Coaching Talent vs. Coaching Experience
When Athletic Directors or General Managers hire coaches, experience is cited as the first requirement and the discriminator among candidates. Often the public and media throw out phrases like “he deserves the job,” simply because of years served as an assistant.
Rarely does the media or an athletic director speak about a coach’s talent for coaching, or even the skills that he possesses that suggest that he will be a good coach. Instead, number of years and who one has worked for tend to be the top two criteria.
Dan Majerle has two years as an assistant coach, yet Phoenix’s Alvin Gentry believes that he will be a good head coach (he interviews with Philadelphia):
“He knows the game,” Gentry said Sunday. “Either guys have it or they don’t have it. He’s got a really good feel of players. He knows what he wants to do offensively, and he was a hell of a defensive player, so he’s got a handle on that. He’s still in touch with players and how to put them in the best situations to be successful.”
In effect, Gentry believes that Majerle has a talent for coaching, regardless of the number of years spent on a bench.
