Mike Leach in the NYT Mag this week

[nychoya3]

Michael Lewis has a great profile of Mike Leach, the coach of Texas Tech, in Sunday's NYTimes magazine. Leach is a very odd duck, and that's part of what's interesting. But in a larger sense, the article is about a guy with no interest in how things are "supposed" to be done, but only in what works. So much of what Texas Tech does is football blasphemy, and they do it with (for the level) inferior athletes. And yet they're consistently the best offense in the nation.

In conclusion, hire Mike Leach! Well, that's unlikely. And I don't expect us to be implementing the TTU offense anytime soon (though I'd love to see it.) But what is implementable is thinking hard about what we're doing on offense and not simply doing things because that's the way everyone else does them. Our players are smart, or else they wouldn't be here. Let's use a little of that brain power and make it tougher on the other team. We play football the way a lot of coaches think it's meant to be played, but that isn't scoring points for us.

The article quotes Jim Schwartz, defensive coordinator for the Titans and Hoya grad as well. Check it out.

www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/magazine/04coach.html

[hoyaboy1]

The amazing fear and hatred of innovation that permeates sports always perplexes me. Look at the Suns scoring tons of points by starting a non-traditional lineup. Look at Texas Tech. Look at the start of sabremetrics in baseball. Why does everyone else who isn't succesful refuse to be innovative when the standard methods clearly aren't working?

[FormerHoya]

That was a really interesting article. I can't remember when I enjoyed a read about a coach of a school I don't care at all about about more.

[AustinHoya03]

hoyaboy1 said:

The amazing fear and hatred of innovation that permeates sports always perplexes me. Look at the Suns scoring tons of points by starting a non-traditional lineup. Look at Texas Tech. Look at the start of sabremetrics in baseball. Why does everyone else who isn't succesful refuse to be innovative when the standard methods clearly aren't working?

Don't know if you realized it, but the guy who wrote the article is the author of Moneyball.

[hoya4ever]

What's Moneyball?

[nychoya3]

Blasphemy!

Moneyball is a book by Michael Lewis that's about the management philosophy of Billy Beane and the Oakland A's. In a larger sense, it's about a team applying an analytic approach to baseball and succeeding despite financial handicaps. It's a fantastic read, even if you don't like baseball.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393057658/002-6003736-9029645?v=glance&n=283155

[hoyaboy1]

Yep, nyc, I did. Moneyball is a great book that can apply to all aspects of life.