‘Losing the room’ is bad news for any coach
A common anxiety-producing dream has the sleeper searching for a place — classroom, interview site — and not finding it. For many coaches, however, the nightmare is real, because losing the locker room actually happens.
Former Cavaliers coaches David Blatt and John Beilein lost the locker room in Cleveland. Bill O’brien lost the room with the Houston Texans. After winning three Stanley Cup titles in 10 years, Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville lost the room in early 2018 and soon after lost his job.
Has John Tortorella lost the room in Columbus? And what does that even mean?
Valerie Still spent enough years in locker rooms to know what losing the room looks and feels like. Still played college basketball at Kentucky and then professionally in Italy before joining the Columbus Quest of the ABL and then the Washington Mystics of the WNBA.
“I’ve experienced it, so I know it’s real,” Still said. “It’s when players lose respect for a coach or a coach has a difficult time maintaining respect.”
But how and why does it happen? The answer touches on everything from personality conflicts to wrong words — Beilein called his players “thugs” — to an inability to do the job well.
Still recalled her time with the Mystics, when Australian coach Tom Maher struggled to connect with players because of cultural differences.
“The Mystics already were doing poorly, and they brought in (Maher) and he just couldn't relate,” Still said. “And once players get the inkling you're clueless, it's downhill from there.”
Her experience with the Quest was entirely different, largely because coach Brian Agler understood how to push players without demeaning them, which created the best locker room chemistry Still ever experienced.
Agler was demanding without being a screamer, a delicate balance that Still said is increasingly challenging to make work.
“You can't be shouting all the time,” she said. “Would Bobby Knight be successful today? People don't allow that anymore, being physical with players.”
“Keeping” the room proves increasingly challenging for college coaches as the transfer portal and immediate eligibility creates the potential for mass departures, former Ohio State offensive lineman Kirk Barton said.
“You might see entire rooms clear out and potential for mass exodus,” Barton said. “Some guys are going to have to change how they treat kids.”
Every coach has a shelf life, which often is connected to how much he or she resembles a horse's rear.
“Sometimes the coaches who have half-lives are the flame-throwers,” said Barton, who played for six coaches in his two NFL seasons. “After you do that for a while, the fear factor wears off a little bit. It's like driving a car 200 mph as hard as it can go. Something bad will happen, compared to driving it 40.”
An offshoot of the fire-breathing coach is the “When I was a player” coach, the man or woman who runs things the way he or she remembered them being run when they were playing.
Barton recalled an experience under former San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary, a former player himself.
“Singletary wasn't that bad, but in camp he ran the nutcracker drill, which is super physical,” Barton said, explaining that 49ers center Eric Heitmann injured his neck during the drill in 2010 and retired a year later. “When you do stuff like that you lose the locker room.”
Singletary is an example of players losing trust in a coach who is not looking out for their best interests, whether that involves health or wealth.
“At the end of the day it's “Can you get me paid? Get me the ball? Get me my stats?” Barton said.
Fans might see that as players being selfish, but Barton correctly pointed out that no one wants to work for an incompetent boss.
Barton mentioned former Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens, who rose from running backs coach to offensive coordinator to head coach in less than two seasons before getting fired in 2019 when the Browns went 6-10.
“When there's a disconnect, when players don't feel like they're put in a position where they can be successful, you lose the room. I remember Urban Meyer saying you better know your stuff, because if a player asks a question and you go, ‘Uh …,' it's over.”
It's probably over regardless. Rarely do coaches leave on their own terms. Winning works for a while, but even one slip-up — whether by uttering an insensitive comment or hiring an incompetent assistant — and the room can be lost forever. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd