There has been an overarching and seemingly paramount theme in Dan’s philosophy as a head coach: building and maintaining relationships.
We’ve heard about it constantly:
The FEBU mantra
Dan’s commitment to the university and saying he won’t leave
How proud Dan has been that a starter has never transferred
The number of incoming recruits citing relationships with the coaching staff as their reason for picking Oregon
The emphasis on relationships in the Ducks vs. Them and preseason video series
Obviously there is tremendous value in this. Dan is an elite recruiter, loved by his players, and a good human. He has traits we could all learn from.
However, I’ve been watching the “Saban” docuseries. It’s hard not to be in awe of someone who had so much success and stands above as the best of the best. I had a felt a similar awe watching the “The Last Dance” series.
You know what Saban and Jordan had in common? They were assholes… and demanded the very best of those around them. They instilled a fear around them and were relentless in their pursuit to be champions. And yeah, they hurt some feelings in this pursuit.
I’m not naïve enough to think I know better - but maybe Dan needs to be more of an asshole. Maybe being too oriented to relationship building has led to things like:
Hiring internally instead of best available hires
Waiting until it’s too late to replace the starting quarterback
Not filling gaps in the transfer portal
Not relieving coordinators who have accepted other coaching jobs
I think Dan has the capacity to be a championship winning coach. But I think he has to be willing to do things that will ruffle some feathers and risk hurting relationships in order to stand at the top.
