The Importance of Positional Coaches

[football guy]

https://www.footballxos.com/defining-position-coach/amp/
 

A good read on the importance of positional coaches and what their primary roles and responsibilities are, versus

https://theathletic.com/3102961/2022/01/31/jets-make-staff-changes-with-the-goal-of-boosting-zach-wilsons-development/?source=user_shared_article 
 

The staff decisions that lead to a lot of the issues we saw on offense this year, particularly at QB and WR.

[Adoni Beast]

Has Saleh and Douglas recognized this is an issue and it needs to be corrected?

[football guy]

12 minutes ago, Adoni Beast said:

Has Saleh and Douglas recognized this is an issue and it needs to be corrected?

I can’t speak to them specifically but people in the organization know it. There will be changes

[Wit]

7 minutes ago, football guy said:

I can’t speak to them specifically but people in the organization know it. There will be changes

Will they get the chance, or will there be changes. Not sure how I feel anymore, but I know changing coaches and QB's like baby diapers isnt always the best for an organization. 

[Jets Voice of Reason]

Yeah, having an actual qb coach would be a good start. 

[RSJ]

I can’t speak to them specifically but people in the organization know it. There will be changes

I hope the changes start with Douglas and Saleh


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[Adoni Beast]

16 minutes ago, football guy said:

I can’t speak to them specifically but people in the organization know it. There will be changes

Thank God.

Still concerning that they didn’t actively look to fill a spot or two with vet coaches for 2022.

2021 I understand that the unexpected tragedy of Coach Knapp caught everyone off guard but no excuse for this year other than…arrogance?

[RSJ]

Thank God.
Still concerning that they didn’t actively look to fill a spot or two with vet coaches for 2022.
2021 I understand that the unexpected tragedy of Coach Knapp caught everyone off guard but no excuse for this year other than…arrogance?

Because they arent good.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[chirorob]

That's nother benefit of Sean Payton.  He is assembling an excellent staff.

I'd argue that was Bill Parcells best trait, the staffs he put together.

[Integrity28]

37 minutes ago, football guy said:

https://www.footballxos.com/defining-position-coach/amp/
 

A good read on the importance of positional coaches and what their primary roles and responsibilities are, versus

https://theathletic.com/3102961/2022/01/31/jets-make-staff-changes-with-the-goal-of-boosting-zach-wilsons-development/?source=user_shared_article 
 

The staff decisions that lead to a lot of the issues we saw on offense this year, particularly at QB and WR.

1st article is great. Had me at:

Position Coaches are the Foundation of Player Development

Cannot read the athletic (pay wall). I assume it’s about not having anyone to replace Knapp and Cavanaugh, etc. Pretty much on point.

[Pac]

16 minutes ago, Jets Voice of Reason said:

Yeah, having an actual qb coach would be a good start. 

Ive always wondered why they made a guy who had never coached QBs in charge of Zaps development.  Mind boggling. 

[SuicidalSince98]

It’s the end of year two and they are just now realizing the importance of positional coaches? Sounds like a scapegoat. Fire all these hacks 

[bostonmajet]

We have a coach who finds time during the season to golf and has been suspended for gambling - yep - pretty sure the FO appreciates that it is time to find some new coaches.

[section314]

50 minutes ago, football guy said:

I can’t speak to them specifically but people in the organization know it. There will be changes

Have JD get on the phone and set up an interview in Florham Park with Frank Reich next  Monday. Get a real OC and QB guy in here.

[football guy]

27 minutes ago, Wit said:

Will they get the chance, or will there be changes. Not sure how I feel anymore, but I know changing coaches and QB's like baby diapers isnt always the best for an organization. 

It would take a major departure for Woody to fire everyone. They went into this figuring it would take 3 years. Where they are now is not far off from what they expected, but there’s no chance this is the path they expected. 

I think Mike LaFleur stays, but they will look to add more veteran coaches into the mix. They will bring in a new QB “guru” and passing game coordinator in addition to a new WR coach. I think they would like to keep Rob Calabrese while reassigning his role, but his contract is expiring so there’s a chance they simply let him walk.

The guy I’m personally keeping an eye on is Nathanial Hackett if he wants to coach this year. Some guys just don’t have what it takes to be a HC or even an OC/play caller. It’s no different than some business executives struggling to transition to C-Suite roles. That doesn’t mean they don’t thrive in other areas, and I think Hackett has always thrived with infusing energy into a room, teaching the game, player communication, and coaching the fundamentals. He’s always struggled as a play-caller, and he always did his best work when he was allowed to be teacher-oriented. People will point to what went wrong with Russell Wilson (footwork one of them), but the reality is that’s not a HCs primary responsibility and it takes a special kind of professional who can be effective as both micromanagers in some areas and macro managers with others while remaining regimented. If he wants it, he’d be the perfect kind of guy as a Senior Assistant/QBs to allow LaFleur to focus on overall manangement of the offense + play-calling/game plan with Hackett focusing more on player development

[football guy]

31 minutes ago, Integrity28 said:

1st article is great. Had me at:

Position Coaches are the Foundation of Player Development

Cannot read the athletic (pay wall). I assume it’s about not having anyone to replace Knapp and Cavanaugh, etc. Pretty much on point.

It’s about how Calabrese’s job last year was de facto offensive quality control; he was QB coach in title only. Knapp and later Cavanaugh were hired to provide support to MLF and Calabrese offensive coaches, while also overseeing Zach’s development... Their presence was due to the Jets not wanting to put so much Mike LaFleur and Rob Calabrese so early. In a way, Calabrese was their intern. 

Cavanaugh joined late in the process as somewhat of a favor and was never returning for a second year. Same with Beck. They decided that Calabrese was ready to pick up the slack this year and transition to full-time QB coach while reassigning his responsibilities. 

The plan was conceptually sound. Calabrese is believed to be a strong play-caller, conceptually sound, and has good coordinator traits. They hired him to groom him as a coordinator and a potential successor to MLF if he were to land HC jobs. The problem is inherently that— they hired him knowing that he was a project, then asked him to take on a pivotal role in a more focused area just one year later without additional support. Grossly negligent decision. 

[Dunnie]

Give Payton all the Money

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[varjet]

I can see Nathaniel Hackett as being the type of guy to look for a reclamation project and jump on a listing ship.

It could also be an interesting angle for Reich.  Sign a 3 year contract as OC-if Saleh gets fired he gets paid out if he does not assume the HC job.  

[JetPotato]

In other words, here come the half measures.

Once again, the root causes will not be addressed. 

Going into Year 3 of Saleh and they're working on figuring out what they want the staff structure to look like. We've been in a perpetual state of OTJ training for novice coaches for 20 years and counting.

That all gets instantaneously fixed with a single phone call and a check to Sean Payton.

Name one other single organizational or player transaction that can be easily executed that erases so many glaring question marks. It's right there on a silver platter. The guy even grew up a Jets fan. If there's one thing that we know Woody can do, it's taking great fortune when it's gifted to him. Sean Payton is your new inheritance, Woody. Don't turn it down.

[SomebodytoAnybody47]

26 minutes ago, football guy said:

It would take a major departure for Woody to fire everyone. They went into this figuring it would take 3 years. Where they are now is not far off from what they expected, but there’s no chance this is the path they expected. 

I think Mike LaFleur stays, but they will look to add more veteran coaches into the mix. They will bring in a new QB “guru” and passing game coordinator in addition to a new WR coach. I think they would like to keep Rob Calabrese while reassigning his role, but his contract is expiring so there’s a chance they simply let him walk.

The guy I’m personally keeping an eye on is Nathanial Hackett if he wants to coach this year. Some guys just don’t have what it takes to be a HC or even an OC/play caller. It’s no different than some business executives struggling to transition to C-Suite roles. That doesn’t mean they don’t thrive in other areas, and I think Hackett has always thrived with infusing energy into a room, teaching the game, player communication, and coaching the fundamentals. He’s always struggled as a play-caller, and he always did his best work when he was allowed to be teacher-oriented. People will point to what went wrong with Russell Wilson (footwork one of them), but the reality is that’s not a HCs primary responsibility and it takes a special kind of professional who can be effective as both micromanagers in some areas and macro managers with others while remaining regimented. If he wants it, he’d be the perfect kind of guy as a Senior Assistant/QBs to allow LaFleur to focus on overall manangement of the offense + play-calling/game plan with Hackett focusing more on player development

Doesn’t change the fact that Lefluer is a bad play caller and just bad overall feel for the game. 
Also what has Hackett done on his resume that stands out and makes him a good addition? 

[FactsOnly]

Circus coaching staff

ABSOLUTE CIRCUS

[football guy]

10 minutes ago, Zachtomims47 said:

Doesn’t change the fact that Lefluer is a bad play caller and just bad overall feel for the game. 
Also what has Hackett done on his resume that stands out and makes him a good addition? 

Hackett is known to be a good one-on-one teacher. He has always struggled when tasked with bigger picture stuff like weekly game plan installs and play-calling. 

MLF is better at big picture even if I agree his in-game adaptability is piss poor. He knows how to identify the opponents weaknesses well and understands how to attack them; what he doesn’t seem to understand is that you can’t attack them the way you want when the players you have are unable to do what you ask of them from a little picture perspective.

They need to hire coaches at QB and WR who can effectively teach and communicate the little picture in order to get them to perform within Mike LaFleur’s big picture if they’re going to stick with MLF. Otherwise, go get a guy who is adapatable like Brian Daboll who schemes and play-calls to the strength of the players he has. 

[section314]

24 minutes ago, football guy said:

Hackett is known to be a good one-on-one teacher. He has always struggled when tasked with bigger picture stuff like weekly game plan installs and play-calling. 

MLF is better at big picture even if I agree his in-game adaptability is piss poor. He knows how to identify the opponents weaknesses well and understands how to attack them; what he doesn’t seem to understand is that you can’t attack them the way you want when the players you have are unable to do what you ask of them from a little picture perspective.

They need to hire coaches at QB and WR who can effectively teach and communicate the little picture in order to get them to perform within Mike LaFleur’s big picture if they’re going to stick with MLF. Otherwise, go get a guy who is adapatable like Brian Daboll who schemes and play-calls to the strength of the players he has. 

If they still believe that Zach is the guy, they have to clean house on any of the coaches who had anything to do with his so called development. They have failed miserably.

[Matt39]

Yeah, so who on the Jets staff or front office has the cache to bring in position coaches with experience?

How did Daboll hire Martindale? How did O’Connell get Pettine? The Jets staffs are traditionally first timers at everything. 

[jgb]

You don’t just hire a HC for his coaching but also for his network. We keep hiring HCs with a Rolodex as thin as a Kraft single.

[football guy]

Read into it however you would like. Being “honest with whats going on in the building” when answering a question about LaFleur starting at the 4:10 mark… 

https://www.youtube.com/live/T_UqbEbsABs?feature=share

This is going to be Saleh’s challenge to Mike LaFleur. From what I’ve heard, MLF is a very optimistic kind of person who to his credit puts it all on his shoulders, but that leads to unintended consequences. He’s conflict avoidant, doesn’t curse, doesn’t challenge people enough, and isn’t always forthright. The problem is that if something is not working on his staff, he needs to be able to address it - which he hasn’t. It took Saleh forcing the issue after speaking with Zach Wilson in a one-on-one meeting (not normal Midseason) for the coaches to open up about their feelings on what had been holding Zach back. It took them discussing whether to keep or cut Mike White for the staff to stress the need for him to improve his footwork when the preseason concluded. Why didn’t LaFleur or Calabrese volunteer that info earlier- why was it pulling teeth? Was their solution to it—putting him on the scout team like they did with he and Mike White in previous stints—a truly sustainable or effective approach?

Saleh spoke about his own experiences that led to him returning and coordinating the 2019 49ers into a top defensive unit. He made two significant changes with Kyle’s permission when they departed with former player/relatively inexperienced DL coach Jeff Zgonina and DB coach Jeff Hafley in order to replace them with high quality veteran assistants in DL coach Kris Kocurek and passing game coordinator/DB coach Joe Woods while shifting Daniel Bullocks responsibilities from assistant DBs to safeties only. This is what we should expect to happen  this offseason. 

MLF wanted Miles Austin because he was his understudy in SF and got along with him. Saleh and MLF both wanted Calabrese because he came highly recommended by Rich Scangarello and the Shanahan’s. They were easy and convenient lands because they are both from the area and had experience with the offense/scheme. If Mike LaFleur is going to be successful, he’s got to be honest about the issues holding this offense back. As a manager there’s a fine line between being a rat/using someone as a scapegoat vs. being honest about your staff deficiencies. Assuming he does the latter, there will be some tangible changes on the staff in hopes of getting the most out of our talent at WR and QB.

[Integrity28]

1 hour ago, football guy said:

It’s about how Calabrese’s job last year was de facto offensive quality control; he was QB coach in title only. Knapp and later Cavanaugh were hired to provide support to MLF and Calabrese offensive coaches, while also overseeing Zach’s development... Their presence was due to the Jets not wanting to put so much Mike LaFleur and Rob Calabrese so early. In a way, Calabrese was their intern. 

Cavanaugh joined late in the process as somewhat of a favor and was never returning for a second year. Same with Beck. They decided that Calabrese was ready to pick up the slack this year and transition to full-time QB coach while reassigning his responsibilities. 

The plan was conceptually sound. Calabrese is believed to be a strong play-caller, conceptually sound, and has good coordinator traits. They hired him to groom him as a coordinator and a potential successor to MLF if he were to land HC jobs. The problem is inherently that— they hired him knowing that he was a project, then asked him to take on a pivotal role in a more focused area just one year later without additional support. Grossly negligent decision. 

They can’t develop players, lol, what makes them think they can develop a “coaching tree”?

[Augustiniak]

Just now, football guy said:

Read into it however you would like. Being “honest with whats going on in the building” when answering a question about LaFleur starting at the 4:10 mark… 

https://www.youtube.com/live/T_UqbEbsABs?feature=share

This is going to be Saleh’s challenge to Mike LaFleur. From what I’ve heard, MLF is a very optimistic kind of person who to his credit puts it all on his shoulders, but that leads to unintended consequences. He’s conflict avoidant, doesn’t curse, doesn’t challenge people enough, and isn’t always forthright. The problem is that if something is not working on his staff, he needs to be able to address it - which he hasn’t. It took Saleh forcing the issue after speaking with Zach Wilson in a one-on-one meeting (not normal Midseason) for the coaches to open up about their feelings on what had been holding Zach back. It took them discussing whether to keep or cut Mike White for the staff to stress the need for him to improve his footwork when the preseason concluded. Why didn’t LaFleur or Calabrese volunteer that info earlier- why was it pulling teeth? Was their solution to it—putting him on the scout team like they did with he and Mike White in previous stints—a truly sustainable or effective approach?

Saleh spoke about his own experiences that led to him returning and coordinating the 2019 49ers into a top defensive unit. He made two significant changes with Kyle’s permission when they departed with former player/relatively inexperienced DL coach Jeff Zgonina and DB coach Jeff Hafley in order to replace them with high quality veteran assistants in DL coach Kris Kocurek and passing game coordinator/DB coach Joe Woods while shifting Daniel Bullocks responsibilities from assistant DBs to safeties only. This is what we should expect to happen  this offseason. 

MLF wanted Miles Austin because he was his understudy in SF and got along with him. Saleh and MLF both wanted Calabrese because he came highly recommended by Rich Scangarello and the Shanahan’s. They were easy and convenient lands because they are both from the area and had experience with the offense/scheme. If Mike LaFleur is going to be successful, he’s got to be honest about the issues holding this offense back. As a manager there’s a fine line between being a rat/using someone as a scapegoat vs. being honest about your staff deficiencies. Assuming he does the latter, there will be some tangible changes on the staff in hopes of getting the most out of our talent at WR and QB.

The simple reality is that the offense has sucked for 2 yrs with MLF and wilson is not only the worst ranked qb but mentally shot.  If the jets think the best course of action is to keep all these coaches and sign a veteran, they’re going all in on this staff.  It’s playoffs or house cleaning.  

[football guy]

35 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

Yeah, so who on the Jets staff or front office has the cache to bring in position coaches with experience?

How did Daboll hire Martindale? How did O’Connell get Pettine? The Jets staffs are traditionally first timers at everything. 

Saleh is extremely well respected as is Joe Douglas. If they need to sell someone they can. The “Shanahan fraternity” of coaches is also deep… I’m keeping a very close eye on Nathanial Hackett and Klint Kubiak.

As mentioned previously Hackett is an energy guy, player friendly, and is known to be a good communicator/teacher. More on that here:

Kubiak is known for being less “player-friendly” as he challenges guys with a more no-nonsense, process driven approach. He tends to put QBs through rigorous practices and training in effort to simulate as close to gameday environments as possible. 

It wouldn’t shock me to see one or both have roles on this staff if they want them. 

[T0mShane]

1 hour ago, SuicidalSince98 said:

It’s the end of year two and they are just now realizing the importance of positional coaches? Sounds like a scapegoat. Fire all these hacks 

It’s a thing bad coaching staffs do the year before they’re fired. 

[Matt39]

9 minutes ago, football guy said:

Saleh is extremely well respected as is Joe Douglas. If they need to sell someone they can. The “Shanahan fraternity” of coaches is also deep… I’m keeping a very close eye on Nathanial Hackett and Klint Kubiak.

As mentioned previously Hackett is an energy guy, player friendly, and is known to be a good communicator/teacher. Kubiak is known for being less “player-friendly” as he challenges guys with a more no-nonsense, process driven approach. He tends to put QBs through rigorous practices and training in effort to simulate as close to gameday environments as possible. 

It wouldn’t shock me to see one or both have roles on this staff if they want them. 

You have to wonder why this wasn’t thought of 2 years ago? This isn’t an apprenticeship. 

[Augustiniak]

Just now, T0mShane said:

It’s a thing bad coaching staffs do the year before they’re fired. 

Saleh’s loyalty to his staff will be his undoing.  If he were truly a self-preservationalist he would can MLF and bring in experienced offensive guys to call plays and work with wilson.  But instead he’s going to keep everyone and bring in one guy who will be touted as the savior and whoever the vet qb is next year will experience the same results and then the whole saleh regime will disappear.

[pointman]

So many excuses of accidental this and that and being new. We aren't paying you to learn on the job. Know your sh1t or learn it somewhere else. I was indifferent to this coaching staff returning but the more I read these things, the more its evident that not knowing when to call a timeout is just the start. Dude and his team of dolts gotta to go. I am sure Ashtyn's mom has space in her Rav4 for Saleh and crew.

[Matt39]

5 minutes ago, Augustiniak said:

Saleh’s loyalty to his staff will be his undoing.  If he were truly a self-preservationalist he would can MLF and bring in experienced offensive guys to call plays and work with wilson.  But instead he’s going to keep everyone and bring in one guy who will be touted as the savior and whoever the vet qb is next year will experience the same results and then the whole saleh regime will disappear.

Not sure if it’s blind loyalty to a staff or if it’s just who he’s able to hire. Or it’s the let’s just use the Johnson’s to make as much money as we can before he catches on. 

[section314]

11 minutes ago, football guy said:

Saleh is extremely well respected as is Joe Douglas. If they need to sell someone they can. The “Shanahan fraternity” of coaches is also deep… I’m keeping a very close eye on Nathanial Hackett and Klint Kubiak.

As mentioned previously Hackett is an energy guy, player friendly, and is known to be a good communicator/teacher. More on that here:

Kubiak is known for being less “player-friendly” as he challenges guys with a more no-nonsense, process driven approach. He tends to put QBs through rigorous practices and training in effort to simulate as close to gameday environments as possible. 

It wouldn’t shock me to see one or both have roles on this staff if they want them. 

From what you are hearing, would Saleh be comfortable enough in his own skin and bring in a guy like Reich to work with Zach and can these neophytes?