What actually makes a good head coach in the NFL?

...and why do we always focus on the wrong things?

A lot of time is spent among NFL fans and media making lists of potential head coaching candidates and arguing their merits. There is far less discussion on what attributes actually make a good head coach.

Generally speaking it seems like coaches who get hyped up in the process fall into a few categories.

• The coordinator on one of the league’s top teams.
• The coordinator of one of the league’s top statistical units.
• The offensive coordinator of a team with a young quarterback who is playing well.
• The coordinator of a unit that helps to pull a shocking Playoff upset.
• A coach with some sort of connection to Sean McVay. Met McVay at an airport once? That’s good. Actually having spent a few years on the Rams coaching staff is even better.

There is also a lot of emphasis put on whether a coach’s background is from the offensive or defensive side of the ball. Root for a team with a young quarterback? You probably want a former offensive coordinator. Have a established veteran quarterback but a defense that gets torched on a weekly basis? You might be better off with a defensive coordinator.

Perhaps it’s taking it too far to say these are the only things which receive focus, but it certainly does seems like a coaching candidate receives extra scrutiny if they do not fall into one of these boxes.

What is striking to me, however, is looking at how many of the top head coaches in the league did not fall into one of these categories at the time they were hired.

Somebody with only two years of experience as a NFL position coach, a handful as an assistant position coach, and no coordinator or play calling experience might not sound like a qualified candidate to run a team. However, that was Andy Reid’s resume at the time he was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999.

Nine years later, a Reid assistant got a head coaching job. This assistant had spent one year as the Eagles’ secondary coach and the previous eight managing their special teams. That coach was John Harbaugh, who was hired by the Ravens.

One year before that, Baltimore’s biggest rival hired a 34 year old with one year of experience as a defensive coordinator, where he led the 14th ranked scoring defense. That team, of course, was the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that coach, of course, was Mike Tomlin.

Hiring a coach that young is inherently risky. Experience matters, right? Well, just over a decade after the Steelers hired Tomlin, a team toyed with the idea of hiring an even younger head coach. This young head coach was only 30, and his high water mark as an offensive coordinator was the 10th ranked scoring offense. This was Sean McVay at the time he was hired by the Rams.

On the flip side, there are coaches who are qualified...