NFL teams are continually looking to identify the next great head coach. They search for commonalities in the backgrounds of the most successful ones. Were they coordinators first? Were their backgrounds on offense or defense? What have they accomplished at the college level? But in the end, even the most diligent research can't guarantee a candidate will shine in the role.
In speaking with eight general managers, four ex-GMs, six coordinators, four position coaches and eight other NFL insiders for our story ranking head coaches, a range of qualities emerged as the ones most important to decision-makers. This part of the project, not the composite ranking of coaches, was what league insiders seemed most interested in pursuing. They wanted to know what other insiders had to say on the subject, and we've got answers here.
"What is it that makes a head coach a '1' in your eyes?" I would ask.
Here's a sampling of a dozen of the best answers:
• Organization: "The first thing is being highly organized. That brings down more head coaches than anything else. If you are not highly organized, you do not have a chance -- not taking care of all the details from scheduling to who is in charge of what, where people are supposed to be."