(10-20-2022, 11:58 AM)M T Wrote: Any plan can be ruined by poor execution. Just as you say that you can't blame everything on execution, you can't say that plans are intrinsically flawed just because you seem to want to never blame execution.
Swapping the coaching staff between Alabama and Paly wouldn't change the result of a game between the two. The Paly players can't execute the same as the Alabama players.
On the first point, that is unquestionably true. Execution is an important part of winning a football game, without doubt. My point is simply that execution alone does not explain all poor results. Bad plans and bad decisions, perfectly executed, can still lose. And to your point, great plans, poorly executed, can also lose. To assume the latter and ignore the former is just a bit too convenient for coaches in my opinion, especially when the ignored part is the elephant in the room.
On the second point, your example is true, but only proves that there are limits to how much coaches can do. Switch the coaching staff between Stanford and Michigan and I suspect it would prove (or already has proved) that coaching -- while not limitless -- can significantly affect a team's performance. It's probably too obvious to even make that point, even if coaches like to pretend otherwise when they fixate on execution.
