Over-valuing star ex-players ability to coach in the NFL

Bobhaze said:

I mentioned Ditka in the OP as a rare exception of a HOF player who coached a SB winner. Reeves was a great coach that took two different teams to SBs but although he played in the NFL, he was never a star.

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Diehardblues said:

Yea, I guess he was only a star to us Cowboy fans.

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Bobhaze said:

We see it all the time. Calls for star ex-players like Tony Romo, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware and others to be immediately anointed a high level coaching position like a coordinator or even head coach is a really bad idea. It has happened occasionally in sports like basketball and baseball, but even in those sports it is rare. It is very rare in football.

Why? The reasons are many, starting with a fundamental lack of understanding of how difficult it is to be an effective head coach or coordinator in the NFL:

• The number of head coaches with NFL playing experience has decreased dramatically in the past 30 years. Even the few successful head coaches who have won big, almost all were never NFL stars. Examples-
  • Tom Landry, Tom Flores, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, and Doug Pederson are all examples of coaches who won SBs after playing in the NFL but none of them were stars. Mike Ditka is a rare example of a HOF player who won a SB as a HC.
  • Only 9 head coaches in the NFL in 2020 ever played a down in the NFL.
  • Many NFL players say star players are usually not as good as coaches because their talent and effectiveness came easier to them than most players and it’s hard for them to teach. Bob Lily once said he knew he could never be a coach. Coaching and playing are totally different skill sets.
• The degree of difficulty in being an NFL head coach or coordinator are much greater than most fans understand. Being a coordinator requires a ton of organizational skills to coordinate film study and game preparation plans with a number of people each week. In fact, those skills for success are much different than success as a player.

The point I’m making is the calls for a former star player to immediately skip the process of coaching experience and become a coordinator or head coach are foolish. It’s pretty clear that in the history of NFL coaching, being a star player is not an indicator of coaching ability or success.

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Jake said:

Cracks me up when people question what a head coach does if he isn't the play caller. Like he just sits in his office and twiddles his thumbs.

They have to oversee all of the position coaches, and manage about 100 egos, basically year round. We only see what they do for 3 hours on Sunday.

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Bobhaze said:

We see it all the time. Calls for star ex-players like Tony Romo, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware and others to be immediately anointed a high level coaching position like a coordinator or even head coach is a really bad idea. It has happened occasionally in sports like basketball and baseball, but even in those sports it is rare. It is very rare in football.

Why? The reasons are many, starting with a fundamental lack of understanding of how difficult it is to be an effective head coach or coordinator in the NFL:

• The number of head coaches with NFL playing experience has decreased dramatically in the past 30 years. Even the few successful head coaches who have won big, almost all were never NFL stars. Examples-
  • Tom Landry, Tom Flores, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, and Doug Pederson are all examples of coaches who won SBs after playing in the NFL but none of them were stars. Mike Ditka is a rare example of a HOF player who won a SB as a HC.
  • Only 9 head coaches in the NFL in 2020 ever played a down in the NFL.
  • Many NFL players say star players are usually not as good as coaches because their talent and effectiveness came easier to them than most players and it’s hard for them to teach. Bob Lily once said he knew he could never be a coach. Coaching and playing are totally different skill sets.
• The degree of difficulty in being an NFL head coach or coordinator are much greater than most fans understand. Being a coordinator requires a ton of organizational skills to coordinate film study and game preparation plans with a number of people each week. In fact, those skills for success are much different than success as a player.

The point I’m making is the calls for a former star player to immediately skip the process of coaching experience and become a coordinator or head coach are foolish. It’s pretty clear that in the history of NFL coaching, being a star player is not an indicator of coaching ability or success.

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cern said:

Good post, bob. Good coaching is a mental exercise. Having been a good player is irrelevant.

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Bobhaze said:

We see it all the time. Calls for star ex-players like Tony Romo, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware and others to be immediately anointed a high level coaching position like a coordinator or even head coach is a really bad idea. It has happened occasionally in sports like basketball and baseball, but even in those sports it is rare. It is very rare in football.

Why? The reasons are many, starting with a fundamental lack of understanding of how difficult it is to be an effective head coach or coordinator in the NFL:

• The number of head coaches with NFL playing experience has decreased dramatically in the past 30 years. Even the few successful head coaches who have won big, almost all were never NFL stars. Examples-
  • Tom Landry, Tom Flores, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, and Doug Pederson are all examples of coaches who won SBs after playing in the NFL but none of them were stars. Mike Ditka is a rare example of a HOF player who won a SB as a HC.
  • Only 9 head coaches in the NFL in 2020 ever played a down in the NFL.
  • Many NFL players say star players are usually not as good as coaches because their talent and effectiveness came easier to them than most players and it’s hard for them to teach. Bob Lily once said he knew he could never be a coach. Coaching and playing are totally different skill sets.
• The degree of difficulty in being an NFL head coach or coordinator are much greater than most fans understand. Being a coordinator requires a ton of organizational skills to coordinate film study and game preparation plans with a number of people each week. In fact, those skills for success are much different than success as a player.

The point I’m making is the calls for a former star player to immediately skip the process of coaching experience and become a coordinator or head coach are foolish. It’s pretty clear that in the history of NFL coaching, being a star player is not an indicator of coaching ability or success.

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12+88=7 said:

Just an example.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, not good GMs.

Danny Ainge, might be the best GM in all sports.

I believe great players rarely make for good talent evaluatiors.

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cowboyed said:

Generally that is correct about being an effective coordinator or head coach and foundationally not having been a good player.
However having also been a good player also adds value to those coaching positions knowing and having experienced the performance realities on the field.

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Bobhaze said:

We see it all the time. Calls for star ex-players like Tony Romo, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware and others to be immediately anointed a high level coaching position like a coordinator or even head coach is a really bad idea. It has happened occasionally in sports like basketball and baseball, but even in those sports it is rare. It is very rare in football.

Why? The reasons are many, starting with a fundamental lack of understanding of how difficult it is to be an effective head coach or coordinator in the NFL:

• The number of head coaches with NFL playing experience has decreased dramatically in the past 30 years. Even the few successful head coaches who have won big, almost all were never NFL stars. Examples-
  • Tom Landry, Tom Flores, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, and Doug Pederson are all examples of coaches who won SBs after playing in the NFL but none of them were stars. Mike Ditka is a rare example of a HOF player who won a SB as a HC.
  • Only 9 head coaches in the NFL in 2020 ever played a down in the NFL.
  • Many NFL players say star players are usually not as good as coaches because their talent and effectiveness came easier to them than most players and it’s hard for them to teach. Bob Lily once said he knew he could never be a coach. Coaching and playing are totally different skill sets.
• The degree of difficulty in being an NFL head coach or coordinator are much greater than most fans understand. Being a coordinator requires a ton of organizational skills to coordinate film study and game preparation plans with a number of people each week. In fact, those skills for success are much different than success as a player.

The point I’m making is the calls for a former star player to immediately skip the process of coaching experience and become a coordinator or head coach are foolish. It’s pretty clear that in the history of NFL coaching, being a star player is not an indicator of coaching ability or success.

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Hennessy_King said:

My brooklyn nets are experiencing this nonsense right now with steve nash. I hated the hire

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ArtClink said:

Excellent post Hazey! The highlighted quote in red is especially telling.

I think the lunacy of wanting former star players to join our coaching staff is rooted in how the Jones cartel does business. Jerry's insistence on using former players with zero coaching experience is starting to seem like the norm but nothing is normal here lol. Great post.

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Zman5 said:

Then there is JG who sucked as a player and a HC.

I know the Titans lost today but Vrable might win one as a HC and he was a good player.

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Bobhaze said:

Most people have no idea how hard it is to be an effective coach at any level, but especially in the NFL. The way coaches are portrayed in the movies and even the way we cover them on TV make people think it’s all about rahrah stuff or how much they yell, etc.

Being a good NFL coach requires great management skills. Organization, attention to detail, creativity, innovation, motivation, insight, are just some of the skills requisite to effective coaching at this level. So much different than sitting in a TV booth calling out what play is coming next.

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Doomsday101 said:

But you are saying that former players can't be HC because they do not understand how to do the job or are incapable of the skills needed to be HC? I would agree any person be it a former player or not the job is not easy but I don't think it somehow makes the former player less capable. Fact is many former players do not want to do the job because they understand the long hours and headaces that come with the job. However I think there are guys who have done very well as HC who also played this game at the NFL level.

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Bobhaze said:

I said in the OP that only 9 NFL HCs in the 2020 season played a down in the NFL. And another main point was that even the few NFL head coaches or coordinators who are former players, very, very few were ever big stars. Mike Ditka was an exception. But there are very, very few in NFL history.

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Doomsday101 said:

But as I said most do not look to become HC, Harbugh did a good job as HC, Dan Reeves, Jeff Fisher did a very good as HC but again it is not a whole slew of former players who have looked to get in the coaching ranks not because they are somehow incapable of doing the job but because of the work involved and the hours they put in. When players go home at the end of the day the coaches are still there and these players understand that and choose to not to get into coaching ranks. It is not like there are a whole slew who got into coaching and failed.

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• Most former NFL players who are/were successful as NFL coaches were never stars.
• The number of NFL head coaches who played in the NFL have decreased dramatically in the last 30 years.
• The degree of difficulty in being a successful NFL coach is much greater than most fans understand.