The primary roles of an NFL head coach

[electro's horse]

HYPOTHESIS

These are some of the main roles of an nfl head coach. This list is not at all exhaustive. We might differ on terms or what part is the most important but I think we’ll be able to broadly agree on these things. 

1. Build out a staff - this is generally the coach’s first task and is a reflection of their coaching philosophy and perceived strengths, desired organizational setup, and Rolodex. When you’re hiring coaches you need to have coaches you can call, essentially. Saban’s greatest strength was always the coaches he could bring in. You also need personal and familial ties, unfortunately. NFL is an old boy network and it never hurts to be someone’s son. Wade Phillips was Sean McVays first DC for a reason 

2. Identify and develop players - through FA and the draft. And just not at the top of your roster. You need capable players at every level. This allows you to identify who is worth locking up long term, but it also just provides good team depth. The panthers weakest specials teams have always been during their worst seasons, because players that shouldn’t be starting are now spending their weeks on defense or offense instead of ST etc. and this is a year round job, not just the draft or free agency. The eagles never sleep. 

3. Identity - this just isn’t the coach’s personality or what color they paint the weight room but the kind of team they want to be and want to deviate from. This is the through line which permeates through everything else. This is 80% of wha the team is and does. This generally comes top down (Detroit) but it has to be reinforced by the players. In the case of Brady, he was that driving force by himself. 

4. Practice - yes we are talking about practice. This is keeping the team sharp, installing new wrinkles, and letting the coaches coach. This is where players get better at an individual level, and the most important place for all your position coaches. 

5. Roster Management - this isn’t just cutting players or whatever but managing the PS/IL etc to make sure you have the players on gameday to do what you want to do. Belichick was the master of this; he’d have games where the roster was 25 safeties and tight ends. But it always tied in to what he wanted to do schematically. 

6. Gameday management - executing the plan that you worked on during the week. Not just the glamorous stuff of the big play call, or 4th down call but the small poo like in game adjustments, coaching people up, clock management etc. there’s a lot of overlap here with practice 

7. Org Chart - frankly who does what. Some coaches are huge control freaks with their fingers in everything, some are more of a CEO /organizational type. There are examples of both extremes and places in the middle having and not having success. My point here is that roles need to be firmly defined. The hallmark of a dysfunctional organization is a poorly defined org chart, believe me. 

8. inspire - obviously you’ve got to get a room or the best, highest paid athletes in the world to buy in to what you’re selling. Success breeds success but you’ve also gotta rally the troops when things go wrong. And not just the players but the fans as well. One of the main things of hiring a new coach is feeling like you might have stumbled onto the next Belichick. 

ANTITHESIS

Why yes I am going to talk about Dave Canales now.

We are looking at a 2026 where there will need to be significant roster development, a lot of new players, probably a lot of new coaches, and all of this coming off what is probably another gonna be a 3-4 win season. Taking these traits above (and again this isn’t meant to be exhaustive)

1. Is Dave Canales going to hire the defensive coordinator? He didn’t when the was most recently hired and to be frank I doubt he has anyone he could call for the role; plus, no up and comer will come here since tepper fuged around with evero. Additionally, this doesn’t to me look like a team suffering from too much coaching. This is year two now. Is there anyone left Dave hasn’t called and is comfortable with?

2. There are holes all over this roster. I don’t think we’re as bad as 2001 or 2010 but this team has no depth at all, partially because they’ve focused on high priced free agents to fill their development gaps. Canales hasn’t developed players very well, especially not on the offensive side of the ball, doesn’t have any input into the defensive roster, and the panthers offensive line is a ticking time bomb. He’s had two drafts, two training camps, two off seasons etc. 

3. What is the panthers identity? I’ll hold off on more specific criticisms. 

4. There have been multiple times during the Canales tenure that this team has looked like it played Xbox all week. They did not look prepared at all yesterday. On average Canales is losing games by over 18 points in a league the average margin of defeat is less than a TD.

5. Roster management is tough because the team isn’t good, but I don’t think Canales is helping anything. Managing injuries sure but how are we to the point an early David Moore injury yesterday blows out the whole game plan

6. I think Canales looks outmatched on gameday more often than not. This team still can’t execute at the end of the half or situationally. Every knew yesterday the panthers weren’t going to run out the clock at the end of the first. We couldn’t stop the bleeding at all. Obviously playclock issues etc. part of me suspects he’s trying to too much on the offense and kinda failing at all of it. Unfortunately I don’t think he has the coaches to really delegate anything; the less said about him and Brad idzik’s relationship the better  

7. I think we all agree that Dave doesn’t have a ton of power outside the offense, and I think we all suspect the same reasons for this. There are times when this can work but I don’t think this is one of them. Additionally, no matter what satisfying move you want Carolina to do (fire evero, cut Bryce) you can’t say for sure Dave has the authority to do this. 

8. I won’t speak for the players but Dave doesn’t really excite me anymore. And I can’t imagine being excited heading into another season of him. 

SYNTHESIS

Dave Canales has done nothing in two years that shows me he deserves a third. He certainly wouldn’t be hired for a HC job coming off these first two. You can say he’s been handcuffed with Bryce and those considerations but 1. He knew what he was coming in to and 2. He certainly hasn’t shown the ability to overcome it. Powerful “happy to be here” vibes from Dave  

you’re insane if you’re trusting this guy with a high first round qb and implying two more years of employment. 

to say nothing about the state of the other positions on the team. He doesn’t even have roster control of the defense. Fixing the offensive line has just been buying one, which is not a long term solution. He’s shown no ability to identify and develop players. 

Whatever he was hired on he hasn’t recreated here, and at least in Tampa bay he wasn’t missed at all. What he’s done doesn’t warrant more time. 

I’m indifferent to keeping him for the sake of. There’s like three of these jobs in the world every year and the panthers owner has more money than god. 

Anyway yeah fire Canales 

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

I agree on most points, but if we fire Canales now, we are basically the Jets. Even if he is not here long term, the next qualified candidate needs to know he has some time to right the ship 

[SmokinwithWilly]

All of this is well and good but the issue still sits in the owner's chair. Dave Tepper is hands on and a decision maker with no idea of how to run a football team. Good people don't want to come here and that starts at the top. He needs to be an owner and that's it. Hire a president of football operations that knows what he's doing and build down from there. The only identity this team has right now is get paid/get fired retirement fund. Until that changes, nothing else matters. 

[*FreeFua*]

Just now, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

I agree on most points, but if we fire Canales now, we are basically the Jets. Even if he is not here long term, the next qualified candidate needs to know he has some time to right the ship 

If Canales had this team showing signs of progress being made then I’d be all for giving him more time but he’s not

This is the exact same team/crap we saw for the bulk of last year.

The floor for me this season was 6-7 wins. There needs to be improvement of some sort. 6 wins while being competitive I probably could’ve lived with but we’re not even that.

Our 3 losses have been blow outs. I left at halftime in Arizona so is that late comeback considered us being competitive? Either way our 3 losses have been fu*king UGLY. 

There’s been no signs of life which is why I believe both Dan and Dave need to go asap

So many Tepper can convince the next guy he’ll have a longer leash if he’s capable of showing that there’s progress being made year to year 

[electro's horse]

8 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

I agree on most points, but if we fire Canales now, we are basically the Jets. 

Buddy I got bad news 

Edited 1 hour ago by electro's horse

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

Ok, the question then is: Can David Tepper prove to any qualified candidates at GM or HC that the Panthers are an organization worth working for?

 

How does Tepper accomplish this?

[electro's horse]

2 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

Ok, the question then is: Can David Tepper prove to any qualified candidates at GM or HC that the Panthers are an organization worth working for?

 

How does Tepper accomplish this?

A coach/FO guy with a lot of sway and connections and clearly defined roles and guarantees in the contract. 

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

21 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

I agree on most points, but if we fire Canales now, we are basically the Jets.

spiderman pointing image

[CarolinaLivin]

2 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

Ok, the question then is: Can David Tepper prove to any qualified candidates at GM or HC that the Panthers are an organization worth working for?

 

How does Tepper accomplish this?

Tepper has two things that could potentially go for him in a head coach search.

1. Money

2. Pick your QB (if he lets him lol)

[Jon Snow]

32 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

I agree on most points, but if we fire Canales now, we are basically the Jets. Even if he is not here long term, the next qualified candidate needs to know he has some time to right the ship 

The coach has to show that he is indeed a head coach. If he's going to blame the qb but does everything to protect said qb inorder to hide his weaknesses. Then how do you show his weaknesses? You do so by making said qb throw the ball regardless. Let him prove that he can or cannot run the coaches offense. Then the coaches ass is covered. Hiding your qb only leaves questions on whether said coach knows what he's doing. It's not rocket surgery. 

[csx]

We cant fire another coach in season.

[Moose Hoover]

buddy i got bad news...he is the spitting image of Javy Lopez...awwww fire him...I liked Eddie Perez better anyway...

[Waldo]

Make him finish year 2 but I have seen nothing to justify a year 3. 

On to the next mistake I guess

[Dave Gettleman's Shorts]

canales comes off too much of a nice guy and his team is straight up soft, never seen players on both sides of the ball continually being thrown around

treats preseason both years as a throwaway and the team comes out flat both times

team is never prepared and constantly out-coached by opponents

continues to trot out bums despite having better players on the roster with the likes of Nick Scott, Rozeboom, DJ johnson and if it weren't for injuries Zavala and Corbett would still be out there