Lovie Loves His Coaching Staff From Top to Bottom....................

Lovie Smith likes his coaching staff from top to bottom

BY SEAN JENSEN sjensen@suntimes.com February 23, 2012 10:30PM


http://www.suntimes.com/csp/cms/site...YPE=image/jpeg Lovie Smith was impressed with the job Mike Tice (above) did as offensive line coach last season. “Mike had all different types of injuries. He just worked with them and saw improvement,” Smith said. | Tom Cruze~Sun-Times





Updated: February 23, 2012 11:14PM


INDIANAPOLIS — Lovie Smith lamented the ouster of the general manager who hired him and applauded the general manager who’ll determine how much longer he’ll remain the Bears coach.
But as he prepares for the 2012 season, Smith couldn’t be more pleased with the coaching staff he has assembled.


“We have great leadership,” Smith said. “We have a strong staff, and I know the guys are excited about the offseason. We missed it last year and can’t wait to get back out there [in April].”


Longtime general manager Jerry Angelo was replaced by Phil Emery last month, and the team is undergoing changes under a new leader. But with the right offseason moves, the Bears can bounce back next season, and their continuity, not only with players but coaches, could be a key.
Smith is excited about his entire staff, even mentioning special-teams assistant Kevin O’Dea. But he’s especially grateful for the experience of his three coordinators, two of whom have been head coaches (Mike Tice and Rod Marinelli) and another (Dave Toub) who interviewed for the Miami Dolphins’ head-coaching vacancy last month.


The most notable change was at offensive coordinator. The Bears parted ways with Mike Martz and promoted offensive line coach Tice. “Mike and I have a long history together,” said Smith, who worked under Martz with the St. Louis Rams, “but we did need to go in a different direction, and I thought we needed different leadership.”


While quarterback Jay Cutler is working with his third offensive coordinator in Chicago, he and the entire offense already know much about Martz’s replacement. “For me, when I did make a change, I wanted to get someone to put us a little bit further along in the game,” Smith said. “A lot of times, as a new coach, you have to get to know a guy. But we’re already past that, so we’re a lot further ahead.”


Asked what has impressed him about Tice, Smith said, “Just everything.” Smith noted Tice’s leadership in coaching the offensive line. “Mike had all different types of injuries, but he didn’t complain,” Smith said. “He just worked with them and saw improvement. I’ve seen Mike in every situation.”


Smith said he had no issue with this being Tice’s first offensive coordinator job, pointing to Marinelli as an example. Although he’d been a defensive line coach and head coach, Marinelli hadn’t been a defensive coordinator until last season.


“I got a chance to go through the interview process with Mike and like everything he did with it, and that’s why I made the move as quick as I did,” Smith said. “Initially going in there’s always a plan to look at as many guys as possible with every position, but once I find the right guy, I normally shut it down from there, and that’s what happened with Mike.”


One of the appeals, Smith said, was Tice’s familiarity with the offensive personnel and philosophy.
“Even though we made changes on the offensive side, we are going to keep a lot of the same terminology and how we call things,” Smith said. “So that will help a lot.”

Smith suggested that reporters “jumped the gun a little bit” on the Bears’ pursuit of a passing game coordinator to complement Tice. “I thought about a lot of different things, but in the end, I didn’t feel like we needed one,” Smith said. “We have a coordinator in Mike Tice. We don’t have a defensive run-game coordinator or anything like that. I was trying to get the perfect group that I could on the offensive side of the ball.”


That includes new quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates, who worked with Cutler with the Denver *Broncos. Smith said he sought Cutler’s opinion on Bates given their history. “I just thought he was a natural fit for him to come in as our quarterbacks coach,” Smith said.


Cutler’s reaction? “He’s pumped,” Smith said, “to say the least.” Which also would describe Smith’s attitude toward his staff.

I guess I'd have to say that with the exception of Darryl Drake (why he's still here no one knows) this appears to be the best staff Lovie has ever assembled. Even for those who weren't in favor of his promotion you have to admit Tice is worlds better than Martz and an entire universe better than Terry Shea. One good point that Lovie makes about him is that even with the line hurting both from injuries and Martz ridiculous play calling Tice stayed cool and positioned his guy as best he could and got pretty decent performance out of reserves and a great performance out of Garza in his first year at OC. I think the fact that Tice was a QB at one time allows him to keep his cool and stay focused. I'm real anxious to see what this offense will look like with him in charge.

In my mind retaining Toub was big. I would really hate to lose that guy because if Lovie is fired or decides to hang it up I'd love to see him get a shot at the Bears HC job. Every year he has turnover and frequently loses his best player but he always finds ways to get the best out of who he has. When is the last time we finished out of the top five in overall ST performance. The guy is a winner and I breathed a big sigh of relief when Miami passed and we signed him for another two years.

Marinelli is steady although I always find myself disappointed we can't seem to better our pass rush from DE. Neither of the two rookies we had early in the year panned out but I admit he got Melton going after Lovie lit his ass on fire for not putting in enough effort. Okoye equaled his best year in Houston playing part time here. That's a guy we need to re-sign. He got Paea to lower his pad level and got more effective was the season progressed too.

Yeah, I'm content with this bunch too. The only guy we lost was the one we needed to lose.
Probably the biggest surprise was the hiring of Bates as Cutker's QB coach. Why they took so long to hire the most obvious choice is beyond me. And why did the press continually say that Bates wasn't even a candidate? Well no matter, he's here and I think that alone will make more difference in our passing game than replacing Webb. Bates and Cutler connecting would look even better if those two asked Emery to pursue Eddie Royal. I really can't think of anyone better to bring in to play the slot and return kicks if Knox isn't 100% healthy or they just don't want to risk using him that way anymore. Royal caught 90 passes from Cutler for 980 yards and 5 tds in his rookie season. Earl Bennet has been real productive there but we need to move him out to Flanker to replace Hester and Royal would be perfect as his replacement with Sanz backing him up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by soulman

I guess I'd have to say that with the exception of Darryl Drake (why he's still here no one knows) this appears to be the best staff Lovie has ever assembled. Even for those who weren't in favor of his promotion you have to admit Tice is worlds better than Martz and an entire universe better than Terry Shea. One good point that Lovie makes about him is that even with the line hurting both from injuries and Martz ridiculous play calling Tice stayed cool and positioned his guy as best he could and got pretty decent performance out of reserves and a great performance out of Garza in his first year at OC. I think the fact that Tice was a QB at one time allows him to keep his cool and stay focused. I'm real anxious to see what this offense will look like with him in charge.

In my mind retaining Toub was big. I would really hate to lose that guy because if Lovie is fired or decides to hang it up I'd love to see him get a shot at the Bears HC job. Every year he has turnover and frequently loses his best player but he always finds ways to get the best out of who he has. When is the last time we finished out of the top five in overall ST performance. The guy is a winner and I breathed a big sigh of relief when Miami passed and we signed him for another two years.

Marinelli is steady although I always find myself disappointed we can't seem to better our pass rush from DE. Neither of the two rookies we had early in the year panned out but I admit he got Melton going after Lovie lit his ass on fire for not putting in enough effort. Okoye equaled his best year in Houston playing part time here. That's a guy we need to re-sign. He got Paea to lower his pad level and got more effective was the season progressed too.

Yeah, I'm content with this bunch too. The only guy we lost was the one we needed to lose.
Probably the biggest surprise was the hiring of Bates as Cutker's QB coach. Why they took so long to hire the most obvious choice is beyond me. And why did the press continually say that Bates wasn't even a candidate? Well no matter, he's here and I think that alone will make more difference in our passing game than replacing Webb. Bates and Cutler connecting would look even better if those two asked Emery to pursue Eddie Royal. I really can't think of anyone better to bring in to play the slot and return kicks if Knox isn't 100% healthy or they just don't want to risk using him that way anymore. Royal caught 90 passes from Cutler for 980 yards and 5 tds in his rookie season. Earl Bennet has been real productive there but we need to move him out to Flanker to replace Hester and Royal would be perfect as his replacement with Sanz backing him up.

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Great post and makes great sense. I had forgotten for a week or so the ONLY complaint and legit criticism I think that can be made about the organization's moves so far this offseason...

WTF is Drake still doing here?

Lol

Lovie has, indeed, assembled his best coaching staff yet. Offensively-speaking, we are in great position to really take our play up a notch with a coordinator who understands what our personnel can do and a quarterbacks coach who will maximize the potential of Jay Cutler; with a big receiver in the fold, we can do wonders for the passing game. Defensively, I think we'll see Marinelli continue to progress with this group, especially if we get help with another pass rusher in the form of Mario Williams. He'll need some additional help at S and CB, but most of his problems will be solved with the acquistion and/or drafting of a five-technique DE. Toub continues being the best assistant coach on this staff, and I'm with soul in that if Lovie were to be fired, I would love to see Toub get a shot at becoming the head coach of the Chicago Bears.

I echo MPBear's sentiments exactly: what the fuck is Daryl Drake still doing on Lovie Smith's staff?