Ready or Not, Rookie Coaches Go Under Public Scrutiny Now

They have had insufficient time to prepare for the most demanding, most responsible, most conspicuous position any has held. Whether they actively sought the job of head coach in the NFL or had it thrust upon them unexpectedly, each finds himself wound a little tighter as the regular season draws closer. For five men regarded as rookies despite the evidence of their birth certificates, public scrutiny begins this weekend with a full slate of preseason games.

Actually, Rich Kotite jumped the gun last week when the Philadelphia Eagles met the Buffalo Bills in London. But since that exhibition took place outside the country, Kotite will be making his American debut Saturday night against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands. On the same evening, Dick MacPherson will send the New England Patriots against the Packers in Green Bay. Forty-eight hours later, Ray Handley will direct the New York Giants against the Bills in New Jersey and Richard Williamson of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bill Belichick of the Browns will stand on opposite sidelines in Cleveland.

Personally, the five freshmen don’t have a lot in common. They range in age from Belichick’s 39 to MacPherson’s 60. They were born in communities as diverse as Brooklyn (Kotite) and Artesia, N.M. (Handley). MacPherson and Williamson have been head coaches at the college level, Handley was the boss of a high-school program and Belichick and Kotite have worked only as NFL assistants.

What they share this week, however, is heightened anxiety and surprise at the number of decisions they have to make, many of which they took for granted while employed in lesser roles. “There are (details) even Don Shula’s not aware of,” Jets’ Coach Bruce Coslet said Wednesday. And Shula, starting his 29th year as an NFL head coach, is the senior partner in the firm that recognizes only one man as a complete success each year.

Twelve months ago, Coslet was walking in unfamiliar territory. He was starting his own program from scratch, trying to apply his vision of football to a new team while deciding which assistants would sit upstairs in the coaching booth and to whom they would speak, what time the Jets would eat their pregame meals and when the buses would leave for the stadium, even in what fashion the players would enter the field. He used the exhibition games to set up the lines of communication. Yet, he still was making changes in December.

“We worked out some bugs in preseason,” he recalled. “Things like what assistants are responsible for what during games, sideline discipline, pregame warmups. We know what we’re doing a little better. It’s just like any other corporation. You have to work out the bugs. We can still fine-tune (the operation).”

At least now he has a frame of reference. The Jets’ training camp has been run on virtually the same schedule as a year ago. Times for meals and times for departure are set. He has worked with his assistants for a full season. He has sparred with the media and learned his flippant style isn’t always appreciated or understood.

Kotite’s first order of business was to shorten the length of camp work-outs. Buddy Ryan, under whom he served a year as offensive coordinator, believed in long, grueling sessions that led some players to the brink of collapse. Coslet, who learned from the master, Paul Brown, believes an alert mind is preferable to an exhausted body. Kotite, who was a longtime Jets assistant under Joe Walton, also has changed the team’s footwear from black to white. It’s in line with the new image mandated by club owner Norman Braman, who tired of stories associating his team with thuggery. The message is that it isn’t necessary to wear black to be tough. It was one small step in the process of placing Kotite’s stamp on the Eagles.

Remember, no details are too small for a man suddenly placed in charge. “You can talk about it all you want, you can philosophize about it,” Coslet said, “but until you experience the situation, you don’t know how you’ll do, how you’ll react, how you’ll handle it. The best advice is to just be yourself, do the best you can.”

That’s how he replied when someone asked him if he had any wisdom to impart to Handley after the latter was appointed to succeed Bill Parcells in May. “Not that he needs much advice,” Coslet noted. “He’s got a fine team to coach.”

Handley will be starting at the top, with the defending Super Bowl champions. MacPherson is starting at the bottom, with the worst team in the league. Williamson has the shortest lease on his office and may be in the most vulnerable position, what with Parcells readily available if television work doesn’t appeal to him.

No one, however, has any guarantees. “It’s a transient business,” Coslet said. But it has its rewards. “There’s something different every day, something different every week,” he added. “Today’s players are different. The football, the X’s and O’s of it, are changing. That’s why it’s so interesting and that’s why it fascinates me.”

As well as his peers. Coincidentally, the Jets are scheduled to play each of the five teams with new head coaches, including the Giants two weeks hence. Tampa Bay provides the opposition in the first week of the regular season, Cleveland will host the team in Week 6, plus the annual home-and-home series against the Patriots in November and December. It all begins anew Saturday when Coslet, a 45-year-old veteran, takes on Kotite, the 48-year-old rookie.

The Eagles may have Randall Cunningham and Reggie White but Coslet has the edge in experience. And hair.