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by: CJ Clayborne

ESPN Films does an amazing job with documentaries and the “Todd Marinovich Project” wasn’t any different. After watching it this weekend, it occurred to me a there is what we’ll call The Marinovich Theory when it comes to football.

I believe a relaxed coaching style stimulates players more than those who are militaristic in their approach. I am not trying to reflect on the saddening story that is Todd Marinovich’s life but to apply it to football and player coach relations. USC was the place that essentially pushed Marinovich over the edge or at the very least game him enough rope to hang himself. There is an irony in his relationship with Larry Smith and his controlling negative nature and what would happen at USC with Pete Carroll and his laissez faire leadership style a decade later.

Carroll is known for putting together the best run in USC history before the bottom fell out of his program with the Reggie Bush scandal. Snoop Dogg was know to be on the sidelines and theTrojans whipped all comers. It was well known that Carroll not only got the best players, but once they arrived at Troy they played their asses off for him. This is the core of my “Marinovich Theory” that there is a correlation in a relaxed coaching style and getting the maximum output from a given team. Those Trojan teams coached by Carroll were bred in competition and the free spirit of their coach was represented on the field in their play. Please follow what I’m trying to say. Todd Marinovich was destined to sabotage himself regardless of who his coach was. However, the negative relationship with Larry Smith caused him to continue his negative behavior more than he would have under another coach who would have let him be himself.

It may sound ridiculous, but had Marinovich went to the University of Miami, in the city known as the Coke Capital of the world, he would have had a more successful career under Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson. Miami has an obvious reputation for letting players be themselves and this environment would have allowed Mariovich be himself. At Miami, he would have been the only highly touted recruit and had less pressure and may not have let his drug addiction consume him. It seems far fetched but it seems that a “chill” coaching perspective could have saved him and I’m quite sure it would have.

Moving back to USC if you think about it all those players from the glory years beginning in 2002 have not really been successful. There have been some flashes of brilliance for former USC players in the NFL but not many. Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Lendale White, Mike Williams, Rey Maualuga, Taylor Mays, Carson Palmer, Dwayne Jarrett and Keith Rivers have all just been average players in the NFL. They were all amazing for USC and this leads me to believe that Pete Carroll and his lose coaching style essentially pushed those teams to greatness — in college of course. The players were comfortable being themselves under Carroll and that translated to them giving him all they had on the football field. Carroll got every last iota of potential out of his players because they were comfortable around him, believed in him and they enjoyed the environment at USC. The relaxed environment mixed with raw athleticism produced freakish results for the Trojans on the field, but did not translate so well for said players in the NFL.

The same could be said of Barry Switzer at Oklahoma and the great run he had at Oklahoma from the early 1970′s through the last 1980′s. There is a direct correlation with player performance with USC and Oklahoma and player productivity in the NFL. For the most part, The Switzer era NFLers were not super productive as professionals. The same environment was present at Miami during the 1980′s as they were the team of the decade. The Canes won four national titles from 1983 to 1991 and played looser than anybody has before or since. They did however, produce a plethora of superstars in the NFL unlike USC and Oklahoma. Those coaches with a relaxed coaching style win games no matter how you slice it. Mack Brown at Texas is a diluted version of Carroll and Switzer and he has won games hand over fist. Current coaches that are consistent with this style are Gene Chizik at Auburn, Chip Kelly at Oregon, Les Miles at LSU and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Mark Richt at Georgia is another guy know for having a great atmosphere in his program. I would not be surprised if they are the next SEC team primed to make a run at the title.

Moving to disciplinarian coaches with a militaristic approach like Larry Smith was portrayed in the Marinovich Project. Coaches like Randy Shannon, Charlie Weiss, Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, Tyrone Willingham, and Nick Saban all are at the very least perceived to be that micromanaging/controlling type of head coach. A good coach is a good coach regardless of style and approach to the game. Some of the coaches named as similar to Larry Smith have won a lot of games. However, outside of Nick Saban at Alabama, it is fair to say that all others have not gotten the maximum output from their players like Carroll, Switzer or Jimmy Johnson did. Shannon and WIllingham in particular were famous for bringing in great talent year in and year out and doing nothing with at Notre Dame, Miami and Washington. It eventually led to their demises as fans understand when there are top recruits on the sidelines and not wins scoreboard the head coach has got to go. Stoops has not delivered a championship to Oklahoma since 2000, and has really lost his edge as of late. Snyder is widely known as the most controlling coach in the NCAA. Rumor has it, he stopped a team dinner because he didn’t like how the butter was cut. Weiss is an utter failure and if he flunks out at Kansas his coaching career at least on the collegiate level will be over. I named Saban as well, as he is perceived to be a strong disciplinarian, but he is about to play for his second national title in 3 years. The tough hard nosed style can be successful, but very few can master it. I’m sure the older alumni at various schools that employ such coaches love it, but most of the time it does not translate to wins. When you look at big games, the relaxed/chill coach normally gets the victory. The next big college game is the BCS championship and LSU will beat Alabama for the second time this year in the title game because Les Miles‘ team will be looser and more confidant than Saban’s.

The one downfall of this chill/relaxed style is that eventually players may take the freedom too far and eventually there will be NCAA violations. Look at Miami, USC and Oklahoma — with all that winning comes problems. You could also argue that any great football run by a team also comes with NCAA violations, ask Oregon.

The Todd Marinovich Project got me thinking about how coaches interact with their players. It was very sad watching a story of wasted talent and drug addiction. I truly believe that players that come into programs that have serious background issues with their upbringing are not stimulated by tough military style coaching. That is the essence of my “Mariovich Theory” that relaxed coaches get results because players buy into the mission at hand, into the atmosphere and give their all. Coaches with their finger over the program win games, but a guy like Marnovich more than likely will not thrive in that setting. Hindsight is always 20/20, but who knows what would have happened if Todd had went to another college? There will be more Robo QB’s and Robo every other position, so hopefully they make decisions that have a positive impact on their future…including the coach they interact with for the next four years.

PS – When you think like this guy below, worried about what players wear and what your cat is doing instead of empowering them to be great you get fired and fast. Here is recently fired David Bennett of Coastal Carolina, I wish him the best in his new job search.

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