Wednesday, June 24, 2009
And the Guy Lewis Award goes to...
The LSU coach's strategic blunder sparked a new question that I would like to put to the booleyean faithful: What is the greatest strategic blunder ever made in coaching? The award has been named after Guy Lewis, in honor of his decision to bury his head in his towel as Phi Slamma Jamma squandered their lead and inexplicably went down to Jimmy V's NC State Wildcats in the 1983 NCAA basketball championship game.
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Guy Lewis is the most obvious as he proved to be the only man in basketball that could stop phi slamma jamma. The most overlooked of the great coacch blunders is Tom Landry going to the prevent defense on the last drive in the Ice Bowl allowing Green Bay to win. Landry was a genius at the game but he had a huge blind spot about the prevent. He by himself gave that game away and was never called on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to throw Hal Sutton in the mix for his brilliance as the 2004 Ryder Cup Captain. His decision to pair Tiger and Phil together in the morning matches on day 1 was a bad call. His insistence on sticking with his strategy to pair them together in the afternoon after they got pounded in the morning matches revealed a stubbornness that bordered on stupidity. The move provided the Europeans with all the confidence they needed to hand the Americans one of the most lopsided defeats in Ryder Cup history.
ReplyDeleteI stole these from some website:
ReplyDeleteNebraska going for 2 in the 1983 Orange bowl and failing to get the tie v. Miami and at least a shared national championship.
Chris Webber calling time-out in the 1993 NCAA Basketball championship game when Michigan had none, resulting in a technical foul and a North Carolina victory.
Boston's Bill Buckner in the '86 world series misplaying a ground ball in the 10th of game 6, with the Mets ultimately winning the series.
New entry: Gov. Mark Sanford of S.C. How did he think he could carry on an affair in Argentina as a sitting governor and not get caught. I know this isn't sports-related, but this bonehead move is transcendental.
ReplyDeleteThough not a coaching blunder per se, Steve Spurrier's decision to leave Florida and coach in the NFL was a ginormously stupid decision. TOTAL FAILURE. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
ReplyDeleteJack--the S.C. govenor is an IDIOT. Control your damn self, fool.
Laird, I agree re: S.C. governor. Just read some of the emails he wrote to his beloved "Maria", the Argentine in question. Absolutely unbelievable. Hubris run amuck.
ReplyDeleteAs for Spurrier, I so enjoyed watching him get a big dose of humility...and with the 'Skins, no less! Dream scenario.
Ooh...I have not read the emails. I will have to look them up.
ReplyDeleteI would give Buckner a break because his was an error of execution more than stupidity. Plus I have always felt a little sorry for Webber. He called the time out but it was right in front of his bench and some of those players were yelling time out to him. So he had help screwing up.
ReplyDelete