Kill Testing "Great Man Theory" of Coaching

[RoyalGopher]

From FBT- http://fringebowlteamblog.com/?q=blog/kill-testing-great-man-theory-coaching


I recently read a blog entry by SB Nation's Paul Wadlington published this spring on the Great Man Theory of Coaching, a very interesting discussion as it relates to extremely successful coaches at burgeoning non-traditional powerhouses moving on bigger programs (Boise State's Chris Petersen and Butler hoops' Brad Stevens were the examples cited). Wadlington describes how these coaches are placed on pedestals by fans and the media, glorifying their individual success and perhaps eschewing example the circumstances in which these coaches are successful. Moreover, he goes on to explain why their predecessors have not experienced that level of success after they effectively received a promotion at larger, more prominent programs:

The logic - promulgated by a media beguiled by the Great Man Theory of Coaching -- is persuasive: just hire the coach and you get their program. Add the Butler/Boise Way to the superior resources and prestige of a name program, give them elite athletes to coach instead of overachieving scrappers, and the trophy case will be bursting with hardware. It's little wonder that Brad Stevens and Chris Petersen are the two most coveted coaching candidates in collegiate athletics.

Except that it hasn't worked. When Boise and Butler lose their sought after head coaches, their teams get better. And the big name programs that take those coaches almost always get worse. These are inconvenient, if incomplete, data points. They merit exploration.

...

The common shared blueprint for both programs is apparent: exclusively internal hires, a cohesive system maintained and improved upon, a shared culture constantly reinforced, a collaborative environment between athletic director, coach, alumni, and players. A knack for identifying and developing undervalued talent that's institutionally internalized throughout the coaching staff.

And hiring one man is meant to transfer all of that?

This caution is not to diminish Petersen or Stevens. Both are extraordinary coaches. Both helped create and now preside over the perfection of a decade long systemic evolution. However, they’re excellent coaches in a specific context. The more specific the school's culture, the more specific that context. And athletic cultures don't get more definitive than Boise St. and Butler.

"Why can't we play like that?"

Because they can't bring their program to you. It's bigger than they are. Their success at a new school will be in direct relation to how they adapt to their new reality as much as trying to run the Boise St. or Butler blueprint. They may well be able to do so, but the prior track record gives pause.

The last statement is the idea that got me thinking: are Gopher fans setting themselves up for failure with Jerry Kill because he can't "bring his program" to Minneapolis?

Wadlington points out a series of coaches from the successful Boise State coaching lineage, including Dirk Koetter and Dan Hawkins, that failed (miserably, in Hawkins case) at Arizona State and Colorado. Early returns from former Boise State coordinators Bryan Harsin (OC at Texas) and Justin Wilcox (DC at Tennessee) indicate that while both are good, young up-and-coming coaches, neither has replicated the extraordinary success they experienced under Chris Petersen despite a wide gulf in resources and available talent. For whatever reason, the culture at Boise State fosters success -- success that doesn't seem to carry over.

Examples of sustaining cultural success and the converse are on display among the Gophers' Big Ten rivals. Hayden Fry developed a successful program at Iowa and turned the keys over to former assistant, Kirk Ferentz. Barry Alvarez built a Rose Bowl winning culture in Madison and then brought in a replacement who fit the environment he had established -- an environment he saw fit to continue by assuming the role of Wisconsin athletic director. On the flip side, Michigan hired an outsider after Lloyd Carr retired and the results were a disaster: Rich Rodriguez was never embraced by the Wolverine alumni and power structure, paving the way for the return of a "Michigan Man" in Brady Hoke. A look through the Gopher record books shows an attempt to do the same, as Joe Salem was hired to replace Cal Stoll and bring back the era of success experienced under Murray Warmath. The problem with Salem, however, was two-fold: 1) he was hired well after Warmath was forced out, striping away any chance for continuity and 2) Salem decided to completely change his offense -- the one he had successfully developed at South Dakota and Northern Arizona -- mid-way through his tenure. Salem's final contribution in Minneapolis was perhaps the worst season in program history.

With that said, can we just expect Kill's track record of success at Saginaw Valley State, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois to follow him at Minnesota, especially considering the early struggles?

At SVSU Kill followed George Ihler, who put together a career winning percentage of .539 with the Cardinals, by winning at a .731 clip of his own and was succeeded by Randy Awrey and Jim Collins, who won .709 and .606 percent of their games at SVSU, respectively.

At SIU, Kill replaced Jan Quarless and his .318 winning percentage with a remarkable .632 clip and was followed by Dale Lennon (.648 winning percentage).

At NIU, Kill took over for Joe Novak and his .453 career winning percentage in Dekalb (though Novak won at a .574 pace his last five seasons) by going .590 for the Huskies.

Of note, each of the men hired to replace Kill came from outside their respective programs (this includes Dave Wiemers, who was a Kill assistant at SVSU before taking over the job held by his former boss in 2001), no doubt a function of the loyalty most of Kill's staff showed to their head coach. Kill has essentially moved up the ranks and improved the winning percentage of every school he coached at (the lone exception was Emporia State, replacing a coach that went .591 in his tenure compared to .500 for Kill and .522 under Kill's replacement) and created an environment where the proceeding coach has success as well. This confirms Jerry's frequent statements at his weekly press conferences where he states "we'll build this program on concrete, not sand" and "everywhere else I've been, they've continued to win."

One key distinction I'd point out between Kill's experiences and that of former Boise State head coaches is Jerry moved nearly his entire staff with him as he moved from SIU to NIU and likewise from NIU to Minnesota. With Koetter and Hawkins, a key cog in the success at Boise State (i.e. innovative offensive coordinators steeped in program culture) stayed behind. From a continuity standpoint, Jerry's coaching staff know exactly what type of "culture" they're trying to implement, whereas Koetter and Hawkins ran into significant issues replicating the "Boise model" with assistants unfamiliar with the methods.

Another critical factor that is different from Kill to the Boise State coaches is both Koetter and Hawkins took over programs that were already fairly good, whereas Kill has now been hired twice to turn around moribund football teams. Colorado was ridden with scandal under Gary Barnett, while Koetter took over for the fired Bruce Snyder after consecutive bowl seasons (a huge step down from their Rose Bowl days of 1996). In that regard, at least some of the teams Kill has worked with have little to no football culture whatsoever: developing one, along with winning football games, is the primary task he's been assigned.

With all this in mind, it'll be interesting to see what happens in the coming years with Gopher football. If Kill is successful at what he's been hired to do, there's a distinct possibility that Minnesota will be his last job and a decision will have to be made at a later time regarding whether to keep the internal Minnesota/Kill culture moving forward. If, however, Kill doesn't succeed by failing to win enough games, does that mean the powers at the U will have to find another coach and/or any culture to implement?

Time will tell if Kill applies to the "Great Man Theory" of coaching.

 

[DrunkGopher]

I have always suspected that there was more to coaches being successful in certain places than just being good coaches. But I hope Kill can turn it around here