Does Dirk Koetter Have 10 Hours To Waste During Training Camp?
May 10th, 2017
Decision ahead
Some say Hard Knocks is no distraction. No sweat. The HBO-reality series that will feature the Bucs through this year’s training camp won’t affect preparation for the season at all.
Well, fresh news today at One Buc Palace doesn’t seem to back that up.
Defensive coordinator Mike Smith was the 2014 head coach of the Falcons when Atlanta was the featured Hard Knocks team.
Smith held a news conference at One Buc Palace today, and Joe asked Smith how much time he devoted while head coach to reviewing Hard Knocks footage before an episode was broadcast. Teams have final veto power on any material potentially broadcast by HBO.
Smith estimated he spent two hours on reviewing the show the day before an episode aired. Multiply that by five episodes, and that means he invested 10 hours of key prep time — on a TV show.
“The day before the show, or the night before the show, you got an opportunity to look at a rough cut, probably a couple of hours,” Smith said of his Hard Knocks time commitment.
“But the majority of the time of review was done by others in the organization. You can’t, you know, you can’t focus on what’s going to happen on a TV show. The guys do a great job on Hard Knocks; they’re professionals. They’re very creative. But I will say this: It’s hard to really tell what happens in a week in one hour. We get an opportunity for other people to look inside. But it’s really one hour of a complete week and I don’t know how many hours of tape.”
Since the end of last season, Dirk Koetter has said many, many times that time management and preserving time is perhaps his greatest challenge as a head coach who also calls plays.
Koetter even publicly said he might give up playcalling to have more time to devote to other areas of the Bucs. (Yes, that’s about as likely as Joe dating a Bucs cheerleader and going away with her for a long, passionate weekend on Anna Maria Island.) And Koetter also said multiple times that he’d love to reduce his media commitments to scrape up extra hours.
That brings Joe to Hard Knocks. Will Koetter really spend two hours an episode (10 hours of training camp) on watching reality-show film?
That’s nearly two-thirds of a day’s work in total! Joe’s never met a head coach who would say he’s got that time to spare in August.
Joe wonders if Koetter will just delegate the whole thing to someone else. But how the team is presented nationally is important on various levels. One would think a head coach with a young team still forging its identity would want a heavy hand in that.
May 10th, 2017 at 4:14 pm
It is unfortunate the the owners who want to “expand the Brand” are not all in this year!!! Next year you will hear about a “refocus” and that there is only “One Goal”!!!!!! The good news is that once the Bucs do the NFL’s longest commercial is that they will not have to do it again for a very long time!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!
May 10th, 2017 at 4:16 pm
let the glazers do it, their team, their brand, their decision what gets aired, problem solved, no one loses time for preperation, glazers have no worries about what the show presents about their team, winner winner chicken dinner
May 10th, 2017 at 4:24 pm
“Joe wonders if Koetter will just delegate the whole thing to someone else.” That’s my vote right there. If an activity like Hard Knocks doesn’t help us win games, let someone else do it.
May 10th, 2017 at 4:25 pm
Sounds like a job for the GM
May 10th, 2017 at 4:26 pm
I’m sure – just like (the good) coach Smith did – that coach K will watch the “final” cut up prior to airing each week just to make sure there is no competitive advantage type of info slipping through.
May 10th, 2017 at 4:28 pm
Yup- betcha Licht handles that task
May 10th, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Oh no! We have to find someone to watch 10 hours of film? 2-14, here we come!
May 10th, 2017 at 4:33 pm
Joe was cheerleading for Hard Knocks and now he’s worried about the time commitment… Jeezus.
As I have said, there’s no real upside to doing Hard Knocks. Some will say exposure is good… Hmmmm, not really. Besides, if it’s exposure you want, just win. Winning solves everything. Anything that in any way detracts from preparing to win, is a distraction. Thus, HK is a distraction and of no benefit in the pursuit of a SB. Okay, but they have to find a way through it, since they have no choice anymore.
May 10th, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Not any upside beyond “buliding the brand”, AKA free marketing for the Glazers.
BUT, 10 hours over the course of 5 weeks ain’t that big of a deal! Maybe this will help with koetter’s time management…
May 10th, 2017 at 4:42 pm
2 hrs a week. On a Saturday, usually a day that is more of a day off. Yes, he can spare 2 hrs a week to preview the show. 1 of those hrs can be his lunch break.
May 10th, 2017 at 4:43 pm
Imagine if Schiano was HC on hard knocks! The show would be an hour long footage of the public parking lot at One Buc!
May 10th, 2017 at 4:44 pm
I’m not sure why the HC wants to watch the tape. The Bucs are basically trying to make sure that nothing goes out that might be embarrassing…Licht can easily do that…do Koetter and Smitty trust Licht to protect their image? And really how much protection is needed….that’s the joy of Koetter…what ya see is what ya get.
It would be stupid and poor editing to cut him.
And I like carrythestick’s idea which is let the Glazers sit in if they wish. Seriously. We are fans they are owners. Trust me. They CARE about the Bucs image!!!
May 10th, 2017 at 4:48 pm
Joe
any rumors that the Bucs might be trading with the Pats again for a RB? We have traded with them a few times and they just placed a tender on Blount which gives like a dozen RBs on their roster. Several of whom might be upgrades over some of our RBs.
May 10th, 2017 at 4:48 pm
2014 Atlanta Falcons
Record 6-10
Head Coach ( M. Smith ) Fired!
May 10th, 2017 at 4:49 pm
@St. Pete-
they also don’t want to show anything like play formations, schemes, or snap counts that other teams could glean info from. This actually happened to the Texans or Bengals in the past IIRC.
May 10th, 2017 at 5:14 pm
Unbelievable
Excellent point. Do they not have people on staff who can sniff that out as well?
Football coaches are notorious control freaks…if this is an area that Koetter cannot delegate…then it’s on him. He’ll determine what priority his time gets and which activities are most important. This may be important…kind of another view of practice as opposed to the team cameras that record everything else.
May 10th, 2017 at 5:33 pm
this is a delegatable task. you don’t have to be a head coach to realize that something on the screen is happening that will make your team or players look bad
May 10th, 2017 at 5:47 pm
I’ve said all along from day 1 Hard Knocks will be a big distraction for our Bucs. But its here now. Good Luck.
May 10th, 2017 at 5:51 pm
Hey guys we’re underdogs in ten games this year no respect
May 10th, 2017 at 6:19 pm
St. Pete- I’m sure they do. But it’s just like you said… coaches = control freaks.
Although in Koetter’s case we have seen him be willing to delegate duties to other people, so who knows! But certainly his biggest concern would be the exposure of any sensitive plays / strategies / verbiage. Next biggest concern is the PR aspect of anything said or done by players, as Joe has alluded to. But I think someone else could easily manage that part too.
May 10th, 2017 at 7:15 pm
No way in hell I delegate that out unless it’s to Mike Smith.
May 10th, 2017 at 7:38 pm
Capt Tim, I agree. Let Licht deal with it.
May 10th, 2017 at 8:28 pm
Bottom line is a professional always gets the work done in the time allotted. Examples abound in any profession. There is 24 hours in a day, and a professional has the ability to manage time accordingly. Skip lunch, cut down the workout, get one hour less sleep, work in private with no distractions, have someone proof/prep. Many ways around it. I am a senior consultant in the busiest combatant command in the world (U.S. Centcom); if we have to deliver an analysis in two hours or ten hours, the product is the same, it is well done, and takes as much or as little time allotted. I saw that as an exective in business as well. Koetter, Smith, and the life are professionals. They will get their work done. It will be top notch.
May 10th, 2017 at 8:29 pm
And of course, my spelling does sometime suck.
May 10th, 2017 at 10:10 pm
Yes
May 10th, 2017 at 11:11 pm
10 hours out of 1008 hours. I don’t think it will be a problem.
May 10th, 2017 at 11:12 pm
Jason Licht could do it.
May 11th, 2017 at 9:26 am
@realist….NO EXCUSES!!!!…..to suggest Hard Knocks will be a distraction, that will ultimately keep us from reaching our goal(playoffs) then that is a shame…..if you believe that, then be bold and say we will regress to 6-10 or 7-9….stop making excuses before a game is even played….we have everything in place….coaches, system, roster…..the only legitimate excuse for us missing the playoffs is if we have a rash of injuries to our star players…..no other excuse will be excepted…..GO BUCS!!!!