I re-read today an article by David Fleming that ran in the March 2007 issue of ESPN The Magazine. It focuses on the schedules that coaches keep -- both in-season and during the off-season -- and the strain it puts on their families. Some quotes from the piece:
-- "Coaches can't get past the idea that if we work enough hours, if we watch enough film, if we write enough plays, then we must be working hard enough to win. This profession glorifies the workaholic. Fans, owners, they want that coach sleeping in the office. You know, the Jon Gruden I'm-in-at-4-a.m.-every-day bull. But at the same time, those same people are out there going, 'Well, what kind of father are you that you're never with your kids?' So, really, we're damned if we do and damned if we don't." -- Brian Billick
-- "We have more information and more technology, and we spend more and more time at the office. But are we coaching better? I'm not sure." -- Tony Dungy
-- "How do coaches balance their lives? Simple. They don't. The job requires too much time. It just can't be done any other way." -- Dick Vermeil
-- "The job, the pressure, it all just creeps up on you. We justify it by the money we make, by the life we provide our families. But we get so wrapped up in what we're doing, we forget what our families face." - Mike Nolan
-- "I think coaches overdo it. I don't believe in the sleep-in-your-office plan or getting two hours of sleep at night or the way some coaches, like Joe Gibbs, work themselves into a frenzy until they're ready to drop. If you are efficient and organized there is no reason to stay at the stadium 22 hours a day." - Bob McNair, owner, Houston Texans
Posts
