Coaching Success

I was reading a piece about the NE Pats. It was highlighting the fact that Belichek and other keys on that staff do not have pro playing experiences. That often a pro player, especially a successful player, moving into the coaching ranks sometimes thinks they have all the answers. Whereas guys like Belichek often search far and wide for solutions.

Bill Parcells too...no pro playing experience, Bill Walsh, John Madden, Don Mathews, Chris Jones either, Trestman never made it past TC I don't believe. There are many more.

Of course lots of ex players make great coaches. But maybe playing experience is not as significant as some of us think.

in my experience as a coach the two most important aspects of coaching is the ability to communicate, and the ability to adapt your coaching philosophies to the players at hand.
if you can’t communicate your philosophies, it doesn’t matter how successful you were in your career.

Yep those are good points bowl. What level did you coach?

I have often felt that in many sports the lower level players make better coaches because the "naturals" just can not generally grasp that it is a lot more mental effort for some. I believe this is true in most professions, but it is seen in sports more because ex-players often continue after their playing career. I use Wayne Gretzky as an example...amazing player, but a lot of that was 2nd nature to him beyond what the average player has...he struggled as a coach, probably in part because he couldn't fully relate to most players as a coach.

At the end of the day, to be a successful HC at a pro level it takes a pile of qualities...a couple mentioned above. I think a key is also being able to improve player chemistry and also recognizing that just because you have a great athlete or player, they may not be right for your system.