Arizona State to Employ a Two Minute Clock Coach
I think most of you here know that I am an ASU grad, Go Devils!, and I wanted to share this article that I just came across because I know that we have all yelled at our TV about clock management befrore and find it interesting that it has taken this long for a major program to address it.
The question for this board is do you think the others will follow suit and if so, will Michigan?
ASU football will have a clock management 'coach' assisting Todd Graham in game's final two minutes
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:20 AM ^
Is it a grad assistant or someone who doesn't count toward the 9 coach limit?
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:37 AM ^
It sounds like an existing coach in the booth will have his responsiblities shift in the final two minutes. I'm not sure why the link I put in the OP isn't live.
In the game's final two minutes, ASU will have a person in the press box that is simply in charge of time management. That person will work with Graham, offensive coordinator Mike Norvell and defensive coordinator Keith Patterson down on the field.
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:53 AM ^
Fixed the link for you.
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:20 AM ^
Well that is interesting. I believe I read someone that the Broncos were going to have a analytics guy on game days assisting on decisions. I think this is going to become more of the norm.
September 3rd, 2015 at 9:06 AM ^
Brian Kenny is also a football guy?
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^
I think this will catch on though it might take a while (as in a couple of decades). Let's face it. A lot of coaches are really bad at this. From Andy Reid to Les Miles to a bunch of other guys in both leagues one could name. It seems like an innovation that some coaches will embrace to improve their performance, though it might require older coaches to retire and new guys to replace them before it is widespread.
Will Michigan follow suit? Definitely not in the near future, but it's possible it will someday.
September 3rd, 2015 at 6:48 AM ^
emphasis on special teams. I think Michigan may have that guy already in Baxter. I can think of no one who would be better at the job with his attention to detail.
September 3rd, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
Will Michigan follow suit? Definitely not in the near future
Why not? Even by the standards of football coaches, Harbaugh is insanely competitive. If he thinks he can gain an edge with a clock coach, he won't hesitate to bring one in.
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:50 AM ^
98% of teams don't treat the end of the first half clock the same as if it were their last chance to win the game. Too many times we have all witnessed a butt puckering ending, hoping for a drive resulting in a field goal with 15 seconds left from our own 30 yard line. Yet before the half, we/ teams might be on our 20 yard line with 45 seconds left and choose to run the clock out. The Risk seems way less than the reward in these situations, I don't get the mentality of being happy to go into the locker room with a slight lead or tied and probably never will.
September 3rd, 2015 at 12:59 AM ^
U don't want to give the other team momentum going into the lockerroom I've seen it happen even though it's rare where the defense makes a big play and returns it back for points. With that said any time ur team is losing u might as well try
September 3rd, 2015 at 1:13 AM ^
they don't want to do it because rarely it will make them look bad. this is why we need game/clock management coaches so badly
September 3rd, 2015 at 1:20 AM ^
momentum, its just the risk reward aspect doesn't add up for me. 45 seconds is plenty of time to make out routes, get out of bounds a couple of times and try for a field goal. Even the likelihood of a pick six on a hail Mary is pretty low. It just seems to me way too many games come down to the wire and almost none of those teams try to score at the end of the first half. Momentum coming out of the locker room can also work for the team that is down as well, by having the chip on their shoulders. To me momentum is a great motivator, but its still just a feeling. Points are points, and those matter more when the clock runs out for good.
September 3rd, 2015 at 8:56 AM ^
I don't think you chose your examples well.
It should go without saying that you always want to do things that improve your chances of winning the binary W/L outcome. But there's sound reasoning behind why hockey teams pull their goalies near the end of the game but not before. The downside doesn't matter at the end of the game. It does in the middle of the game.
I agree that many coaches are too conservative at the end of the half when on their own ~35-50. But I understand proper conservatism from the 20.
At the end of the first half, the quants will be assessing the expected points for the team versus the expected points against the team (following a turnover). From your own 20 with 45 seconds left, I'm guessing the algorithms guys come up with the conservative strategy. You're not going to score that often while exposing your team to immediate points for the opposition upon a turnover.
Of course it depends upon the reliability of your QB to avoid interceptions, his arm strength, and the O-line's ability to protect, but there are strategies that have little downside once you get away from right in front of your own endzone.
Do you think it would have been a good strategy last year to have one of our QBs throwing from our 20 given the number of interceptions they threw? I don't think so.
September 3rd, 2015 at 1:39 AM ^
I've been proposing this for years. Glad to see someone's doing it, hope it catches on. I've had enough of stupid clock management decisions that any 12 year-old who has played 100 games of Madden knows enough to not do.
September 3rd, 2015 at 8:05 AM ^
Damn! Someone beat me to the "teenage Madden player should be the 2 minute coach" joke. Because seriously, they would be better at it than most coaches.
September 3rd, 2015 at 8:21 AM ^
Delegation is very important. Responsibilities need to be spread out amongst the coaching staff and the other staffers. If one guy is handling too much (play calling, substitutions, etc.), then it's difficult to sort out when you should take a timeout, when you should go no huddle, etc.
September 3rd, 2015 at 6:32 AM ^
ASU seems to have benefitted from clock mismanagement in the past if I remember correctly...
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September 3rd, 2015 at 7:38 AM ^
Graham is a very good coach if not the most well liked person. He is doing good things with ASU.
We needed an anti 2 min clock coach last year at the end of all our first halves on defense. ugh.
September 3rd, 2015 at 8:02 AM ^
Les Miles will need two of these guys.
September 3rd, 2015 at 8:24 AM ^
on Stochastic Modeling & Applied Probability.
It's too complex for the layman to understand.