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AFM Magazine


NFL Coach of the Year: Picking Up the Trash and Raking the Leaves

Dan Reeves' attention to detail leads to titles.
by: Richard Scott
AFM Staff Writer
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It was gut check time for the Atlanta Falcons. At halftime of an NFC playoff game against San Francisco 49ers, the Falcons sat in their locker room of the Georgia Dome, reeling from a series that of odd calamities that turned a potential 21-0 halftime lead into a tenuous 14-10 edge.

"The mood wasn't good. It was like, 'oh man, what's happening?'" recalled Falcons wide receiver Terance Mathis. "Then Dan came into the room."

Just one month after undergoing quadruple-bypass heart surgery, Falcons head coach Dan Reeves stepped into the void and took a stand.

"He really didn't have to say a word," Mathis said, "because it was all over his face. He has that cockiness that makes everybody confident around him. I'm telling you that if Dan isn't around, we don't win that game."

The Falcons went on to win, and reached the Super Bowl for the first time in the moribund history of the franchise. And they did it in just their second year under Reeves, who rebuilt the Falcons from inside and out, transforming the roster and the attitude and earning the title of American Football Monthly magazine NFL Coach of the Year.

Reeves also won the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year award after the Falcons won the NFL West for just the second time in the 33-year history of the franchise, set a team record for wins with a 14-2, record and scored the most points in (442) in franchise history.

Of the 53 players on the Falcons active roster in 1998, 39 were brought in since Reeves arrived in Atlanta in January, 1997, as the team's head coach and executive vice president. After inheriting a 3-13 team, Reeves' first Falcon team started out with one win in eight games before winning six of their final eight games. By the end of the 1998 season, the Falcons had won 20 of their last 24 games.

Yet, for all the attention and appreciation focused on Reeves in the Falcons' surprising resurgence, Reeves would rather deflect the attention to his players and coaching staff.

"Anytime you win an honor like that, you realize it's the work of a lot of people," Reeves said. "You tell your football team before the season if you become a success, the awards will come, and they have.

"There were a lot of times this year you knew this group was special, but it started last year when we bounced back from 1-7. The attitude they had then, the way everybody stuck together, that was when I first saw the signs of something special.

"They have a great work ethic. They have great character. They always gave great effort. They do everything you ask them to do. This is as good a group of people as I've ever been around. They play as well as they can play and that's really all you can ask."

The 1998 season was certainly special for the Falcons, but not just for the unprecedented success and a trip to the Super Bowl. It will also be remembered for the heart surgery that took Reeves away from his team for nearly a month.

Reeves stunned his players and assistant coaches on Dec. 14 when he underwent coronary bypass surgery, because he never even hinted of any problems during his time with the team. But he didn't surprise his players when he returned for the playoffs and led them to the Super Bowl.

"I've known him for six years," said tight end Bob Kozlowski, who also played for Reeves as a New York Giant. "He never gave us an indication that he wasn't feeling well."

But the day of Reeves' surgery, Kozlowski also predicted, "He's a strong, strong guy. He'll fight through this."

Reeves is no stranger to fighting through adversity. He was a successful quarterback at South Carolina, but had to make it in the NFL as a free agent running back with the Dallas Cowboys. Reeves was never a big star with the Cowboys, but he served many important roles for the Cowboys, including the unique responsibility of being a player/coach. According to legendary Cowboys coach Tom Landry, "very few players had his type of understanding of what's going on."

Reeves had to be smart and on top of his game to keep his job after undergoing five knee operations by his mid-20s. He also had to work his way through two angioplasty procedures to remove arterial blockages in 1990 and '91, and had to bounce back from losing his first two head coaching jobs with the Denver Broncos and New York Giants.

But for all of the success and adversity throughout his career, the 1998 season was both the best of times and the worst of times for Reeves. But the good definitely outweighed the bad, and the bad somehow made the good even more special.

"It was certainly the most fun I have ever had as a coach because it was unexpected for us to have as much success as we did," Reeves said. "Also, considering what happened to me personally, to have the ability to sit back and watch what was happening and see it from an 'outsider's perspective' was special.

"It reinforced things to me. Even though I felt as if I had a pretty good perspective on life, coaching and where priorities should be, the time off forced me to slow down and realize what is truly important."

That perspective was apparent in his conversations with friends.

"I think he is very appreciative of life and the opportunities we have in this life," said Dallas Cowboys coach Chan Gailey, who played for Reeves' Little League baseball team in Americus, Ga., and worked for Reeves as an assistant coach in Denver.

"I don't think he ever really took it for granted, but at the same time it's not as obvious as at other times. A situation like that tends to make it pretty obvious what we need to remember to be thankful for."

In the process, Reeves also taught the entire Falcons organization ­from team president Taylor Smith to the guys who take care of the grounds around the Falcons' training facility in Suwanee, Georgia­some valuable lessons about winning. Reeves is a stickler for detail, a coach who likes to have his finger on the pulse of every vein in the football program, as the Falcons quickly learned.

"He's very organized. He's got in mind exactly what he wants to do, and he's got a very good succinct way of doing it," Gailey said. "He's very direct. He doesn't beat around the bush much."

"He wants you to do everything a certain way," veteran safety Eugene Robinson said. "He wants your chin strap buckled, and things like that. He's all about consistency."

You want to talk a penchant for detail, organization and consistency? Try this on for size: when Reeves first arrived in Atlanta, he would come into the office early in the morning and take note of the leaves and trash gathered up around the steps leading into the building. Sure, it was just a bunch of leaves and trash, but to Reeves, the mess was a symbol of losing, of apathy, of not being committed to being the absolute best.

"That bothered me; it is unacceptable," Reeves said. "To me things like that are so important. I wanted everything about the Falcons to be first-class, and I let the people here know that it was expected of them to do everything correctly and in a first-class manner. If the players see that type of effort on the part of the organization, they are proud to be a part of that team.

"I believe that the players need to travel first-class; stay in nice hotels; dress correctly when they are out representing the team, etc.; all of these things are important to a winning attitude. You simply have to demand excellence from every single person within the organization."

Reeves' demand for excellence may have ruffled a few feathers in the Falcons organization, but give the Falcons' administration credit for listening and acting on Reeves' recommendations.

"He has a knack for raising the bar for an entire organization," Falcons' general manager Harold Richardson said.

That demand for excellence has been a part of Reeves from his childhood all the way through to his college football career, but it played an especially valuable and fundamental role in Reeves' 16 years as a player and coach for the Cowboys. Reeves watched, listened, observed and took his lessons to heart, and they continue to guide him today.

"I learned first-hand what it took to win and be successful," Reeves said. "I took these things with me to Denver and New York, but both of these teams were not in the habit of losing, they knew what it took to win before I arrived. I simply added some of the attention to detail that I had picked up in Dallas, in terms of what it took to win championships.

"Atlanta was a whole different experience for me. Even though I didn't think the Falcons were the worst team in the league because they had been to the playoffs just two years before I showed up. But they needed to get more consistent. The whole organization needed to learn that there is a huge difference in doing something 'right' and doing it 'exactly right.' I learned from Coach Landry that if you think you're organized, get more organized. If you think you're demanding, demand more. I've always said, 'If you can count on people for the little things, you can count on them for the big things.' So, once we arrived here in Atlanta, one of the first things we did was to carefully examine the organization and see what types of things were being taken for granted and make certain that everyone understood that everything is important for success; not just some things, but everything.

"Another old saying I believe in is, 'if you're not successful, go back and look at the things you thought were not important the first time around, and re-examine them.'" We had to make absolutely certain that everyone in the entire Falcon organization understood that everything is important and to focus on attention to detail. Everyone had to understand the structure and to whom they were accountable."

The Falcons who bought into Reeves' philosophy were the ones who followed him to the NFC championship and the Super Bowl. Many of the Falcons who played critical roles in 1999 were players who were acquired by Reeves through free agency and trades. Some of the most important roster moves came when Reeves traded for quarterback Chris Chandler, signed cornerback Ray Buchanan, fullback Bob Christian and Robinson, and drafted for tight end O.J. Santiago, offensive tackle Ephraim Salaam, linebacker Henri Crockett and return specialist Tim Dwight.

"Dan has put together a very special team chemistry," Taylor Smith said. "He's very good at putting people together. He's a very strong person."

With many of today's athletes, such strength, conviction and strict demands for excellence can be seen as authoritarian and overbearing. In many cases, players rebel or look for other places to play. While Reeves had his share of well-documented relationship problems in Denver with quarterback John Elway, he managed to earn the respect and admiration of the Falcons.

"Dan is such a high character person that he challenges himself and that makes us challenge ourselves," linebacker Cornelius Bennett said.

It's a good bet that Reeves will continue to challenge himself, his coaches and his players as the Falcons prepare for another shot at the Super Bowl in 1999. The Falcons won't be anybody's Cinderella team this fall, so the Falcons didn't waste anytime pointing toward the future and working to improve the franchise.

The day after the Super Bowl loss to Denver, Reeves said, "Our confidence and image level is so much greater now than it was two years ago. We have created an environment here now that will help us. I've said all year I feel we can beat anybody and also that anybody can beat us. You just have to play hard every week in the NFL. What we accomplished this year is nice, but this team was confident we could win the Super Bowl. This team wasn't just satisfied to be in the game, they expected to win."

The Falcons also except to win in the future. While it's difficult to sustain success in the current NFL era of free agency and salary caps, Reeves will attempt to fortify the roster by bringing in more talented players and the kind of people who will fit into the Falcons' chemistry as the entire franchise aims at being the home team when Super Bowl XXXIV is played in Atlanta's Georgia Dome next year.

"We will continue to try to make ourselves competitive at every position," Reeves said. "I've always felt the best way to build is through the draft. Now, you can always fill a hole or two through free agency, too. I'll continue to delegate a lot of authority to other people to make these off-season decisions. We have a great scouting staff who have been evaluating the free agents and the college guys. They (went) to the combine in Indy to continue those evaluations for us. I don't try to do it all, I trust the people I have in place here.

"We'll have to continue hard on our offseason conditioning program and be ready to defend the NFC title. You take your goals one step at a time. First, you just want to make the playoffs and then anything is possible. We peaked at the right time this year.

"We certainly accomplished a lot of firsts for this franchise (last) year. Now, we'll have to set our goal to be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium." "It was certainly the most fun I have ever had as a coach because it was unexpected for us to have as much success as we did."



On one hand, there was the relenting Reeves, who, as promised, joined the team in doing the Dirty Bird...



..and there was the stern taskmaster who discipline took Atlanta to another level.


The Reeves File

1962-64 Univ. of South Carolina player/QB
1965-69 Dallas Cowboys player/RB
1970-71 Dallas Cowboys player-coach
1972-73 Dallas Cowboys RB Coach
1974 Dallas Cowboys Special Teams Coach
1975-76 Dallas Cowboys RB Coach
1977-80 Dallas Cowboys Offensive coordinator
1981-92 Denver Broncos Head coach
1993-96 New York Giants Head coach
1997-present Atlanta Falcons Head coach

Notes:

• 8th Winningest coach in NFL history (172-125-1)

• Winningest active coach in NFL participated in 48 playoff games and 9 Super bowls as a player and/or coach six-time conference or league Coach of the Year

• In 18 years as head coach, 11 winning seasons and two .500 took NY Giants from 6-10 to 11-5 and the playoffs in the first year member of the Univ. of South Carolina athletic Hall of Fame






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