Tavern talk: a lesson in composure

He's definitely no Tony Dungy

To be fair, the Chiefs are no Colts either.

Yeah, he should definitely keep is composure. Especially when his players are making stupid mental errors. God forbid he chews out a guy for running into the opposing team's QB when he is on the ground. God forbid he yells at his QB for wasting a timeout. Haley is a hard nose coach and I like the my or the highway approach. A lot of these players are heading for the highway. The previous regime screwed us over with 3 years of horrible drafting.

Players have had dickhead coaches yelling at them since middle school. They tune it out. But the real problem is, if you go ballistic over something minor, there's no room left to escalate when a major screwup occurs. What does he do then, have a seizure?

Does Lombardi actually expect people to believe that a head coach in the NFL, particularly one with the firey reputation of Haley, has been visibly "out of control" during the last two weeks and nobody else has seen fit to mention it? And it hasn't been played and replayed a million times by now?

FYI, I've seen clips of Haley yelling, but I've also seen clips of him heaping praise on the very same players he'd been yelling at. A perfect example is Brodie Croyle during the season opener. Haley was right in his face yelling when Croyle failed to get a snap off in time, and then was right in his face praising him when Croyle threw a touchdown.

Bottom line is he has to win. I've watched every KC game from pre-season through the 2nd game of the season, there hasn't been a single instance of what I would call losing composure (certainly less than say, Bill Cowher or Tom Coughlin), but there have been mistakes. He needs to correct those.

Did ol' softy Herm Edwards write this? Come on, this isn't just chess, this is full contact chess. Should we train the army with nothing but smiles and puppy dogs? No. Neither should a football team. Haley needs to keep control, but he also shouldn't lose the fire.

He's throwing his own QB under the bus already.

Is his nickname McEnroe?

A lot of the players had the complete opposite attitude with Herm and they know it didn't work. I don't think they are going to take it out on Haley's opposite approach. If you want to get extreme, the players will throw themselves off cliffs before doing a Sprewell on Haley...Pioli and Haley already weeded out the players that don't to be coached in this manner (see Will Franklin). Haley is doing a fine job. A win will come soon...maybe even an upset.

A lot of the players had the complete opposite attitude with Herm and they know it didn't work. I don't think they are going to take it out on Haley's opposite approach. If you want to get extreme, the players will throw themselves off cliffs before doing a Sprewell on Haley...Pioli and Haley already weeded out the players that don't to be coached in this manner (see Will Franklin). Haley is doing a fine job. A win will come soon...maybe even an upset.

Bottom line is he has to win. I've watched every KC game from pre-season through the 2nd game of the season, there hasn't been a single instance of what I would call losing composure (certainly less than say, Bill Cowher or Tom Coughlin), but there have been mistakes. He needs to correct those.

I don't agree with this article at all, in fact, it's utter nonsense.

Vince Lombardi yelled at his players all the time during games "what the hell is going on out there" and he seemed to do just fine thanks.

Another successful coach that comes to mind is Gruden, hell that guy probably yells at his lawn. Yet he won as many SB's as Dungy did.

No I think this was a weak article. If you want to rip on Haley and the Chiefs fine, but pick a legitimate topic.

I think it's pretty hilarious when Todd Haley loses it. Haley flipping out on his QB has been one of the highlights of the season so far for me.

Haley appears to be desparately trying to channel his former boss Bill Parcells. Even Parcells though seemed to know how to walk that fine line between passion and lack of composure.

Haley appears to be desparately trying to channel his former boss Bill Parcells. Even Parcells though seemed to know how to walk that fine line between passion and lack of composure.

It's one thing to yell when things go wrong, but Haley has f-bombed two different QBs in the first two weeks. It's not yelling for encouragement or enthusiasm, it's insulting the intelligence and competence of grown men. It almost seems like a ploy to show people "it's not my fault, my QB screwed up."

And as adults, they should learn to take their ass chewing and move on. Coddled players don't get tough. And trust me, I've been a Chiefs fan for years and they haven't been TOUGH since the early 90's. This team doesn't have a lot of talent. So to make up for it, they play their asses off.

Also, realize that as the players continue to be corrected on mistakes, Haley will stop going nuts on them. It's 2 games in. Calm down.

Tom Coughlin had the same demeanor. Then he changed. Give him time. He'll figure it out.

Tom Coughlin had the same demeanor. Then he changed. Give him time. He'll figure it out.

"He's throwing his own QB under the bus already. "

Nah. That's just some reporters trying to tease some drama out of a coach that doesn't give them much to write about.

In many cases you deal with players who are not mature and it won't help to treat them with respect. they are paid to play a game and many don't have the professional attitude to handle it. wouldn't it drive you nuts if you were teaching the same thing over and over again and then you see your students / players making the same mistakes over and over again? Everybody has their own style. The laid back attitude doesn't always help. Look at Wade P. in Dallas or even Dungy has just won one SB. Edwards had exactly one good season as HC. It's easy to say yelling don't work, but where is the evidence that it doesn't? Parcells, coughlin, Cowher, Holmgren, the list goes on. And they have won quite a few SBs...

I think Lombardi has a point, but it is way too early to see what Haley can do with the current demeanor. Haley is a smart cat and his way is the Parcell's way and I love it. As a Chiefs fan, everyone is right about being Hermanated. Hermanator brought KC the worst times ever in every regard. I can tell you it was just like the Dolphins the other night running the clock at the end of the game just like Herm used too. Even the coach said after the game that the clock was run just fine and they did everything they could. It sounded just like Herm after a game, what a joke.

We love Haley and I want him to keep doing what he is doing. We have played way better than anyone thought so far and he will keep tweaking to get us better.

I am guessing that someone will go Sprewell on him and I hope somone comes to his aid. If they don't, then he deserved it.

I observed Haley first hand during 5 days of training camp, met him personally, and have seen every press conference he has ever given. He's got a temper, no doubt, but he is also surprisingly genuine and self-effacing. He has a limited amount of time to turn around a franchise that has perfected losing. Much of the conflict you see is a fresh set of eyes confronting the reality...status quo is losing. Comfort is out. Competition and conflict is in. Thank God.

You say he's channeling Parcells like it's a bad thing. Every good leader takes the best of HIS former leadership and makes it his own. If you don't learn from your past leaders, then what good are you? As a soldier, I have striven to take the best qualities of my NCOs and make them my own. If Haley has learned from Parcells, then that's great. But to say he's shouting to be like Parcells...come on. Grow up.

And again I say...once the players stop making dumb mistakes (like O'Connell not getting on the field in time and having to call a timeout, or Croyle not snapping on time and having to use a TO, or Cassel being slow or throwing picks) then the yelling will slow down.

2 games, people. 2. games.

Vince Lombardi yelled, but he never "lost it" the way Haley does.

As far as chess players going crazy... two words: Bobby Fischer. (where is he? I don't know, know, Bobby Fischer!)

What I see as a non-KC fan, and I think what Lombardi may be driving at, is a coach who *appears* to be belittling his players when he gets angry. And he gets angry so often that he does it quite a lot. Obviously, I'm not in the locker room etc., but that's what it looks like on TV.

Belittling players is very different from being angry at them or holding them accountable. Most coaches have meltdowns, some on a regular basis. The difference I see is that those outbursts typically are focused on the officials (Cowher running onto the field at halftime to foam all over a ref springs to mind) or on units rather than individual players. At least in public.

Just being angry does not guarantee a tough team. Brian Billick coached some of the hardest nosed defenses of all time, and he was, by most standards, a "players coach." Those defenses were tough because the players held each other accountable, not because Billick yelled all day. He was smart enough to realize the key was fostering the leadership on the field to set the example. Tomlin does the same now in Pittsburgh.

As a construction manager, I've learned those same lessons. You can yell at people from sunrise to sunset, but they only learn to resent you and the organization. Finding key people who are self-motivated (and, typically, more skilled - though the reverse is less often true) and then fostering a framework where they gain influence over their peers will yield far greater results. Influence from peers is always more effective than hierarchical demands, especially in the long term.

To use an extreme example, look at the army: Almost universally, when asked how they overcame their fear of death in combat, soldiers will say they didn't want to let their buddies down. It wasn't an officer's disapproval or fear of court martial that drove them forward.

And calling Haley good because he's better than Herm Edwards? Talk about damning with faint praise...

I don't know, there seems to be corroboration to Lombardi's claim. I read the writers from the Kansas City newspaper, and they all mentioned Haley's emotional outbursts. TV Cameras were on him several times, so you have to think that it was noticeable by the production crew - and I'm sure the cameras only got a fraction of what was really going on with him.

I personally like his style, no nonsense! He calls out the mistakes when they happen, doesn't wait for a day till they get into the film room to do it. The players need to correct it when it happens, what good is it when they aren't put on the spot, so what if he's a hothead, so what? Every chiefs fan these last 2 or 3 years has yelled in frustration at the games atleast once. Whats the differance? The differance is people are feeling bad for the players when Haley does it, I don't though, had the player done his assignment like he was coached he wouldn't be getting yelled at. Wait and see the hot head will cool off once things start gelling alittle more.

"what the hell is going on out there"---If that was all Todd Haley was saying, I doubt we would even have a topic of his losing composure.
Plus, one of the greatest coaches of all time, John Wooden, always, always kept his composure because he never wanted his players to think things were not going according to his plan. It would do every coach at any level some good to read up on his courtside/field manner.

Mike,

Remember - serenity now, insanity later. Maybe Haley should make all the Chiefs wear nametags.

Best,
Lloyd

This article reminds me of Todd Jackson announcing in 2003 that the Patriots team hates their coach after the first game of the season.

I just don't care about a coaches demeanor on the field. There are as many different leadership styles as there are leaders. Whether or not Haley is a good leader and coach should be judged on how is players perform over the course of the season, not with guesses about how the players might feel.

If any rookie coach should have got the offseason scrutiny, it was Haley. The smug insolence drips off him like dew on a morning melon. Yet he is a Pioli/Parcells guy, and to the NFL world, birds and unicorns sing every time either so much as farts.

Anybody else notice that the great Parcells has as many rings as Mike Shannahan? He's a petulant merc who packs up his ball and goes somewhere else when things don't go his way. None of the teams he's abandon have gone onto greatness-- unless you mention the Pats, who had to be rebuilt and nutured back to health upon his departure. Pioli, of course, is off to a genius start in KC-- where he hired a child to lead his team and reached more times in the draft than a drunk guy at a booby bar. The Vrabel and Thomas 'leadership' moves were winners, though.

Its all about where you work in the NFL. Had a guy like Bill Parcells bounced from Denver to KC to Minnesota and then Seattle with the same results, we wouldn't be talking about his coaching tree. We'd be wondering why people keep hiring him. He'd be an obese Chan Gailey.

So goes the crazy alternative universe that is the the NFL media...and by extension, most fans.

@Rob, good point, young Coughlin compared to Haley seems very analigous. Give Haley a few years and he'll learn how to head coach. It's not like he was expected to make the playoffs. From what I can tell, the Chiefs need some Offensive line talent before they can go anywhere. I also think the move to a 3-4 was ill advised.

Well said, Stiv, sounds like the guy who wrote this article is a pushover who doesn't know anything about coaching football. Instilling fear is the most tried and true form to get a person to believe, religion has been doing it for hundreds of years.

If they all hate Haley, they'll at least have something in common and begin to become a team....

meateater said:

"But the real problem is, if you go ballistic over something minor, there's no room left to escalate when a major screwup occurs. What does he do then, have a seizure?"

My guess is that these grown men who are being treated like children in public may be wishing for just that.

staying calm worked real well with herm edwards. We need someone who doesn't like losing and is as passionate as the fans to get a win. Obviously you haven't watched the chiefs the last couple of years and been sick of hearing excuses and watching the coach not seem to want to win the games. I am sick of Herm's style, seeing Todd Haley yell and scream is a breathe of fresh air that this team needs to get back on track.

You are all right. Composure doesn't matter. Belichick has the reputation of being incredibly critical of his players in practice--in games, he's calm. He wins. Dungy is calm. He won. Tomlin is excitable at key moments and gets fired up, but he doesn't repeatedly chew guys out mid-game. He wins. Mike Smith and Harbaugh in Atlanta are calm, they've won so far and seem to be up-and-comers...this theory that the head coach of an NFL team has to be an in-your-face " **** you " kind of guy is inaccurate. You have to be true to yourself and can't be phony. But you can't be insane either, and yes, Haley was over-the-top.

To the guy who said no one else mentioned it, this is now the third article in a week I've seen Haley's attitude mentioned in. Whitlock (KC Star) and Simmons (ESPN) also did.

For all of you people praising haley's "tough love" approach, how do you like your boss coming in and yelling at you for every mistake? Would that make you work harder for them? Would that encourage you to do your job better? Just because they are athletes does not mean they shouldn't be treating like adults, just like you or I.

Lets face it - there are 2 kinds of head coaches in this league: those that can scream and go nuts on their players -and not be criticized- and those that can't - because they haven't "earned" that right. (Lets not forget how close Tom Coughlin came to being run out of town for losing and screaming at players - the latter being the bigger story. Losing begat winning, and viola! He's a winning disciplinarian, not an out-of-control nut about to lose his job). Had the Chiefs destroyed the pathetic Raiders, this would never have been mentioned. They lost, and it is a well known fact Haley wears his emotions on his sleeve, so this is a big story. This is a young team in every respect from ownership, to the 53rd player; they'll make mistakes, mistakes need to be pointed out...I do think Pioli/Haley need to change the culture, ATTITUDE of this team. They can't turn the roster over in 1-year, but they CAN try to effect change in the culture every day. But that too, takes time

Some day someone may do a Sprewell on Haley, but if it were going to happen, I would have expected to see it on the Dallas sideline when he and T.O. went after each other a few years ago. It was actually really fun to watch. Neither of them changed, however. And that is the problem with this style; eventually, people simply tune it out.