REQUIEM FOR A TEAM
McAdoo, Odell can learn from past coach-star connections
THERE are exceptions — Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson, for example — but a franchise’s championship dreams sometimes hinge on the relationship between coach and star player, or manager and star player.
The 2017 Giants appear to be legitimate Super Bowl contenders — especially if coach Ben McAdoo can figure out a way to solicit Odell Beckham Jr. as one of his trusted locker-room lieutenants and team leaders.
Beckham’s decision to forego the Giants’ voluntary OTAs — against McAdoo’s team-building desires — is an alarm bell: Will the secondyear coach will be able to effectively handle his otherworldly celebrity/ Nike icon following a year of firestorms on and off the field?
The Giants will be keeping their fingers crossed that Beckham’s quest to be legendary and win his first Super Bowl championship ultimately will have him pulling on the same rope as his laser-focused coach when winning is mandatory.
McAdoo had a bird’s-eye view of one of the gold standards of the coach-player relationship during his two years as offensive coordinator for Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning. That 12-year bond between Coughlin and Manning resulted in two Super Bowl championships and had the quarterback fighting off tears during Coughlin’s goodbye inside the training center auditorium.
“He’s everything you’d want a son to be,” Coughlin said.
And: “Eli, it’s not you. It’s not you. It’s us.”
And Manning wrote in the Players’ Tribune: “He loves talking about his wife, his children and grandchildren. And I think when you can bring that personal connection to a coach-player relationship, that’s something you don’t always see. He taugh me lessons about handling responsibilities. Being professional, being proud. Later, when I got married and had children of my own, he taught me about being a good husband, a good father, and a good man.” There was Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, who won four World Series together with the Yankees.
Jeter: “In my eyes, Joe Torre is more than a Hall of Fame manager. He is a friend for life, and the relationship we have shared has helped shape me in ways that transcend the game of baseball.”
Torre: “As a manager, he made my life easier because you knew he was going to show up every day and do the best he can.”
There was Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan, who won five NBA championships together over 19 years with the Spurs.
Popovich: “We’re more soulmates in life than we are in basketball. I’ve been on his fanny so many times throughout his 19 years, and half the time he agrees with me and half the time he thinks I’m a nut. And he just is polite enough and mature enough to just ignore me and go back out on the court, which allowed me to coach everybody else all those years. But off the court, that’s where we’re soulmates.”
Duncan: “Thank you Coach Pop for being more than a coach. For being like a father to me, thank you.”
There is Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, who have won five Super Bowls together in their 17 years together.
Belichick: “It isn’t all about talent. It is about dependability, consistency and being able to improve. And again, if you work hard and you are coachable and you understand what you need to do, you can improve.”
Brady: “We have always got along so well, and I think that the focus has always been on the team. He commits his life to coaching football and to coaching this team. I commit my life to playing football for this team and playing quarterback. I know Coach loves to coach, and I love to play, and I love playing for him.”
There was Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan winning six NBA crowns together with thee Bulls. There was Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, who won nine NBA tittles together with the Celtics. There was Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr, who wonn five championships together with the Packers
You don’t have to have those kind of dream relationships to win. And it is unlikely McAdoo and Beckham will have one. McAdoo’s job is to make certain Beckham’s voluntary absence proves to be nothing more thanan a tem-t pest in a teapot, and given Beckham’s competitive juices and lofty ambition, I’ll bet that it is. It’s mandatory.