adembroski's Blog
Coaching in Football Video Games and Team Personality Part 1
Posted on October 9, 2010 at 12:09 PM.
So why is it that NFL games rarely address this subject with any depth? Madden's coaches provide small attribute bonuses, while coaches in the 2K series had virtually no influence whatever. NFL Head Coach 09 took a stab at it, but that was a game wholly devoted to the coaching art.
I'm going to present a proposal to gaming companies in general in this blog; a way to approach coaching that produces a realistic level of coaching influence and provides the user with another set of strategic choices in their franchise toolbox.
Types of Coaches
I have identified four key coaching "types". I feel I can boil virtually any coach down into one of these personality types.
It should be noted that the archtypes I am going to present represent the 'purest' form of the coaching style. This does not mean that there is no balance or no exceptions to the rules presented, but that, in general, all coaches can be loosely fitted into one of these categories.
Each style defines an approach to personnel and motivation.
The four types of coaches I have identified are; The Scientist, the General, the Tyrant, and the Executive.
The Scientist
* Examples: Bill Walsh, Hal Mumme
The Scientist believes in focus and preparation above all else. He is a student of tactics and the best are known for their game planning. Their teams tend to be well prepared and have an intimate knowledge of the system.
The Scientist is a schemer. He develops tactics and acquires players who will fit his system's requirements.
The Scientist prepares his team through focus, repetition, and a sense of professionalism and calmness. Training camps are light affairs compared to most coaches, focusing on teaching and evaluation.
The Scientist sees the quarterback as a special position; the most important position on the field, and devotes special attention to the QB. He tends to seek a calm, smooth, methodical style of quarterback with a focus on leadership, footwork, and accuracy.
The Scientist tends to be offensive minded and favor the passing game. His offensive system tends to be timing based and make use of many receivers, with the West Coast and Air Raid offenses being predominant among this coaching style.
The General
* Examples: Vince Lombardi, Steve Spurrier
The General is grounded in fundamental football. He believes in repetition and expertise among his players. He is generally known for having his players motivated and excited to play, as well as being extremely well versed in a fairly small but diverse system. The Excellence of Execution typifies this coach, who believes it's not what you do, but how you do it.
Like the Scientist, the General is a schemer. However, strategies for dealing with the opposition take a backseat to execution. The General believes that if properly executed, his system can handle anything the opposition throws at it. He will acquire players that fit the specific roles that his system requires.
The General prepares his team through will, determination, and toughness. Training camp is tough, but measured, designed to identify the players who fit into the overall scheme.
The General acknowledges the important role a QB plays, but tends to downplay the position in his system in order to not place too much weight on the player. He tends to seek a controlled, 'system' quarterback who does not make mistakes and provides good leadership.
The General tends to be offensively minded with a bias toward the running game. Power running and stopping the run are hallmarks of The General.
The Tyrant
* Examples: Bear Bryant, Mike Ditka
The Tyrant sees the football field as a war zone, and football as a test of manhood. His teams are known for being hard hitting, tough, physically intimidating units. To the Tyrant, system is secondary, athletes are everything.
The Tyrant tends to be flexible with his system, making use of the best players on his roster in the best position he can. Though he favors systems that require little thought or processing on the fly, this is because he wants athletes to allow their abilities to take over and dominate on the football field.
The Tyrant motivates through force of will. His training camps are long, harsh affairs that weed out the weak through trial by fire.
The Tyrant sees the Quarterback is one of eleven, holding no special status among positions. He is no more a leader of the team than a middle linebacker or center other than having play calling duties. He seeks a quarterback that typifies his mindset; a tough, gritty leader.
The Tyrant tends to be defensive minded with a focus on the running game. Systems that allow his athletes to read and react naturally and over-power their opposition are favored.
The Executive
* Examples: Bill Belichick, Joe Paterno
The executive is a director and sees his role as a leader of men. His teams are typified as well prepared and mentally focused groups who get the job done without regard to how. The executive is results orientated and does not allow blind faith in a system to derail him.
The executive is flexible in his approach to tactics, using the system best suited to the roster he has. He favors creating match ups and finding holes to overpowering his opposition, but does so dependent on what talent he has available rather than finding players who fit his operation.
Mental focus are important to the Executive, and his training camps tend to be fairly light teaching forums designed to identify his team's strengths so he can capitalize on them during the regular season.
The executive sees the QB as a potentially important position but realizes that a team without a great one must adapt to maintain success. He seeks an unselfish quarterback who is intelligent and adaptive.
The Executive tends to be an defensive minded coach with a focus on the passing game. He tends to favor flexible systems capable of putting a variety of players to use.
In future editions of this series, we will look at the affects these coaching types can have on a team, how coaches of the same type differ, how that can be implemented into an NFL video game, and how assistant coaches and coordinators fit in as well.
Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances, I will not be completing this blog series. Leaving it up as a point of reference only.
# 17
adembroski @ Oct 13
Just for the record, the next blog is written and awaiting my review when I get up. I'll revise and post this evening.
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What places them in different categories (and you can argue the names I gave the 4 categories if you like, but it's ultimately irrelevant and just a name) is how they motivate players, as I said before.
"The Scientist" was a name I came up with to describe a coach that maintained an even-keel team mentality while focusing on a system. "The General" is what came to me thinking of a system focused coach who was a fire and brimstone and halftime speeches sort of coach.