The Promise a Coach Brings

In no other sport does a coach have a brighter spotlight than in football. In football the coach definitely matters more than in other sports. Does a coach matter in baseball and basketball? Sure, but only when they don't screw up. Football coaches though have a far more importance. They're the face of the team. They have to bring some sort of special quality with them to be great. They either have to be motivators, strong leaders, or strategists. A coach brings promise. A promise that your team will have a strategic advantage over the opposing team.

Two people who comment regularly here (RJBO, Kris) and myself are looking for that promise at Maryland, Michigan, and with the San Francisco 49ers with their head coaches.

Maryland fired their long-time coach Ralph Friedgen because he couldn't sell out his stadium. The alumni desperately wanted Mike Leach to become their new coach because he brings the promise of a fun-and-gun offense and eccentric personality. So who does Maryland hire? UConn coach Randy Edsall.

Edsall is a fine coach, someone who lead UConn from Division 1-AA to a BCS game in ten years, but he's not someone who brings a lot of buzz. There's no promise of a fun-and-gun offense or an eccentric personality. I can see why Kris and other Maryland fans were extremely disappointed with his hiring.

As for RJBO and other Michigan fans, they're just looking for the promise of someone not named Rich Rodriguez not being their coach next season. Rich Rodriguez has been a disaster since he set foot in Ann Arbor. Michigan fans want a 'Michigan Man' to lead their program and they get that promise in Jim Harbaugh the current Stanford coach. Michigan wants a coach who brings promise at being the next Bo Schembechler.

Just like how Michigan fans are looking for the promise of the next Bo Schembechler, 49ers fans like myself are looking for the promise of the next Bill Walsh. That's why we're so excited about the idea of Jim Harbaugh coaching our team. 49ers fans have longed for the return of a Bill Walsh-type of coach since George Seifert retired. We think we have our guy in Harbaugh because once upon a time Walsh coached at Stanford.

Silly isn't it? Like Harbaugh can really replicate Walsh just because he coaches at Stanford, but that's what the promise of a new coach brings to a team and it's fans. RJBO and myself will either be Kris like disappointed in the coming week with our new coach or be filled with promise at the future for our teams.

An football coach is the President of the United States. You're either going to hate, love, or feel apathetic towards that person during their tenure in charge.