Friday, December 26, 2008

Moving out of the trees to see the forest

As Cal coach Jeff Tedford has demonstrated this season, giving up play-calling doesn't mean giving up control.

An article from yesterday describes how Coach Tedford "gave up play-calling duties during the offseason so he could ensure he has a better grasp of all aspects of his program. It's helped the Bears become a more cohesive team, with clear leadership, player camaraderie and individual accountability flourishing."

According to one Cal player:

"I think this year he's been a little more overlooking the team. Last year he said he was so focused on the X's and O's. This time, he has other guys taking care of that. He's making sure the team as a whole is a little more focused and concentrating on what we need to focus on."

Coach Tedford believes that taking a step back from the tactics has enabled him to better see the big picture:

"It kind of lets me keep more of a pulse of the whole team, especially during the game," Tedford said. "A lot of times when I was calling every play, even in between series, I had my face buried in the play chart trying to figure out what we're going to do next series. It just gives you a better perspective of the whole game and how things are going instead of just focusing on one thing. It frees me up to do things more later in the week with team oriented things."