In our previous post we looked at the material provided in The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, specifically the concept of the “Zero points for winning…” or negative scoring systems as well as Coach Walsh’s progression.

In this entry we will take a look at just how powerful the effects of the whole situation were.

HOW BAD DID IT GET?
Just how powerful was the issue of the negative scoring system for those associated with the 49ers? In the text, Coach Walsh states that his change on perspective of what provided his sense of accomplishment cut 4-5 years off of his career as head coach. It also caused management to become completely irrational in regards to their expectations.

THE COACH
From a personal standpoint Coach Walsh had begun to allow victory to determine his self worth. He had attached his own self image to whether or not the team won and any mistake that a player made became his mistake. If a pass was dropped, he felt as is he had dropped it. If a quarterback threw and interception, he felt as if he had thrown it. Football for him went from being “…enjoyable to unenjoyable to unendurable…”. The worst part for him was that it crept in and began to damage his personal life as he made choices that he states he later regretted. Ultimately, the real pain came from the fact that knowing even if he achieved the ultimate goal (winning a Super Bowl) he knew that failure would occur sometime in his future and he would feel miserable about himself as both a coach and a person. So even reaching the "pinnacle" was not good enough.

Coach Walsh also states that the feeling of hopelessness was not unique to himself. As an analyst he saw the same looks of desperation in the eyes of countless other head coaches.

MANAGEMENT
In regards to management, he writes about how his relationship with Eddie DeBartolo changed over time. As with Walsh’s perspective, in the beginning, DeBartolo accepted any type of improvement as a “win”. Once the teams record improved, Mr. DeBartolo stepped up and paying big money for great players and also treated those players very well. Over time as the team achieved greater success DeBartolo’s perspective changed in ways similar to how Walsh’s had. He became “distraught” or “enraged” if they didn’t win the Super Bowl – even making the playoffs was not enough.

In Walsh’s opinion, part of DeBartolo’s anguish was driven by the fact he felt helpless when they lost. So DeBartolo (who had no football background at all) began to micromanage Walsh (a 3 time Super Bowl winner as a coach with a lifetime 92-59-1 record in the NFL). Walsh says that the micromanagement started as providing advice at first, but ultimately degenerated into the questioning of his decisions as well as belittling of Walsh, despite the fact that DeBartolo had limited knowledge of the game.

As evidence to managements need for a Super Bowl every year, Walsh points out that his successor, George Seifert, was fired 2 years after a Super Bowl win with a lifetime head coaching record of 98-30-1, which was the highest winning percentage of any coach up to that time.

NEXT TIME
In our next post we will take a look at a couple of examples of how the negative scoring system can relate to poker.