The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Changing cultures a part of new coach’s job
There’s more than the X’s and O’s to consider when hiring a new head coach in the NFL.
Changing a culture and establishing a healthier one is a prime consideration. Four of the five teams that brought in new leaders for 2020 seem to have made the correct moves.
The one flop has been in Dallas, where not only have the Cowboys collapsed on the field and in the standings, but appear to have regressed to the very early 2000s when America’s Team was more America’s Joke.
The outlook is much brighter for the Browns, Giants, Panthers and in Washington. And those franchises started from a much lower level, with both Carolina and Washington going through off- field scandals in recent years.
Suggesting the Giants, Washington, Carolina or Cleveland are ready to contend for a championship is a stretch. But the fact the spotlight is on their revivals, not on their dysfunction, is a credit to
each head coach.
WASHINGTON
The mess for a franchise that finally dropped a nickname considered racist also has included harassment claims from former club employees and reporters, and a battle over minority ownership stakes. Those are beyond Ron Rivera’s reach, but as he recalled about a phone call just after he was fired by the Panthers last December with washington team owner Daniel Snyder, Rivera’s charge was more than what happens between the sidelines.
“The thing th a ti was really pleased about was the conversation was about the football team, and more so about reestablishing the culture,” Rivera noted. “( Snyder) said in this conversation with Joe Gibbs, Joe had told him about the things that I had done and what I had done with all the situations we had there in Carolina. Itwas about culture. That conversation was probably about a littleover an hour, and I’d say probably about 45 minutes of it, minimum, was probably about culture, about rebuilding culture and doing the things that were needed.”
Yes, Washington is only 5- 7, but Rivera’ s approach is working everywhere—and ina pande mic-impacted year, no less. NEWYORKGIANTS The Giants started 0- 5 and now are leading thenfc east. More significantly, they have made progress everywhere. Of particular note is the accountability Joe Judge and his staff brought. Such culpability was decidedly absent almost since Tomcoughlin left.
Offensive line coach Marc Colombo was fired for voicing displeasure over Judge’ s decision to hired ave de guglielmo as a consultant. First- round draft pick Andrew Thomas showed up late for a meeting the night before a game and didn’t start. Golden Tate mugged for cameras and complained about a lack of targets andwas benched the next week.
“I think the accountability to your teammates— and that’ s coach to coach, coach to player, player to player, player to coach — we all have to be accountable to one another,” Judge says, “and that’s in how we work, in how we prepare and that’s in whatever the result of our preparation is. Don’t make any excuses, just call itwhat it is, behonestwith each other. If we’re transparent andwe’re honest, we can all go aheadand improve and move on.” CAROLINA
Matt Rhule built a winner attemple, then re- energized a Baylor program that was scand al-ridden. He came to a Panthers team in rebuilding mode, and while they’ re just 4-8, probably their two best players— RB Christian Mccaffrey and Dlkawann short— havebeen injured.
Yet the Panthers have been competitive and energetic.
“Those other places were different situations,” Rhule said, “but the one thing we did was battled and improved. I am proud of these guys, I see an improvement in them. There are so many guys we had slated to go and then other guys had to step up. There’s guys that when we started training camp weren’t even on the roster that are playing significant amounts of reps for us. SOI like that part of who we are and what we’re building.
“Sometimes you are not winning, so you think it’s not working, but it’s working, you are just not winning yet. And if you keep doing it, itwill continue to work and work.” CLEVELAND
With the Browns, it’s all about stability. Since reentering the NFL in 1999, they seemingly have hired new coaches annually. They even brought back Hue Jackson after he went 0- 16.
Asteady demeanor, openness and disciplinary ways have marked Kevin Stefanski as perhaps, finally, the right man. He’s taken a roster of varied personalities and, so far, melded them into a successful unit.