Improved technology pays off for today's coaches and players, ex-Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr says
On Friday, Lloyd Carr spoke about how much more difficult modern technology makes life for college football coaches. He said the level of scrutiny has intensified greatly for players and coaches -- largely due to advancements in Internet technology -- in the short time he’s been away from the game.
Former Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr says faster, better technology helps coaches and players.
Carr addressed the other side of the coin on Tuesday, saying technology has made coaches and players better overall.
“I think that coaching is better, and I think that certainly helps to make the players better, without offending all those that played years ago,” Carr said after being announced as a member of the 2011 College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Carr recalled the days when making situational videos for players and coaches to study meant hours of manually cutting and splicing 16-millimeter film. He called today’s video breakdowns of games and practices incredible compared to when he first started.
“It was a painstaking job,” Carr said. “And today, you come off the practice field and all those cutups that you want to study as far as the practice, everything is already done.”
Knowledge is power, and Carr acknowledged how much more opportunity there is to become more powerful for today's players.
“Today, every single game is televised and because these guys watch football, they watch the NFL on Sundays, they’re educated by all the people that call the games,” Carr said. “There’s just more opportunities to know the game, to learn the game.”
Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.
Comments
tater
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 4:04 p.m.
This says more about the late-career decline in Carr's performance than I ever could. One of the main problems he had was that the game had passed him by. This was obvious by about 2004. Much of the same technology that is here now was there for him, but he ignored it and would have had to have been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the modern era of football if he had stayed. The upside to this is that Carr has to be getting his information from somewhere. Since there is only one place Carr hangs out, it means that Brady Hoke and his staff have fully embraced modern technology, and are using it to do something Carr couldn't do: stay current. We'll see if it translates onto the football field.