“I think there are two types of coaching philosophies. There are schemers and fundamentalists. Schemers don’t necessarily worry about some of the detail and potential mistakes they might make. They figure that the schemes and different looks will confuse offenses. The fundamentalists worry about themselves first and their ability to execute the particular call they’re running.”
- A quote from a Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
Defensive Assistant Coach in early 2006
For many years, one of the essential debates in football and certainly in the NFL has been whether you fit your scheme to the players you have or acquire players to fit your scheme. However, an NFL insider will tell you that the following question might be as important: As a coach, are you a fundamentalist or are you a schemer?
Beyond the definitions given in the quote above, a fundamentalist is someone who focuses, not surprisingly, on the fundamentals of football, such as, but definitely not limited to blocking, tackling, and running routes.
Fundamentalists believe that whether you run a 3-4 or a 4-3 makes very little difference if a designated pass rusher (often a defensive end in the 4-3 or an outside linebacker in the 3-4) can’t stay low enough around the corner of the tackle or if the player doesn’t have a spin move to complement their speed rush.
These types of coaches are more likely to run a conventional pro-style offense with a fullback and tailback than they are to run the innovative spread or wildcat formations. They figure if your backs can’t pick up a blitz, or your offensive lineman can’t pull, or your primary receiver doesn’t come out of his break properly, your chances of success are minimal regardless of the scheme.
Perhaps most importantly, while fundamentalists don’t disregard the thought of using a novel formation, front, coverage or play, they start out with the small and simple and only call what they believe their players can successfully carry out.
Schemers are looking for any possible advantage they can get. On offense, schemers will come up with a play call or series of play calls where they can outnumber the defense at the point of attack or force the opponent into a situation where they don’t have the right personnel on the field. A schemer would love to run a spread offense with a dual-threat quarterback because the defense might struggle to decide between having extra defensive backs to cover the receivers or keeping more linebackers on the field to defend the run.
On defense, a schemer might try to confuse the offense with a series of zone blitzes or disguised coverages. Coaches who are classified as schemers, like their fundamentalist counterparts, would not be very tolerant of fundamental mistakes, but they probably have a shorter memory than fundamentalists and believe that the proper scheme will work more often than not - or at least as much as is necessary to succeed.
So who’s right? Obviously, there is no conclusive answer because there are successful coaches in either category. It’s debatable whether a coach can be both a schemer and a fundamentalist because one philosophy seems to inevitably take precedence over the other. One point of view is that schemers can disguise some deficiencies in talent and fundamentals and make a team competitive and successful for a period of time. However, the duration of success is usually short because the rest of the league spends a tremendous amount of time and resources scouting their opponents. In short, the NFL is a ‘catch-up’ quick league.
The past few Super Bowl Champions appeared to use schemes well, but at their core is the execution of fundamentals combined with undeniable talent. Take the 2009 champion Steelers for example. Defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau might be the ‘guru of the zone blitz’, but would it be as effective without NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison? The six-foot tall outside linebacker consistently shows how speed and the use of angles and leverage can overcome a lack of ideal size for the position.
Does a scheme make wide receiver Hines Ward arguably the best blocking wideout in football? No, but a willingness to engage a defender and plenty of practice are part of the answer. In conclusion, consider the following point of view of Steelers’ Head Coach Mike Tomlin, who happened to be the defensive assistant coach from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who was quoted earlier in this article:
“I would consider myself a fundamentalist. I don’t believe it’s exactly what you do in terms of tricking people, but it’s how you do it. The guys have to have an understanding of what you are asking them to do. The volume or number of schemes or defenses that we run would be determined by the players’ ability to execute. I’d be miserable (as a schemer) because I can’t stomach mistakes.”