Coaches can’t sweep respect under rug
Take it from Michael Irvin: It’s not about the X’s and O’s.
“To get the most out of your players, you’ve got to get into their souls,” Irvin told USA TODAY Sports, reflecting on the brouhaha that stemmed from the relationship between Texans coach Bill O’Brien and All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
“You can’t be in that position if you can’t deal with people.”
Maybe you think it’s stunning that Irvin, of all people, is qualified to tell us how a coach can succeed. He’s never coached a down. Yet Irvin, who earned a Hall of Fame bust and three Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys despite significant off-the-field controversy, is an authority in his own right.
He was the talent who responded to various coaching styles. A quick flashback:
That was an emotional Irvin, hurling a large trash can across the Cowboys’ locker room on the day the split between Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones became official. Irvin is so fond of Johnson, who also coached him at the University of Miami. Not long after Johnson arrived, he told me of media criticism of the coach’s brash style: “I can talk about Jimmy, but YOU can’t!” Now that’s having his back.
So, yes, Irvin, the ringleader on those ultra-talented Dallas teams, drew on his own experiences as he maintained during a lengthy chat, “There’s a line to tow between guidance and control.”
Irvin, now an NFL Network analyst, dove headfirst into the most stunning trade of the first week of the NFL’s strange-but-true new league year. He went on ESPN on Wednesday and revealed details of a conversation with Hopkins, during which the star player apparently disparaged O’Brien for crossing the line during a meeting by making a reference to the late convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez as a comparison. O’Brien also allegedly used the term, “baby mama” in referring to the mothers of Hopkins’ children.
O’Brien won’t comment on the matter, a Texans spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports. Hopkins tweeted, after Irvin’s revelation, that the issue was “blown out of proportion” and put a positive spin on his seven seasons in Houston.
But Hopkins sure didn’t call Irvin a liar and refute what was said.
I doubt that Irvin would have breached trust with Hopkins and revealed such elements of their conversation if he had been instructed not to. Rather than leak it, if that was the case, why didn’t Hopkins merely own the criticism like star cornerback Darrius Slay did on the way out of Detroit in blasting Lions coach Matt Patricia?
In an interview with Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press after he was traded to the Eagles, Slay said the coach lost him after Patricia embarrassed him in a team meeting in 2018 by using a crass, sexual reference in criticizing a social media post. He mentioned another incident when Patricia (9-22-1, in two seasons as Lions coach) told him that he wasn’t on the same “elite” level as Richard Sherman and others he joined for an offseason cornerback workout clinic.
Interestingly, O’Brien and Patricia are former Bill Belichick assistants. Maybe that’s just coincidence, though Belichick is known for a no-nonsense style that is empowered by six championship rings from nine Super Bowl appearances with the Patriots.
Regardless, the rifts these coaches had with some of their most talented players seemingly involve some serious respect issues.
And in a league where more than 70% of the players are African Americans and just two African-Americans were hired for 19 head coaching vacancies with NFL teams over the past three years, I’m wondering about a cultural disconnect, too.
Jaelen Strong, dumped by O’Brien in 2017, reacted to the firestorm ignited by Irvin, by claiming on social media that the coach ruined his career. Strong maintained in a tweet, “The man didn’t like me because I was a product of my environment.”
He also took a shot at the Texans’ culture under O’Brien, adding, “I never knew how to kiss ass.”
Undoubtedly, there are nuances that provide gray area to these cases. Strong, a third-round pick by the Texans in 2015, hasn’t been able to revive his career after playing in one game for Jacksonville following his surprise release from Houston in September 2017. The
Texans cut Strong after he missed a meeting the night before a game, apparently the final straw after multiple issues.
Still, the problem for O’Brien is compounded when considering his questionable moves since gaining the additional power of becoming his own general manager. For Hopkins, a three-time All-Pro selection, he got a running back with durability issues (David Johnson) in recent seasons and a second-round pick. That looks like a steal for Arizona. Last summer, O’Brien shipped Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle for just a thirdround pick. And he gave up two firstround picks for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and receiver Kenny Stills.
Maybe the moves will prove wise in the long run. Maybe not. In the interim, O’Brien’s reputation has taken a serious hit. It’s rare to see coaches part with difference-makers as talented as Hopkins and Clowney – Chip Kelly dumping LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson while in their prime with the Eagles comes to mind – but could also reflect the risk of giving some coaches too much power without a GM authority in the mix. On top of contract matters, differences with Hopkins and Clowney (who didn’t end his holdout last summer until late August) might have also involved practice availability and philosophies.
It’s fair to wonder whether the knocks on O’Brien’s people skills will hurt the Texans’ ability to lure free agents and retain players, which could ultimately determine his fate in Houston.
Irvin wouldn’t connect any dots between Hopkins and other departed players who didn’t mesh with O’Brien. But he said he could relate in recalling that his last coach in Dallas, Chan Gailey, rubbed him the wrong way by maintaining that he had “too much control of the locker room” – a theme he said that O’Brien expressed to Hopkins.
About three weeks ago, Irvin had a clear message when Kansas coach Les Miles invited him to be a guest speaker at a clinic on campus that attracted 600 high school coaches.
His takeaway point?
“You must be a builder, a mentor, a counselor and sometimes even a father figure,” Irvin recalled telling the coaches, alluding to players coming from different backgrounds. “If you are lacking in any of those traits, get out of the room. This is the job of the coach.”
Especially if tapping the soul leads to winning big.