Was ‘Quality’ Really Job 1?
Posted on razorbogger.net
This is the second of a three-part series on Razorbacks Offensive Coordinator David Lee.
So I guess it’s turned into ‘David Lee Week’ here on the Network. After Sunshine posted on Monday about Lee’s record as a college assistant, it seemed like the next logical step to look at his recent foray into the NFL.
After leaving Arkansas the last time, Lee held the title of “Offensive Assistant / Quality Control” from 2003-06 for the Dallas Cowboys. If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered what that heck that really means.
As the title suggests, there are usually two QC coaches on a NFL team: offensive and defensive. And interestingly, it’s former Cowboys coach Tom Landry who is credited with creating the job title during the 1970s.
Although the job descriptions can vary from team to team, the common theme for all QC coaches is film study. Basically…the QC coach lives in the film room. It’s his job to look ahead and study film of the opposing teams. However, while the other members of the coaching staff are spending their time preparing for this Sunday, the QC coach has typically already moved on and is getting ready for the next Sunday and beyond.
And as you might expect, the QC coach also spends a lot of time studying film of his own team — breaking down their strengths and weaknesses and communicating that information to both the players and coaches during the week, and from the press box on game day.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, the job of quality control coach in the NFL is often filled by young, inexperienced coaches. In fact, for the National Football League, it’s as close to an entry-level coaching job as you’ll find. Future NFL head coaches Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci and Eric Mangini all basically started their professional careers as QC coaches.
Case in point…anyone know who replaced Lee as the new Offensive QC coach for the Cowboys? Uh…that would be 27-year-old Wesley Phillips, son of Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips, who coached quarterbacks for one year at Baylor before going to work for his dad.
(So apparently there are no anti-nepotism laws in Texas. And if you look at the Cowboys senior executive list, you’ll definitely see that’s true. All “non-Joneses” need not apply.)
So why did Lee, then a 49-year-old man with over 25 years of college coaching experience, have to take an entry-level job in the pros? Simply put…in the NFL, everyone has to pay their dues. All that experience — while certainly helpful — didn’t buy Lee any ’street cred’ in the League. And as Steve Spurrier and Lou Holtz have shown, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve coached in college…the NFL is a different animal altogether.
Of course, the question many Razorback fans now have is did this four year pilgrimage to professional football really help transform Lee — a self-described former ‘inside veer‘ guy — into a changed man in his offensive philosophy? Or was he just a behind the scenes guy in Dallas who spent most of his time in a dimly lit room watching game tapes and writing scouting reports?
We’ll attempt to address — but, of course, not answer — those questions in the final post of this series on Friday.
This is the second of a three-part series on Razorbacks Offensive Coordinator David Lee.
So I guess it’s turned into ‘David Lee Week’ here on the Network. After Sunshine posted on Monday about Lee’s record as a college assistant, it seemed like the next logical step to look at his recent foray into the NFL.
After leaving Arkansas the last time, Lee held the title of “Offensive Assistant / Quality Control” from 2003-06 for the Dallas Cowboys. If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered what that heck that really means.
As the title suggests, there are usually two QC coaches on a NFL team: offensive and defensive. And interestingly, it’s former Cowboys coach Tom Landry who is credited with creating the job title during the 1970s.
Although the job descriptions can vary from team to team, the common theme for all QC coaches is film study. Basically…the QC coach lives in the film room. It’s his job to look ahead and study film of the opposing teams. However, while the other members of the coaching staff are spending their time preparing for this Sunday, the QC coach has typically already moved on and is getting ready for the next Sunday and beyond.
And as you might expect, the QC coach also spends a lot of time studying film of his own team — breaking down their strengths and weaknesses and communicating that information to both the players and coaches during the week, and from the press box on game day.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, the job of quality control coach in the NFL is often filled by young, inexperienced coaches. In fact, for the National Football League, it’s as close to an entry-level coaching job as you’ll find. Future NFL head coaches Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci and Eric Mangini all basically started their professional careers as QC coaches.
Case in point…anyone know who replaced Lee as the new Offensive QC coach for the Cowboys? Uh…that would be 27-year-old Wesley Phillips, son of Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips, who coached quarterbacks for one year at Baylor before going to work for his dad.
(So apparently there are no anti-nepotism laws in Texas. And if you look at the Cowboys senior executive list, you’ll definitely see that’s true. All “non-Joneses” need not apply.)
So why did Lee, then a 49-year-old man with over 25 years of college coaching experience, have to take an entry-level job in the pros? Simply put…in the NFL, everyone has to pay their dues. All that experience — while certainly helpful — didn’t buy Lee any ’street cred’ in the League. And as Steve Spurrier and Lou Holtz have shown, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve coached in college…the NFL is a different animal altogether.
Of course, the question many Razorback fans now have is did this four year pilgrimage to professional football really help transform Lee — a self-described former ‘inside veer‘ guy — into a changed man in his offensive philosophy? Or was he just a behind the scenes guy in Dallas who spent most of his time in a dimly lit room watching game tapes and writing scouting reports?
We’ll attempt to address — but, of course, not answer — those questions in the final post of this series on Friday.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:28 PM
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