Brian Billick Q & A

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Q.In your decision to take the job, how important was the philosophical commitment from the top management at Baltimore for the development of a winning franchise in your overall analysis of the situation?

A. Without the proper commitment and support from the overall organization, winning on the field is virtually impossible. This means having the same passion and commitment for the game as the players and coaches. I have experienced many times, particularly at the college level, the mentality of support staff that, "Well, I was here before you got here coach, and I will be here after you leave." If you don't have the authority or wherewithal to weed this mentality out of any and everyone who comes into contact with your players, you better keep your resume updated. For any organization to win three things have to exist. First, at the center of the decision-making process, there must be a primary figure who has an extensive knowledge and expertise in the game.

Second, there must be an established, well-defined organizational structure with a distinct delineation of responsibility. Finally, the purpose of that structure must be equally well-defined and documented. Often this "purpose' is assumed, sometimes accurately, sometimes not. It is vital that at least at the top management level this "prime directive" is established. Without it, it is impossible for subordinates to prioritize their obligations and decision-making processes.

I was very fortunate to have multiple offers at the end of the season. This allowed me to choose where I thought would be the best fit for me. The length and terms of my contract were but an example of the Baltimore Ravens franchise and, more specifically, the Modell's commitment to the concepts and vision I have for this organization.

Q. What are the differences in being a head coach versus position coach orcoordinator?

A. The differences in being a position coach, a coordinator and a head coach is not unlike appreciating a work of art. If you stand too close to the piece, you may be able to appreciate the fine detail and texture of the material, but you do so at the risk of being so close that you cannot keep the entire scope of the work in proper perspective.

If you stand too far back, you may have a better view of the "big picture," but you risk losing the appreciation of the attention to detail and the quality of the work.

A position coach can and should stand "too close" to the work. It is his job to keep the attention to detail and specific perspective of the game plan as it pertains to his specific position in focus.

Whereas, the coordinators must step back a little further than the position coach. He should be close enough to keep the attention to detail in sight, but must keep the bigger perspective in view to make sure the varying components of his offense or defense are working well together and don't become to compartmentalized. It is part of his job to make sure the position coaches don't get so close to their perspectives that they lose sight of the overall main objective.

The head coach must pull back even a step further than the coordinators. He must have the biggest perspective of all. It is his job to make sure the offense, defense and special teams interact together to maintain the balance that is needed to corroborate any type of sustained success in the NFL.

The head coach may have to constantly remind his coordinators that finishing high in the league's statistical standings has little or no value except as they pertain to the overall goal of winning and losing. This perspective becomes a little tougher to balance when the head coach is also the primary playcaller.

Q. What did you look for in terms of assistants when you assembled your first staff?

A.It begins, of course, with a fundamental knowledge of the game and a commitment to being a career coach. Although personal knowledge of the individuals involved helps, you can limit yourself by only hiring people you have had a close working relationship with.

Both of my coordinators, Matt Cavanaugh and Marvin Lewis, were coaches I had not worked with before. My evaluation of their abilities was based on having competed against both of these coaches and coming away with a great deal of respect for them given the limited resources they had to work with. Like evaluating a player, you can sometimes overlook the best measuring stick you have to evaluate their abilities: what they do on the field.

The other unique thing about my staff is that every single coach has at some point called plays or served as a coordinator. This gives each coach a unique perspective of the big picture that will prove invaluable to the coordinators and me.

Above all else, you must have a group of men that can work well together and trust one another. This does not mean they have to agree on everything all the time, but they must have the ability to interact with one another and come to a consensus on how to proceed.

Q. With respect to your assistants, are you hands-on in terms of the details of what they do, or are you more likely to give them autonomy to handle their own specific groups?

A. You must give a coach a chance to show he can handle the job on his own. I expect each coach to be an expert on his position, and indeed know more about his position than I do. If I thought I knew more about offensive line play then Jim Colletto, I would have hired someone else. But, I know that Jim is one of the best line coaches in the game. Therefore, I must allow him to do his job the way he sees fit.

What I do control is the environment in which my assistant coaches work. I view my job as one of providing the coaches with all the resources they need to get the job done. This includes not only acquiring good players, but also making sure they have the materials they need to be effective teachers. By requiring they submit detailed outlines of how they are going to use every minute of practice and meeting time helps them better prepare and make more efficient use of their time with the players.

Q. Considering your background (Doug Scovil, Bill Walsh, Denny Green, etc.), what do you think you learned from each of those coaches, and who has been the biggest influence on your professional career and why?

A. I have been truly fortunate to work with some of the great coaches in high school, college and profession football. Men like LaVell Edwards (BYU), Paul Womack (Redland High School), Frank Serrano (University of Redlands), Dan Reeves, Mike Ditka and Tom Landry have all had a tremendous impact on the way I view my profession. Yet, clearly the three coaches mentioned (Scovil, Walsh and Green) had the greatest direct impacts on my career.

Doug Scovil, who was my offensive coordinator in college and gave me my first full-time coaching job, had an incredible attention to detail. Doug was an accountant by training and was very specific and precise about everything he did. He had the philosophy of, "Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.'

Bill Walsh has one of the most comprehensive perspectives of the game of any coach I have every met. His understanding of the interaction between players, coaches, administrators, media and fans is the best I have ever seen. He also brought a detailed methodology to the game that is now universal. He noted that "being innovative sometimes just means doing a simple drill or task in a new, creative or more efficient way."

Denny Green clearly had the biggest impact on my career and beliefs as a coach. Obviously, the major factor in allowing me to become a head coach in the NFL is the fact that Denny gave me my first coaching job in the league and then after just one season, made me a coordinator.

Q. 1998 must have been an up-and-down roller coaster season with the many wins followed by the devastating loss in the NFC championship game. What did you learn during the course of that season that will make you a better coach?

A. First, that it is always wise to keep the big picture in mind. If you don't, you may put yourself in a situation where by you are thinking too short-term and, therefore, put more pressure on yourself then need be.

Secondly, I think it is vital for a leader to recognize that at some point, fate will take a hand and there is only so much you can do. In the movie Fate is The Hunter this flight crew is on a bombing mission in Europe and everybody is bailing out because the odds aren't in their favor of landing safely. The only people left are the pilot and co-pilot. Suddenly, the pilot, who really has no idea where he is, tells the co-pilot he is going to land. The co-pilot responds by saying, "How do you know there is runway underneath you?" The pilot says, "It has to be; we're out of gas.'"

But understand, I am not suggesting that fate dictates everything, and that you can simply sit back and justify every failure as being attributable to fate. The old saying "The harder I work, the luckier I get," has some real merit to it. What I am suggesting is that sometimes the options available to you seem inadequate for the task. Nevertheless, they are the only options available and you must make them work. If they don't, move on to the next task.

Q. How important is character in a young man when you are looking at him as a free agent or potential draft choice? What are your feelings about team chemistry?

A. Team chemistry and having players with strong moral character is obviously very important. Many coaches will talk about trying to have only a certain type of player on their team. But, quite frankly, character is viewed in direct proportion to ability. The more ability a player has, the lesser character you will put up with.

There does come a point, however, where regardless of the caliber of the athlete, if his personal habits and lack of character are a distraction to the team, or worse yet, if he is capable of pulling others over to his way of thinking, you as a coach must eliminate that type of individual from your team.

Through it all, character is an important asset for a player. It is unrealistic to think that if a player is undisciplined and devoid of character in his personal life, that he would somehow possess thesequalities on the field.

Q. How do you feel about the role of an athlete in the community?

A. Regardless of whether a player feels he is a role model or not, he has certain obligations to the community in which he lives. As the head coach, it is part of my job to make players aware of that obligation. I must use the structure of the organization to help them find an outlet to channel their community interaction in positive ways.

I also believe it is healthy to get out among the fans face-to-face. Too often athletes are seen only as the media might portray them. By getting out and working in the community with the fans, they allow people to see what they are really about. The fans cannot help but become more supportive and understanding.

Q. Your teams in Minnesota were extraordinarily successful in the red zone, why is that? Has it been a purposeful part of your overall schemes? Do you adapt your schemes within the red zone?

A. Like any part of your specific situation plans, the red zone, and more importantly your scoring efficiency in the red zone, is vital. We made it a specific point of never taking ourselves out of scoring position.

Although you would always like to score a touchdown when you get into the red zone, at the very least you want to come away with a field goal. To that end, we determined what our upper limit was with regards to our field goal kicker's range, and once we were in that range, we were very careful not to do things that risked being taken out of range, like reverses, deep drops by our quarterbacks, or route progressions that took a long time to develop.

Also, even though you don't want to get away from what got you down there, we would make a point of doing certain things that we may have not shown in the open field. This could be as simple as running some of the same plays but changing the personnel or adding a motion.

Q. What about your defensive scheme? How important is it for you to have offensive and defensive philosophies that complement each other?

A. Although there are a number of things you want to get done defensively, we have three primary objectives to which everything else must be secondary. These objectives include: 1) minimizing big plays; 2) being efficient against the run; and 3) create turnovers by pressuring the quarterback.

As far as your offensive and defensive philosophies complementing each other, it is vital that the head coach understands the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the ball so as to be ableto move from one mode of play to another. For example, in 1993 with the Vikings, we were not a very dynamic offensive team. We knew we were going to be a very good defensive team that year. However, we felt if we could be efficient in the red zone, minimize our turnovers, and be solid in our first down running game, we would be good enough to get into the playoffs. Although I would have liked to have been much more explosive on offense, I knew we did not have the personnel to do so. We were among the top teams in the NFL in the three areas I mentioned,and with good defense and special team's play, we made the playoffs that year.

Q. You were one of the first coaches to be very computer literate; how important do you think it is for the young coach to acquaint himself with computers and all of the various play diagramming, video editing programs, etc.? Is this something you look for in an assistant?

A. Keeping in mind that as coaches our primary role is that of a teacher, it is exciting to know the teaching methods we use are undergoing constant innovations and updates that can and will make our jobs easier and more efficient. It is my opinion that this is the one area where you can gain the best edge on your competition that all coaches are constantly looking for to enhance their chances of winning.

Q. What advice would you have for the young assistant just getting in the game? How can he best position himself for future opportunities?

A.I can remember wanting to coach almost as long as I can remember wanting to play, so doing something else was never an option for me. As someone who has coached high school, small college, major college, and now in the NFL, I can readily say that of all the attributes you will need, none is more important than having a genuine passion for the game. It is equally important that your family understands what is involved and that they, too, at the very least, understand and support your passion.

Although it is vital that you develop a well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the total game, I would advise a young coach to develop a specialty. Create a confidence in yourself that you know as much or more about a particular aspect of the game as anybody in the profession. Even though you are focusing on a particular area, it is bound to enhance your peripheral knowledge of the game as well.

Finally I would advise that you continually upgrade your abilities as a teacher. Those in the profession whom I have admired the most were not those who thought they could revolutionize the game or prove they had some unique singular brilliance, but those who had superior teaching skills and recognized that this was the way to get the most out of their players.

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