The B.S. Report: Does coaching matter?

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Don’t ever let anyone tell you that coaching does NOT matter. It does. There is a fad for some reason, in this age of statistical information, that the person running the show in the dugout or on the sidelines is almost inconsequential. Well, that’s wrong. You can examine all the data you want to, but there still has to be good decision-making by a person in a game.

Take this past Sunday in San Francisco. The Atlanta Falcons were down by four points – 17 to 13. They were driving on the 49ers and had fourth and goal from the one-yard line. There was less than three minutes left in the game. Rookie head coach Dan Quinn decided to kick a field goal and get the three points instead of going for the touchdown.

His offense had sputtered all day. His running game had been shut down. But they were one yard away. He didn’t think his offense could get one lousy yard, so instead he kicked the field goal. Quinn trusted his defense to instead stop the 49ers and get the ball back with around a minute left and hope that Matt Ryan could work his late-game magic once again.

So what was the bigger gamble – going for it on fourth and goal from the one, or hoping your defense would stop them with time running out so you can try and score again? Well, his decision backfired.

Quinn should have had faith in his offense to get one yard. If they failed, then San Francisco would have been backed up on their own one-yard line and you would have had better field position if they had punted.

Quinn defended his decision Monday, but there was no defense. It was a mistake. It’s also a shame coaches can’t come out and say – “I screwed up.” But coaches rarely do.

That decision – that loss – could cost the Falcons a trip to the playoffs. They should have beaten the 49ers, but a bad coaching call cost them dearly.

Then look at the decision by UGA head coach Mark Richt to start third-string quarterback, Faton Bauta, in the game 10 days ago in Jacksonville. It was the Georgia–Florida game, the biggest rival of them all. The Bulldogs could have won the SEC East and gone to Atlanta to play for the conference championship. But, Richt started a third-string quarterback that had never taken significant snaps in a game in three years.

Oh, but that’s not all. Bauta is a running quarterback. So what did Richt do? Did he take the two weeks to prepare for a new quarterback and install running plays for Bauta? No. Instead, Bauta stood in the pocket all day and ran basically the same offense ran by Greyson Lambert, a pocket passer who has limited mobility. But, then – here’s the kicker – the next week, last Saturday against Kentucky – Bauta didn’t even play and Richt put Lambert in, who at times ran the offense Bauta should have run the week before in Jacksonville.

It was a stupid decision to start Bauta in the first place. They weren’t playing Florida Atlantic. They were playing Florida. The Gators. And then to not even put the kid in the best position to be successful – well, that was pretty stupid, as well.

If Richt leaves after this season, years from now we will likely think about his decision to start a third-string quarterback in the biggest game of the year.

So, yes, never be fooled. Coaching decisions matter. Those calls on the sidelines can sometimes define a season, and for the football teams in Georgia, that’s been a huge problem the last few weeks.