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Reeves: The fear is gone
Special to ESPN.comAtlanta's Dan Reeves, the winningest active coach in the NFL, talked with ESPN.com's Greg Garber about how professional football has changed over the years:
|  | | Dan Reeves has coached in four Super Bowls -- three with Denver and one with Atlanta. |
It was tough coming in as a player-coach in 1970, because that was the year of the merger between the old AFL and NFL. I was caught in between. The players would come to me with their problems and so would the coaches.
This was the time when the hippie, long-hair culture influenced everything, even football. Coach Landry was involved in that transition. You make the changes. You adapt. Coaching is really about dealing with people. The better job you do, the better your chances for success. As you get older, it gets harder and harder to transcend that age gap.
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The Reeves file |
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Falcons coach Dan Reeves has a 20-season record of 180-146-1, No. 8 on the all-time list. Reeves, a running back for the Cowboys from 1965-72, was invited by Tom Landry to serve as a player-coach in 1970 and seven years later was promoted to offensive coordinator.
In 1981, Reeves became the youngest head coach in the league, taking the reins for the Broncos at 37. In a span of four years (1986-89), Denver reached the Super Bowl three times. Reeves took Atlanta to the Super Bowl in 1998 and has been a five-time coach of the year. |
I don't think all the changes have much to do with the players themselves. Deep down, they're the same. They want to win. It's just that sometimes your hands are tied. One of the great motivators in the 1960s was fear -- fear of losing your job. That fear is somewhat gone today.
With the big salaries and the salary cap the way it is, you're not able to do things the way you used to from a discipline standpoint. Fear, one of the greatest motivators of all, isn't a tool you can really use.
These days, you just have to hope you're getting the right kind of person. The problem we're facing today is the turnover. You've got eight, 10, 12 people you let go and the same number of new faces coming in. It's not just based on performance, it's not done by competition. It's the system we have.
A parent is like a coach: You're concerned with your team like a family. If you don't discipline your children, in the final analysis, you're not treating them right. It's that tough love that's the hardest to give. You have to get them to toe the line, or they'll run all over you.
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