Aug 31st, 2010
A mathematical formula has been created to measure the extent to which a football coach will be forthcoming regarding his personnel – at least when it comes to Bay Area coaches.
The postulate, created not by Albert Einstein or an MIT graduate but some lowly sports writer, is represented by the equation F = 1/E, where F is forthcomingness (which is not a word, we realize, but fits the purpose) and E is expectations.
So the JakesTakeOnSports Postulate assumes that as expectations rise, a coach’s forthcomingness declines. Higher expectations, less forthcoming. Simple. Sort of like a + b = b + a. But with greater ramifications.
We are basing this on a sample of two – Jim Harbaugh and Jeff Tedford.
Tedford has been more forthcoming than ever before this season, providing injury updates, depth chart changes and virtually any other information the media request without hesitation. He rattled off his starting lineup a week ago without thinking twice.
Tedford seems far more relaxed than he has in the past, and there is a suspicion that he has made a conscious effort to loosen up. He said this past summer his players seemed a little too uptight at critical moments of games, and he concluded it might be because he himself was uptight and the uptight aura was rubbing off on the players.
It is also true that expectations for Cal are the lowest they have been since Tedford’s second season. The Bears have been picked no lower than fourth in any of the past six seasons, and were picked second in five of them. However, Cal is picked to finish seventh this year, lowering expectations considerably. That may be helping to loosen things up for Tedford, too, although another mediocre season (by Tedford’s standards) may have fans calling for Tedford to be fired (which only demonstrates their ignorance). Preumably, the Bears won’t lose the opener to UC Davis, but the Golden Bear faithful may start grumbling if it’s remotely close.
Down at Stanford, meanwhile, Jim Harbaugh seems unwilling to tell the media what kind of gum the team chews. The Cardinal is picked to finish fourth, and it is considered a title contender by almost everyone. This may be Stanford’s best chance in a long time to get to the Rose Bowl, and, more significantly, this may be Harbaugh’s best opportunity to become a hot item, perhaps giving him the resume to land the NFL job he seems to covet.
Harbaugh is saying virtually nothing about personnel. Chris Owusu’s name was not on the depth chart released Monday for Saturday’s opener against Sacramento State. When he was asked about it, Harbaugh was at first evasive, then said he did not authorize the depth chart, and finally admitted Owusu was “was working through some things” that were injury-related. He said neither Owusu nor his father wanted information about the injury released, which is fine, but Harbaugh’s clandestine approach makes you wonder whether that’s true.
It was concluded by the media that Owusu may not play in the opener, and when one of the most explosive players in the Pac-10 is unavailable for a game it is a significant piece of news.
Asked about the starting status of some other players based on the depth chart released, Harbaugh simply said he did not submit the depth chart listed and asked aloud who had released it. (The sports information director had released it, which is virtually required under standard operating procedure. No program would refuse to release a depth chart five days before a game, although we may see ground broken by Harbaugh in that regard sometime this season.)
Harbaugh refused to say whether Jeremy Stewart or Stepfan Taylor would be his starting tailback, although it’s hard to figure what competitive advantage he would have in not divulging that information. The ultimate act of evasiveness came when Harbaugh refused to say who his starting punter would be, claiming that because one is left-footed and one right-footed, he didn’t want the opponent to know.
Is he kidding?
Maybe it’s the Big Ten background he picked up while playing at Michigan. Coaches in that conference are known for distorting the truth when it comes to player availability. We recall Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez giving the media information he knew was false regarding the status of a quarterback who had been injured, saying the player would start the next week when he knew he wouldn’t.
That was way back in 1999, but that kind of logic does not change.
The other factor is that Harbaugh is feeling the pressure to win, and pressure to succeed always seems to create a sort of coaching paranoia. He figures any tiny mistake in judgment may bring the whole house of cards falling to the ground, ruining a chance for glory. It’s like classified information now. Espionage. CIA. Intel.
The pressure of expectations can cause coaches to do some odd things, which is why the JakesTakeOnSports Postulate seems applicable.
We can see MIT offering a course on the subject in the near future, with some geeky-looking professor standing in front of a blackboard, saying, “Class, it has been established by the JakesTakeOnSports Postulate that expectations have an inverse correlation to a football coach’s ability to be forthcoming, and it is demonstrated by this equation: F = 1/E. We have come to accept this formula as having the same significance as e = mc2. It follows from the JakesTakeOnSports Postulate that American football coaches under pressure are prone to try to keep secrets.”
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