Wednesday, January 14, 1998

What is all the fuss?

By Gary W. Morris / Guest Columnist

THE ASSISTANT COACHES:

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There seems to be a lot of worry and fuss about Jerry selecting the assistant coaches before he selects the head coach and by doing so he will "scare off" some of the better coaches.

Well, let's see ... did the 49'ers let their new head coach bring in his "cronies" or did most of the assistant coaches from the Seifert era stay? The Answer: Most stayed! The owners of "good organizations" know who are good coaches and who aren't.

Why would any organization "clean house" unless they were one of those unsuccessful organizations that have trouble winning championships like the Cardinal organization, the Ram organization, etc.

Good organizations have winning traditions and only have short down periods. Have the 49'ers missed the playoffs before? Yes, but they bounce right back. And the reason they bounce right back is because they understand the word "continuity"!

When the Cowboys were purchased by Jerry Jones, he brought in the new coach and then he and Jimmy assembled the staff. When Jimmy left, Jerry was smart enough to know what a good staff they had assembled and has only replaced the staff when they have left to go on to a better situation for them.

No organization that holds back their employees from promotions is going to be able to hire the best, because the best won't come into that type of situation. And the reverse is also true. That is why Jerry and other owners allow their assistant coaches to leave for head coaching positions, but they try to keep the assistants that are good and talk them into staying rather than moving to a similar position on another team or firing them just because it is time for a new head coach!

Jerry will probably get rid of Ernie Zampeeze because it is time for a switch to a new Offensive Scheme, and although Ernie could probably learn the West Coast Scheme, Jerry and us fans don't have the time to let him learn on the job.

So in this case, it is not that Ernie is not a good coach, it is time for a new offensive direction that is too different to allow on-the-job training.

Defense is another story. Dave Campo has enough understanding of all defensive schemes to implement the 3-4 or any other scheme, so Dave and much of the defensive staff will probably be retained and then as an organization they will decide the type of scheme to implement on defense.

In any organization, you don't want to run it by committee. But on the other hand, you want everybody to feel like their input is important and that they can debate the merits of a plan. Every thing must be sold. Once an idea or plan is suggested, it is held up for debate and more debate. Once the debate is over, everyone is asked to either point out the holes in the conclusion or buy into it. This is what keeps the organization from getting stale and lost when others are passing them by. And the previous offensive scheme has passed its prime and it is time to put the West Coast "Suggestion" up for debate and get everyone on board.

This does not mean hiring someone like Ditka and let him bring in "HIS" staff, (cronies ), and let HIM decide on the Offensive Scheme and the Defensive Scheme, and then when HE fails, clean house and make the same mistakes all over again!

Organizations win and organizations lose. Tinker with the part or parts of the organization that need fixing, but leave the parts that aren't broke alone.

"If it ain't broke...don't fix it."

COMMENTS:

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Gary Morris

garywm@jps.net email

http://home.earthlink.net/~garywm