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Comment by rileymat2 | Hacker News Reader

This is interesting I did a bit of Googling, I guess it varies by sport quite a bit. https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/around-the-league-nfl/20...

Some sports, most coaches came from players, but the NFL notably does not.

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I wonder if brain damage/CTE has something to do with it.

In baseball, coaches and managers are all ex-players, but not necessarily good ex-players. (Well, anyone who plays in MLB is “good”, but relative to the rest of the league I mean.) Just like in other industries, the skills required for a good coach or manager don’t always correlate with being the best player.

"Most coaches came fro players" is very different from "players are expected to become coaches".

I can't think of any sport where players are expected to become coaches.

> I can't think of any sport where players are expected to become coaches.

In amateur sports it's common. E.g. in rowing, cycling, fencing, cross country skiing, etc., people are generally expected to coach at some point. Albeit usually while they're doing the sport, and not necessarily as their primary careers.

Yeah, but this might be closer to "actors are expected to wait tables". It has more to do with paying the bills than career advancement.

To some extent, coaching something you practice is good for giving you another perspective on what it is you're practicing. In an ideal world, this will elevate your skill level.

This does, however, not necessarily mean that everyone is a good coach, nor does it mean that everyone should stop practicing what they're doing and focus solely on coaching.

Football/soccer? Of course there are more players than coaches so they can't all become coaches, but I would say star players are expected to become coaches, and lots of them do.

Oh, I agree, due to it being a pyramid only a fraction could ever become head coaches, so that wording was a stand in for that effect.

I wonder if team size has anything to do with that. Football teams are much larger than those in other sports.

Also the division of roles is far more specialized than say basketball. Only the QB might have a near/full picture.

Linebackers, as the captain of the defense, which requires a deep understanding of the offense as well, tend to end up coaching as well.

Football team coaching staff are almost like another team. Position coaches usually are ex players of that position but as you move up the chain it gets more into strategic management and thus by the HC level it's more of a manager role with architects underneath for offense and defense so less position technical knowledge more game knowledge.

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