Will we see another player/manager or player/coach?

Got into a sports argument earlier this year with a reader (who grew up in Boston AT THAT TIME, nonetheless) who could not fathom that Bill Russell played and coached the Celtics simultaneously. The reader's Southie was definitely showing.

 

As long as Mike Brown is in the NBA, his top scorer is the "player coach".

 

There are a couple guys in the NBA, MLB and NFL who probably fall into the (might as well be coach, because they do so much of it) but I can't imagine any of those guys ever being willing to become a player-coach.

Manning is the most obvious example, but I can't even imagine having a player-coach in the NFL. I can see how it would be done in the NBA and MLB, but just can't imagine why anyone would agree to do it.

 

I asked this earlier in the thread and thought you might know the answer: Was Dave Cowens the last player-head coach in the NBA?

 

I knew this was coming when I opened this thread and it still made me laugh.

 

I can't remember if it was in response to talk about this maybe happening again or if a writer just explored the hypothetical, but a few years ago Lou Piniella was asked about this and said it would be impossible today simply because of the media obligations facing the manager. The way he sketched it out, there were days where he had damn near two hours of interviews, radio shows and "other" to attend to. Maybe MLB is more extreme than the others on a daily basis, but I think that problem would hold true across all the sports.

 

The average NFL coach does not have a ton of media obligations. I would say the average coach has four press conferences a week, usually on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and postgame. Then, most have a TV show and a radio show. That's really not that much if you think about it.

I think the bigger issue would be film breakdown and roster moves. Even if a coach doesn't have final say over the roster, most have a pretty good amount of imput.

It will never happen in the NFL because it doesn't make sense. You could do it in baseball or basketball. If media demands are that much of an issue, you just have to start saying no to some things.

 

Russell was named coach because Red Auerbach was seeking ways to keep his superstar from getting bored with the game (and of course, because Auerbach knew Russell could do it). I could see an NBA franchise doing the same in a similar case -- especially to prevent losing a super free agent.

 

But why would an NBA player want the grief? As it stands now, franchise players call the shots and get to blame someone else when everything goes wrong.

 

True. They don't fire the players. That costs too much and and messes up the cap situation.

 

Seriously, I do think he would be the top candidate today to do that.

Then again, his window isn't very long, because his skills are going to diminish pretty soon.

 

The only way this ever happens again in either the NBA or MLB is if you have a superstar who wants to do it and is practically begging to do it.

Is there any specific player that anyone could see wanting to do it? I sure as hell can't think of anyone.