• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Rivers: McDaniels Sounds Like A Young Shanahan

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +    Comments
Jan 12, 2009 9:16 pm US/Mountain

Rivers: McDaniels Sounds Like A Young Shanahan

By Reggie Rivers, CBS4 Broncos Insider

Text 4broncos to 66247 sign up for CBS4 Broncos text alerts More Info
DENVER (CBS4) ― It's hard not to feel excited about the Broncos new head coach Josh McDaniels. Until his press conference, he was just a name that we had read or heard or just a brief clip of video that we'd seen on TV. We knew that he was young. We knew that he was successful. We didn't know whether he was ready to be a head coach.

But now he's here and we get to see him as a real person. We hear him talk about what he wants to do with the Broncos, and it sounds fresh and exciting. It was especially inspiring to hear that his chief ambition is to teach the players and help them become the best that they can be.

He sounds exactly like a young Mike Shanahan and it explains why Pat Bowlen was so impressed with him in the interview process.

In simplest terms, a great coach is a great teacher. Period.

Most of us have an image in our heads about coaches who scream, yell, intimidate and bully their players into performing; but if that screamer is not doing a lot of teaching behind the scenes, then he's not going to be an effective coach.

Some coaches treat their players are if they're just cogs in a machine, to be used and discarded. Obviously, every talented player wants to be in the NFL, and most of them will do whatever they need to do to get into the league and stay there; so they don't need a motivational speaker.

But players perform at their best, last longer and enjoy the game more when they have coaches who are truly committed to developing their knowledge and their talents.

During his press conference McDaniels sounded remarkably like Mike Shanahan did when he arrived in Denver in 1995. I was a member of the Broncos when Shanahan arrived and I was immediately inspired and motivated by his commitment to making each of us a better player.

It's no coincidence that Shannon Sharpe, Mark Schlereth and Terrell Davis all were instantly successful as national sportscasters when they finished playing; because Shanahan infused all of his players with knowledge about the game that helped us understand the schemes, how we fit into them, and why they worked or didn't work.

He didn't just say "Line up here and block this guy." Shanahan explained why it was important to line up in that spot and block that particular guy. And the more he explained about the "whys" of football, the more interested, motivated and capable we all became. The game started to make sense in a way that it never had before.

McDaniels seems like exactly the same type of coach. Over and over again in his news conference he talked about how much he wanted to teach the players and give them the tools they needed to succeed.

I was personally hoping that Bowlen would hire a defensive-minded coach, but now that McDaniels is here, it's hard not to like the guy, and be excited about what he's going to do with the team.

In the short term, McDaniels must hire the right defensive coordinator, but clearly Bowlen wasn't as concerned about the short-term defensive issues as he was about the long-term need to maximize the potential Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and the rest of the stars on offense.

Stay Up To Date On The Denver Broncos

• Text: To sign up for CBS4 Broncos Insiders text alerts, text 4broncos to 66247 (More Info)
• E-mail: Sign up for CBS4 Broncos Insiders e-mail updates.

 

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Curious & Controversial News

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here
  •  * Will not be displayed with comment
  •  * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
  •  
  • Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login


Close Window Flag Comment


loading...
You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Denver, Colorado Sports News

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Television Stations Inc. All Rights Reserved.