Organizational Management. Can Dan Do It?

[Notalot]

Oregon Football fans and observers are thrilled with the excitement of change. Some are intrigued that the new head man and Head Coach, Dan Lanning has background stints with perennial championship contender, and sometimes champion, Alabama. Lanning is fresh off from leading a ferocious defense to the college football title with Georgia.

 

Others are amazed with the talented staff of young upwardly mobile coaches that Dan Lanning has assembled around him. Then there are the transfers and recruits being added to the roster along with the considerable skills and talents brought to Oregon before Coach Lanning by Mario Cristobal. The talent cupboard is presently being stocked by recruiters who hold accolades for aplomb in recruiting top-rated talent in several of college football’s renowned and ripest pastures of talent.

 

Though the scenarios of the coming Oregon Football season, and those of 2023 and 2024 are tantalizing, the reality is that this staff and team has not yet practiced one snap together, let alone played a game. Football is not like a Betty Crocker mix, “Just add water and stir.” Creating a competitive winning team takes tremendous skill and results in organizational management by the Head Coach. The “Jimmy’s and Joe’s and X’s and O’s) are ingredients of the mix, or pieces of a 1000-piece puzzle.

 

Oregon Football has been blessed in the off-season, and over the past four years, to add staff positions to bolster the football program and apply greater emphasis on details that support the program. The addition of personnel theoretically helps the team, but in other ways adds to the complexity of managing the larger organization. It is not simply control, but spearheading communication, and molding diverse personalities into one culture. The long-term challenge of building a single-minded unit has increased because the coaching staff is mostly young coaches who have thus far into their careers have been highly mobile and have demonstrated “Alpha” personalities to rise above others meteorically.

 

Then there are the players. It has always been challenging for coaches to organize and ignite a group of 17–24-year-old young men from diverse backgrounds into an efficient cohesive championship team. The challenge has become more complex with the effects of the Transfer Portal, the pull of NIL propositions, and the demise of control by the NCAA. Then consider the environment that Covid-related protocols, concerns, and mandates. Surmise that the coming few years ahead will challenge players and their coaches in new ways.

 

What is Organization Management? Organization management refers to the art of getting people together on a common platform to make them work towards a common predefined goal. Organization management enables the optimum use of resources through meticulous planning and control at the organization entity. Organization management gives a sense of direction to the employees. The individuals within the team are well aware of their roles and responsibilities and know what they are supposed to do.

 

Is there a need for effective Organization Management? Organization management gives a sense of security and oneness to the employees. An effective management is necessary for better coordination among various departments and functions within the football operations, staff, and players. Employees accomplish tasks within the stipulated timeframe and result with effective organization management. The players and staff are loyal towards their job, managers, and peers, and do not treat work as a burden. Effective organization management leads to a peaceful and positive ambience on the field and within the organization.

 

I will be interested, as you may be, to see the schemes and formations of the offense and defense. Getting to know the new coaches and watch them at work will be fun. It is always stimulating to meet players, see them perform, develop, and grow through their careers.

 

Most everything will be new in 2022 Ducks Football. Coach Lanning has had a wonderful and successful early career as a coach. I anticipate that the results and ranking of Oregon football through the coming years will have more to do with the Organizational Management by the Head Coach rather than the specifics of the “X’s and O’s” or the “Jimmy’s and Joes.”

 

Can Dan do it?

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Notalot

[Duck 1972]

Thanks Notalot.   Lots of things to ponder. My thoughts if they hadn't been co-ordinaters on both sides of the ball, it would be more difficult doing what you're saying. Also every 1 of coaches has at least 10 years experience and around teams that do do what you're saying. Because of this I feel they're fine. Yes a couple of mistakes but nothing long term.

[30Duck]

We definitely don't "know" how a game, let alone a season, will go now. But from what we've been able to discern from their work histories prior to coming to Oregon, I'm more than satisfied that Lanning and his staff are not only up to the task of leading the Oregon football team, but excited to get started.

 

What we have been able to see is how Lanning and staff have hit recruiting. Literally minutes after leaving Georgia's championship win, Lanning was on the phone with a highly coveted recruit. Nowhere in football now is an organized effort more important than in recruiting. Before I wondered why I'd see a note about a player being offered 2, 3 seasons before he's eligible. But now it's clear. Recruiting takes networking like any other sales job. Lanning and his coaches are contacting coaches and players now, getting ahead of the game. 

[Charles Fischer]

To be a great football coach--you must have the Xs and Os as Cristobal demonstrated with his lack of expertise in that area.  (IMHO)  But you also must be a great recruiter, and MC was that for certain.  But you also must be a great CEO, to have supreme management skills, which to me, is what you are referring to.

 

Very few coaches can do the Xs and Os like a CPA, yet recruit like a Master Salesman and yet be a truly great CEO.   You have Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcels,....a few you can name within two hands are skilled at all three areas.  Over time it is darn few who have champion CEO skills in addition to the other two skills.

 

So yes, it will be interesting to me to watch that aspect of Lanning's coaching, but being a CEO is more than Organizational Management, IMHO.  It is establishing a culture that makes sense in reference to all else happening with the team.  I will be interviewing some people at Georgia in the near future to give us a glimpse of what we might expect in the "culture" area.

 

So I will politely disagree with "most of the results coming from Organizational Management over the years."  I believe the OM is part of being a CEO, but the game-planning, in-game adjustments (Xs and Os) along with recruiting great talent are all equally important.

 

And it is really hard to be good at all of them.  Here's hoping he is, and I will agree that it will be quite fun to watch.  Thanks for a great post to ponder...

 

[EzDucksIt]

I, for one, do not expect him to be great, at everything.  I hope, he is great at forming a mission statement and having asst coaches who are great teachers, allowing those he hires to meet his expectations and goals.  Tossing around Co Coordinators titles around sounds like, the political side of coaching or trying to meet payroll expectations.  But if he is a good CEO, he will attract many coaches and athletes to Oregon.  And I am ok with that.

[David Marsh]

Vision... Lanning needs to have a concrete vision as to what he wants to see on the field. This also has to be a realistic vision and something that has concrete results. Aka... Defense holds teams to under 20 pts per game... Offense averages 40 pts per game... Those are the big picture ideas. He needs to be able to enable his coaches (and himself) to execute that vision.

 

Cristobal's vision was physical... which is kind of a dead end... what does physical look like on a stat sheet? What does it look like on the scoreboard? Oregon didn't lose to Utah twice this last season because they were out physicaled ... Oregon was out coached and the schemes couldn't counter what Utah was doing. Being "physical" got Oregon into that mess... Utah knew just sell out to stop the run and force the pass and watch it all fall apart... and it did!

 

Lanning needs to let his OCs do their job to get points and not dictate what the scheme must be but question how to make it better. It is also his call at the end of the day if something isn't working and he must impose a change and that might be in the form of firing and hiring a new coach.

 

He is an actual X's and O's guy on defense so he has more lead-way as far as I'm concerned to create and impose his own scheme. He just needs to know what he wants the desired outcome to be in terms of the stat sheet and the scoreboard.

 

Though in the end I think Lanning will meet his first real test as a coach not on the field but when there are some off field shenanigans that some players get themselves into. At some point someone is going to get into trouble and the question is how will Lanning react to it. This is perhaps one of the toughest things coaches have to do because the answer isn't always remove from the team but let the players work their way back onto the team. The punishment must always fit the crime and that is difficult.

 

I could probably ramble more but I shouldn't ... Good post Notalot... lots to think about.

[Haywarduck]

On 1/22/2022 at 10:25 PM, David Marsh said:

 

Though in the end I think Lanning will meet his first real test as a coach not on the field but when there are some off field shenanigans that some players get themselves into. At some point someone is going to get into trouble and the question is how will Lanning react to it. This is perhaps one of the toughest things coaches have to do because the answer isn't always remove from the team but let the players work their way back onto the team. The punishment must always fit the crime and that is difficult.

 

I wrote a bit about this I may put it out there soon. I agree it is the culture a coach creates which is critical. The way a coach deals with the student athletes, the relationship he has with the players is paramount, and under appreciated.