South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
How does he get them here?
Will Flores travel his own path or follow Belichick’s Patriot Way?
Over the last week, I’ve heard the same question with the same uncertainty about soonto-be Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores. No one knows Flores or his ideas. But the question is always the same:
What balance will Flores strike between emulating Bill Belichick, the only NFL boss he’s known, and being his own coach?
This gets wrapped inside the larger Belichick-ian mystery of why his assistants haven’t been successful head coaches. Belichick is the coach of his time, maybe of all time, so his franchise should be a great incubator for football minds.
His Patriots are an unmatched football dynasty. They’ve won 16 of the past 17 AFC East titles, been to eight straight AFC championship games, and with a win at Kansas City on Sunday, could be on their way to his sixth Super Bowl title.
Why wouldn’t you copy The Patriot Way?
Those who try, typically fail. The only success story is Nick Saban, who is to college football in unmatched success and clipped personality what Belichick is to the NFL. But Saban failed in two years with the Dolphins, just like everyone else on the list of former Belichick assistants.
Bill O’Brien has made the playoffs three times in five years in Houston, but has never won a postseason game. Josh McDaniels’ two years in Denver ended on a 5-17 run in which he fought with players and media and was ensnared in a scandal of videotaping the San Francisco 49ers practice. (Talk about learning at the master’s knee.)
Jim Schwartz had one winning season in five years in Detroit. Romeo Crennel was 28-55 as a head coach. Eric Mangini not only failed in New York with the Jets and in Cleveland, but turned Fredo on Belichick by being the front man to Spygate. On an on.
Matt Patricia is most recent and offers the freshest anecdotes. He took over a 9-7 team in Detroit and went 6-10 this past season. He told a reporter to quit slouching at a press conference (he of the unruly beard and pencil in his ear). He had the Lions practice outside in a Michigan winter despite playing in a domed stadium.
He acted like Belichick Jr. That’s no great surprise. Belichick is his only measure of an NFL coach, having worked with the Patriots since 2004. McDaniels was the same way, working only with Belichick until becoming a head coach. Mangini had one year away with Baltimore.
Flores, like Patricia, was Bill Belichick of the Patriots is an all-time great coach — but so far his former assistants are another matter.
with Belichick since 2004. It’s the only compass point he knows in NFL football. That, you see, is one of the tenets of The Patriot Way. Belichick always has reared young pups on the milk of his ways until they’re ready
to become valuable assistants.
Belichick is genuine, too. His ways are his ways. He borrowed from his mentor, Bill Parcells. But he developed a culture of secrecy, overt control and disposable players on his own. He also found a quarterback in Tom Brady to win right away in New England to offer his ideas credibility.
Saban came to the Dolphins with the same methods, right down to Belichick’s idea of a personal assistant. Belichick has Berj Najarian, who few know. Saban had Scott O’Brien, who the players nicknamed Dr. Doom. He once told the team’s equipment manager, Tony Egues, to never say “good morning,” to Saban.
Will Flores have a personal assistant? Will he introduce an era of secrecy bordering on paranoia?
There should be ample space between being influenced by Belichick’s ways and following them completely. But his assistants have trouble separating them like, say, the assistants of the coach across Sunday’s field in Andy Reid.
Reid hasn’t won a Super Bowl, much less the five of Belichick. But on his coaching tree are John Harbaugh and Doug Pederson, who have won rings. Ron Rivera made a Super Bowl. Matt Nagy and Sean McDermott are respected coaches.
Why do Reid disciples outshine Belichick disciples when Belichick is the proven winner? Maybe it’s as simple as that. What works for Belichick doesn’t work for his assistants.
Flores was no doubt blessed to see excellence at work for 15 years in New England. Maybe he was cursed as he strikes out on his own, too. That might depend on the balance he strikes between being influenced by Belichick and trying to copy him.
Some teams hire New England assistants in hopes of finding the next Belichick. What they hired, instead, is the next coach trying to be Belichick.