The overlap between the coaching carousel and the postseason creates annual concerns regarding the distraction it creates for coordinators who are under consideration for promotions elsewhere. And while the league has made some tweaks aimed at make the Wild West a little less wild.
In the latest episode of the Let’s Go! podcast, North Carolina coach Bill Belichick discussed his views on the problems arising from the full focus of playoff football preparation being diluted by one or more head-coaching interviews.
“I’ve never been a big fan of it,” Belichick said. “I think it’s really unfortunate when you have a team, including the coaches and the coordinators, worked so hard all year to get to the playoffs, to have an opportunity to play in conference championships and Super Bowls, and then they’re totally distracted by another team, who was a bad team, who has a coaching change, infringing on that team that’s trying to get to a championship by hiring one of their top coaches. Nobody would be happy if that was a player. But for a coach, that’s also very disruptive, especially when you’re the play caller. I mean, it’s just human nature to be distracted by a potential job opening, staff and change of lifestyle from a coordinator to a head coach when you’re trying to prepare and call plays in a critical game.”
He’s right. Look at Ben Johnson. Even if he didn’t sit down to make a decision until Sunday, he surely was thinking about it — and talking to his family about it — before the 24 hours or so in which he made his decision. Every minute spent thinking and talking about the next relocation is one less minute spent refining the game plan, self-scouting the film from 17 regular-season games, and otherwise thinking of anything and everything that could help the Lions score more points than the Commanders.
“When I took the head job at Cleveland, I didn’t interview for the head coaching position, at Cleveland or Tampa, until we finished playing, until the Super Bowl was over after we had beaten Buffalo [in Super Bowl XXV],” Belichick said. “You’re gonna get started at the same time anyway as a coach. It’s not that, but the distraction that it leads into, I think I was very fortunate and glad that I didn’t have to deal with that. So I don’t like it, but it’s not my rule. It’s not my choice. So I think it’s unfair to the teams that have performed and worked so hard to get to that position to have another team that’s obviously not a good team, that has created their own negative situation by having to hire a new coach because of their performance, generally is able to disrupt the team that’s trying to win a championship.”
The Lions got a double whammy, with both Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn distracted by multiple coaching searches. The best solution would be to prevent all interviews until after the Super Bowl. Which, in turn, would require the NFL to adjust its offseason calendar.
For the teams that make it to the postseason in any given year, it would be an acceptable trade-off. Each of them would benefit from the complete focus of the coordinators who have attracted the attention of teams with vacancies.
Would it prevent agents from talking to teams, or other backchannel communications? No. But it would allow the coordinators to avoid having to carve out the time and mental bandwidth that gets devoted to a future that shouldn’t become the future until the present postseason has concluded.
