There is that, but there’s also the setting of a cultural standard where the players think to themselves, “It’s 4th and short. We must convert this because we know coach Staley’s not bring in the kicking team.”
There was a high school team that never—never!!—punted a few years ago and the results of their winning are counter intuitive to what people—even I at the time—might think when first hearing about such a phenomenon. (My friend asked me what I thought their record was and I guessed that they were a losing team. I was wrong.)
So, a lot of what goes into coaching decisions is psyching your players up and motivating them to succeed when the odds are poor in the face of a failure of execution.
We Not Me
