WHY DO COACHES ON WINNING TEAMS HAVE TO GET SCREWED?

by Eric Horowitz, ShakedownSports

It’s one of the great paradoxes in professional sports. You’re an assistant coach on one of the best teams in the league, but you can’t get a head coaching job because being in the postseason puts you light years behind all the other candidates.

This year’s victim could be Indians 3rd base coach Joel Skinner. He’s a candidate to be the next manager of the Pirates, but because the Indians are in the playoffs, the Pirates need the Indians’ permission to speak with him. That’s something Pirates GM Neal Huntington isn’t sure he wants to do.

“I think ethically I struggle with that,” Huntington said. “An individual’s involved in a playoff run, it’s probably one of the most exciting times of their lives, and I struggle with trying to distract them. I struggle with pulling them out of that environment. I struggle with that step in the process.

Even if Huntington does decide to pursue Skinner, it’s unlikely that Skinner will be focused enough on the interview to wow Pirates management. In effect, Skinner’s success has prevented him from being promoted.

The problem is even worse in the NFL. Seven years ago Marvin Lewis was the most feared defensive coordinator in the league, but he couldn’t get a job because the Ravens were in the playoffs and teams wanted to hire a new coach as soon as their seasons ended. Even winning a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer couldn’t get Lewis a head coaching job. The following season, instead of hiring Lewis or John Fox (Lewis’ Super Bowl counterpart on the Giants), NFL teams chose to hire Gregg Williams, Butch Davis, Dick Vermeil, Herm Edwards, Marty Mornhinweg, Mike Tice, and Marty Schottenheimer.

Fox finally got a head coaching job the following season, mostly because the Giants 7-9 record allowed him to interview while other assistants were stuck in the playoffs. Lewis would have to spend one more year on the Ravens and another year on a 7-9 Redskins team before he got the Bengals head coaching job.

The worst part about all of this is that the solution is so simple. Don’t let teams interview coaching candidates until the season is over. Not just their season, but everybody’s season. Teams can wait a month to find a new head coach. If they feel like they can’t, then they should do a better job of hiring somebody they won’t have to fire after two years.

(Originally published 10/11)