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Jim Donaldson: Belichick's coaching disciples fall flat 
06:06 PM EDT on Tuesday, March 31, 2009
http://www.projo.com/patriots/conten....8d61aac5.html
By JIM DONALDSON
Journal Sports Writer
Take a look at those trees outside your window.
Bare, right?
Barren. Stark. Empty.
Much like Bill Belichick’s coaching tree.
Except his has a bunch of fallen fruit lying on the ground around the trunk, rotting away.
Let us gingerly examine it with our fingertips – preferably while wearing plastic gloves.
Here’s Romeo Crennel, fired after last season as coach of the Browns with a four-year record of 24-40 and zero playoff appearances.
Here’s Eric Mangini, virtually disowned by Belichick after he left New England to become coach of the Jets, who fired him after last year – after which he was hired by Cleveland to replace Crennel.
Here’s Charlie Weis, who, after getting off to a fine start his first two years at Notre Dame, has lost more games (15) over the last two seasons than any coach in any other two seasons in the school’s proud football history.
What’s worse for fans of the Fighting Irish is how they’ve lost some of those games. Although Weis returned to his alma mater with a well-deserved reputation as a brilliant offensive coordinator after helping Belichick’s Patriots win three Super Bowls in the span of four years from 2001-04, Notre Dame has struggled to score the past two years, even though Weis recruited the kid perceived to be the top quarterback prospect in the country in 2006 in Jimmy Clausen.
In a four-overtime, home loss to Pittsburgh last fall, the Irish failed to get the ball into end zone in any of the extra sessions. The following week, ND was shut out at Boston College. In the final home game of the season, the Irish became the first Notre Dame team ever to lose to an opponent with eight losses, allowing Syracuse – whose coach, Greg Robinson, was a lame duck, having been fired the week before -- to wipe out a 23-10 deficit in the fourth quarter and pull off a stunning upset, 24-23. Then, in the season finale at Southern Cal, Notre Dame didn’t make a first down until late in the third quarter of a 38-3 rout.
Here’s Nick Saban, an assistant under Belichick with the Browns, who became coach of the Miami Dolphins after winning a national championship at LSU in 2004, only to go running back to the college ranks in 2007 after going 6-10 in his second season as coach of the Dolphins.
Showing the type of man he is, Saban said in late December 2007, that he was not going to leave Miami to become coach at Alabama. Less than two weeks later, on Jan. 3, 2007, Saban signed on as head coach of the Crimson Tide.
And, now, here’s 32-year-old wunderkind Josh McDaniels, hired by the Broncos to replace veteran Mike Shanahan, who won two Super Bowls and made seven playoff appearances in 14 years in Denver.
McDaniels has stumbled badly out of the blocks, becoming embroiled in what’s being called in Denver “McJaygate.”
Jay Cutler, the Broncos’ quarterback, has been upset since learning that McDaniels bandied his name about in trade talks in February, discussing a proposal that would have sent Cutler to Tampa Bay as part of a three-team deal with Kansas City and New England that would have brought Matt Cassel to Denver.
Cassel, who took over when Patriots QB Tom Brady went down for the season in the first quarter of the first game last year, since has been dealt to the Chiefs.
Cutler clearly isn’t happy. He has requested to be traded, and has stayed away from the Broncos’ voluntary offseason training workouts. McDaniels has scheduled a mini-camp for April 17-19 and, while it’s not mandatory that Cutler attend, it would be a serious setback if, with McDaniels planning on installing a new offense, the guy slated to run it wasn’t around to learn it.
There’s speculation in Denver that, if Cutler – who already has forfeited a $100,000 bonus by boycotting the team’s offseason training program, an indication of just how much disdain and dislike he has for McDaniels -- doesn’t come to mini-camp, the Broncos may grant his wish to be traded. – probably around the time of the NFL draft, which will take place April 25-26.
There’s speculation in Denver that, if Cutler doesn’t come to mini-camp, the Broncos may grant his wish to be traded, probably around the time of the NFL draft, which will take place April 25-26.
All in all, not a successful start to McDaniels’ career as a head coach.
Not that any of this is bad news for the Patriots. It may, in fact, be good news, if McDaniels’ Broncos and Mangini’s Browns struggle in their battle with New England for AFC supremacy.
And, rather than hurt Belichick’s reputation, the woes of his former assistants may actually enhance Belichick’s stature.
MY FAVORITE LINE IN THIS ARTICLE>>>>>>>>> After all, how brilliant must he be to win so much with staffs filled with guys who can’t seem to win once they’re out on their own?
06:06 PM EDT on Tuesday, March 31, 2009
http://www.projo.com/patriots/conten....8d61aac5.html
By JIM DONALDSON
Journal Sports Writer
Take a look at those trees outside your window.
Bare, right?
Barren. Stark. Empty.
Much like Bill Belichick’s coaching tree.
Except his has a bunch of fallen fruit lying on the ground around the trunk, rotting away.
Let us gingerly examine it with our fingertips – preferably while wearing plastic gloves.
Here’s Romeo Crennel, fired after last season as coach of the Browns with a four-year record of 24-40 and zero playoff appearances.
Here’s Eric Mangini, virtually disowned by Belichick after he left New England to become coach of the Jets, who fired him after last year – after which he was hired by Cleveland to replace Crennel.
Here’s Charlie Weis, who, after getting off to a fine start his first two years at Notre Dame, has lost more games (15) over the last two seasons than any coach in any other two seasons in the school’s proud football history.
What’s worse for fans of the Fighting Irish is how they’ve lost some of those games. Although Weis returned to his alma mater with a well-deserved reputation as a brilliant offensive coordinator after helping Belichick’s Patriots win three Super Bowls in the span of four years from 2001-04, Notre Dame has struggled to score the past two years, even though Weis recruited the kid perceived to be the top quarterback prospect in the country in 2006 in Jimmy Clausen.
In a four-overtime, home loss to Pittsburgh last fall, the Irish failed to get the ball into end zone in any of the extra sessions. The following week, ND was shut out at Boston College. In the final home game of the season, the Irish became the first Notre Dame team ever to lose to an opponent with eight losses, allowing Syracuse – whose coach, Greg Robinson, was a lame duck, having been fired the week before -- to wipe out a 23-10 deficit in the fourth quarter and pull off a stunning upset, 24-23. Then, in the season finale at Southern Cal, Notre Dame didn’t make a first down until late in the third quarter of a 38-3 rout.
Here’s Nick Saban, an assistant under Belichick with the Browns, who became coach of the Miami Dolphins after winning a national championship at LSU in 2004, only to go running back to the college ranks in 2007 after going 6-10 in his second season as coach of the Dolphins.
Showing the type of man he is, Saban said in late December 2007, that he was not going to leave Miami to become coach at Alabama. Less than two weeks later, on Jan. 3, 2007, Saban signed on as head coach of the Crimson Tide.
And, now, here’s 32-year-old wunderkind Josh McDaniels, hired by the Broncos to replace veteran Mike Shanahan, who won two Super Bowls and made seven playoff appearances in 14 years in Denver.
McDaniels has stumbled badly out of the blocks, becoming embroiled in what’s being called in Denver “McJaygate.”
Jay Cutler, the Broncos’ quarterback, has been upset since learning that McDaniels bandied his name about in trade talks in February, discussing a proposal that would have sent Cutler to Tampa Bay as part of a three-team deal with Kansas City and New England that would have brought Matt Cassel to Denver.
Cassel, who took over when Patriots QB Tom Brady went down for the season in the first quarter of the first game last year, since has been dealt to the Chiefs.
Cutler clearly isn’t happy. He has requested to be traded, and has stayed away from the Broncos’ voluntary offseason training workouts. McDaniels has scheduled a mini-camp for April 17-19 and, while it’s not mandatory that Cutler attend, it would be a serious setback if, with McDaniels planning on installing a new offense, the guy slated to run it wasn’t around to learn it.
There’s speculation in Denver that, if Cutler – who already has forfeited a $100,000 bonus by boycotting the team’s offseason training program, an indication of just how much disdain and dislike he has for McDaniels -- doesn’t come to mini-camp, the Broncos may grant his wish to be traded. – probably around the time of the NFL draft, which will take place April 25-26.
There’s speculation in Denver that, if Cutler doesn’t come to mini-camp, the Broncos may grant his wish to be traded, probably around the time of the NFL draft, which will take place April 25-26.
All in all, not a successful start to McDaniels’ career as a head coach.
Not that any of this is bad news for the Patriots. It may, in fact, be good news, if McDaniels’ Broncos and Mangini’s Browns struggle in their battle with New England for AFC supremacy.
And, rather than hurt Belichick’s reputation, the woes of his former assistants may actually enhance Belichick’s stature.
MY FAVORITE LINE IN THIS ARTICLE>>>>>>>>> After all, how brilliant must he be to win so much with staffs filled with guys who can’t seem to win once they’re out on their own?
