It becomes belittling and can do more harm than good. I’m a Haley backer, but I wish he’d get control of his emotions a little bit. It would be like a really talented player getting a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty every few weeks. Love the player, hate the attitude.

But disagree.

You say that he has so much on his plate, that why not let his personality shine through? Have you ever tried to do multiple tasks while extrememly pissed off? Its impossible. I saw a program about the 1996 (I think) Green Bay Packers where Coach Holmgren was so pissed at his team that he relinquished play calling duties for the rest of the game because he knew he couldn’t objectivly call plays in his state of mind. I’d rather my coach “show weakness” in himself for the better of the team, rather than rant and rave and scream, then make a crucial 3rd down play call.

I also don’t see the difference between coaching pro athletes and other professionals. I am a manager of a bank and if I acted the way he acted, I’d have been fired a long time ago. As stupid as it sounds, I don’t see any difference between a 300 pound lineman and a 130 pound teller. Both are adults, both are professionals, and both deserve to be treated as such…the fact the lineman makes $5M and the teller makes $50K shouldn’t matter.

I think for most fans it comes down to would I be motivated to give my best if someone did that to me. I’m a music teacher who has played in bands of various kinds for years and in that time I have played under some brutal directors. I remember one college jazz band rehearsal when the director stopped the group and just laid into the trumpet section (my section). I still remember what he said almost word for word (excuse the language)
“STOP!!!! Trumpets, what the hell is that? Seriously I don’t even know what to say about that. Horrible, just garbage from beginning to end. In fact, I don’t even want to waste my time trying to fix that. You aren’t even good enough for me to work with right now. So pack your shit up and get the hell out of here. I’m serious, I don’t want you back in my band until you can at least play something that sounds like music. If you show back up tommorrow you better be able to play the damn parts because you show back up tommorrow and play that garbage and I’ll really lose it. You just think I’m pissed right now. I’ll cut every single one of you guys and call some buddies of mine to come play the concert if that’s all you got. I’m not marching you bozos out there for a concert with my name on the program and having you suck the joint up like that. Hell no, not happening. So pack up and get out here and go learn the damn music. In the mean time I’m going to rehearse the people in this group that can actually play their damn instruments. Get out.”
I have never been so humiliated and pissed and angry at someone in my entire life. I have also never worked as hard to make sure I knew what I was doing. Not only for the next rehearsal, but for the rest of the time I was in his band. I worked harder to make sure I knew my parts then any of the directors I “liked”. Now he laid into me and others on more then one occaision, but never quite like that. So part of the reason I remember that and it made such an impact is because he didn’t do that to us every day. I feel, like others that Todd Haley’s “emotions” are fine, he just has to make sure he doesn’t over do it so that the players start to zone him out.

It doesnt matter if we like it or not, it matters if the guys on the sidelines can take it.

I also have an experience with this at my work. At one store that was infamous for this one guy who was a douche to all the vendors. Well he didnt like how I merchandised his store one day so he got me in the backroom in front of everyone back there and pointed his finger in my face and bitched me out pretty bad. I was embarassed and angry. I took the chewing and I told my bosses I never wanted to go back ever again.
To make a long story short I was made to go back and I made it a point to do my best and make sure all my bases were covered….well the guy never said another word out of the way to me.

So sometimes a good chewing will motivate some guys to do their best….sometimes it will make you wanna run away. The fight or flight reaction.

That is why we need ultimate professionals with a strong desire to win on our team. Guys who will not let their ego get the best of them. When South Carolina played Florida they had words like “Courage” on the backs of their uniforms…..I loved that. It was not a a bunch of guys playing together….it was a unit playing as one. A team with one heartbeat who will fight for one another. You know….the “right 53”.

People are going over game tapes to see if Todd Haley is being targeted by evil network TV directors intent on ruining his career for the sake of a few ratings points.

A sensationalistic and exaggerated characterization of my position don’t you think.

Are you trying to hold readers? :)

Haley is, as always, looking for the “right 53” . . . That means skilled players but also those with the desire to play the game. Too many players are in it for the money and it shows once they are paid. I hate to say it, but look at the Patriots – once a player is bigger than the team, they are gone. Sure Haley yells and is very emotional but that will NOT moivate a veteran professional football player! That player must be motivated to be the best on their own . . . That is who the “right 53” are.

Also, thanks for letting me marry your daughter.

Let’s start with this: nobody – and this includes you, me and Jason Whitlock – has any real handle on what it takes to motivate professional athletes. That is, of course, unless you have been the head coach of a professional sports team.

I think it’s pretty obvious based on our level of suckitude that neither does Todd Haley

When young players come into the NFL, they have to be taught how to be professional. Young head coaches are no different.

Haley has never been responsible for an entire team before. In fact, he’s never been solely responsible for ANY players before. As an assistant, he could act however he wanted and there was always the head coach to mediate disputes between he and other coaches or players.

He doesn’t have that mediator anymore. HE is supposed to be the mediator.

It is no different than a worker who gets promoted to a supervisory position. He MUST change how he interacts with the employees, whether getting more strict or backing off because there is no go between anymore.

“Let Haley be Haley” is what he was as an assistant. When he always had someone above him to smooth things out. He cannot have that now because HE is the guy that is supposed to be smoothing things out.

So yes, Haley MUST change his approach to players and his assistants.

I am going to take this from a slightly different angle. I wholeheartedly agree that time will tell and there are opposite sides on who Haley is as a coach. There are a number of prominent players in AZ who have credited Haley. While I don’t always like what I see, I will give it time.

The things I like:
- Willing to take a risk.
- Fairly creative play calling.
- Expects the best out of players.
- Willing to admit mistakes.

Things I don’t like:
- Has not established a fairly productive offense or found an identity.
- Charles and Co. are under utilized.
- Play calling is poor at times with the old draw and abdoning the run.

One thought as I was watching a Steeler Coach press conference is that Mike Tomlin is professional in all aspects. From his dress to his smooth demeanor and statements. I don’t understand why Haley does not seek to be professional with his press conferences in the area of presentation. Always unshaven and in practice gear.

In the end, if the Chiefs were winning, all of this idle talk would not be taking place!

This may be completely out of topic here but I had to get your response on something in my mind. I have enjoyed most of your post and was wondering – do you write for a living? Have you done any form of copywriting or journalism?

But I would prefer to leave it at that for the time being. Thank you.

I completely agree that what we see of Haley on the sidelines is only a small portion of the man, and how he handles his team in total. We don’t know, for example, if what we saw of Haley on the sidelines in Oakland – where one minute he’s screaming at a player, and the next he’s sitting next to him on the bench – is something new for him, or if it’s been his technique all along. For most of us, what we see is what the TV cameras show us, and there’s no doubt they’re more interested in the fiery outbursts. Nor do we know – or are we ever likely to find out – how he conducts himself in team or individual meetings, or to some extent, even in practice.

The argument that you can’t make rational decisions in the midst of a blow-up is a compelling one. But for the sake of discussion, I would point out that it also takes an awful lot of energy to hold yourself in check – energy that might be better used elsewhere. Some people need that release, which allows them to move on to the next problem. Is Haley one of these people? I don’t know. But my own father certainly was, so it’s easy for me to think that Haley could be that kind of person.

ChiefDJ, your point is a good one. Again – just for the sake of argument – I’d like to point out that it could work the other way around, too. Mediation can be also be accomplished by assistants. I mention this because I watched Remember The Titans on one of the cable channels last night. Assuming the film is a reasonably accurate portrayal of the relationship between Herman Boone and Bill Yoast during the 1971 season at TC Wlliams High School, Boone is the hardass, and his assistant Yoast is the one who stands up for the players. But regardless of whether the film is accurately reflects what actually happened, the relationship – and its effects on the team – rang true to me.

It’s not easy for me to stand up and say, “Leave Haley’s personality out of this.” This is because he doesn’t do things the way I would if I were in his shoes; as I pointed out, Haley’s sideline intensity bothered me at first. But you can’t deny there have been a number of NFL head coaches who have been portrayed as having similar approaches, so I think it’s hard to simply say that it’s wrong – even if it isn’t neccessarily the way you would do it yourself.