Mike Leach says calling plays as a head coach is 'too big of a job,' but Lincoln Riley says it's not
Nobody was around Mike Leach more than Lincoln Riley.
That’s one reason why Oklahoma’s head coach has insisted on calling his own plays rather than relinquishing his offensive coordinator duties.
Leach has done both since getting his first head-coaching job in 2000 — and he’s been a pretty good model for how it can be done. Riley worked under Leach at Texas Tech for eight years.
“As far as how I went about it,” Leach told SI Sooners Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference, “he probably had the closest look and the longest look at it.”
But Leach also offers a caveat for those who think they can be both a head coach and a full-time offensive coordinator.
“If you’re coordinating and calling plays and you’re the head coach,” Leach added, “it’s too big of a job.”
It certainly was for Gus Malzahn, a former play-calling whiz who is beginning his ninth year as a college head coach and is now on his third offensive coordinator in eight years at Auburn, although he has gone back and forth between using an OC and calling his own plays.
“Since I’ve been been in this league (as) a head coach,” Malzahn said, “each year, the head coaching job description has gotten more and more complicated.”
It’s a question this week because Oklahoma is coming off another game in which the Sooners gave up a big lead late. In Riley’s 44 career games, it’s happened a handful of times. The Sooners hung on to win after dropping double-digit leads in 2018 (Oklahoma State) and 2019 (TCU, Iowa State), but it cost them losses in 2017 (Iowa State, Georgia) and now 2020 (Kansas State).
It’s almost become a trend. And while the defense and special teams carries their share of blame, the offense — Riley's personal realm, his greatest strength — has been ineffective each time:
- OU led Kansas State 35-14 late in the third quarter, but the Sooners had no points and gained just 50 yards and three first downs on their final five possessions.
- Last year, OU led Iowa State 42-21 going into the fourth quarter, but the Sooners gained just 37 yards and one first down on their final nine plays as the Cyclones rallied to within 42-41 and a failed 2-point conversion.
- Also in 2019, OU led TCU 21-0 after three possessions, but the Sooners' next four possessions produced just 46 yards and four first downs. After a long touchdown drive, the Sooners put together two more drives that ended with turnovers before wilting again down the stretch.
The question at Oklahoma is like a coin:
On one side, could Riley be too distracted by his focus on the offense that he doesn’t have a comprehensive grip on the big-picture aspects of the game, such as the opponents’ momentum, intricacies of how his defense is performing or basic game logistics like clock and timeouts?
On the flip side, could Riley be too distracted by the myriad elements of being a head coach that his late-game play-calling sometimes becomes predictable or even conservative and allows opponents to gain steam as the OU offense begins to sputter?
Perhaps a little of both? Simply put, can being hyper focused on one job detract from one's ability to do the other?
“I don’t think so,” Riley told SI Sooners during his weekly Tuesday press conference. “Maybe in my earlier years, as I was trying to — not that I have it all figured it out — but I don’t feel like I’m giving in that area. I don’t.”
Oklahoma blew two big leads and lost both games in Riley's first season, too: once at home to Iowa State, and the other in the College Football Playoff against Georgia.
Turnovers and prolonged offensive crashes (and even missed field goals) were prominent in both defeats.
In the playoff, OU took a 31-14 lead in the second quarter. But then on seven of their last eight possessions in regulation, the Sooners generated zero points and only three first downs.
Riley makes it look easy at times. But it's not.
At Tulsa, Philip Montgomery is also a head coach-playcaller. He said the hardest part is staying on top of the daily schedule and trying to fit everything in from both seats.
“I’ve done it now for several years, and it is challenging,” Montgomery said. “I’m not gonna say it’s not. You know, I’ve got good offensive coaches that really, really help in that sense.
“You have to be able to delegate some things. You have to make time to wear both hats.”
“You delegate when you can,” Leach said, “but it’s never quite enough.”
The hardest part of doing both? There are only so many hours in a day.
“Just the time-consuming (element) that it takes to prepare a game plan and all the ins and outs with the staff,” Malzahn said, “and then trying to balance that with taking care of your team and spending enough time with your players and the relationship with your overall team, and the dynamic from offense, defense — it’s really all of the above.”
“Just time,” Leach said. “I mean … I got into coaching to coach.”
Instead, Leach is doing press conferences and meeting with boosters and shaking hands and approving apparel designs and taking promotional photos and recording PSAs … well, there are a lot of outside aspects to a college football program in which a CEO head coach must stay involved.
Like Leach said, a coach … coaches.
To be clear, Leach certainly didn’t say it can’t be done. And he didn’t suggest that Riley isn’t doing a good job of it. In fact, Leach explained further why he’s always insisted on calling the plays as the head coach at Texas Tech, Washington State and now Mississippi State.
“I mean, it’s too big of a job,” he said. “OK, but then if you withdraw yourself from it and you’re not coordinating or coaching your position, then I don’t feel involved enough. And then it's too little of a job.
“I think we’d all like to hit that middle … that neutral place where it’s perfect and kind of your thing. It’s either harder than you’d like, or not as involved as you’d like. And so I never have been able to achieve that perfect spot.”
Malzahn ceded play-calling to Rhett Lashlee, then took it over when Lashlee left, then gave it up to Chip Lindsey before taking over again in 2019. This year he’s handed off to Chad Morris — a former head coach and, like Malzahn, an offensive whiz — and has suggested that his clipboard has been retired for good.
“For me, having a guy like Chad has been very refreshing,” Malzahn said.
And with everything that’s happened in 2020, with the shutdown and the virtual training and the Zoom meetings and the constant testing, being a head coach has never been more complex.
“I think this year is probably — with all the different things that have gone on, with the virus and schedule changes and all of that — it’s probably been a little bit more difficult this year because of those circumstances,” Montgomery said. “Because things are in flux so much and can change rapidly, day-to-day.”
“Especially with the pandemic and everything that’s going on,” said Malzahn. “It would be an extreme challenge for me this year if I decided to call plays this year like I did last year. So I think it just gets tougher and tougher. I had fun doing it and I was successful doing it, but I know for me personally, it was definitely the right time.”
Riley might very well be the next Leach and call plays his entire career. Or he might be the next Malzahn and hire an offensive coordinator to call his plays and adhere to his philosophies.
It’s something for Riley to consider. Actually, it's just another item on the long list of things he must consider as a head coach.
“Each and every week, do I come back, just like a player, and say, ‘Are there things I can do better?’ Yes,” Riley said. “Sometimes those things are in-game decisions, but most in-game decisions are made well before you ever get to the game. It’s the preparation and the overall mentality of the team going into it.
“There’s things with this team I need to do a better job with. Now, I don’t need to do a better job because I’m also the offensive coordinator. I need to do a better job because I need to do a better job. And I certainly can. Being the OC doesn’t have anything to do with that, in my mind.”
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