Player-coach
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This article may contain original research. (September 2012) |
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches and as assistant coaches. He or she makes changes to the squad and plays as well.
Very few current major professional sports teams have head coaches who are also players, though it is extremely common for senior players to take a role in managing more junior athletes. Historically, when professional sports had much less money to pay players and coaches or managers, it was much more common to find them. Likewise, where player-coaches exist today, they are more common at the lower levels where money is less available, but not exclusively.
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Player-coaches in basketball [edit]
The player-coach was, for many decades, a long-time fixture in professional basketball. Many notable coaches in the NBA served as player-coaches, including Bill Russell and Lenny Wilkens. This was especially true up through the 1970s, when the league was not as financially successful as it is today, and player-coaches were often used to save money. The practice fell out of favor in the 1980s (though Mike Dunleavy Sr., while an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, once came out of retirement and played several games when a rash of injuries decimated the team). Today, the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the players' union prohibits the use of player-coaches, in order to avoid circumventing the league's salary cap, as coaches' salaries are not counted under the cap. Therefore, if a player is to serve as a coach, he would have to receive commission from his contract as a player. The player, then, is not technically an official coach of his team but instead simply a coach in name. One example of a player in recent years who was groomed for eventual official coaching duties using this practice was Avery Johnson.
Player-coaches in American football [edit]
In the early days of professional American football, player-coaches were common. During the 1920s, legendary player-coaches in the NFL include Curly Lambeau (who played for the Green Bay Packers from 1919-1929, and served as their head coach from 1919-1949) and George Halas who held similar roles for the Chicago Bears, a team for which he was also part-owner and business manager. Jimmy Conzelman was player-coach for four different teams during the 1920s. As professional football became more respectable, and began to make more money, player-coaches (especially head coaches) became quite rare, though as late as the mid 1950s, Tom Landry played and acted as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. More modern players have acted as player-coaches in an unofficial capacity, such as journeyman quarterback Steve DeBerg, who served as an unofficial mentor for younger, more skilled arms while also serving as their backup.
Player-managers in association football [edit]
In association football, this situation usually arises when a manager leaves a team suddenly, and the chairman has to make a quick decision to appoint someone new as a caretaker manager. The chairman will usually either ask a coach to take temporary charge or turn to the club's most senior player. If this particular player gains good results for the team during his time in charge, he may be appointed full-time manager, which leaves him a player–manager. However, there are instances when a free agent is signed by a new team as a manager and offers his playing abilities.
Successful football player–managers include Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool), Graeme Souness (Rangers), Glenn Hoddle (Swindon Town and Chelsea), Ruud Gullit (Chelsea) and Gianluca Vialli (Chelsea).[1] In March 2013, a BBC Sport article suggested that the concept of having a player-manager had gone out of fashion, with only two clubs in the English professional leagues using player-managers at that time.[1] The only player-manager in the Premier League since 2000 has been Stuart McCall, who managed two Bradford City games on an interim basis.[1] The chief executive of the League Managers Association stated his belief that the increased workload for managers had made combining the two roles difficult.[1] The governing bodies have also imposed requirements for managers to hold professional coaching qualifications, which few players obtain before retiring.[1]
Player-managers in baseball [edit]
Player-managers were once common in the early days of baseball. As of 2012, the most recent player-manager in Major League Baseball has been Pete Rose, who began managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1984, the third-to-last season of his playing career. Cap Anson, Connie Mack, John McGraw, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Joe Cronin, Mickey Cochrane, Lou Boudreau, Frank Robinson and Joe Torre are among those who spent time as player-managers. In this capacity, Robinson became the first African-American manager in Major League Baseball (for the Cleveland Indians in 1975). Fred Clarke (Pittsburgh NL) spent the longest time as a player-manager. Major league rules are somewhat different for trips to the mound by the manager if he is a player-manager (this is with regard to being required to change pitchers), and a player-manager puts himself into or out of the lineup just like any other player. In 2011, Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said that he had considered making veteran first baseman Paul Konerko a player-manager to replace departing manager Ozzie Guillen, which would have made Konerko the first player-manager in over 25 years. Williams instead hired former player Robin Ventura.
