This is 100% correct. The fact that you were a great athlete or player doesn’t necessarily mean you will be a great coach. Coaching is a learned skill. Danny Murphy hits the nail on the head here 👏

This is also why great athletes are not necessarily great captains. Leadership, teaching, influencing - all skills people need to develop and are often overlooked when performance serves as a proxy.

Agree @DannyMurphy1994 , you’ve aged over Christmas

I always think back to the Arrigo Sacchi quote that you don’t have to have been a horse to be a jockey. The ex-players that do go on to become great coaches are the ones who are curious and obsessed with learning everything they can about coaching; Pep in soccer, ROG in rugby etc

Danny Murphy is excellent

Absolutely. Any foray into leadership is not about what you can do anymore, but more about inspiring, teaching, and adapting to what others can do. That takes humility, patience, and a willingness to learn a skill set that isn’t earned on the scoreboard but in human connection and growth.

@Boothy6 Lack of interpersonal communication skills and conflict resolution. Massively entitled individuals we have them in rugby also generally become pundits JIFFY

@pickering86 Clough wasn't particularly good neither was Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourhino was never a quality player he was an interpreter

Well yes, but anybody who knows anything at all about football already knows that, don't they?

Same goes with good players don't always make good pundits and he is prime example.

@TexasCoachMike Agree but if you did not play at a decent (competitive like college, elite amateur, etc), you cannot be a good instructor for the kids in the technique gestures required