The Shadow Knows

[Xerxes]

If you are fast enough to play free safety, you are fast enough to play Will linebacker.

He's not fast enough to play either

 

[Knight78]

All very good points, but I somewhat disagree with #7. You don't have to be a good player to be a good coach. David Cutcliffe turned both Mannings into all-star QB's and can win 10 games at Duke, of all places, yet he stopped playing football after high school.

Agreed. There are a lot of coaches who never played a down at the level they coach. At the NCAA FBS level there are five: Mike Leach (Washington St), Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech), David Cutcliffe (Duke), Chad Morris (SMU) and Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss). There are examples in basketball as well.

To be a successful coach you have to have a passion for the game and you have to be able to communicate what you want to do to your assistants and players. In today's highest levels of athletics you also need to be able to balance the players' egos.

Edit: And one more thing about it. The old adage "Those who can't do, teach..."

 

[trj]

Agreed. There are a lot of coaches who never played a down at the level they coach. At the NCAA FBS level there are five: Mike Leach (Washington St), Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech), David Cutcliffe (Duke), Chad Morris (SMU) and Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss). There are examples in basketball as well.

To be a successful coach you have to have a passion for the game and you have to be able to communicate what you want to do to your assistants and players. In today's highest levels of athletics you also need to be able to balance the players' egos.

Bill Belichick. I don't know where he even went to school without looking it up. I know he got no where near the NFL as a player.