OshieRoll Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I understand the sentiment that there have been several great players who were flops as coaches but I think there is a whole lot more to the argument than just labeling the worst athletes as the guys who would make the best coaches. There are plenty of guys who were good/great players that did work out as coaches (Mike Ditka, Jacques Lemaire, Phil Jackson, Joe Torre, Steve Spurrier, Don Mattingly and possibly Paul Molitor just to name a few). There is also an extremely long list of crappy players who were crappy coaches. I think people just remember the better players who suck as coaches because they already knew the names. I think a big part of the problem for the great players is that they have huge expectations on them. Gretzky went almost straight from playing to being a head coach and he was expected to be a savior for that franchise. He didn't have the luxury of gaining the 14 years of coaching experience that a guy like Mike Babcock got before being thrusted into the NHL head coaching spotlight. There are also many other factors such as attitude, intelligence and patience that go into being a good coach as well. I think you have to take it more on a case-by-case basis rather than just using the success someone had as an athlete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozen4sioux Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Wow, putting Brad Berry with his 241 NHL games played in the same category as Ted Williams and Wayne Gretzky!!! I'd say the term "great player" is a fairly relative term. Both Berry and Jackson are both "great" players compared to many people. If you're saying that Brad Berry is a "great" player compared to Dane Jackson because he has 196 more NHL games played...well, I don't know that you can say that. If you're saying that Brad Berry is a "great" player in the context of the NHL...umm...no. * Disclaimer - maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say here. Actually, I hope that's the case. Complete miss of anything I was talking about. In fact almost exactly opposite of what I .....maybe failed to imply properly. Sorry In no way do I link Brad Berry with Wayne Gretzky or Ted Williams as far as players or comparing Brad Berry against Dane Jackson as for playing or coaching career. Discussion was on how many times a Great Player of his/her sport ( in no way implying Brad, Dane) are not successful in coaching roles as they can not relate and convey their natural greatness at said sport to developing players and coaching a team to success. Rather the role players who spend more time working at their craft in sub or bench roles develop a better knack of developing and coaching systems and talent cohesion. (In this instance coaches such as Dane, Brad, Hak, Mat Shaw) probably fall into moreso. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray77 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Complete miss of anything I was talking about. In fact almost exactly opposite of what I .....maybe failed to imply properly. Sorry In no way do I link Brad Berry with Wayne Gretzky or Ted Williams as far as players or comparing Brad Berry against Dane Jackson as for playing or coaching career. Discussion was on how many times a Great Player of his/her sport ( in no way implying Brad, Dane) are not successful in coaching roles as they can not relate and convey their natural greatness at said sport to developing players and coaching a team to success. Rather the role players who spend more time working at their craft in sub or bench roles develop a better knack of developing and coaching systems and talent cohesion. (In this instance coaches such as Dane, Brad, Hak, Mat Shaw) probably fall into moreso. Gotcha...that makes sense. Agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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