Coaching Styles: Harbaugh vs. Tomsula

Fine post and i agree w/your assessments OTC!

We'll learn more as time goes by.

I sure hope JT visits the vault frequently and play the Bill Walsh Greatest Hits Albums,

That is something that JH said he was going to do and NEVER did.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
I posted in another thread, but perfect for this one ..... and I know, I know, I can't believe I'm quoting a Cohen either!!!!

Little differences.

Jim Tomsula wears a black 49ers tracksuit with red sleeves and a gold zipper on the upper left arm during Thursday's OTA. He tucks the jacket of the track suit into his polyester pants.

Jim Harbaugh wore khakis, a sweater and a baseball cap during practice when he was the 49ers' head coach. He looked like a giant kid who had sneaked out of parents' house to play football with his buddies. Tomsula looks like Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos.

Little differences.

Harbaugh put himself in the thick of the action during practice. He'd participate in drills. He'd turn his cap backward and kick footballs when the special teams practiced blocking punts. He'd run routes with the tight ends and he'd fall sometimes. He laughed at himself. He kept things light.

Tomsula does not participate in drills. He stands very seriously in the middle of the practice field while the individual position groups warm up around the edges. Stands with his arms folded across his chest, hair slicked back, a wad of tobacco in his mouth while he rotates in a slow circle, spitting occasionally like a lawn sprinkler.

Little differences.

Tomsula is an overseer. Bill Walsh was an overseer, too. Like God, they're the ultimate authority watching over your every move.

When Tomsula speaks, he speaks in whispers to his top assistants, his prophets — offensive coordinator Geep Chryst and defensive coordinator Eric Mangini. They make the rounds to the various position coaches and whisper Tomsula's whispers to them.

Tomsula rarely talks directly to players anymore. He used to when he was the defensive line coach under Harbaugh. Now, Tomsula delegates the talking. The position coaches teach the players, the ball boys call out plays for the offense and defense during seven-on-sevens and 11-on-11s, and a trainer blows an air horn between drills.
http://49ers.pressdemocrat.com/49ers-new-look/



And this from Beerows ......

"Tempo! Tempo!"

If there was a theme at 49ers practice on Thursday, it was the word new coach Jim Tomsula bellowed between nearly every play. The offense huddled quickly, broke the huddle quickly and was typically at the line of scrimmage with 22 or 23 seconds left on the play clock.

"Sometimes we break the huddle at 30 (seconds)," left tackle Joe Staley said. "Honestly, last year it was pretty miserable as far as clock management and what we were doing. That's definitely a point of emphasis this offseason – operating faster."

As Staley noted, the 49ers were more tortoise than hare when it came to the game clock in previous years. Timeouts often were burned just before the play clock expired, including one that proved to be fateful at the end of the Super Bowl loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The 49ers led the league in delay-of-game penalties each of the past two seasons. They had nine last year; the NFL average was 4.8.

"That was something that, the last two or three years, we didn't do a good job of and tried to address it as much as we could," Staley said. "But you can only address it so much in Week 6, 7 of the season. This is the time for the standard to be set ... so that when we get to the season and get amped up, it becomes second nature, kind of how you operate."

Tomsula said the goal is for players – both on offense and defense – to get used to thinking and adjusting quickly.

"You have to think in a fast-paced, stressful environment," he said. "Then defensively, it helps you in this critical times in games – the two-minute stuff. It's everything having to operate at a fast pace."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article21628836.html#storylink=cpy

This is really good stuff. Looking forward to the training camp battles and preseason.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:

Fine post and i agree w/your assessments OTC!

We'll learn more as time goes by.

I sure hope JT visits the vault frequently and play the Bill Walsh Greatest Hits Albums,

That is something that JH said he was going to do and NEVER did.

I give Harbaugh a lot of credit for helping us be winners again. That, we can't take away from him. But he didn't operate like Bill Walsh at all. We pretty much didn't see any of the things that we really hoped for. The mannerisms? The efforts to give players chances and PT? No. The WCO? Non-existent. We didn't have much of an identity other than being a power-scheme, I-formation team that eventually mutated into a confused power/shotgun/pistol-half-of-the-time/simplistic offense.

In a nutshell, we were a simple, power running offense who tried to use formation shifts to create confusion in order to give us more opportunities to make plays. Our primitive strategy like trying to spread the defense out when they stacked the box had so little depth to it, that it was easily exposed and became painfully predictable.

After 2 years, teams are going to recognize shifts. After 2 years, teams have already learned how to "adjust to your adjustment". We never kept teams off balance. Most of the time, it seemed our successful or "barely successful" games were when our players individually could outperform our opponents despite ineffective schemes and playcalls (hence a lot of close games). In the NFL, the best coached teams can often beat the ones with superior talent when they can attack your weaknesses properly. The Niners were barely beating bottom feeder teams. With a team that talented, it's hard not to say there had to be some coaching aspect holding them back.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
Fine post and i agree w/your assessments OTC!

We'll learn more as time goes by.

I sure hope JT visits the vault frequently and play the Bill Walsh Greatest Hits Albums,

That is something that JH said he was going to do and NEVER did.

Its not even about doing what Walsh did, its about understanding WHY Walsh did what he did and applying those same principles, something that Pete Carroll has done up in Seattle. Look at the blueprint for that team and so much of it was derived from the 49ers success, they are running the same defense, running similar offensive concepts, their approach to player development, talent acquisition...etc, Carroll himself came out and said that being with the 49ers and learning from Walsh's philosophy changed everything he did as a coach.


Currently Seattle is closer to being a spiritual heir to Walsh's legacy with Carroll as the head coach than the 49ers who seemingly have been trying to inherit Mike Ditka's legacy instead. Maybe this all changes under Tomsula. A big difference in Tomsula is that I think he's a lot less dogmatic than Nolan, Singletary and Harbaugh were. I feel like he's a pragmatist who isn't wedded to any single football ideology, he'll go with whatever philosophy gives the team the best chance to be successful, period.


Still kind of queasy about thrusting a DL coach into the spotlight as a head coach, replacing a highly successful head coach at that, but perhaps Tomsula is going to surprise a lot of people but as mentioned, I think one of his main strengths is that he's very open minded and willing to go with whatever works best considering the talent on the roster.

lol.

Let's get though at least preseason first.

Seeing that Jimmy T is emphasizing tempo is going to make are defense and offense so much better.
Offensively and Defensively the niners will be able to catch teams off guard a lot more, will recognize plays faster and ultimately play faster.
And I can't forget about special teams. I think they will also benefit from an increase in tempo. To many times I have seen are special teams look very nonchalant and my gut tells me it will be different this year.

Nice post, OTC. The 49ers are really going to sneak up on people this year, more so the media than the NFL. I think people who know football can see the talent and versatility of the roster. It's just a matter of making the necessary schematic changes and putting the players in a position to succeed.

The FO and coaching staff are aggressively working to solve our most glaring problems. We've added speed at WR, will incorporate the RBs in the passing game, play with increased tempo, solidified the depth on defense, and have versatility all across the roster. We even moved to a zone-blocking scheme to better take advantage of our RB's skills, and improve our pass protection.

We'll see how the team performs, but so far it sounds like the leadership knows exactly what needs to be done to improve the team.

Originally posted by BodhiPaddlesOut:
lol.

Let's get though at least preseason first.

Yeah it's kinda hard to compare and contrast head coaching styles with such a small sample from Tomsula, so far the only notable difference that can be pointed out is their choice of attire.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
Fine post and i agree w/your assessments OTC!

We'll learn more as time goes by.

I sure hope JT visits the vault frequently and play the Bill Walsh Greatest Hits Albums,

That is something that JH said he was going to do and NEVER did.

Its not even about doing what Walsh did, its about understanding WHY Walsh did what he did and applying those same principles, something that Pete Carroll has done up in Seattle. Look at the blueprint for that team and so much of it was derived from the 49ers success, they are running the same defense, running similar offensive concepts, their approach to player development, talent acquisition...etc, Carroll himself came out and said that being with the 49ers and learning from Walsh's philosophy changed everything he did as a coach.


Currently Seattle is closer to being a spiritual heir to Walsh's legacy with Carroll as the head coach than the 49ers who seemingly have been trying to inherit Mike Ditka's legacy instead. Maybe this all changes under Tomsula. A big difference in Tomsula is that I think he's a lot less dogmatic than Nolan, Singletary and Harbaugh were. I feel like he's a pragmatist who isn't wedded to any single football ideology, he'll go with whatever philosophy gives the team the best chance to be successful, period.


Still kind of queasy about thrusting a DL coach into the spotlight as a head coach, replacing a highly successful head coach at that, but perhaps Tomsula is going to surprise a lot of people but as mentioned, I think one of his main strengths is that he's very open minded and willing to go with whatever works best considering the talent on the roster.

Good call Phoenix.

I'm optimistic about JT.

I often feel that there are plenty of guys who'd be excellent but aren't the media favorites and rarely get a shot.

MANY years ago the NYGiants had a chance to hire Vince Lombardias their HC but didn't think he had what it took to be a HC.

Then after he started winning they tried to steal him from Packers.

I'm VERY optimistic JT is going to shock the NFL!

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Its not even about doing what Walsh did, its about understanding WHY Walsh did what he did and applying those same principles, something that Pete Carroll has done up in Seattle. Look at the blueprint for that team and so much of it was derived from the 49ers success, they are running the same defense, running similar offensive concepts, their approach to player development, talent acquisition...etc, Carroll himself came out and said that being with the 49ers and learning from Walsh's philosophy changed everything he did as a coach.


Currently Seattle is closer to being a spiritual heir to Walsh's legacy with Carroll as the head coach than the 49ers who seemingly have been trying to inherit Mike Ditka's legacy instead. Maybe this all changes under Tomsula. A big difference in Tomsula is that I think he's a lot less dogmatic than Nolan, Singletary and Harbaugh were. I feel like he's a pragmatist who isn't wedded to any single football ideology, he'll go with whatever philosophy gives the team the best chance to be successful, period.


Still kind of queasy about thrusting a DL coach into the spotlight as a head coach, replacing a highly successful head coach at that, but perhaps Tomsula is going to surprise a lot of people but as mentioned, I think one of his main strengths is that he's very open minded and willing to go with whatever works best considering the talent on the roster.

Dude, Well Said. I gotta totally AGree with you. Good Post.

I think now you are starting to see glimpses of the vision Baalke had in mind going into this off season. The jury is out on Tomsula until the real games start but you have to be encouraged by some of the changes they appear to be making. I'm looking forward to faster, more dynamic offense.

Originally posted by KegBert:

Originally posted by BodhiPaddlesOut:
lol.

Let's get though at least preseason first.

Yeah it's kinda hard to compare and contrast head coaching styles with such a small sample from Tomsula, so far the only notable difference that can be pointed out is their choice of attire.

I was curious to go back and look at the small sample size that Tomsula had as a HC with the Niners. Defensively they allowed only 7 pts to the Cardinals (though there a different team now), it's offensively that caught my attention:

PASSING

A.Smith : att/comp 15-29 ,276 yds 2 TD 0 INT

M.Crabtree : 4 rec 47 yds 0 TD

J.Morgan : 3 rec 59 yds 0 TD

V.Davis : 3 rec 96 yds 1 TD

T.Ginn Jr : 2 rec 41 yds 1 TD

D.Walker : 1 rec 17 yds 0 TD

B.Westbrook : 1 rec 14 yds 0 TD

Rushing

B.Westbrook : 13 att 76 yds 2 TD

A.Dixion : 11 at 22 yds 0 TD

To me it looks like a balance attack, spreading the ball around to different receivers while utilizing the RB in the passing game. Without frank gore due to a hip injury they still put up 98 yrds rushing with 2 TDs. Though it's just one game it does paint a picture of what kind of offense Tomsula wants to have. I can't wait to see what we would look like with a better all around team.

Originally posted by BodhiPaddlesOut:

lol.

Let's get though at least preseason first.

The post is purely for fun -- the question at the end is simple -- take a guess, what schematic or mannerism, etc. type of differences do you expect?

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Nice post, OTC. The 49ers are really going to sneak up on people this year, more so the media than the NFL. I think people who know football can see the talent and versatility of the roster. It's just a matter of making the necessary schematic changes and putting the players in a position to succeed.

The FO and coaching staff are aggressively working to solve our most glaring problems. We've added speed at WR, will incorporate the RBs in the passing game, play with increased tempo, solidified the depth on defense, and have versatility all across the roster. We even moved to a zone-blocking scheme to better take advantage of our RB's skills, and improve our pass protection.

We'll see how the team performs, but so far it sounds like the leadership knows exactly what needs to be done to improve the team.

The team is completely different everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. From the players to the coaches to the schemes. There won't be any game film on a Tomsula-style offense. There is no book out on Tomsula's gameday tactics. This gives us a slight advantage in itself. But back to the point of everything being different -- despite all the changes, I personally feel these have been mostly GOOD changes. The main bad ones being the retirements, but the depth and players we have in the rotation should help make up for that. Deep teams are championship teams. To me, the only question I have is the OL -- if that improves, then I fully expect this team to make the playoffs.

Snap Shot of The Off-Season Transactions So Far...

Key Losses:
LB Willis
LB Borland
LB Skuta
DL Justin Smith
WR Crabtree
WR Johnson
CB Culliver
CB Cox
RB Gore
OL Iupati
OL Jonathan Martin

Key Additions:
LB Harold
DL Armstead
DL Dockett
WR Torrey Smith
WR Smelter
CB Wright
RB Bush
OL Pears
TE Blake Bell