How many games on your schedule did coaching truly matter?

We were in a 3 way tie so all 10 of our games mattered. Normally 5 matter for playoffs.

Yes, but wouldn't it be a very valid argument that the rest were forgone conclusions BECAUSE of coaching.  Because of the program strength, which is created by coaching.  

I don't know if I would say the rest are a forgone conclusion because of coaching; a lot of games are forgone conclusions because of genetics.

The higher you go in level the more homogeneous the talent gets, and thus the more impact coaching has on the final outcome of any given game. But you coach some small and mid level high schools and that is not the case. We have all seen this first hand, and probably from each side. I have been a part of many games where Nick Saban could have been the head coach of the losing team and been working with them for a year (practicing, lifting weights, etc), conversely I could have coached the winning team and been with them for a couple weeks- and my team would have still won despite the coaching disadvantage because we were just that much more gifted.

Now, I guess with open enrollment, and coaches poaching talent from other schools you could begin to start blaming coaches for the lack of natural talent within their program. But short of that I would still say that a large number of games are decided by inception despite coaching.

in this sport... in game coaching rarely matters... sure there are decisions made by a coach to do X or Y or to go for it on 4th or not.... etc. but when the game is played right, and the players are prepared throughout the week... they should be able to execute without instruction... they should know the gameplan, the offense, the defense well enough to execute without coach involvement.

and thats the way the game was played for a long time.

This year I’d say 6/8 but that’s very unusual. We just weren’t on the same level organizationally. It wasn’t the in-game coaching that really mattered but we failed to develop a structure to make best use of our athletes.

If coaching didn't matter we wouldn't waste time coaching our guys. The goal is simple. Work hard to develop your kids to make the most with what they have been given. We want to develop them to compete at a high level and become the best version of ourselves and our team that we can be. The scoreboard then takes care of itself. Genetics play a role, but there are plenty of teams with great genetics going 4-6. There are also teams going 8-2 that are beating people with better athletes.

January to August is the most important time for building your program. What you do then has a huge impact on what you are able to do during the season. Coaching matters during the season, most definitely. But there are some teams that you could play 10 times and lose to 10 times. We are still going to prepare to win. And there are teams we would beat 10 out of 10 times. We are going to prepare for them the same way. Who you play should not impact your preparation or your mindset. We don't worry about what we don't have or what Odessa Permian has.

I have been in the boat where every week we were going to be physically outmatched. It isn't fun. But we went into each game with a plan to win. We prepared to win. We won some we shouldn't have. We were competitive every week, and probably overachieved. Hell, the best coaching job we did we went 4-6. We probably didn't have the athletes to win even one game.

I've posted about that recently.  About half the games in our area were blow outs.  The others were still mostly foregone conclusions due to talent disparities.  It looks like a lot of places had similar results.

The thing is that most games are won or lost in the offseason.  That's when coaching matters the most.

Getting kids out, getting them into the weightroom, and building a culture where kids care about football is a huge part of coaching.

Don't forget that.

Gameday is when it gets fun, but that's really just the icing on the cake.

I will say that some basic strategic decisions can badly amplify talent disparities.  I will also say that a lot of the truly terrible teams are poorly coached in terms of fundamentals, but the guys coaching those teams don't realize what fundamentals need to be fixed or how to fix them and chalk it up to a lack of talent or "low football IQ."  You can't fix poor blocking, poor releases, poor man coverage technique, or poor defensive pursuit angles during a game.

A classic example is the team that sucks at tackling because their players don't understand leverage as it relates to pursuit.  Everybody just lines up and sells out to chase the guy with the ball, running themselves out of position and grabbing at the ball carrier from poor angles.  Then their coaches chew their @$$es on the sideline for bad tackling and effort and make them do a bunch of form tackling drills in practice, but the issue never improves because they're not getting to the root causes of the problem.

Good coaching in terms of getting kids in the weightroom consistently, teaching fundamentals, and having the common sense to play to your own strengths rather than emulate what you see everyone else doing can and will help make a less talented team look significantly better.

We went 0-10 this year.I am the OC...of our 11 starters on offense 4 were returning starters...the other 7 all played JV (Fresh/Sophmore combined)...looking back on it..out of 10 games...there was only 1 game (loss 35-20) in which I believe an offensive play call here or there that could have changed the outcome if executed correctly..we were down 28-20 and the defense got the stop we needed on 3rd down but our senior DT got a dead ball personal foul after the play..automatic 1st down..they scored 2 plays later to make it a 15 point game.

This! Always prepare to be your best. That is the lesson in all of this. If you get a break, or your opponent makes a mistake, you might find a way to win. 

From 2013-2016 I let my FS call most of our game on defense. 1 DL would call the DL strength, 1 LB would call the LB strength, and the FS would call the check and pass strength. That put the FS (Field) and FC in place, the BC and BS in place. It would check the SLB either in or out of the box.

DL strength was which way was the 3 and the 1, the SE and WE.

LB strength was fastest dude to the field.

We would check diff {censored} to trips, 2x2, quads, if a TE or FB walked onto the field, "and short" adjustments and goal line all made by the FS. We just helped him if he seemed confused (rare).

Basically Mon-Thur was our time, Fri was his to shine. Sat and Sun I would create teaching tape to prep him for the next week.

On offense from 2013-2016 we would let the QB dictate over 50% of the calls. Any time you have RPO's and audibles the QB is in control. Don't want to be stuck in a bad call / always make the defense wrong.

Again, Mon-Thur was my time, Fri was his. Sat-Sun was teaching tape to prep for the next week. 

Do you consider culture and attitude a part of coaching? If so, I’d say 3. We won two games because we had a better culture and lost one because we had an inferior culture. Schematics had almost nothing to do with it.