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Coach's Corner: Jim Harbaugh – The Mechanist Takes Over

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  • Coach's Corner: Jim Harbaugh – The Mechanist Takes Over

    Posted at 7:00am — 2/25/2015

    The first parts of the Moving In series highlighted the building of a new staff, the recruits coming in, and discussed possibilities and likelihoods regarding what remains of the offensive and defensive personnel. The final series component, The Mechanist Takes Over, will examine the impact of Coach Jim Harbaugh from a worldview of Mechanism as the program moves forward.

    The apparatus choice for this examination becomes the philosophical worldviews as detailed by Dr. Stephen Pepper. The choice and implementation of worldview is more than theory, this phenomenon has been demonstrated to explain and justify strategies and decisions that define program implementation: from business, to psychological study, to about anything else. Discussion of worldview is not common within the sports empire, but this does not discount any potential value for analysis and explanation of implemented actions of a football staff, particularly its head administrators.

    Many readers may recall last year’s annual scholarly series, “Peppered Football,” where the actions and preferences of Coach Hoke, and the overall effect on the program, were examined. This series may be located and viewed in the GBMWolverine Archives -- Articles.

    A short refresher about, or initial foundation explanation of, Pepper’s theory is appropriate. Pepper identified six worldviews, two of which he rejected as not being of practical use in seeking the truth. The four accepted worldviews (or world hypotheses) are Formism, Mechanism, Contextualism, and Organicism.

    The formist bases strategy and actions on a strong belief system, ideas and underlying concepts greatly matter, that is, these tenets become a preference for viewing the world. The mechanist, conversely, is a precise, data driven, performance-seeking type, who values parts and accepts for inclusion parts that function. The team, the team, the team is really the machine.

    The mechanist is not really a sum of the parts is greater than the whole type; instead, the mechanist is concerned about individual parts within a system and will remove a part before modifying a system placate the problematic part.

    The latter, modifying a system to benefit available parts, is the role of the contextualist. This approach can certainly work, but to the mechanist this approach is not preferred. The contextualist is pragmatic and flexible. Coach Beilein has proven to be a very good contextualist coach, he does as well as anyone could expect when dealing with fluid situations that demand flexibility and alternative actions. Bill Belichick, Bob Knight, and the legendary Bo Schembechler are not contextualists.

    The organicist type is the creator, the coach who finds the new, unique, and sometimes better way of doing something. Most coaches are copycats, but there are the truly unique pioneers that change or have changed football. Two names that come to mind are Sid Gillman and Paul Brown when defining cutting edge and long-lasting change.

    All football coaches, by nature and demand of the job, must practice the mechanistic view. But the true worldview is defined by preference of action. Former Coach Brady Hoke was a clear and proud formist. Hoke had true beliefs and underlying foundations that were incorporated as program ideals. His slogan that appears to have survived his end of tenure, “This is Michigan,” was well accepted by many and somewhat reviled by some as participating in convenient arrogance. But make no mistake; this was the expression of a formist type.

    The “Peppered Football” series pointed out some clear mechanistic deficiencies of the past few years. The offense turned to contextualism to mold/create an offense for two good athletes with true execution deficiencies and position limitations. Add to that slow development of potential talent, some bad luck, and problems multiplied. The former staff was left with the contextualist option of shaking things up and constantly adapting to seek a winning formula.

    There were few available parts at quarterback and other skilled positions. The mechanist, with a broad roster, can simply change parts and continue the work of the machine. Those wondering why the onslaught of Michigan quarterback recruiting has occurred can consider the above postulation.

    The limited contextualist “solution” did not work to the liking of most. The lack of mechanism and systematic precision manifested negatively in game management, more so time management and critical decision making, and somewhat regarding play calling and scheme use. It was thought that Coach Nussmeier would help the mechanistic development of the team, and to some degree Coach Doug Nussmeier was Michigan’s best sideline manager. But the failure of the parts to function doomed the whole of the machine. Coach Nussmeier can coach and when incorporated within a system rich in parts and precision he will again ascend in status.

    The formist thinks and operates in a world where ideas and what they stand for are paramount. Coach Brady Hoke put forth basic beliefs and values that served as an underlying foundation of the program. He never waivered from his formist ideas of loyalty, appreciation, emphasizing the value of teaching within a coaching approach, and practicing positive player treatment.

    Many coaches, by the very nature of the must win profession, give quick lip service to underlying foundations and ideas that define Formism and proceed to the mechanized approach that values producing a winning product on the field. Being a formist does not doom one as a coach and being a mechanist does not guarantee success. The variable of talent will always be the ace in the deck for any worldview. The talent must be recruited, developed, and eventually win games. Right or wrong, that is how major sports have evolved.

    There are players who loved Coach Hoke as a person and there will be plenty of players who love playing for Coach Jim Harbaugh, the reasons may just be different.

    Now on to the main mission: a small look at what appears to be the worldview of Coach Harbaugh. To this observer, Coach Jim Harbaugh is a true mechanist; this is stated with a high confidence level. He has spent little communication time delineating his underlying beliefs, ideas, or values. Harbaugh knows his underlying tenets and their source. He will not dwell on them, instead proceeding to his preference of Mechanism. His formist underpinnings are derived from a former, famous legacy Head Coach at Michigan, Bo Schembechler.

    Harbaugh simply identifies and quickly acknowledges his formist roots. They are familiar to all and will only be revisited upon need.

    Harbaugh’s coaching history does not demonstrate much contextualism. He has demonstrated a preference to mold parts, rather than reinvent the wheel (the organicist), or if that fails simply get better parts that work, instead of modifying his system to cover up a weakness resulting from a problematic part (the contextualist).

    This first year of their tenure will be an interesting challenge for Coach Jim Harbaugh and staff. Coach Brady Hoke highlighted teaching, Coach Harbaugh and his staff will also teach and use repetition, but in the true sense of mechanism, the part must work, and in football that becomes interpreted as inserting competition and a demand for technical production (technique) to develop parts that can contribute toward the overall success of the machine.

    The best parts get to be included within the machine. The best of the best play the most downs. The best parts, those that see the field, simplistically must not only be better than other team parts, but also better than opposing parts. The underlying metaphor of the mechanist is the machine, and the belief that a machine can be broken by a non-functioning part leads to parts being replaced before seeking a new machine. In college, with a limited number of years for player eligibility, parts must annually be retooled and changed by necessity.

    Jim Harbaugh is now in the process of developing and assessing the parts that will make up the new Michigan football machine. To start with, this staff will discover and plan to overcome clear mechanical difficulties: a new system and unproven skill players; there will be a need for patience, from within and from outside, the inside is the team and staff, this need surpasses the outside faction, consisting of program followers. The mechanist seeks to quickly eliminate impediments that slow the final product development, as impediments hinder the production of the parts.

    Players will have intitial fears and certainties; enter the mechanist who will clearly communicate that any self-doubts or hesitation to improve may place one into an unflattering part category: such as, used parts, broken parts, shelved parts, missing parts, or rejected parts!

    The vehicle for successful part production is no great secret: each part has a role and must develop/mold to become machine worthy, perhaps by becoming more adaptable and pliable for machining than other similar parts. The part is to be tooled and refined to function within a machine; the machine is not to be modified to benefit any singular part (the contextualist view). The part is to benefit the machine, the machine is not secondary to any part, but success is determined by the collective contributions of all parts: the team, the team, the team.

    Contextualism is clearly not the preferred worldview of Coach Jim Harbaugh, but in the first or second year of his new tenure, Coach may have to flex some to the side of pragmatism and throw in some adaptations/modifications out of pure need. Jim Harbaugh will return to pure machine building as allowed by resources, or when his patience with adaptations diminishes.

    Coach Jim Harbaugh has been in this situation before, at San Diego, Stanford, and to some degree at San Francisco. He is a successful rebuilder and the blueprint is clearly mechanistic in nature. Coach has been fortunate enough to find coaches that fit his methodology and are proven developers of talent, both high and average level types. Harbaugh has demonstrated some patience to ascend the machine upwards in stature.

    Every journey Jim Harbaugh has undertaken has exhibited near instant improvement. The observers of Michigan football need to understand and acknowledge this process. There must be acknowledgement that the current coaching personnel and their proven success become Michigan’s best chance for long-term success; just let the machine work and stand back and watch. There already has been acknowledgement that Coach Harbaugh has assembled an impressive coaching machine that was put together with purpose and not through any random action.

    Jim Harbaugh has the continued luxury of working with first choices as assistants, not choices made because no one else was available. He also knows how these staff members function as a machine unit and has confidence they can mold players into a functional, improving unit as demonstrated by past successes. The mechanist does not deal with the random; instead precision of plan and formation of product drives the purpose and actions of mechanists.

    A running game coordinator, linked with a passing game coordinator, is an example of forming a mechanist staff. Hiring three guys that can successfully produce tight ends is an acknowledgement of the importance of this part within the function of the machine. The machine is striving for balance, but acknowledges a pure starting point: the sound running game.

    The defensive staff has impressive years of NFL playing and coaching experience. But of greater significance is clear evidence of player development and recognized success of the overall units they coached. Mechanistic types dominate the typical NFL franchise, for example, Bill Belichick, countered by an occasional appearance of successful organicists, perhaps, Pete Carroll or Chip Kelly being the best current examples. It was once thought by some that the organicists would overwhelm the mechanists and put them into the land of the dinosaurs. But mechanists have an ability to persevere and eventually retool their machine thinking to counter the evolutionary types.

    As spring finally approaches, and assuming no ice cap remains on the surface of Michigan stadium, the first public view of the retooling effort will be unveiled at the Spring Game. For now, think positive and remember, retooling needs new dies and casts, produced by skilled mold makers. The mold makers validate a prediction of future success if the raw essential materials are obtained.

    So, two somewhat overwhelming tasks now face the new staff, (1) retool the parts from what remains into a functional new machine (presented in previous sections) and (2) secure new parts that can quickly be molded and fit into the program. That, of course, is the role of recruiting.
    And so is the worldview of the mechanist.

    Written by GBMWolverine Message Board Staff — CoachBT, Doc4Blu, and ErocWolverine

    Go Blue — Wear Maize!


    Twitter: @ErocWolverine
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