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What are the most moronic coaching decisions?

Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,292
We're not players or coaches, but we see things that make us go... "WTH were you thinking?"

One instance that stands out to me has got to be... when Jim Caldwell's Colts were playing the Jets in the playoffs (led by Mark Sanchez actually) the Jets had to go the length of the field and try to get a field goal to go ahead.... the Jets are facing a long field goal.... they can't stop the clock... and what does Jim Caldwell do? He calls a time out. This gave the Jets another play and much shorter field to kick the game winning field goal. Caldwell said "I didn't care. I wanted them to snap the ball as many times as possible" ....which was stupid.

There was also 4th and 2... didn't think on that Belicheck.
 
ClickyCal'

ClickyCal'

Member
Oct 25, 2017
59,687
DGSJmWG.gif
 
jml

jml

Member
Mar 9, 2018
4,783
Back when NFL overtime gave the win to whoever scored first (even if it was a field goal), Marty Mornhinweg of the Lions won the coin toss and decided to kick off. The Bears took the opening drive into field goal range and won the game.
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
On Break
Oct 25, 2017
32,774
Chris Armas abandoning the high press that got them 71 points the season prior and turning an almost unbeatable team into a team that anyone can beat.
 
divisionbyzorro

divisionbyzorro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,771
Landy828 said:
LOL, that was one of the dumbest moments in the NFL I've ever seen.

Also, going for 2 to win a game when you just had a chance to tie it. I'd always go to overtime. Narrowing down your team's chances to win, with just one play, is stupid.
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I never fault the weaker team for trying to win it right there. Your odds are likely much higher to get that one 2pt conversion than to survive in overtime (especially CFB) against a better team.
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,292
jml said:
Back when NFL overtime gave the win to whoever scored first (even if it was a field goal), Marty Mornhinweg of the Lions won the coin toss and decided to kick off. The Bears took the opening drive into field goal range and won the game.
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That sounds like the Lions all right.
 
Smokeymicpot

Smokeymicpot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,839
Landy828 said:
LOL, that was one of the dumbest moments in the NFL I've ever seen.

Also, going for 2 to win a game when you just had a chance to tie it. I'd always go to overtime. Narrowing down your team's chances to win, with just one play, is stupid.
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I honestly think that play by the Seahawks was the right move. It worked the whole season and Lynch was not the best on the goal line. Issue was Bill was waiting for that play. Butler was in the right spot at the right time. If Butler didn't read the play correctly that is a TD.

For 2 in the game earlier today? That was totally the right move. The play call was not. You do not want to get into a Overtime with Clemson. North Carolina was getting tired and they don't have the bench like Clemson does. You get that two and you gotta stop them for a minute. You have a better shot to win.
 
ClearMetal

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,309
the Netherlands
Dick Advocaat substituting Arjen Robben, by far the best man on the field, in the Euro 2004 group match against the Czech Republic, in favor of a more defensive play style. The Netherlands led with 2 - 1, but went on to lose the match with 2 - 3 after Robben's substitution. It sparked a major outrage in the Netherlands itself, with many people calling for violence and even Advocaat's assistent, the legendary Willem van Hanegem, went on record saying he would knock Advocaat out if he ever tried to do something like this again. Their relationship never recovered, just like it took years for Advocaat's reputation in the Netherlands to recover.
 
linkboy

linkboy

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,690
Reno
Smokeymicpot said:
I honestly think that play by the Seahawks was the right move. It worked the whole season and Lynch was not the best on the goal line. Issue was Bill was waiting for that play. Butler was in the right spot at the right time. If Butler didn't read the play correctly that is a TD.

For 2 in the game earlier today? That was totally the right move. The play call was not. You do not want to get into a Overtime with Clemson. North Carolina was getting tired and they don't have the bench like Clemson does. You get that two and you gotta stop them for a minute. You have a better shot to win.
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Russell also put that ball in a downright terrible spot, it should have either been put in front of the WR (not behind him) or thrown out the back of the endzone.

The biggest fuck-up on that drive was wasting 30 seconds standing around doing nothing after the run that got Lynch to the goal line.
 
Fubar

Fubar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,724
The 1980 Olympic Hockey Miracle on Ice is arguably one of the greatest upsets and greatest American sports moments of all time, and it likely would not have happened if not for the Russian head coach prematurely switching goalies after the Americans scored their second goal.

The goalie he pulled went down as one of the greatest of all time, and certainly one of the best Russian goalies of all time.

One of the dumbest decisions ever.
 

HomokHarcos

Member
Jul 11, 2018
2,447
Canada
ClearMetal said:
Dick Advocaat substituting Arjen Robben, by far the best man on the field, in the Euro 2004 group match against the Czech Republic, in favor of a more defensive play style. The Netherlands led with 2 - 1, but went on to lose the match with 2 - 3 after Robben's substitution. It sparked a major outrage in the Netherlands itself, with many people calling for violence and even Advocaat's assistent, the legendary Willem van Hanegem, went on record saying he would knock Advocaat out if he ever tried to do something like this again. Their relationship never recovered, just like it took years for Advocaat's reputation in the Netherlands to recover.
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Mexico would do the same thing against the Netherlands in the 2014 World Cup. Mexico took a 1-0 lead and were the better team but decided to play defense after the lead. That lead to the late game collapse.
 
Giard

Giard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
167
Mario Tremblay's attitude and decisions for the Montreal Canadiens lead to trading one of the best goaltenders in history for a bag of pucks.
 
Masoyama

Masoyama

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,648
In MMA, the times when a coach does NOT give some moronic instruction to the fighter is what stands out. Fighters fighting for the one chance of their life come so stupidly unprepared to win, its sad and pathetic. We are still in the age were fighters want to only focus on the conditioning of things and let their coach do all the thinking.
 
Booki

Booki

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,865
Brooklyn
Pop benching Tim Duncan in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. Who knows if Bosh would've been able to get the rebound with Timmy in?

Oh well! It eventually led to the Heat getting title #3, so I'm cool with it!
 

Figgles

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
2,568
Every fucking time prevent defense is used. You see it get trotted out every time your team has the lead, and it never fucking works. Ever.
 
Vestal

Vestal

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,297
Tampa FL
The following trumps all of these.

Lou Duva telling Medrick Taylor he was behind the score cards against Julio Cesar Chavez going into the 12th round.
 
SelfCon

SelfCon

Member
Oct 28, 2017
175
jml said:
Back when NFL overtime gave the win to whoever scored first (even if it was a field goal), Marty Mornhinweg of the Lions won the coin toss and decided to kick off. The Bears took the opening drive into field goal range and won the game.
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aka "Marty takes the wind". What a great day in Detroit sports history.
 
Feep

Feep

Lead Designer, Iridium Studios
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
4,602
Landy828 said:
Also, going for 2 to win a game when you just had a chance to tie it. I'd always go to overtime. Narrowing down your team's chances to win, with just one play, is stupid.
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Absolutely not. According to recent stats (https://www.boydsbets.com/nfl-two-point-conversion-success-rate/), the overall success rate is 48.2%, which about mirrors the odds of successfully kicking the extra point and then winning in overtime (Around 95% * 50% = 47.5%). Additionally, the current overtime rules in the NFL have literal RNG built into the odds of winning, which is wildly frustrating. And finally, if your offense is better than your defense, it becomes even more advantageous to just *win the game right there*.

We have advanced metrics to help us with these decisions. And going to two to win the game outright is a perfectly sane decision.
 
Hayeya

Hayeya

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,810
Canada
Fabio Capello announcing that he will never use Beckham again for real madeid in the 2007 Liga season, after beckham announced that he will leave the club at the end of the season, even though beckham was one of the best performing players at the time.
The announcement of benching him came too early in the season wich was weird, but capello was forced to re-use him due to the performance of others, and won the league that year.
 
Temp_User

Temp_User

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,699
Coach Larry Brown for Team USA's 2004 Olympic Basketball Performance

Brown's decision to enforce his own style on the team appears to have only made that challenge more difficult. The Hall of Famer has been criticized for his handling of his Team USA duties before, most notably in his refusal to play LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. But he also took on the impossible task of trying to teach a conservative, rule-based system to a team that had very little time to absorb any of it. Even if Brown was right that an extremely talented team should have played this way — a highly questionable claim, to be sure — he was never going to make it work in a month.
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MonadL

MonadL

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,888
2013 Big Ten Championship - Not giving Carlos Hyde the goddamn ball on 3rd and 2 and 4th and 2 after he had been running all over MSU the entire game.

Also 2015 MSU at Ohio State - Elliot only gets something like 8 carries for 30 yards in route to a 17-14 loss against a Spartan team starting their second and third string QBs.
 
Landy828

Landy828

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,410
Clemson, SC
Feep said:
Absolutely not. According to recent stats (https://www.boydsbets.com/nfl-two-point-conversion-success-rate/), the overall success rate is 48.2%, which about mirrors the odds of successfully kicking the extra point and then winning in overtime (Around 95% * 50% = 47.5%). Additionally, the current overtime rules in the NFL have literal RNG built into the odds of winning, which is wildly frustrating. And finally, if your offense is better than your defense, it becomes even more advantageous to just *win the game right there*.

We have advanced metrics to help us with these decisions. And going to two to win the game outright is a perfectly sane decision.
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Not when you're going against a defense and a defensive coordinator that has shown that they can shut down any triple-option team completely and you decide your two point conversion play is a triple-option play.

Referring to the Clemson vs North Carolina game of course.
 
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