On The TunneySide of Sports October 1, 2018 #712 Up next…Advice from Coaches
After further review… Fans often ask what the conversations are like between players and coaches. Here’s an incident that Pro Football Hall of Famer, Dan Fouts, now a successful and well-respected CBS analyst for the National Football League told me. His hall of fame status comes from his outstanding quarterbacking of the San Diego Chargers for 16 seasons while setting numerous passing records. While he had more than one head coach, there’s no question that Don Coryell was most important to him. Dan tells it this way:
“There were two minutes left in the game and I went to the sideline for that two-minute warning talk that coaches are so famous for. The Chargers had an impressive staff of assistants with Jim Hanifan and Joe Gibbs, both to whom later became NFL head coaches. At the sideline I’m expecting to get some helpful words from Coryell, an innovative coach but now is in his first year as head coach. However, all I can hear is Hanifan shouting instructions with Gibbs relaying his thoughts. Coryell is saying nothing, and I’m waiting to hear what to do.”
Hanifan is saying, “Now, on the next play, we’re going to run eight-forty-four wide. Look at the weak side safety, and if the weak stays in the middle, try to hit Charlie Joiner on the post. Now, it the weak safety hangs to the weak side, then try to hit Kellen Winslow over the middle, and then there’s J.J. (John Jefferson), who’s running a corner. Now, if the linebackers drop back too far, then dump it off to Chuck Muncie underneath, Now, you got that Dan? You got that?”
The coaches are all talking at once. “Okay, let’s go over it one more time. Joiner, Winslow, Jefferson, and then down to Muncie, Joiner, Winslow, and Jefferson. Now, you got that Dan?” says Hanifan.” I’m thinking, this is a crucial situation in the ballgame, and they’re giving me all this information, but not a word from my head coach Coryell.
“I was restrapping my helmet, thinking: here’s the most innovative offensive head coach in football, and I haven’t heard a word from him…all I’ve heard is from his assistants. Then I felt a tug on my jersey, so I turn around, and there’s Coryell. I think, good he’s gonna tell me exactly what I need to do.” Coryell says, “Ah heck, just throw it to J.J.”
You got that sports fans?
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