Some Advice For Haley … Thursday Cup O’Chiefs

Around dinner time Thursday evening, Todd Haley will step off the bus and his boots will hit the ground for his first training camp as an NFL head coach.

As he walks a few shorts steps from the parking lot to the dorm that will house the Chiefs on the University of Wisconsin-River Falls campus, there will be all sorts of thoughts rolling through his head. I’m betting it’s been that way since just after July 4th, back when he was still on vacation with his family.

The first couple of weeks of being away from football were probably very relaxing for Haley. The pace of the 2008 season with the Cardinals going to the Super Bowl, and then his hiring a week later as Chiefs head coach, moving his family from Arizona, hiring a coaching staff, preparing for the NFL Draft; the last 12 months have been a whirlwind. Some time away was very necessary for him.

The morning after those fireworks filled the sky, I’m sure Haley started getting itchy for football again. Over the last three weeks, he’s been thinking about what’s ahead, trying to probe his memory for past camps, past situations he was part of during a dozen years as an NFL assistant.

Coaching staffs draw up scripts for practices and head coaches make schedules for workouts, meetings, training, etc.

But the head coach spends a lot of his time during a football season working off-script.

That forces the guys sitting in those positions to ponder all sorts of possibilities long before they might happen. There’s a lot of plotting about how situations would be handled. It all goes back to the old line about not sweating the small stuff. But the big stuff is made up of nothing but small stuff.Although Haley has not asked and he certainly has more qualified people he can speak with, I’ve got a few suggestions for his first camp and pre-season as head coach. This is the 33rd season of NFL football I’ve covered and I’ve been around very good head coaches and some that were not so good. I have seen them all struggle with aspects of the job, especially the rookies who were getting their first taste of problems and situations they never expected.

Here are some thoughts.

1.) Stay involved in all aspects of the team. There are different ways that head coaches deal with their coordinators and assistant coaches. Some back away and allow the coordinators complete autonomy. Others stick their finger into the offense, defense, special teams, and they do it all the time. If I were Haley, I would be sticking my nose into all aspects of my team and I wouldn’t be afraid of expressing my opinion and preferences. This happens only coach-to-coach and never in front of the players; the guys wearing the helmets must have faith in their coaches. But as the head man, I want it done my way. I would insist and I wouldn’t wait for post-season meetings to make my point. That’s happened around Arrowhead Stadium in the past.

2.) Pace yourself. Haley is a guy that will put in hour-after-hour in the office. He was trained that way. He’s never going to feel like he’s done enough, that there’s always another tape to watch, another rock to look under. That’s especially true in training camp, when it’s all about football and only football. The family is back in Kansas City, the daily commute to work and dorm room is a 10 to 15-minute walk. The action is closer to being real than anything that’s happened since he was hired. I’ve seen coaches blow their energy reservoir with a string of 20-hour days in camp. Once the real season rolled around, they were already driving the team with a low gas tank. That was a real struggle for Gunther Cunningham during his two seasons as head coach.

3.) Control emotions. If you haven’t heard, Haley can be an emotional guy. For an assistant coach or coordinator sometimes that’s an important part of his resume. It’s not so much for a head coach. When the entire team is looking your way, you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to be selective, and you’ve got to be a prudent. The worst thing Haley can do is not be Todd Haley, so there’s no way he should suddenly become a serene sideline observer. Sometimes a nice tantrum by the head coach can speak volumes to the team, even the entire franchise. But Haley must pick his spots. Marty Schottenheimer was the best at this; I swear he had it planned out before training camp started when he was going to verbally ream out his team. He’d look at the schedule and with his experience be able to pick out ahead of time the practice where the players might be dragging or less than focused.

4.) Pay no attention to the media. Head coaches always say they don’t read the paper, watch television or listen to sports talk radio. Some are just outright lying, while others are telling the truth, sort of. They don’t read, watch or listen, but they have plenty of people providing them reports on what is being written, shown and said. None of it should ever reach Haley’s radar screen and he should make sure his wife, his kids, his GM, his PR people, his assistants or anyone else doesn’t bring second-hand accounts of what’s out there. With the head coach, it comes down to this simple formula: win and you are a hero, lose and you are an idiot.

What the media has to say is meaningless.

Except for me of course.

A CHANCE TO SEE D.T.’S RECORD AFTERNOON

On the NFL Network coming up Monday night they will replay the 1990 game where Derrick Thomas set an NFL record with seven sacks.

The NFL Classic Games feature debuting Monday, August 3 at 7:00 PM CDT features a full replay of the November 11, 1990 game between the Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks at Arrowhead. That day, Thomas set an NFL record that still stands with his seven sacks. It was an eighth sack that he missed on the game’s final play that hurt as much as any play in Chiefs history - Dave Krieg threw the winning TD pass to Paul Skanski as time expired.

If you have the opportunity, listen closely at the end of the game to the Arrowhead crowd. They are going crazy as the ball is snapped and after Seattle scores, you’ve never heard a stadium go quiet like that. In over 30 years, I know I’ve never seen or heard anything like the aftermath of that play.

SIGNINGS & MOVEMENT AROUND THE LEAGUE

• BENGALS – agreed to terms with second-round draft choice LB Rey Maualuga and fourth-round DE Michael Johnson.
  
• BILLS – reached agreement with second-round draft choice S Jairus Byrd; released WR P.K. Sam.
  
• BROWNS – placed OL Marlon Davis on reserve-left squad list; placed CB Coye Francies on NFI list.
  
• CHARGERS – signed sixth-round draft choice S Kevin Ellison.
  
• COLTS – signed seventh-round draft choice P Pat McAfee; released S Brandon Condren, CB Brandon Foster, LB Tyrell Sales, QB Chris Crane, CB Brandon Harrison, DE Pat Kuntz and G Cornelius Lewis.
  
• COWBOYS – signed third-round draft choice LB Jason Williams and fourth-round QB Stephen McGee.
  
• FALCONS – released CB David Irons.
  
• 49ERS – placed CB Walt Harris on the injured-reserve list (knee) and DT Ricky Jean-Francois on the Non-Football Injury list.
  
• LIONS – signed seventh-round draft choice T Lydon Murtha; signed CB Will James (Jaguars).
  
• PATRIOTS – signed DB Herana-Daze Jones; released OL Jermail Porter.
  
• RAIDERS – signed fourth-round draft choices WR Louis Murphy and LB Slade Norris; released QB Danny Southwick and WR Arman Shields.
  
• RAMS – signed second-round draft choice LB James Laurinaitis, fourth-round DT Dorell Scott and sixth-round QB Keith Null; signed DT Hollis Thomas (Saints).
  
• RAVENS – signed first-round draft choice OT Michael Oher.
  
• SEAHAWKS – signed second round OL Max Unger.
  
• STEELERS – signed TE Heath Miller to a six-year contract extension.
  
• VIKINGS – signed second-round draft choice OT Phil Loadholt; DE Kenechi Udeze announced his retirement.
  

SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY …

Born on July 30, 1946 in San Antonio was RB Warren McVea
(right). He came to the Chiefs in September 1969 in a trade with Cincinnati for K Horst Muhlmann and a draft choice. He ended up playing five seasons in a Chiefs uniform (1969-73), appearing in 44 games with five starts. McVea ended up running the ball 239 times for 1,053 yards and 10 TDs. He caught 17 passes for 94 yards, threw four passes, one of which went for a 50-yard TD and returned 33 kicks for a 21.6-yard average. McVea left the Chiefs in 1974 and signed with the Detroit franchise in the World Football League.

Born on July 30, 1970 in Ft. Worth was WR Victor Bailey. He came to the Chiefs in a 1995 trade with the Philadelphia Eagles along with a fourth-round draft choices in exchange for a second and sixth-round draft picks. Bailey ended up playing in just two games during the 1996 season for the Chiefs, catching one pass for 12 yards.

Born on July 30, 1964 in Sulpher, Louisiana was QB Matt Stevens. He played in all three and started two of the replacement-player games during the NFL strike of 1987. Stevens completed 32 of 57 passes for 315 yards, with one TD pass and one INT.