TFB Short | A Mark of a Good Coordinator

In a broad sense, when we evaluate players there are two things we are looking for at the high school level and one is more important than the other.

1. Ceiling/Upside and 2. Consistency

The ideal recruit has a high ceiling or upside and is consistent in demonstrating his ability. I describe a high ceiling guy as someone who’s potential exceeds a coaches ability to coach. In other words, a coach can keep giving and giving and there will continue to be more to extract from the player. Consistency is something that gives you a sense that what you’re seeing will be replicated and can therefore be relied upon.

But in my estimation, a ceiling is the most critical part of the evaluation. If you have a consistent high school player who simply doesn’t have the speed or agility or whatever else may be required to transition to college then it’s a non-negotiable matter. You can have great technique, be incredibly intelligent and be a pretty good high school cornerback even if you don’t run particularly well. At the college level, if you can’t run, all the technique and coaching in the world can’t save you.

On the flip side, if you have a high upside guy who isn’t particularly consistent, there is still the possibility that a college coach can bring out that consistency…can get the player to demonstrate his best more frequently.

When people ask me how I judge a great coordinator, I use those same metrics.

A few years back, the Sooner fan base became frustrated with the inconsistent defense fielded by Sooners then DC, Brent Venables. In looking back, we can see now that there were probably a lot of reason for that inconsistency. One was just the fact that the OU staff mentality at the time was different and it affected their ability to recruit elite players.

The other most obvious issue was that the proliferation of some of the more dangerous elements or variations of the spread attack began around 2008. So, Venables had the difficult task of being one of the early DCs that had to face these changes. And now we know, in retrospect, that even then he was doing a pretty good job.

But whatever one might say about the consistency of the Sooners defense in those years, it’s hard to argue that Venables demonstrated a great upside. So many times OU would go into a game where they’d be facing a truly potent offense (I don’t consider last year’s Auburn team in the Sugar Bowl even a remotely potent offense) and coach V would shut their asses down.

The first example that comes to everyone’s mind, I suspect, is the Texas Tech game but there were others. At that time, there was plenty of frustration but there were also these moments were Venables would absolutely suffocate the other team in a way that was truly glorious to watch.

It’s no wonder that once he was married with a staff that really understood how to recruit and faced lesser offenses on a regular basis, he would shine both in terms of consistency and the demonstration of his upside.