In the world of coaching, the line between the heroically awesome and epic fail is paper thin, and when put under pressure, a coach’s decision can go from great to goofy in a hurry. No play summed that up more than the Indianapolis Colts’s attempt at a fake punt that went horribly wrong against the New England Patriots on October 18, immediately becoming an internet punchline and making national headlines.
When asked about the failed play call, Head Baseball Coach for the Owls Ken Howe said, “Being a Patriots fan, I loved it.”
While on the topic of coaching miscues, Howe shared stories about when coaches had made some mistakes that could be remembered and found humorous by others. Howe said that, in a game a few years ago, an opposing coach became confused about making trips to the mound to discuss strategy with his pitcher.
“Coaches are allowed three free trips to go visit the mound and the second trip, in any one inning…you need to remove the pitcher,” Howe said.
With the bases loaded the opposing coach motioned to make a trip to the mound but had lost track of what number trip it would’ve been for him.
“If it was his third, he would have to remove the pitcher,” Howe said, “He finally decided he was not going to make the trip…and literally before he had made it all the way back in the dugout, his back was still to the field. The pitcher had thrown the pitch…our hitter hit a grand slam.”
Howe also provided a story from his experience where he, in fact, made a mistake in similar fashion. In a game early on last season, the Owls baseball team experienced some tough weather conditions including rain and fog. Under the poor conditions the Owls fell behind 5-0.
At one point in the game, the opposing team’s pitcher began to walk batters. With three walks and a stolen base, the Owls earned a run, cutting the score to 5-1 with the bases loaded.
The next batter then hit “a vicious line drive to right field,” Howe said. Anticipating the play, Howe then waved on runners, signaling them to advance to the next base in an attempt to drive in as many runs as possible.
When he watched the fielder attempt to catch the ball, Howe said, “I was thinking in my mind there’s no way this guy’s going to catch it.”
But the opposite would happen as the fielder would make a ‘shoe-string catch’ and fired the ball into play.
Howe said that the, “first baseman caught it, tagged first base, threw to second base, tagged second base…triple play, inning over.”
The game would then be stopped due to the weather conditions, serving the Owls a 5-1 loss. Howe called his decision to waive the runners around the bases prematurely a “bonehead play” on his part.
On the topic of coaching mistakes, Keene State Head Men’s Soccer Coach Rick Scott pointed out a common coaching error in the game of soccer that he’s noticed.
Scott said, “When the game comes down to penalty kicks, they [coaches] will save their best kicker for last, which I think is ridiculous because you may never get to your best kicker.”
Scott said he has seen this happen at all different levels. Instances when a team will save their best kicker for last in the rotation and then lose without having that player get the chance to kick inspires him to use a different tactic in that situation.
Scott said, “I’ve always gone with my best kicker first to keep pressure on the other team.”
Keene State Head Basketball Coach Ryan Cain, also shared an example of what he felt was a bad coaching decision, which was in the Super Bowl this past NFL season. In this game the Seattle Seahawks battled the eventual Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots tooth and nail to the final seconds.
With the game in the balance on the goal line, Seahawks Head coach Pete Carroll decided not to hand the ball off to the Seahawks’s running back Marshawn Lynch, who most believed was the best running back in the league. With Lynch’s known power and a short distance to go to score, handing the ball to Lynch was widely regarded as a no-brainer by football fans around the country.
Instead, Carroll decided to have quarterback Russell Wilson attempt to throw the ball for a score, which ended up becoming a game ending interception by Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler, making Butler a sealed a fourth Lombardi trophy for New England.
Sarah Morrison / Equinox Staff
“I’ve never seen a play call as bad as that one,” Cain said.
When coaches make critical mistakes, like Carroll and Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano, Cain said it is easy for most coaches to learn from them, as coaches are naturally self-critical.
Cain said, “I think the nature of what we do is to look at what you did as a coach first and see what decisions you made in preparation for that game, or during the game that impacted how you played.”
He continued. “You often critique every single decision you make when things don’t go your way.”
When asked about the Colts notorious fake punt follie, Cain said, “I’ve never seen a play that was designed that poorly.”
Overthinking on Pagano and Carroll’s part could’ve been the reason for their failures, and is something that Cain said is a common mistake in coaching.
“Coaches sometimes tend to over-coach,” Cain said. “Whether it be the use of timeouts, or trying to script things too much for players.”
This is something that Cain tries to avoid, and for that reason he uses a different method of coaching and game management in certain situations.
Cain said, “One of the things that we’ll do is when we’re on offense late in games we’re not going to call timeouts, we’re going to let our guys play.”
Cain said it’s important for him to “let players make basketball plays to win basketball games instead of trying to be the puppeteer of this whole thing. I don’t think there’s any need for that.”
Nick can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com
