Coaching is Classroom Management

I refuse to say, “this is the last time I will say anything about McDaniels and the Broncos.” As a diehard fan, I reserve the right to voice my opinion about a team I care about more than my own well being sometimes. I can guarantee that from now until the day I retire from the Mile High Fan Club, they will do something else to upset me. Which is why I will be a silent partner of www.firejoshmcdanielsnow.com because I am still not over that whole Brandon Marshall debacle. In those lucid moments - when my anger subsides - one thought always crosses my mind: coaching is nothing more than classroom management.
An ineffective teacher will show their inability and poor classroom management skills if their solution to students who act up is to send them into the hallway or to the principal’s office. This does not mean that students should never go to the office, but - in my opinion - it has to be for something so reprehensible that the students needs to leave for protection from the teacher. In the same breath, a coach will prove himself/herself to be ineffective if their solution to dealing with a “problem player” is to trade said player in an effort to eliminate distractions and dysfunction. This situation played itself out in Denver where McDaniels showed why he is the antithesis of effectiveness.
Combining my newly gained DePaul knowledge (almost three quarters worth) with my skills from Love & Logic (three years worth), I came up with this theory:

An effective teacher (coach) is one who wants those “problem students (athletes)” in their class (on their team) because they know that their effectiveness as a teacher (coach) lies not in the number of ‘A’-caliber students in the class (number of games won) or high standardized scores (number of championships accumulated), rather, in their willingness to keep and teach (coach) those students (players) with “character issues.” It is the willingness to want to challenge themselves and their skills as they attempt to influence and turn those “poor students (athletes)” into “good students (athletes).” Moreover, closing the gap between “poor” and “good” requires a greater teaching (coaching) effort than is needed when when moving a student (athlete) from “good” to “great.”

By drafting Tim Tebow, McDaniels got an athlete who has “okay” football skills, but very good, verging-on-great character skills. Marshall, on the other hand, has very good, verging-on-great football skills and “poor” character skills. Athletic talents can be taught, however, building strong character takes a lifetime. An effective coach would relish the opportunity to prove their effectiveness; McDaniels, not so much. Instead of showing world his “great” player management skills, he got rid of what was going to be a difficult job in Marshall for a much easier work load in Tebow.
For the record, I really like Tebow, I have to. He and I share the same faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

Hebrews 11:1

KJV

With this faith, I believe - in time - he will be a great quarterback and he is just what the League and professional sports need right now. For all the gun play surrounding Plaxico Burress, all the animal cruelty that engulfed Vick (who, by the way, is in my NFL Fav 5), all the monetary precipitation from Adam “Pacman” Jones, all the sex, lies and videotapes from Ben Roethlisberger, Coach Cable and Coach Belichick, the NFL needs a poster boy. A Golden Child, if you will, whose faith is seen on his “No Glare Stripes” under his eyes and in his actions.
For all the good that Tebow embodies, I do not appreciate how McDaniels wants to coach this utopian team where real world behavior and character issues are avoided because they are seen as “too much work.” I am not saying I could do a better job of coaching, I am just saying I can do a better job with player management. All this ranting comes from my frustrations with the Broncos and my attendance at the penultimate one-day Love & Logic refresher (with Jim Fay) last Thursday. As I am gearing up for the summer that includes co-leading the annual Love & Logic workshop at Camp Tall Turf and a five-day Love & Logic Conference in Wichita, Kansas, I got to thinking: with the Love & Logic Institute in Golden, Colorado (some 15.6 miles from Denver) and all the “player issues” the Broncos have been having, I think Jim and Charles Fay could really assist McDaniels in his classroom...I mean locker room management.