COACHES CAN BENEFIT FROM CHANGING SCENERY

In today’s world of college and professional sports, coaches are often learning hard lessons. If they win early in their tenure, but later fail to win a championship, they will usually infuriate an ungrateful fan base. As a result many coaches need a change of scenery to be appreciated. Here are four examples of coaches who have had this happen in recent years.

Bill Belicheck
You know him as the genius of the NFL. He’s the Hall of Fame coach of the New England Patriots. But before he got the Patriots job he was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He didn’t win enough there to keep the Browns fans satisfied, and he was eventually pushed out the door.

Tony Dungy
He’s the beloved coach in Indianapolis who is the first coach in NFL history to win 12 or more games for five years in a row. But prior to winning a Super Bowl he was the head coach with the Buccaneers in Tampa. The franchise was a joke when he took over. He started winning and they loved him. But they were spoiled and eventually became incensed because he never got them to the Super Bowl so he was fired.

Herb Sendek
When he was the head men’s basketball coach at N. C. State, the fans were never happy with him. They liked former coach Norm Sloan, who was colorful and won a national title in the 1970’s. But, he cheated. They didn’t care. They liked Jimmy Valvano in the 1980’s. He was glib and also won a national title. But, he also cheated. Sendek runs a clean program and won games after taking over in Raleigh. But he was boring and didn’t win enough games. Last spring he left to go to Arizona State and is doing an incredible job with the Sun Devils. He’s much more appreciated there.

Tubby Smith
One of the class coaches in college basketball, Tubby won an NCAA title his first year as the head coach at Kentucky in 1997. He went on to win over 80 per cent of his games. But he never again won a national title. Kentucky fans made his life miserable. So last spring he left for Minnesota. The pressure is less and the expectations are not as high. He has the Golden Gophers playing great basketball in the Big Ten and they will only get better in time. Kentucky, on the other hand is struggling since he left. In sports, be careful what you wish for.

Frank Giardina