Patriots are interviewing our LB coach for their defense coordinator position

SystemShock said
The NFL is a very small club. Who the tree trunk is and who the branches are can get complicated. For example, there's talk on the site about the McVay tree... but McVay comes from Jay Gruden's staff... but Jay Gruden comes from the Marvin Lewis staff... and then you'll go on and on to the beginnings of football.

And even if you make a distinction between offensive and defensive trees, still, McVay wouldn't be the tree trunk, he'd be a branch off Jay Gruden.

I think these points are all well taken. These days any assistant hired off of someone’s staff is classified as coming from the previous HC’s tree.

Yet, there are particular coaches who have gleaned from a primary mentor like everyone else, and yet were innovative enough to the point where they put their unique stamp upon the game. To speak of a “____ tree,” would be an appropriate label.