
When a team of otherwise talented and highly paid players underperforms or loses week after week it’s difficult to properly or objectively assess who is responsible. With 11, 13, 15 or 18 players on the field in whatever code, it’s a bit hard to blame the players. They can’t all be playing poorly. It must be poor coaching. But on the other hand, how many times have we seen one player single-handedly turn a game around by an act of sheer individual brilliance? How many times have we seen an otherwise poorly performing team respond to a perceived injustice such as a cheap shot by an opponent lead to a complete turnaround in effort and result? Surely that points to player responsibility?
To make it more confusing, different coaches seem to see things differently.
One NFL Coach certainly predicted his own demise when he said:
“I feel that a great coach is one that has a vision, sets a plan in place, has the right people in place to execute that plan and then accepts the responsibility if that plan is not carried out”
Mike Singletary, NFL Footballer and Coach, sacked by the 49ers in 2010.
Yet Brian Clough, one of the EPL’s greatest ever managers, “the greatest manager England never had”, saw it differently:
"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes”.
He also believed the buck didn’t necessarily end with the Coach. When asked about the number of managers getting the boot he said:
"If a chairman sacks the manager he initially appointed, he should go as well."
Judging by the quotes for which he is famous, legendary NFL Coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi acknowledged the precarious nature of the coaching role when he said:
“If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm”.
In the AFL at least there’s been a bit of a fight back for coaches. Perhaps scarred by his own brief experience coaching the International Rules Football Team for two losses and two narrow wins,
Melbourne Football Club icon Garry Lyon recently called on his old team to stop pointing the finger at their coach for their poor showings on the field:
"Stop blaming coaches. Stop blaming the poor culture. Stop blaming the last five years, Melbourne players."
West Coast Eagles co-Captain Matt Priddis took defending his coach much further when he said:
"It's the players…it doesn't matter who's coaching, it's purely the players."
So no-one will probably ever agree on where the blame lies for a team’s poor performance. But if we accept for a minute the proposition that the leader or coach needs to go, is there any evidence this produces better results?
In English and European Football where the ruthless practice of sacking the coach has been around a lot longer, a couple of studies appear to shed some light on the subject.
Dr Bas ter Weel is deputy director at the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in The Hague, the Netherlands and a professor of economics at Maastricht University.
In 2011 he released a paper titled “Does Manager Turnover Improve Firm Performance? Evidence from Dutch Soccer, 1986–2004”1. According to the paper, over the time studied the average season saw around 50% of teams changed managers, and of these, about 44% were forced resignations. Dr ter Weel studied the performance of not only the teams who fired their boss when times were tough, but also those who stuck with the beleaguered coach and weathered out the season. The paper found no difference in performance between the two groups:
“What is clear is that performance increases after one period are significant but that the new manager performs worse compared to the control group in the next three periods he is in charge”.
A similar study2 conducted around the same period but of the German Bundesliga came to very similar conclusions. University of Muenster researchers examined more than 40 years of German professional team records in an effort to determine if coaching changes affect a team’s results.
Using the goal differential (GD) as the measurement for team performance, the study found no significant difference in performance or results gained from replacing the coach mid-season.
The frequent positive results achieved immediately following a coach dismissal is explained as “a simple statistical selection effect (regression towards the mean)”, which, according to Wikipedia used to be known, perhaps more appropriately, as “reversion to mediocrity”.
Unfortunately there is little hope that statistical studies of this type will lead to less coaches being fired mid-season. Pressure from the media, the sponsors and fans who fund professional sport and demand results will continue to determine the fate of coaches who do not meet their high expectations.
Finally, there’s the view that no manner of great coaching or player talent can produce a desired result – that it is something in a Club’s DNA that ultimately determines their long term success.
Therefore the last word goes to Australian Rugby League “Team of the Century” coach Jack Gibson who famously said:
“Waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership is like leaving the porch lamp on for Harold Holt”.
Replies
brissy - i am with ya mate......a lot of so-called "supporters" mix reality and fantasy
Interesting Bert that you played professionally for ten years. Which club ? Its also interesting that most players or ex players certainly at NRL level all seem to rate BA as a good coach, when interviewed or make commentary.
As a professional what makes you believe that BA is no good as a coach.
Bert, I would say you are a much better candidate for a Troll than Brissy.
I also see Brissy defending the coach and not having a hard on for him.
Now if you played professionally for 10 years then so be it, congratulations.
In terms of qualifications it gives you nothing.....you can be called a prostitute and be a slut or an angel of mercy, its how you hold yourself that real judgements are made.
The fact is your lack of rationality is such that you would be closer to the former than the later.
Respect would be aknowledging that you "banner up as a pro" but knock someone else who has played profesionally and coached professionally.
You have talked the talk, lets see you walk the walk! You have just dug a pretty good hole for yourself!
I tend to disagree. Let's talk about EPL, how many champions league collectively won by English club compared to Madrid or Bayern.
Tactics plays an important role in a team sports. You see manager like Jose Mourino or Ancelotti or Klopp, they are famous tactician.
Yes players do take some blame. But putting blame on players 100% is not right.
Porto winning champions league and resurgence of Spain in football theatre says lot about tactics.
About sacking coach, yes it's everywhere. If you earn big bucks you have to take some responsibility.....
Desieels, it is very easy to say sacking coaches is everywhere.....so its ok!
Has this discussion been in context of BA not being responsible or saying he doesn't earn the big bucks.
PS The big bucks are very different in European soccer than RL in Australia.
The one point that you do make that has credibility in the argument is "tactics" and this is where most critique of BA takes place....he is not a great public speaker but his players love him, he seems to have created a very positive environment..... and under the circumstances of the reputation of the team he inherited he has recruited remarkably well, the tactics are the testing matters and I believe should be the focus of his role.
I do not know him personally so I cannot judge his thinking, but he is around enough people who have good intelligence to assume he is able to think critically and presumably employ tactics.
What we don't know and can't judge is that does he employ's tactics very astutely, given the limitations of the resources available. i.e. you might't like his style but his effectiveness to attain what the team does could be a maximum effort.
The challenge therefore lies in examining that and getting someone better......smarter people than us will have to make that decision.
Outside of this forum and other minor social media it appears that most people a very happy with him. TCT people are not dummies (dislike them personally if you like) but they have every bit as much experience as any of the goose's we have on here.
Sometimes we protest too much without knowing the truth!
Our right side defence has been diabolical for the backend of 2020, and same in trial. Was also clunky against Broncos.
Brad and his coaching staff don't seem to be able to fix this.Now if the Storm exploit this and bang 3 or 4 trys down our RS, who is at fault. The players are trying, but maybe the lack the communication or ability.
Or the coaching staff don't know what the problem is.
Either way if we are spanked on our RS, the experts including comentators will be asking why this has not been addressed.
Not sure players changing sides will fix problems.
If you look at the rosters BA's worked with and the results produced you'll find he's only had one bad season.
All this talk about coach sacking and BA isn't the problem. I know 35 years is a long time but how many other supporter groups are so weak minded to panic after a first round win?