Manager impacts on worker performance in American football: Do offensive coordinators impact quarterback performance in the National Football League?

Abstract

Ample research in nonsports labor markets suggests that managerial quality significantly impacts worker productivity; however, studies using sports data have been less likely to find such evidence supporting the importance of managers/coaches. We examine the impact of offensive coordinators on quarterback performance in football. While we find that various offensive coordinator characteristics have little impact on quarterback performance, we show that individual offensive coordinators do seem to play a role in quarterback development. Consistent with research on manager effects outside of sports, this suggests that elite and poor offensive coordinators do significantly impact the productivity of the quarterbacks they manage.

Defensive Coordinator and Head Coach Effects on Team Defensive Performance in the National Football League

“…However, in the two-way FE model, we do find that teams whose head coaches come from an offensive background tend to get significantly fewer sacks per game in a season. Lastly, and in agreement with Pitts and Evans (2018) who found a similar result for a head coach serving as his own offensive coordinator, we find that a head coach serving as his own defensive coordinator is consistently associated with a decline in defensive performance. This adds to the evidence that NFL teams are typically best served when the head coach specializes in being a head coach and hires other coaches to serve in the coordinator roles.…”

“…We find conflicting results regarding this theory. Similar to Pitts and Evans’s (2018) finding that offensive coordinators who were internal hires contribute to significant improvements in quarterback performance, we find that defensive coordinators who were internal hires contribute to significant improvements in defensive performance. Based on our findings for both the two-way FE and OLS models, teams with defensive coordinators who were internal hires tend to allow fewer total yards and rushing yards per game than otherwise similar teams with defensive coordinators who were external hires.…”

“…We add to that literature by examining the impact of defensive coordinators and head coaches on defensive performance in the NFL. In a previous study, Pitts and Evans (2018) find that elite and very poor offensive coordinators can have substantial impacts on quarterback performance. In this study, we arrive at a similar conclusion regarding the impact of defensive coordinators and head coaches on team defensive performance.…”

“…Alternatively, Kahn (1993) and Singell (1993) conclude that MLB managers do significantly influence player performance and team outcomes. Similarly, Bridgewater et al (2011) find that managerial characteristics in the English Premier League are correlated with team performance, and Pitts and Evans (2018) conclude that offensive coordinators have the potential to significantly impact quarterback performance in the NFL. Furthermore, Goff (2013) shows that NFL head coaches have larger effects on team performance than MLB managers, suggesting that NFL head coaches may be more important to the success of their teams than MLB managers.…”

The effect of management changes on winning in professional sports: Analysis using a dynamic lag adjustment model

“…Consequently, we do not believe that our main conclusions are affected by excluding player performance data from our baseline models. Nonetheless, we refer the interested reader to Bradbury () and Pitts and Evans (), both of which attempt to untangle the nuanced links between managers and player performance.…”