You know what I hear over and over again?
"The manager doesn't strike out in the bottom of the ninth.""The manager doesn't drop the pass that would've been the winning touchdown."
"The coach doesn't miss the last second free throw."
And what goes along with that is:
"The manager (or coach) does NOT play a major part in winning or losing games and most definitely isn't responsible for winning or losing championships."
Throw in:
"The manager is only as good as the talent on the field."Okay, I hear you guys loud and clear. And now I'm here to straighten out this incredible misconception.
The manager can (and does) have a HUGE effect on the success of his (her) team. There are of course the decisions that are made during the course of a game: who to play, who to substitute for, when to substitute, what plays to call. And if you don't think that each one of those decisions can affect the outcome of a game, certainly the combination of them can.
But let's go a bit further on this.
Super Player A is in a slump. And we're told you can't blame that on the manager. Well, I wouldn't use the word "blame" particularly, but a skilled manager could sit down Player A and find out exactly when the slump started and locate what changed. Did something change in the player's mechanics? Did something occur in his personal life that is now having an impact on his performance? Or this manager could have made sure he had on his staff an assistant (coach) who expertly does this kind of thing.
So the highly skilled manager surrounds himself with other highly skilled personnel. Even so, the top guy isn't afraid to take the player aside and dig in to find out what's not working right. He doesn't sit around and "hope" the player will play his way through it.
The skilled manager studies his competition. Finds ways to defeat them. And once again has on his staff others who can do the same, possibly much better than him.
I have only touched the surface of what the manager can (and does) do on a regular basis to improve his team's ability to succeed. I think this is a very important topic, so I'll post some more on this later on.
For now, if you think the manager is only as good as the talent of those he manages, then every team with the best talent should always win.
Right?
Exactly.
