By Coach Earnest Byner
March 2, 2015
Free agency is about to start. Franchise tags have been passed out and the combine has taken place.
There are moves that can be made that can build or make winning difficult.
Teams that have a history of successes during this time of year, should be emulated, studied or plagiarized. They have a system that they stay true to, even they at times will break out of the status quo that they have established.
When teams go outside of their established norm, it typically bites them in the ass.
Three teams, going on four, have a system of building through the draft, establishing a market value for their team and being very picky in their choices of free agent acquisitions.
At this time of the year, the general manager is the head coach. He makes the overall decisions when it’s two minute situations, the use o f timeouts and when to throw the challenge flags in the off-season.
The director of college scouting can be called the offensive coordinator, he organizes the college scouts, calls the plays on the college players and reports his thoughts on the decisions for the draft.
The director of pro personnel is up. His side of the ball is ready for action. It’s time for his reports and strategies to be in effect.
If the team has been prepared properly, then the head coach (GM) should be able to manage the game successfully. Rest assured he has gone through some hiccups. It’s quite possible that a team like Dallas could lose a player like DeMarco. The what ifs are being asked throughout the building.
Feeling your way through these processes typically will get teams in trouble. The teams that plan their work and stick to what they have established as their modus operandi will typically win the off-season game which, if the coaches are worth their salt, wins in the post season.