Mike McDaniel and the future of big time football coaches

Yes. Running your basic interior schemes with a toss exchange instead of a handoff.

My only comment is that all types of personalities and backgrounds can succeed as football coaches, so long as they can do the one thing that is a requirement: coach. Of course, players make you a better coach, so there can be a lot of luck (in the NFL, how lucky you are at drafting, how good your GM is, does your owner pay) and in college recruiting is the name of the game so the guys you see in those roles are going to have to walk into homes and get players to come.

In the NFL, at core what most good players want is someone who can help them be personally successful at their job (make them better), win, and get paid -- and usually the getting paid comes with being good and winning. I really don't know anything about Mike McDaniel but he's had success and he seems to have at least some degree of player loyalty; the SF tight-end Kittle had it basically written into his contract that McDaniel would be involved with coaching him.

And yes, anytime you coach pros you deal with the fact that there are guys that make more money than you, have more experience than you, and have had plenty of success before they ever met you -- one approach is to treat them like they are still 21 years old and you are their God, and another may be to make it more of a professional, two-way relationship. We saw how the first approach worked for Urban Meyer this year (among other issues) and it's been an issue for other college goes who have gone to the pros; seems like McDaniel and some of his similar coaches take more of the second.

All of which is to say, it's no surprise to me to see different kinds of coaches hired and to be successful, both at specific levels like the NFL, college, HS, or across football. Pete Carroll, Mike Leach and Bill Belichick are successful (on a relative basis, not comparing Leach to guys who won Super Bowls and National Titles, and in the case of Belichick maybe the best coach ever), but think about how different they are as people and their styles, and Leach didn't even play football and Carroll was a safety at the University of Pacific and cut from the Hawaii World Football League team, and Belichick was a backup/sometimes player at Wesleyan.

I have no idea if McDaniel will be successful, but I am convinced there are lots of ways to get the job done and we'll continue to see a wide array of coaches and coaching styles.

Dan Reeves was an NFL player, had John Elway has his QB when AFC West is not as tough as it is today, never won a Super Bowl.

Parenthetically - Revves (who I thought was a great coach-is in Pro Football HOF) looked more like a college professor than your Protypical NFL coach.

No, not yet (only three years in), and he might not.

"Protypical" meaning not like a "nerd" as some have described McDaniel here.

Keyes also played defense. 

Being a Bears fan now is equivalent to being a Saints fan in the mid to late 90's. 

Why do I feel attacked by this line of commentary?!? Hahaha

Attacked? We should all feel encouraged. 

I think trends come and go and the "nerdy" "analytical" guy is definitely in vogue right now. And yes, as other posters said, you do need to have a very intimate knowledge of the game to succeed at the highest level.

But lets be honest, no matter the style you need the following to succeed in the NFL, no matter your style
-An elite or close to elite QB
-Top notch OL and DL
-A brain and common sense in regards to clock management
-A staff around you that is competent.

I just watched some of McDaniel's press conference.

When speaking, he is a bit awkward. I did find him funny. But most importantly, you can tell he's genuine. I thought all of his responses to questions were excellent.

Like others have alluded to, he made it very clear in his press conference that he is there to work for the players. The traditional mindset of "the players work for me", has become less and less effective.

I think a big part why some of these younger guys are having success is that they are better able to utilize new technology to drive progress, and they have a better understanding of how to teach the younger generation.

I found this response interesting:

This is honestly a refreshing evolution of football coaches.

We've spent so many years as a society raising men for being "tough guys" that have a littany of character flaws and keep mental health issues bottled up to protect their image. It's just a dumb way to think and go about life. We're now more educated than ever, more informed than ever, and social norms are constantly evolving. Toxic masculinity is going to reach Gen Z and younger millenials.

To relate this to high school ball……we earn our money (what little there is) in getting our 10th and 11th best starters to play at their highest levels.

Your top half needs coaching, but if you are any good, those guys should be winning their individual matchups.

We will spend a third of our time on our worst starting OL guy, because the deeper in the playoffs you go, the better the chance he will get exposed.

If Mike McDaniels fails, it won't have anything to do with his perceived nerdishness. The vast majority of NFL head coaches fail. It's a tough job that has resulted in countless capable and successful men getting fired.

I figured you meant "Not" haha.  

However, I don't think it will be that much of an improvement.  I see it more as toxic masculinity will continue, but younger generations will be much more educated and equipped to talk bout and work on improving it (or will be better at recognizing and addressing it).