I am european and I live in Europe following both soccer and football.

One thing that is interesting to me is that in Europe there are so many former star players that became coaches. Some of them have been very successful coaches. Others less so. But the point is a lot become coaches. And Head Coaches nonetheless. I can list like 15-20 people without even thinking too hard.

In football, that seems to not be the case. People like Prime and DeMeco Ryans are the exceptions.

It is a two part issue 1) why are former top players not interested in being coaches 2) why are teams not offering top gigs to former players straight up

Let’s look at two current examples. Bills OC job and the Texas A&M job. Both of these jobs are highly desirable and pay well. A&M likely $10 mil +.

Why are people like Larry Fitzgerald, Rivers, Demarcus Ware, Matt Ryan, Drew Brees, Mannings, Brady, Revis not interested and not being offered these jobs straight up?

I can easily see Messi or Ronaldo coaching down the road. Many players of their status have done it.

And I am not talking about recent developments. Many of the former star players never became coaches over the past 30+ years

But it seems impossible to imagine Mahomes or Mannings becoming coaches down the road. Wondering why such a difference.

Thanks!

  • onetimequestion66@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I have a couple theories on this tbh,

    1. CTE- a lot of these guys have symptoms of cte alarmingly early and it can cause mental deficits (can’t be slow to process info and call plays as a head coach)

    2. Pride- a lot of athletes watching players do what they used to be able to do but can’t anymore can be painful, and a lot of these guys have the mind set that they are the absolute best and to not be able to compete at all can be crushing

    3. general intelligence- this could go hand in hand with the cte issue, but football players a lot of the time aren’t known for being exactly cerebral (not saying all I’m just talking about a stereotype)

    4. Boredom-Doing the same thing for the entirety of your life with few to no other interests will burn a person out, might just be time for a change