Showing posts with label Joe Girardi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Girardi. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Tuesday Ramblings - Worst Coach in the NFL?

Wow, so yesterday was among the better sports viewing days in recent memory. We get two walk-offs in baseball and a solid comeback to stay unbeaten in the NFL. Can you remember another day that had that many dramatic finishes in games of serious consequences?

The Angels got right back in the series, but need to continue their roll against CC tonight. The Phillies put their foot on the Dodger’s throats by taking out their vaunted bullpen. And while Josh McDaniels didn’t repeat the fist-pumping victory celebration, might the Broncos actually be a Super Bowl contender!?!
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Why is the NY media jumping on Joe Girardi so hard for changing pitchers last night? Yes, the move didn’t work out, but he had logic behind the move. He went to a guy that doesn’t rely on his fastball and uses curves and off-speed pitches to get guys out against a hitter that doesn’t hit curves and off-speed pitches well. So it didn’t work out. But his decision made sense before the hit. If he would have left Robertson in the game and he would have given up the hit, Girardi would have been roasted more than Grady Little. So it was basically a no-win situation. And these are the same idiotic fans/media that said Torre stayed with guys too long and didn’t do enough. Guys like Mike Vaccaro of the NY Post seem to think they have more baseball knowledge than a guy like Joe Girardi. Vaccaro would be better suited to tell the story of the game and not ramble on about strategy like some drunken Vinny from Queens.
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Who is the worst coach in the NFL? There are some really poor teams, but who are the worst head coaches? Not just a bad record can contribute to who is the worst coach, and it says something about the sorry state of coaches when a guy like Eric Mangini, hated by his own players, doesn’t even crack the top (bottom?) 5 worst coaches. Here’s my list……….

1. Jim Zorn – almost doesn’t qualify because it is the worst kept secret in the world that he’s getting fired. They’re basically treating him like Milton in Office Space – having him move his desk to the basement, and taking away his Swingline stapler. The guy was woefully under qualified for the position in the first place. Adding a “consultant” that then takes over play-calling within 2 weeks is a precursor to “Your Ass is Getting Canned” as soon as they decide who can be the interim coach.

2. Norv Turner – Mr. Roper has always done less with more. He has a pro bowl QB, a hall of fame RB, a pro bowl returner/backup RB, 2 pro bowl LBs and a pro bowl CB. Yet his teams start every year with a losing record by week 7 and scramble to get to the playoffs, where they will fizzle and become a disappointment. This is his third head coaching job, and he has been awful at all of them – career record of 79-98-1. And he was 58-82-1 when he got the job in San Diego – what did they expect?

3. Wade Phillips – The Son of Bum is a bum. Similar to Norv Roper, this guy always flops when it matters or when he has talent. Also in his 3rd head coaching stint, he does have an overall winning record of 73-51, but he has NEVER won a playoff game in 8 full seasons as the head coach, with an 0-4 record. Pathetic.

4. Tom Cable – Similar to Zorn, he was sadly under qualified for the position. But then again, someone had to say yes to Al Davis. However, someone didn’t have to (allegedly) do something to an assistant coach that resulted in the assistant coach having a broken jaw. Also similar to Zorn, he’s working in a terrible situation with an owner that is his own worst enemy and doesn’t know it.

5. Dick Jauron – We know Jauron is a smart guy – he has the Ivy league degree from Princeton to prove it. But that does not make him a good head coach. I’m not sure how he ever got the job in Buffalo. He has a career record of 59-80, and was 35-45 in 4 years in Chicago and 1-4 in relief in Detroit prior to the Bills job. In his 10 seasons as a head coach, his teams have only ranked higher than 23rd in the league in points once. And only once higher than 23rd in yards, and that was his first year in Chicago in 1999. So why are we surprised that the Bills offense is awful this year and they don’t know how to use Terrell Owens?

Honorable Mention:
Eric Mangini –
flamed out in NY, and somehow got another gig immediately with Cleveland and managed to alienate his team and fan base before the half way point of the season. Think he’s jealous of the way Josh McDaniels is performing?

Raheem Morris – compared to Mike Tomlin when he got the job, he has a serious lack of talent on the Bucs, so he gets a short-term pass.

Todd Haley – has the youngest team in the league with the Chiefs, so he also gets a pass.

Not on the list of worst coaches but will be fired this year or this off season:
John Fox
, Jeff Fisher, Gary Kubiak and Jack Del Rio (though his owner’s struggles with ticket sales and tight wallet might save his job)

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Manager Power in the 2009 Playoffs

While we all continue to not care about an average weapon on a great offense (Reggie Bush)getting back together with a great-looking girl that is only famous for having Bruce Jenner as a step-father (Kim Kardashian)...........

I intended to write this post about the MLB managers in the playoffs and how underappreciated Jim Leyland has been in his career. The guy has won in markets that have no business winning in baseball, having made the playoffs in Pittsburgh, won a World Series in Miami, and making a World Series appearance in Detroit. I was ready to talk about how he doesn’t get the accolades that Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre get because Torre managed in NY and LaRussa is a blow-hard SOB that loves the attention. Meanwhile, Leyland just sits back and smokes a dozen packs of cigs a day and wins games.

However, once I started looking at the numbers, I can’t really make the case. I know numbers aren’t the only way to measure a manager, but it is the most concrete way. So as I started to look at the numbers, I realized that this year’s playoffs will have a tremendous amount of managerial power. Excluding Joe Girardi because he only has 2 years of experience, the other 7 managers: Leyland, LaRussa, Torre, Scioscia, Manuel, Francona & Tracy have a combined 114 seasons, 49 playoff appearances, 10 World Series titles and 10 Manager of the Year awards. They have a .538 regular season winning percentage and a .563 post season winning percentage.

Between Leyland, LaRussa & Torre, we will be seeing 3 of the best managers of the 90’s – the only one missing is Bobby Cox with the Braves (who won’t be able to catch the Rockies for the wild card because the Brewers can’t play spoiler). And I guess it’s appropriate that the stars of the 90s are going to be big in the playoffs – considering television stars from the 90s are having a return to prominence this fall. Courtney Cox, Heather Locklear, Patricia Heaton, Kelsey Grammar and Ed O’Neil are all stars on new or returning to remade television shows. And Cox and Locklear are still bringing their A-game to the table.

While the exploits of Jim Leyland in multiple cities cannot be downplayed, he is the only manager of the 7 to have a winning percentage below .500 (at .496) in the regular season. Jim Tracy has the lowest post season winning percentage (.400), but he only has one appearance (before this season) with the Dodgers in 2004. The other disappointment in the post season has been Mike Scioscia, despite having a better regular season winning percentage than all of the managers except Joe Torre. Yet Scioscia is 16-20 in 5 post seasons, which is worse when you consider 11 of those 16 wins came during the World Series winning season in 2002. They have lost to the Sox 3 times in the first round, only winning one game – which is a bad omen for Angels fans as they open the playoffs with the Red Sox next week.

And it's worth mentioning that firepower is not just Joe Torre and all of his post season success. Along with LaRussa's 2 titles and 13 playoff appearances, in 10 seasons each, Francona & Scioscia each have 5 playoff appearances and 3 combined titles (2 for Tito & one for Scioscia).

What does this mean for this year’s playoffs? Obviously a manager alone will not be able to win the World Series. And Joe Girardi and his lack of playoff experience as a manager is leading the prohibitive favorite in the Yankees. However the experience and knowledge that these playoff tested managers bring to the table should mean that their decisions on pinch hitters, pitching changes and the daily line-up will lead to closer games and keep the less talented teams in each series and make for a good post season.

Leyland - 1/2 in World Series, 3-time MoY, 7 playoff appearances in 18 seasons

Torre - 3/6 in World Series, 2-time MoY, 15 playoff appearances in 28 seasons

LaRussa - 2/5 in World Series, 4-time MoY, 13 playoff appearances in 32 seasons

Francona - 2/2 in World Series, 5 playoff appearances in 10 seasons

Scioscia - 1/1 in World Series, 1-time MoY, 5 playoff appearances in 10 seasons

Manuel - 1/1 in World Series, 3 playoff appearances in 8 seasons

Tracy - 1 playoff appearance in 8 seasons