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In theory, it is the want ad from hell:
"Position available — Horribly long hours. No days off for months. Not
conducive to a typical family life. Lots of stress. Failures are put under the microscope.
Successes must be quickly forgotten. Getting fired is a way of life."
The position is that of NFL coach, and while it might seem as though no one would ever
want such a job when it is looked at this way, nothing could be further from the truth.
Despite all of the drawbacks to the profession, NFL coaches overwhelmingly love their
jobs.
"There (are) so many great things about this job, and there (are) a lot of things
that you don’t like obviously and you complain about, but having said that, not too
many guys get out of this profession voluntarily," Ravens head coach Brian Billick
said.
Those that do get out voluntarily often feel a magnetic pull back to the profession.
"I’m not really surprised when somebody gets back into coaching, because guys
will get away from coaching for one or two years and they get used to working those 16- to
18-hour days," Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan said. "Sometimes retirement
sounds good, and you do it for a year or two, and you really miss the competition."
Dick Vermeil retired for a second time after leading the Rams to the Super Bowl title
during the 1999-2000 season, but he returned as the Chiefs head coach last season.
"I missed being the leader," Vermeil said. "I missed feeling important.
I felt a little bit empty. My to-do list every day, I was embarrassed to read it back to
myself, because there was nothing meaningful, and I didn’t feel like I was
accomplishing anything."
Coaches love to coach because, for all of the long hours and other negatives, it
doesn’t feel like a regular, punch-the-clock, waiting-for-the-weekend job.
"Being a football coach beats work, beats having a job," Patriots head coach
Bill Belichick said. "You get to compete and be part of a great sport, and you work
with great people. It’s an opportunity to meet the challenges, the competitive
challenges on a weekly basis against the top people in the world playing football and
coaching it. So that’s fun.
"There (are) a lot of people out there, a lot of fans that they spend probably
just as much time on football as a lot of coaches do. And I probably would be one of those
if I wasn’t in football. All the different aspects of it. The fact is that we get to
do it and get to do it with great players and other great coaches and a great
organization, and it really is fun.
"I enjoy coming to work every day, and there are new challenges every day and
every week. But that’s what keeps it exciting. And I think that’s why all of us
in football love football. And I was willing to coach for nothing or work for nothing at
one point. I wouldn’t be surprised if I do that again some day."
Said Rams administrator of pro personnel Jack Faulkner: "It’s a great job.
You love to be around kids. I coached for about 25 years. You love to do it. It’s not
work really. It’s enjoyment."
Coaches in the NFL tend to have a great deal of enthusiasm for their profession.
Said Panthers LB Michael Barrow: "One of the other coaches joked around and said,
‘(Head coach John) Fox would coach a dog how to tackle if he had to.’
"He just loves what he’s doing, and he puts a passion into it."
Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden is paid a king’s ransom for what he does, but you
get the feeling that — shhhhhh, don’t tell his boss — he’d coach for
peanuts if that was what market wages were.
"I really feel fortunate to have a job that I really enjoy," Gruden said.
"That’s part of the reason that I get up early, try to stay late. I’m not
trying to make a name for myself or outwork anybody, I just really like the strategy,
really like the competition. I guess I really feel lucky to have a job that I really enjoy
so much."
Later in the same interview, Gruden said, "Again, I think I’m personally very
lucky to say I have something to do every day that I really, really enjoy."
Still later in the same interview, Gruden once again hammered home the same point about
his job: "I’m lucky to have something that I feel that strongly about."
In a separate conversation, Gruden said, "That was the hard part about being a
high school student for me. I’d sit in algebra and geometry, and I’d sit in
trigonometry, and I’d say, ‘What am I going to do with this? That’s when I
was a deep thinker. I pretty much knew that my goals were to always be a coach. I
wasn’t a bad student, but I had a hard time getting interested in some things as a
young person. That’s the No. 1 challenge that I really think everybody has —
finding something they really want to do."
Get around a group of NFL coaches, and you get the feeling that almost every one of
them has accomplished this feat. Given the enormous demands of the profession, it is
almost essential that, as cliché as it sounds, NFL coaches must be in this field for the
love of the game.
"One of the things that I think is important in anything you write is that we do
this freely and willingly," said NFL coaches Association executive director Larry
Kennan, who coached in the NFL for 15 years. "Nobody is making us do this. We coach
because we love the game."
In his book, "Building a Champion," former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh wrote,
"The life of the assistant coach must be a labor of love. These are the men who have
totally committed themselves to the game. The sacrifices in time and effort, the lack of
long-term security … and in a sense obscurity can be equated only with a sincere
dedication. It’s almost a ‘calling.’ "
So what is it that coaches love so much about their profession, their calling?
There are many things. One of the biggest is the sense of accomplishment that goes with
helping a player get better.
"You love to be around players, and you can see them grow," Faulkner said.
"And you see them do things that, when you plan out something and it works so well,
you just feel terrific, because the thing that you did, put the certain coverages in or
something like that and they work well, that’s satisfaction."
Said Kennan said: "It’s working with the guys, and it sounds hokey, but when
you can look back and say, ‘You know, I really helped that guy, and maybe it was just
a little bit, but I really helped that guy as a teacher, and he knows it. He may never say
he knows it and even if he doesn’t know it, I know it.’ And that feels
good."
As a teacher, a coach can accomplish things by extension that maybe they couldn’t
achieve themselves as a player.
"The satisfaction for coaches is the result of seeing young men, your players,
take information you give them and, combining that with their work and preparation and
their physical skill, watch them go play the game in a winning manner because as a coach
then you vicariously live through that performance," Chargers head coach Marty
Schottenheimer said. "It’s typical of a guy like myself who wasn’t a very
good player who is able to teach and convey information, and I get a chance to relive my
career through the play of a (star player)."
In some ways, NFL coaches can stay forever young by working with their young charges.
"The best thing I think about coaching is working with the players," Falcons
RB coach Ollie Wilson said. "I really have fun walking in and talking to players
every day. That whole working relationship with the players I think is really fun.
There’s high energy. There’s a real big-time energy as far as day to day …
with these players. I think that’s fun. I think that keeps you going as far as
that’s concerned."
Another thing that NFL coaches love about their job is the fact that they get to
experience a thrill of battle that few other professions provide.
"It’s that team thing," Kennan said. "When the team comes together
and you win, and I can’t relate it to the military because it’s not the same,
but it’s kind of like that. You know, you’ve gone to battle and you’ve won
the game and all that, it’s a part of the group. You’re a part of a group that
did something. It’s just a great feeling."
It’s a feeling most people have to leave behind as they get older. Not so for
coaches.
"Whether it’s little league or Pop Warner, it doesn’t matter, it’s
all the same," Kennan said. "Just that (thrill) of being part of the group and
the accomplishment of doing it together. There’s nothing like it."
Few professions can match coaching for the adrenaline rush it provides.
"I enjoy the players and the camaraderie of football and the spirit of the
games," Gruden said. "I enjoy it all. I like the adversity too. I like it hot in
the kitchen."
Said Steelers head coach Bill Cowher: "You enjoy game day. I love game day.
I’m an emotional guy because to me the hard work comes through the course of the
week, the perspective is through the course of the week, and someone said to me,
‘Does it bother you that we had (Plaxico Burress) or somebody got up, and they showed
emotion after a catch? Shouldn’t (they) act like they’ve been there
before?’ I have no problem with showing emotion. My goodness, if you can’t show
emotion on game day, why are we in this business? And I do it. I think you ought to leave
it all on the field."
Another aspect of the profession that coaches seem to genuinely embrace is the
versatility it allows. A worker on an assembly line might do the same mundane task day
after day, week after week, year after year, decade after decade. That isn’t a
problem in the coaching profession.
"My first team here was a very veteran team," 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci
said. "I inherited a group of guys that were my age. And I really thoroughly enjoyed
that. The scenery has changed dramatically here with a bunch of young players. We (had)
about 28 first- or second-year players on this team (last season), which I enjoy too
because they’re hard working guys. They’re eager, they’re coachable, they
have such a great upside. I’ve loved their energy. So, within a few years, the face
of this team has changed."
Said Wilson: "I’ve been through a ton of different systems. I’ve been in
the run-and-shoot, I’ve been in the West Coast offense, I’ve been in motion
systems. I’ve been in all those type of things, so that’s been fun. Making
yourself better as a coach is a fun situation for you."
Said Billick: "There is something about the challenge of it. The variety. Dealing
with the psyche of a team. Dealing with the organizational challenges of an organization.
Certainly the X’s and O’s — the chess match of that. Dealing with the
emotions — the highs and lows. Having to deal with the (salary) cap. Having to deal
with all of the injuries. The challenges that present (themselves). And in such a way that
there’s such an urgency. And it’s in front of God or everybody."
Perhaps the best way to get a sense of how much coaches love their profession is to
look at it at its worst. Nothing is worse in coaching than losing, yet even then coaches
can find much to like about their job.
"I always enjoyed coaching," Kennan said. "And I enjoyed it when we won
a Super Bowl. And I enjoyed it when we were 2-14 at the Seahawks in ’92. I enjoyed
those times because I enjoyed coaching. I didn’t like losing, but if you can’t
enjoy doing what you’re doing, then why even do it?"
The Seahawks’ 2-14 campaign might sound like a season without a ray of sunshine,
but Kennan doesn’t see it that way.
"I believe with my whole heart and soul that we did as good a coaching job as
anybody in the NFL did that year to win two games," Kennan said. "I really and
truly believe that. We were a terrible team. We started out being terrible and lost almost
all of our good players. We were fortunate to win two games. I think we did a wonderful
job of coaching."
It’s not a profession for everyone, but it seems to be heaven for the men that put
in the crushing hours and deal with the wildly changing highs and lows that go with
coaching in the NFL.
"Some people don’t like that, and other people enjoy it," Shanahan said.
"I enjoy it."
Part 4: Difficulties of the
profession
Part 3: Coping with defeat
Part 2: The player-coach relationship
Part
1: Setting the tone
Series index |
