I'll cut some slack for a position coach. Here's why:
When talking about coordinators who arise to head coaching positions and were privy to the etherial knowledge that supposedly eminated from their Guru, Belichick, we're on a different level. And what we see there is not the same as coaches of, say, the Bill Walsh tree.
Looking at Walsh's line we see names like Holmgren, Fassell, Wyche, Dennis Green, Seifert, Hackett on the first layer, and beyond them Ried, Mariucchi, Gruden, Dungy, McCarthy, Harbaugh and about thirty others - all of them coaching championship-level football.
Belichick's protogees? In addition to McDaniel (who did more harm than good here here and went on to be a loser everywhere he went, despite success in two hitches in Belichick's system) we have Ernie Mangini and Bill O'Brien as two with the best records, followed by the likes of Charlie Weiss, Brian Daboll and Matt Patricia. What they have in common from their apprenticeships under Belichick is that personally they are jerks, have mediocre records, their careers are marked with disputes with management and players, and there is a tendency for cheap shots and dirty football to turn up persistently on teams they coach.
Despite his moral failures Belichick coached sound fundamental football - in addition to whatever else he taught. His players were well-schooled. A position coach from among them is likely to understand good sound fundamental football, and may or may not coach cheap shots. That's in the mind and heart of the individual.
What I'm seeing from our current OL coach is the ability to coach good sound fundamental football, generate rapport with his players, and respect from his higher-ups. The football part might derive from Belichick, and the non-football parts that separate good or great coaches from those who understand football in some aspects but don't get it as human beings are matters of personal integrity and character. And those values are conspicuously absent in Belichick and his legacy.
