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What is the “challenge factor”? It is a term I am applying to a dynamic I have seen many times in sports.
The Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets in Games 5 (fourth quarter) and 6 without Kevin Durant. When they met the Portland Trail Blazers in the next round, they had already overcome a huge challenge. Portland was easier to deal with precisely because the Warriors had directly seen and experienced how much Houston pushed them, and how many tough questions the Rockets asked of them. The “challenge factor” really helped the Warriors against the Blazers. Had the Dubs played Portland before Houston, that series against the Blazers might have been a lot tougher.
The 2018 Washington Huskies football team played Auburn in Atlanta and went to Salt Lake City to play Utah in the first three weeks of the season. The Huskies played at UCLA and at Oregon in consecutive weeks by the midpoint in their season. They took a few punches and suffered multiple losses, but those hard knocks toughened the Huskies for the home stretch of the season. As soon as they managed to get to a November off week and rest their weary bones, they were able to regroup. Their final month of play after their week of rest was their best month of the season. They weren’t a dominant team, but they did win the Pac-12 and reach the program’s first Rose Bowl in 18 years. The “challenge factor” in the first half of the season made Washington’s November a lot easier to manage.
Plenty of coaches in various sports try to make practice very hard, so that playing a live game is easier by comparison. College coaches schedule difficult non-conference games and play away from home so that conference games are more manageable when they arrive.
These are various examples of the “challenge factor,” in which a series of tough challenges at one stage of evolution or development makes later or subsequent challenges less daunting.
This is what Pittsburgh football hopes will benefit the program in 2019, viewed through the prism of new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple.
Pittsburgh had a Cadillac coordinator, Matt Canada, but he went to LSU. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi turned to Charlie Strong’s failed offensive coordinator at Texas, Shawn Watson, and received mixed results. Last year’s Coastal Division championship offense delivered a number of high-scoring performances, but the Panthers were very hit-and-miss on offense. The win over Syracuse was a very impressive offensive effort which turned the season around. However, the defense’s ability to find its footing against Virginia and Wake Forest cemented Pittsburgh’s turnaround and carried the Panthers to their first ACC division title.
The elusive piece of the puzzle for Pitt and Narduzzi (last year’s Coastal title was certainly a big deal, but it also came with a 7-7 record, so let’s keep that achievement in perspective) is not so much the offense or defense alone, but both units in tandem. That said, Narduzzi made progress with the defense last year. Getting Canada-level offensive production (or something close to it) from Whipple is an essential piece of a Pittsburgh ascendance to a nine- or 10-win plateau.
This is how the “challenge factor” can be Whipple’s — and Pitt’s — friend in 2019.
Mark Whipple’s last seven seasons in coaching, spread over the last eight years (he took 2013 off), have involved two tasks Sisyphus would have identified with.
You know Sisyphus from Greek mythology, right? He’s the guy who had to roll the boulder up the hill over and over again, only to watch the boulder roll down to the bottom of the valley. He was forced to keep rolling the boulder up the hill. A life of misery.
Mark Whipple’s last seven seasons in a coaching career which dates back to 1980 dealt with these two tasks: coaching the Cleveland Browns’ (non-Baker Mayfield) quarterbacks, and trying to get the University of Massachusetts to a bowl game.
Few tasks in football coaching have been more difficult this century. Browns QBs and UMass football have both been miserable.
Whipple isn’t a bad coach for failing at jobs many other people couldn’t do well. Lots of coaches take on the worst jobs in their industry. When they get a better job in a better situation, their talents emerge.
Yeah, that’s “the challenge factor” at work.
Mark Whipple has been coaching Browns and Minutemen.
Coaching Pitt was a dream job in college football from 1976-1983, but this decade, coaching the Panthers isn’t a glamorous gig. Nevertheless, after working in the salt mines in Cleveland and then Amherst, Mark Whipple, 62 years old, has arrived at a place where he can take a decent program and make it a lot better.
The challenge factor could work for Pittsburgh… and an old offensive coach who might still know a few tricks. We will see if Mark Whipple can enable Pittsburgh to stay on top of the ACC Coastal.
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