Are good coaches objectively smart people?

[The Great 8]

There's a lot of talk about the coaches not adjusting their systems to the players, about how naive it was for Gilbert to not even watch tape of GCO before deciding his system, and so forth. People have been clamoring to see more out of the offense all season. Some were grasphing at straws saying it was smartly being held back so we didn't show tape. We know for sure that's not true now.

All of the above are fair assumptions to make of smart professionals. But, I'd like to understand... Are football coaches objectively smart people? Or do they just have "Football IQ" and not real world IQ? Do we expect too much common sense and cognitive ability out of Strong and Gilbert?

My theory is to be a successful coach you don't need to actually be a smart man at all. You need to have a persona that connects with kids (i.e. recruiting and amping them up) and a "good enough" ability to pick plays. But, things like pattern recognition are weaknesses where for an engineer they're key strengths. Thus, you have guys who don't take the time to adjust their systems to their players. 

Thoughts? Do we have objectively smart people coaching our team? Maybe it's not ego, but mediocre intelligence leading to our "poorly" performing units?

Edited October 29, 2017 by The Great 8

[Brad]

There is no single profile, it varies.

I know basketball coaches that run the same offense or style of play regardless of their players size and abilities.  I can't understand why.  I always look to change the O or D based on what I have to work with.  

I think it varies by how much a coach knows, work he wants to put in, ability to change.  Does Paul Johnson, the coach at GT still run the same offense he ran when our Bulls played his Ga Southern team in 1997?  Seems so.  Why?  Believe in it I guess.

Stubbornness is not a good answer, certainly.

[DELdaBull]

Still waiting for that double move after the jumped hitch route. 

[CousinRicky]

4 hours ago, Brad said:

There is no single profile, it varies.

I know basketball coaches that run the same offense or style of play regardless of their players size and abilities.  I can't understand why.  I always look to change the O or D based on what I have to work with.  

I think it varies by how much a coach knows, work he wants to put in, ability to change.  Does Paul Johnson, the coach at GT still run the same offense he ran when our Bulls played his Ga Southern team in 1997?  Seems so.  Why?  Believe in it I guess.

Stubbornness is not a good answer, certainly.

Jim Boeheim's zone defense comes to mind.

[USFBULL_08]

Coaches get way too much credit for being smart. Sports are so mental they just need to be master motivators. 

[Flowers4Heisman]

I think you have to surround yourself with the right people. That's #1.

#cash# found Joe Kinnan.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Flowers4Heisman

[SpeedBull]

The best coaches are usually intelligent guys. 

Belicheck, Bill Walsh, Chuck Knoll, Nick Saban, Phil Jackson...The list goes on and on. The best of the best are very intelligent guys in addition to being great coaches. I believe it is necessary. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by SpeedBull

[HyperBullee]

6 minutes ago, SpeedBull said:

The best coaches are usually intelligent guys. 

Belicheck, Bill Walsh, Chuck Knoll, Nick Saban, Phil Jackson...The list goes on and on. The best of the best are very intelligent guys in addition to being great coaches. I believe it is necessary. 

Phil Jackson? Absolutely not. 😂

[SpeedBull]

1 minute ago, HyperBullee said:

Phil Jackson? Absolutely not. 😂

You have to be kidding

[HyperBullee]

4 minutes ago, SpeedBull said:

You have to be kidding

Benefit from (luck of the draw) talent and good front office allowed him to win as a coach. His true experiment with having virtually all control was in New York where the same type of stubbornness, as mentioned above, was exhibited. Adamant about his system and his way when he’s not even on the court and not to mention throwing everyone and their cousin under the metaphorical bus rather than taking responsibility and actually making changes to his approach...