McCarthy's time management

[KYPack]

NFL coaches, they wear themselves out with endless schedules and sleepless nights — and then wear their weariness as badges of honor.

"I've worn that badge," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I've slept at the office, I've done all those things. I think it's counterproductive. I don't think it works."

Especially as you get older. There was a time McCarthy could burn midnight oil without burning himself out. No longer. He found himself dragging during the important time of the day: the two hours at practice with the players.

"You need to be fresh on the field," McCarthy said. "That's our approach in Green Bay. If we are staying there until 1, 2 in the morning, our time management is poor or we're doing too much. How many hours do we work? I don't know. I don't count them anymore."

[oregonpackfan]

This is a good topic. There is a point of no return when a coach, or any professional for that matter, expends too much time and energy at a job.

Burnout is an insidious phenomenon. You don't realize it is happening to you until it has consumed you.

[GBRulz]

Is this where the infamous photo of Sherman at the scouting combine magically appears?

[The Leaper]

Too many NFL coaches burn themselves out. I can see long hours early in the week when prepping a game plan...but Wed-Sat should be limited to reasonable hours so that the coach has the energy and capacity to be sharp during practice and the actual game...which means getting 7 hours of sleep a night, plus a couple hours to unwind and relax.

My biggest concern with McCarthy is how he doesn't surround himself with great talent. Some of his coaches are significant liabilities IMO. As a head coach, you need the strongest staff around you as possible...so you have confidence to delegate responsibility. Otherwise, the coach winds up doing more than he should double checking the work of others.

[Gunakor]

My biggest concern with McCarthy is how he doesn't surround himself with great talent. Some of his coaches are significant liabilities IMO. As a head coach, you need the strongest staff around you as possible...so you have confidence to delegate responsibility. Otherwise, the coach winds up doing more than he should double checking the work of others.

Well, offensively anyway I thought he did find a great staff coming in. Jags is a great football coach, and you can't blame McCarthy for his leaving to coach at BC. I also can't blame him for choosing Philbin to replace him, since they are still working to improve thier ZBS and Philbin was the line coach the year before. I think they might have one of the best WR coaches in football, which translated into a group which led the league in YAC by a fairly wide margin.

Defensively, they need a new secondary coach. Badly. Overall I think Sanders' scheme is fairly vanilla, but effective minus the horrible secondary play. The front 7 is very stout against the run. The front 4 get plenty of pressure on the QB, especially late in the game. They don't blitz often, but then they don't need to (and shouldn't IMO). Harris and Woodson seem to have a clue, but the rest of that secondary seems to be out of position more times than not. I would think if they were to dump Shotty and promote Washington then that would improve as well.

[BallHawk]

I remember a year or so back ESPN did a "day in the life" mini-documentary of an NFL coach. I believe it was Herman Edwards, but I can't be sure. Anyways, you saw what really went on. Making calls, checking scouting reports, dealing with practices, players, etc. Didn't end up leaving the office until 2:00 A.M.

The life of a coach is damn tough. And I imagine it's just as tough for the rest of the family.