OT: Olympics
I'm sitting here watching the Olympics and was just thinking about if football was an Olympic sport, what would the US staff look like? (picking from college coaches)
I would probably have:
Head Coach: Jim Harbaugh (obviously)
Offensive Coordinator: Tom Herman
Defensive Coordinator: Nick Saban
QB Coach: Jim Harbaugh (c'mon)
RB Coach: Urban Meyer
WR Coach: Tom Herman
OL Coach: Bret Bielema
DL Coach: Pat Narduzzi
LB Coach: Gary Patterson
DB Coach: Nick Saban
Special Teams: David Shaw
Hope to get some good takes, enjoy!
August 10th, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^
If football was an Olympic sport and we could choose anyone to be the head coach, I would go with Belichick 10/10 times, but if it is only college, then I would go with Harbaugh.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
She'd be my UNCLE!
I'll be here all week folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:22 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^
That is only if you include Belichick's tenure at Cleveland. Belichick has a better regular season, playoff, and overalll winning percentage at NE than Harbaugh had at SF. And Belichick has been at NE four times longer than Harbaugh was at SF.
We all love Harbaugh, but Belichick is the best coach in football since the turn of the century.
August 10th, 2016 at 1:38 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^
You are not a bit of a homer, you are a huge homer. Belichick has been dominating the highest level of football for the last 15 years. Maybe Harbaugh would have done better in Belichick's shoes, but maybe he would have done worse. That is all conjecture and hypotheticals. What we do know is the following:
Everybody stinks in Cleveland. And as a matter of fact Belichicks 11-5 record in '94 is the best season that franchise has had in the last 30 years.
The 5-11 year was his first season in NE and Brady's rookie year. In 2008 when Brady tore his knee up in the first game they finished the season 11-5 with Matt Cassell at QB. The same Matt Cassell that has compiled a 25-39 record since 2008. So he has shown he can win without Brady.
Belichick's and Brady's legacies are certainly intertwined, but it is possible that without Belichick Tom Brady is selling insurance in 2001 instead of winning a super bowl.
August 10th, 2016 at 5:07 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^
We all love Harbaugh but for now Belichick has a better record.
August 10th, 2016 at 5:11 PM ^
arrived and had just 1 of 5 years with a winning record when he was there. He also took over a Patriots franchise averaging 9 wins a year the previous 5 seasons before he got there and without Brady in his first year in New England, BB finished with a 5-11 record overall. Awfully funny how he NEVER won before Brady got there.
The 2008 Matt Cassel NE team was also the year after the undefeatd 2007 Patriots team considered by most to be the best regular season team of all-time. So going 11-5 with a team with that much talent and a QB who's started for a handful of teams throughout the NFL isn't anything special.
September 23rd, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^
Belichick is also the GM of the Patriots. So I would say it is pretty special that he was able to build and coach a team to an 11-5 record after losing the franchise QB in week 1. How many other NFL teams could do that?
And the year before Belichick took over the browns went 3-13. So it isn't like Belichick started them on the downward trend.
EDIT:
3-0 without Brady so far this year. Still think Belichick isn't the best coach in football right now?
August 10th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^
I'm streaming it but maybe since rain washed out the morning tennis? I'm watching the Spanish feed of it. Guessing it's on two channels in two languages?
August 10th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 1:08 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^
I despise allowing professional athletes of popular sports to compete in the Olympics but if football were allowed unfortunately your list would read more like: Belichick, Carrol, Payton, Tomlin, John Harbaugh, etc...
August 10th, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^
They are professional athletes in most of the sports, they just get paid differently in other sports. Do you know how much Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, and the other top athletes from other countries make between Olympic competitions? Way more than us, and more than some of those athletes from popular team sports.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:56 PM ^
Yeah, sure, but those are the two absolute best athletes in swimming and track. Phelps is the greatest olympian ever. Not really comparable.
Tennis players make a lot at the top, but (and I can't remember the exact ranking) somewhere between the top 30-60, they go from making enough to live to needing another job or supplemental income. USA swimmers get a stipend from the governing body. If they are top-16 in the nation and make appearances at certain meets, they can get up to $3000 a month. That's $36,000 a year. If you're up there at the top, sponsorships and things get you much more. That does not compare the the number of people and salary in the big four sports.
Minimum salary for the big four is all around half a million dollars. They are leagues apart.
August 10th, 2016 at 7:47 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
It's about overexposure and my viewing pleasure, not the money. The Olymipics are an opportunity to watch unsung athletes perform at the highest level in whacky events new to my eye. If the athletes view it as just another competition (basketball, tennis, now golf, etc...) they are just wasting screen time and taking away my opportunity to witness geninune unique drama.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^
Not to go too homer on you, but there's no reason Coach Jim Harbaugh wouldn't still be included even if we opened up the field to professionals.
August 10th, 2016 at 1:22 PM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^
Weird title for thread. I'll play:
HC: Nick Saban
OC: Jim Harbaugh
DC: Les Miles
QB Coach: Jim Harbaugh
RB: Urban Meyer
WR: Dabo Swinney
OL: David Shaw
DL: Pat Narduzzi
LB: Don Brown
DB: Jimbo Fisher
ST: Mark D'Antonio
August 10th, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^
Fabien Cancellara takes gold in the Cycling Time Trial, 8 years after taking gold in Beijing. He retires at the end of this year; an astonishing cap to his brilliant career.
He was, for years, the dominant rider in that discipline. As he focused more on classics (with huge success), he started getting edged by guys like Tony Martin and, more recently, silver medalist Domoulin. Obviously, he decided it was time to stop playing around and drop the mic one last time.
And did he ever.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^
that does not include Mike D'ontoniono's name.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^
Loving the rugby 7's action. It's going to be tough for USA to advance playing against the best in the world Fiji. Hoping South Africa takes the gold.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 12:37 PM ^
It's short, action-packed, accessible to laypeople--a brilliant combination. Honestly, with the right level of promotion it could become a legit sport here in the US and an even bigger deal worldwide.
Sevens minimizes, but does not eliminate, complex and mystifying elements of rugby like rucks and scrums, without actually changing the rules. It opens up a lot of space and allows athleticism to emerge, while still maintaining some trademark physicality. It has its fair share of earned explosive plays.
And it's all over in less than half an hour, on to the next game. Perfect for today's culture.
There are, of course, attempts to get old football players to play it. Usually that involves getting a football player to learn the sport and throwing him out there; however, I think this could be a real opportunity for not-quite-NFL/NBA-caliber athletes to invest a couple of years to really master the sport, if someone is willing to invest to employ them.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:54 PM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
For sure - I caught some of the USA game/match with New Zealand the other day. It was really fun to watch. Those were some tough-ass women and built really well for both speed and power.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^
USA gets the first try! This would be a massive upset
August 10th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
Damn - USA rugby eliminated by a point differential of 1...if they had made the last conversion they would've advanced and knocked out New Zealand. Tough break.
Time for SA to win this thing, go Boks!
August 10th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
Damn - USA rugby eliminated by a point differential of 1...if they had made the last conversion they would've advanced and knocked out New Zealand. Tough break.
Time for SA to win this thing, go Boks!
August 10th, 2016 at 1:46 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 4:15 PM ^
Bellicheck is overrated, IMO. Good but honestly all he does is rob Tom of his weapons year after year like a cheapskate boss and see how high Tom can rise. Then once he see's how minimal he can keep the weapons around Tom he gives him just enough to survive.
Also, he's a jerk.
August 10th, 2016 at 7:40 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 5:03 PM ^
that's 113 total games and he's still not even a .500 record. Every single NFL head coach nowadays would be fired for that kind of record. Amazing that the so called genuis couldn't even win more than half of his games unless he had a HOF QB.
The Patriots were a combined 38-26 the 4 years before BB showed up there and then went went 5-11 in his first year at New England and the year BEFORE Brady took over as QB. Looks awfully close to same story we seen when BB took over a Browns franchise that had 4 of 5 winning seasons BEFORE BB had got to Cleveland but under BB regime the Browns only had just 1 winning year out of 5.
Also of note is BB has won an average of 12.2 regular season games a year since he's had Tom Brady playing QB for him while the 6 head coaches that Peyton Manning's had also combined to win the exact 12.2 wins games year on average during the regular season (after tossing out Manning's rookie year) proving BB didn't do anything that 6 other NFL H.C. did when given a QB of same HOF caliber.
Bottom line is Tom Brady didn't need Bill Bellichick but there's 113 games of proof that shows BB badly needed Tom Brady.
August 10th, 2016 at 6:00 PM ^
Here we go Blitzboks! SA knocks out Australia