New Arizona DC Todd Bowles shares advice from Parcells

Bruce Arians staff down in Arizona has had the opportunity to learn from some of the best coaches in all of football. Arians served as a running backs coach under Bear Bryant in the early 80's and Todd Bowles got his coaching start in the NFL under Bill Parcells back in 2000.

When you get an opportunity to learn under guys like that, you're bound to come away with more than a few pieces of advice that you can pass on to other coaches.

Bowles explains on AZCentral.com, that when he came into the league as a young defensive backs coach, Parcells explained to him the importance of learning more than just enough to perfect his craft in the secondary.

"Bill actually taught me the game when I first came into the league as a professional coach. He pretty much taught me not to just learn DB play, but learn what everybody does (on defense) and to learn the core pieces of the 3-4 defense and why they work, how they work and what to install first and what to get first.

Parcell's also told Bowles the importance of "learning a player", as he called it.

“To learn a player you’ve got to find out what makes him tick, what motivates him, what he’s playing for.” Bowles explained.

“What kind of coaching can he take? What kind of teaching can he take? What does he respond to and doesn’t respond to? How best can you get that guy to play? It’s not about how much we know...it’s how much he can learn.”

That's some good stuff to keep in mind as you and your staff take an inventory of your depth chart and do an internal break down of your schemes this off season.