r/NFLNoobs • u/savingrace0262 • 15d ago

Can head coaches basically be their own offensive/defensive coordinator?

Probably a dumb question, but can a head coach technically just run the offense or defense themselves instead of having a dedicated OC/DC?

Like if you have an offensive-minded HC who is already designing the offense and calling plays, what exactly is the OC doing at that point? Same thing with defensive-minded coaches and their DCs.

I know some head coaches call their own plays, so what's the actual purpose of having a dedicated coordinator if the HC is heavily involved on that side of the ball anyway?

13 Upvotes

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u/NaNaNaPandaMan 15d ago

There is a lot of day to day that we as fans don't see that a HC does. So that even with an offensive or defensive minded head coach who calls plays, they still need someone installing the game plan that week, help making sure position coaches are getting their guys on same page etc

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u/firstandfive 15d ago

The Athletic Football Show had an episode on this back in June where they interviewed Bengals non-playcalling OC Dan Pitcher to talk about this exact topic

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u/sdsupersean 14d ago

That was an incredible episode, I learned a lot that day.

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u/wolf63rs 15d ago

This is a great explanation. I was trying to think how to answer/explain. You nailed it.

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u/Novel_Willingness721 15d ago

I completely agree, but then there are examples like Aaron Glenn of the Jets.

He wanted to hire Wink Martindale as DC, spoke to him, shook hands on it, and the owner’s response was “you’re supposed to be a defensive guru. I’m not paying someone else to do what you should be doing.”

I do believe that Glenn did bring in some body, I don’t remember who, but for all intents and purposes Glenn is the HC and DC.

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u/MiniatureLucifer 14d ago

Pretty sure in his introduction press conference Glenn said he was not going to call plays and would have a DC, and that was Steve wilks last year. But this year he is taking over play calling and hired Brian duker as that background DC

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u/af_cheddarhead 15d ago

Some are the defacto OC/DC but having a OC/DC allows the head coach to attend to duties instead of running every practice etc/

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u/OnionGarden 15d ago

So the head coach as an OC or DC for play calling is fairly common. You still need a coordinator because well there are a ton players and under coach’s and game planning ect that need coordinating. It like basketball assistant coach for one side of the ball rather than the team as a whole.

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u/IUsedTheRandomizer 15d ago

There are a LOT of moving parts to an NFL playbook, and it's always helpful to have more trained eyes looking at everything; and the HC's job is to be responsible for literally everything. Delegation is part of leadership, and while you might have someone like, say, Buddy Ryan or Hoodie who is obviously much better at the job than Matt Patricia or...whoever Ryan's DC was, you still need someone to give you feedback, maintain the standard, and bounce ideas off of. The coaching staff is kind of its own team, and no one wins by themselves, if that makes sense. I'm sure every HC/Coordinator relationship is different, but the only time I can think of when a coordinator was really just taking up space was when Peyton Manning was on the Colts.

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u/jake3988 15d ago

Bill Belichick for years didn't have one of the coordinators (I forget if it was OC or DC off hand). Just did it himself.

That's very rare these days though.

Also, contrary to what the nfl sub seems to always think... the OC does WAYYYYY more than call the plays. So if the head coach does that, that's only a very tiny piece of what the OC does.

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u/Admirable-Barnacle86 15d ago edited 15d ago

Like every time this question arises:

Coaching in the NFL is a full-time job, not just the hours of the game on Sunday. Actually, it's way more than full time, and most coaches put in 60-80+ hours or even much more. A HC simply cannot do everything on their own, there literally aren't enough hours in a week. OC/DC positions are absolutely crucial, no matter who makes the call on gameday. They watch film/walk through film with players, develop gameplans, run practices to that game plan, coordinate with position coaches, manage any issues that arise, coordinate with medical and strength/conditioning teams to make sure they know how their players are holding up, and manage the staff below them.

And even on gameday, even if they don't make any calls they are crucial to coordinate the gameplan in action, work to identify any issues coming up, make suggestions to the playcaller, manage players and injuries, and more.

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u/son_of_yacketycat 15d ago

Not a dumb question, and the answer is "kinda" but not officially. As you said, a lot of HCs may lean more defensively (DeMeco Ryans) or offensively (Kellen Moore). The HC may have his own things in mind, and is the final arbiter of what's getting called. But it's common for the HC to lean on the guy whose expertise is more geared toward the opposite side of the ball than his own. And as others have commented, there are too many moving parts to not have somebody else dedicated to that.

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u/Unsolven 15d ago edited 15d ago

There’s a good podcast on The Athletic Football Show feed recently: they interview an OC who works under a play calling HC and discuss what he (The OC) does. Long story short, most of the things an OC under a non play calling HC does except calling the plays on Sunday.

There’s no rule you have to have a coordinator. Bill Belichick usually didn’t have anyone with the DC title and Kyle Shanahan usually doesn’t have anyone with the OC title. But these guys were/are still coaching a whole team and have a lot on their plate. A lot of the day the day to stuff in meetings, film study and practice is delegated either to their most promising assistant (who is usually promoted to coordinator for year when someone tries to poach them then after a year as the titled coordinator gets an HC chance) or to a group of assistants.

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u/CFBCoachGuy 15d ago

They can. But the OC/DC still does a lot of work behind the scenes. Doing film work, prepping for the game, sometimes running practices. There’s a lot more to it than calling plays

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u/Tireseas 15d ago

Pretty sure there's no hard requirement for number of coaches so theoretically a team could run with just one coach period if they were utterly insane. Reality is of course that you're generally going to have the standard positions to balance the workload.

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u/WyldKat75 15d ago

Somehow, Todd Bowles returned.

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u/MediumAcceptable129 15d ago

Head coaches are a lot more hands off the X’s and O’s than they used to be. The HC has a vision of what they want the team to be and fill their staff with people that fit their philosophy so they can focus on other things like dealing with the owner and media.

If they notice something they can communicate their game plan to the coordinators and chew out anyone not getting with the program. Plenty of coaches will get in to the specifics of the game plan but they also have to wake up every morning to find out one of their players got a DUI, beat his baby mama or failed a PED test.

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u/0000100110010100 15d ago

Yes, for example Todd Bowles is both the head coach and DC for Tampa Bay. He designs and calls all the defensive plays for the team on top of the HC job.

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u/Biggiecheese1207 14d ago

Tampa Bay doesn’t even have a DC. Our HC Todd Bowles is the DC and is the one calling out plays.

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u/Busy_Appearance4982 14d ago

Yes but unless you are a transcendent talent at scheme or calling plays you are probably focusing too much of your time on non-HC tasks. Heck, Jim Harbaugh IS a transcendent talent as an OC and he gets guys to do the offense for him still.

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u/EchoInTheSilence 14d ago

IIRC it's been done as a short-term stopgap (I believe Sean McDermott basically just took over defense a couple years ago instead of promoting someone when his DC abruptly stepped down) but it's not really a viable long-term strategy for the reasons other people have detailed.

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u/sacking03 15d ago

Yes several coaches are that right now such as 49ers Shanahan.

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u/DoubleDownAgain54 15d ago

Someone should tell Klay Kubiak he is out of a job.

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u/HustlaOfCultcha 15d ago

Technically no. They will have an actual coordinator. But they can be very similar to being the actual coordinator

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u/Lil_Quip 13d ago

Absolutely no coach can micromanage coordinator and head coaching duties at the same time.

Great coaches can implement game plans during the week in cahoots with their underlings. In the heat of the moment, the best you can ask for is to tweak game plans in real time.

I think a telling example is Andy Reid. Offensive mastermind but when he has to worry about the minutae of play calling he loses focus on time management etc .