How important is the coach?

[HBK-aholic]

Over the past year, we've heard of several coaches being fired from their positions after being blamed for a teams poor form. With some teams, the change in coach makes a difference - with others the team continue with their poor results.

This happens in all sports, so feel free to use examples from any. But I think the role of the coach is exaggerated - if the team just isn't that good anyway. There's only so much a coach can do, and after a string of loses, it's become common in RL for a team to chant "You're getting sacked in the morning" to the opposing teams coach. There are other factors as well, I don't believe changing in the middle of a season alays does as much good as it's thought to.

 

[Sparky]

Personally, for most reasons, a coach isnt needed. Except for morale purposes I guess. Take geelong for instance (AFL) they was playing horrible, always flunking at the last minute. fucking up all the time. Geelongs owners said that 2007 was the make or break year. If geelong didn't pull their finger out of their ass They would be looking for a new coach. Half the team said they would walk out if they sacked him. That year they won the grand final, and last year was in the grand final, but lost. As of this week they have won 44 out of the last 47 matches. Sometimes they use the coach as a fall guy, rather then saying that the team is lazy to prevent the team getting a bad name.

 

[justinsayne]

The Coach is extremely important, the coachs job is to keep the team on track, they set the pace for what the team does, they decide who plays, who doesn't, what plays they'll use, how much they practice, what they need to work on, etc., they are the main authority figure, without the coach you have no one keeping people in check, I have played on teams where there was no coach and the teams were absolute shit, no one was ever on the same page and we never won a single game, the coach is an extremely important part of the team to suggest otherwise is just....dumb

 

[OIL]

The coach is one of the most important people. He guides the players and keeps them on track. He get's the best out of the players, whether that's fitness wise or regarding their abilities. He can help turn a one trick pony into one of the best in the world (Cristiano Ronaldo, thankyou very much). They play a vital role, and while not everything is down to them, they are very important.

 

[Mr. TM]

A coach is more important than a star player is. A coach can take a team with little talent and work with them, turning them into a competitive team. A coach can take a good team and make them champions. Their job is to assess their players before the game. They have to train the players in the way they see the team is going. Then they get them to that game, and make decisions on the fly. They are the visual and the mindset of the plan for the game. They are the general of the sport.

Coaches do take the blame whenever a team fails. It could be their fault, and a lot of the time it truly is. But their are other factors that are involved, where it is a lot of complicated issues, and the coach will take the fall. If a team cannot afford decent players, they will fall most likely. If a team demands star players despite the fact that they wouldn't fit into the coach system, then the team will fail. Wither way is is easiest to blame the coach. Yankees fall, despite having a good team. That for the most part isn't the coach's fault, its a poor team, that would need years of building to develop. Tampa Bay Rays last year were incredible without the stars that other team has, and that was done by a coach who knew what he was doing, and had a team that could develop fast.

 

[Hip2bsquare]

The role of coaches in sports is always an interesting one. I think coaches are more important in some sports than what they are with others. Always felt sports in where the coaches must call different plays a lot during a game, say Basketball or American Football, are more important to the team than in sports such as Cricket and Aussie Rules football.

To me in Aussie Rules a coaches job is laregly and mainly done during the week with practices, drills gameplans etc. But this work isnt done by one coach but by a team of coaches that oversee the defence, midfield, forward line etc. However the results on the weekends really come down to the players, are the switched on, ready to go, talented enough? There is also the question of whether they are able to and do follow the gameplan. Once the game starts the coach can move players and try to motivate them but in the end its up to the players to give the effort and do what needs to be done. So on the weekend of I feel that in Aussie Rules while the coach has some importance and power that he is mainly just a figure head and that is all.

A sport like Cricket doesnt need an out and out coach for matchdays. Batting coach bowling coach etc Then yes. But what can a Coach do during a game of cricket? Nada. Its the Captain that makes choices on bowling changes, batting lineup so the role oof a Coach in Cricket imo is redundant. But the seem to like the spotlight taking for exqmple the saga within the Englad cricket team.

Coaches do have an importance thats for sure, but that importance is different for different sports. But to me it always comes back to the players and I think most times it is wrong to sack a coach midseason. If he doesnt have the cattle he doesnt have the cattle and while in some regards they can make up for this there is a limit. Take Dean Bailey at the Melbourne Football Club for example, he could be Norm Smith (great Aussie Rules coach) and still Melbourne would be no good. Always thought that the coach 'losing the players' was a cop out and a good way for the players to try and lay the blam at someone elses door.

 

[Pimpin]

In a lot of cases the coach is the important part of the team as their responsibilities are calling plays, getting the team prepared both mentally & physically ready for the game, deciding on who plays & who doesn't play & in some cases decide what free agent gets to play for the team. Sometimes though coaches are the scapegoats or an excuse when the team plays bad or when either the offense or the defense sucks on a particular day.

 

[The Todd]

The coach is the most important member at a sports club. I will use football as my main arguement.

Would Nottingham Forest won the European Cup twice without Brian Clough? No, they would probably have stayed rotting in Division Two. He completely re made that team and turned them into the best team in Europe. He had also turned Derby from Second Division club into League Champions inside a year. No one else has managed these feats, Clough did. Don't tell me his role was over rated.

Alex Ferguson joined Man United and turned them from sleeping giant into one of the world's finest football teams. Many had tried and failed since Busby to turn the club's fortunes around, he turned up and over 20 years has built a legacy. He bought his players in in his image of how a football club should be run. He's turned some of the biggest hotheads into world class footballers such as Keane, Cantona, Rooney, Ronaldo. He has always said if he had managed to sign Gascoigne, then Gazza would be mentioned with the greats, he wouldn't have had alcohol problems and his career would have been fulfilled. Sir Alex's success is down to him and him only.

Jose Mourinho, the next great manager. He won the CHampions League with Porto for crying out loud!! He joined Chelsea, who yes had loads of money, but did the season before where Ranieri struggled to get them to third in the league. Mourinho turned up, turned nancy boys into men, turned Lampard from promising player to world great, and Chelsea cleaned up in England for two years. He left cos Abramovich wouldn't let him run the team his way. How have Chelsea done since with arguably better players? Second in everything. It has taken another great coach in Hiddink to turn Chelsea back into a machine. Mourinho has since joined Inter, who are steamrolling their way to a Serie A title. Mourinho has not lost a home match in over four years with any of his clubs. Porto and Chelsea lost the records after Mourinho left.

These three managers or coaches as the continent call them, are all greats whose success with clubs would not have been achieved with any other coach in their place.