Coaching
...s are more relaxed and not worried about being yelled at. This does not mean Coach Edwards does not yell, but he is more cautious when he yells because when he yells he wants to be known that area is important to him. For example a recent article on CBS sports line states this “If Herman Edwards has gotten one major point across to his players in his first training camp as an NFL head coach, it is this: There is nothing wrong with having fun: Fun learning. Fun practicing. Fun playing” ( Carucci 1). Also in the article is shows exactly how much of a laissez-faire coach Herman Edwards is. For instance At the end of the Jets’ final minicamp, capping off an intensive four-month off-season training program, Edwards organized a round-robin team softball tournament and barbecue that included family and friends. Herman Edwards in the proto-type laid back coach and Jets receiver could not back it up any better with this quote, “It’s more of an atmosphere conducive to winning. It is not relaxation. You come, have fun, [but] you work. “You don’t have to dread coming to work, and no one does this year … It’s just a breath of fresh air to have him here.” However, New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin uses a more hard nosed, dictatorship coaching style that we defined before. Tom Coughlin is known to run extremely hard training camps and have unthinkable team rules that players are fed up with. Many of his players are such in fear of making a mistaking when playing that they play nervous and do even worse. A great example of how hard Tom Coughlin is on his players is too seeing how demanding and torturous his training camp is. He runs his New York Giants out to the field twice a day, usually in full pads. He practices them hard, he makes them run and when they are about to drop, he sends them out again. For the players, its one of the longest months of their lives, and its in their exhaustion and misery that the legend of Coughlin was born. Another great example of how Tom Coughlin is hard-nosed coach is by his team rules. An article in the New York Daily News listed some his rules, “Having a cell phone ring not only during a meeting, but even using one in the training room will cost you $5,000. Missing a treatment will also cost you five grand. Misplacing or losing your playbook is an even more egregious offense and will cost the offending party close to $7,500. All feet must be on the ground at all times during team meetings.” (Vachhiano, 1). This rules are simply unheard of unless your on Tom Coughlin’s football team. Because Tom Coughlin is such a hard-nosed dictator and has stupid rules that have nothing to do with winning brings a different attitude to his players. Many of his players don’t like him and wont play the hardest just because they don’t like him and they want to see him get fired. Quickly in defense of premise two, being more relaxed coach results into a long lasting coaching career. Most real hard nosed, dictatorship style coaches have many health problems that causes them to leave coaching all together or take a break from the sidelines for an extended period. Although Tom Coughlin has not had any real health problems yet, other hard-nosed coaches such as Bill Parcells and Dick Vermeil have. Vermeil suffered a large amount of stress that resulted to a near fatal heart while with the Eagles. The attack that kept him away from coaching for a couple years until he eventually went to St Louis and now Kansas City. Bill Parcells also known for his insane coaching style suffered kidney stones while with the Giants. Such laissez-faire coaches as Herman Edwards and Tony Dungy have been in very good health, most likely due because of their coaching style. Therefore, in my defense and examples of both premises I think a laissez-faire coaching style works much better then a hard-nosed dictatorship. On the other hand, it may be contended in criticism of premise one that although laissez-faire coaching seems to be better then a hard-nosed dictatorship, it does not mean that Herman Edwards is a better coach, who uses a laissez faire coaching style then Tom Coughlin who uses a rather hard-nosed approach. If one looks at the statistics, Herman Edwards has a total career record of 26-25 with two playoff appearances. While Tom Coughlin has a career record of 68-60 with four playoff appearances. It becomes clear by looking at the stats that in fact a hard-nosed coaching style does seem to produce better res...