Mike Singletary vs. Jack Del Rio - NFL Players and Coaches

by David Fucillo on Nov 27, 2009 12:00 PM PST in San Francisco 49ers News

One of the interesting aspects of this game is that we'll be seeing two former players squaring off across the field. We all know about 49ers coach Mike Singletary's playing experience. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio spent 11 seasons in the NFL as a linebacker, including one Pro Bowl season in 1994 with Minnesota. The list of current head coaches (no longer including recently fired Dick Jauron) includes:

Coach	Reg. Season Record	Yrs Played
Mike Singletary (SF)	9-10 (.474)	12
Jack Del Rio (Jac)	56-50 (.528)	11
Jim Zorn (Was)	11-15 (.423)	11
Ken Whisenhunt (Ari)	23-19 (.548)	9
Gary Kubiak (Hou)	27-31 (.466)	9
Jeff Fisher (Ten)	131-109 (.546)	5
Tom Cable (Oak)	7-16 (.304)	1
Sean Payton (NO)	34-23 (.596)	1

People speculate about players turning into coaches/managers in the various professional sports. In baseball it seems like great players often struggle as coaches/managers. Ted Williams was an amazing hitter, but it didn't really translate to coaching. One theory is that great players often struggle to pass along their information because they get frustrated by players who don't reach their level of excellence. It's also possible that it is something related strictly to baseball. Thoughts on this application to football?

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yes and no

great players don’t often translate to great coaches. But there are cases where great players do fine as coaches. And there are cases where not so great players find success on the sideline.

I think it’s all about teaching. If they can teach the players how to play better than they did before, then it works out.

The experience helps, but making the players better is different.

Check my 49ers blogs at Mining the Gold Rush and San Francisco 49ers Examiner

by PHUT! on Nov 27, 2009 1:05 PM PST reply actions

I've been fascinated by this subject for a long time

I would argue that in any professional, major sport, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of genuine all-time great players who go on to become genuine all-time great coaches. For sure, there are loads of pretty good players who become great coaches, and loads of great players who became OK coaches.

Mike Singletary undoubtedly fits into that first category – a geniune, HoF, legendary player – so he’ll be swimming against the tide if he wants to be a great coach. However, I guess some coaches who are merely quite good have won the Super Bowl, right? So reasons to be cheerful still!

Look across the sports – in tennis it’s guys like Brad Gilbert who make great coaches, not Pete Sampras. In golf, you don’t see Arnold Palmer forging a career as a coach. Over on our side of the pond, we have Martin Johnson, a legendary, legendary player in his time, as coach of our rugby union team, and let’s just say that he’s not pulled up any trees so far. And this guy was collossal as a player. He’s a massive fan of the Niners, btw, and known in this country for his love of (American) Football.

Find any pro sport you happen to follow and tell me how many of the players who would be in, say, the all-time top 100 and tell me if any of them would be in the all-time top 100 coaches. I bet you couldn’t count past the fingers of one hand, in any major sport.

It must be something to do with natural talent, and the fact that these guys are just so gifted, that they don’t have to think too much about why they are great. They just do it. Whereas the guys who did make it as a pro but maybe had to think about it a little, maybe a back-up QB or something, often turn out to be really good coaches because they’ve had to think about what works and what doesn’t, and they’ve probably trained with great players too.

Fascinating area of pro sports, this debate, imo.

"This could be another Very Special Team" ... Superbowl winning Niners lineman Dan Audick ...

by LondonNiner on Nov 27, 2009 1:57 PM PST reply actions

When you're naturally gifted at something

it’s hard to explain to someone else how you do it.

Back when I was in college I had a math professor who was brilliant—I hated his class though. He didn’t know how to teach because things were so simple for him at that level. He couldn’t break down the problems into small enough sections so that someone like me (who’s not good at math) could understand.

In that same class I had a friend who was also brilliant at math. He just instinctively got it. However he was a better teacher than my professor. He could break it down for me and help me understand the logic of it.

Teaching is a skill, and I think some people are born with it and some aren’t. You can learn certain tools to help you be better, but if you don’t have the basic skill set you’re not going to succeed.

In this regard I think that Singletary has the ability to be a great HC—look at Vernon’s turn around from last year to this year. He may not be a great X’s and O’s kind of guy, but I think as far as helping people be better at what they do he can get it done.

by smileyman on Nov 27, 2009 4:49 PM PST up reply actions

You've All Nailed It

Coaching and playing are different and require different skills. Rare is the person who can excel at both.

Key to the game: Score More

by pygalgia on Nov 27, 2009 5:11 PM PST reply actions

An Exception

Singletary’s own coach, Mike Ditka, was a first-round draft choice and Rookie of the Year in 1961. He went to five consecutive pro bowls as a Bear. He also caught a touchdown as a Cowboy in SB V!. He was the first tight end to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.

As a head coach, Ditka led the Bears to six division titles and a Super Bowl victory. He was twice awarded Coach of the Year.

We'll see them again in the playoffs! What channel is it on?

by silverjay on Nov 27, 2009 6:55 PM PST reply actions