OT: - toughest coaching job in all of sports | The Boneyard

OT: toughest coaching job in all of sports

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NHL- don't know too much hockey so start with this one I would say the Canadiens and Redwings I guess.

MLB- Yankees, of course the expectations these days you have to be a yes man and do everything Cashman and the analytics team tells you to do.

NBA

Knicks- moronic management

Lakers-expectations, no patience from management, coaching Lebron and his demands, also coaching Lonzo and dealing with his dad.

NO- coaching a star player who wants to leave.

OKC- I would imagine coaching Westbrook can't be easy

NFL

Redskins-Working for a moronic owner and not given a chance to rebuild.

Cowboys- Same situation as the Skins a little better though.

Raiders- Only reason to coach there is for $$$$$. Gotta deal with crazy expectations, manage a lot of egos.

GB- Because it's in GB and as nice as it would be to coach Rogers can't be easy to keep him happy.

College

Kentucky BB- Crazy expectations and hillbilly fans

Bama Football- 10-2 is never good enough those fans might actually slash your tires and destroy your house if you ever lose a game.

ND Football- Expectations fans still stuck on the Knute Rockne days don't think a top recruit really cares about ancient history.
 

HuskyHawk

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National soccer (football) team in Brazil, Argentina would top my list. It's a tough job in England, USA, Germany, Spain, Italy as well. In some other South American countries they might just kill you. USA is tough because the national organization is working at cross purposes with the success of the national team itself, trying to promote MLS.

As for the list, I would discount any temporary situation related to a player. Yankees, Cowboys are tough jobs due to expectations, Boston Red Sox and Patriots now too. But I think the hardest jobs are the places with no budget. Miami baseball for example. No NFL team has the problems that underfunded MLB and international Soccer teams have. Look at what happened to the Royals WS winning team of 3 years ago. Utterly dismantled. NBA success is 90% front office driven, and luck at drafting.

UConn basketball is a tough job. High expectations, low conference revenue, lack of major conference advantages. If not for history and a school that is covering the revenue shortfall, it would be impossible.
 

gtcam

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Celtics - based on the storied history, if you don't win every year it's a tough one
Kentucky/Duke/Kansas - expectations out of this world - UCLA likes to think they belong but no longer
Baseball - used to be the Yankees but there is so much parity lately I can't think of one do or die situation
NFL - same as baseball but Patriots might become one if not already
MLS - zero
World Soccer - Brazil/Germany/England
 

Horatio

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Cowboys and Yankees. The Dallas Cowboys job comes with a built in meddler.
 
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Think there is at least some patience when the Celtics rebuild as opposed to the Lakers.With the Yankees you could argue there was more pressure to win when the boss was there and he spent and spent on players,now it's Cashman and his analytics team being cost effective and cheap.
 
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Gotta add UCONN & Tennessee WBB to this list.

Ya like Geno said one time Uconn is the only place in the country where it's unacceptable to be up 12 at halftime against a ranked team.
 
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You ever try and get a bunch of 5-year-old girls to coordinate and play team soccer? Really, I want to know because that’s probably where I’ll be in a couple years and it seems impossible.
 

UconnU

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Notre Dame football for a variety of reasons. It’s hard to recruit in part because of their academic standards. Alumni, booster expectations are always crazy.
 
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Just though of this one Nebraska football. Fired 2 coaches for going 8-4, boosters are still stuck on the Tom Osborne era, plus its well Nebraska.
 

boba

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Just though of this one Nebraska football. Fired 2 coaches for going 8-4, boosters are still stuck on the Tom Osborne era, plus its well Nebraska.
I've been to Nebraska, it's not... well, it's not the third world, but you are right, it's in Nebraska.
On the original topic, wherever the coach is the target of urine bombs from the stands or assassination in the parking lot, somewhere in Central Europe where liquor and life is cheap but football dear.
 
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Would add Indiana basketball to the mix, at least as far as NCAA goes.

Haven't had success in years (no Elite 8s this millennium), but expectations are still sky high. 5 coaches in that span. Institutional advantages obviously not making up for expectations.

Also Washington State. Not in the same way as Indiana or Kentucky, but kinda the case study for the value of a good coach and how hard it is to win at some places. 5 (soon to be 6) coaches in 20 years like Indiana. They've got 2 winning seasons in conference play over that span, both by the same coach (2 in 3 years there). The coach with the winning records? Tony Bennett. Combined record of the other coaches in conference play? 78-228 (.254 winning%) over 17 seasons.
 
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Texas football their program is very good but they do have an overrated tradition, 8-4 is only good in your first year there. I would Imageine coaching WVU football those fans are total savages. I guess anywhere in the SEC in football except maybe UK or Vandy.

I still would put the Raiders as number 1 NFL team for toughest coaching job especially when AL Davis was there constant changing of rosters zero patience, managing a bunch of egos like Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Bill Romanowski, Warren Sapp, Randy Moss Antonio Brown, etc etc etc. Cowboy fans are obnoxious but Raiders fans are totally insane.
 
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I get what everyone is saying about the Yankees but IMO, that's not even the toughest managerial job in the AL East. Expectations aren't high for the Orioles but they have a meddling owner with awful baseball sense (very possibly the worst owner in baseball) and have to compete against the payrolls of the Red Sox and Yankees every year. There is honestly no way to win at the helm of that team.
 

the Q

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I get what everyone is saying about the Yankees but IMO, that's not even the toughest managerial job in the AL East. Expectations aren't high for the Orioles but they have a meddling owner with awful baseball sense (very possibly the worst owner in baseball) and have to compete against the payrolls of the Red Sox and Yankees every year. There is honestly no way to win at the helm of that team.

The rays are the worst job.

They’re just run quite well.

Baltimore’s issue is kinda that their owner is on his death bed right now and they’ve been drafting poorly for years.
 

uconnphil2016

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Just though of this one Nebraska football. Fired 2 coaches for going 8-4, boosters are still stuck on the Tom Osborne era, plus its well Nebraska.

This is a good one. Basically the formula is really high expectations and the potential for results isn’t quite so high. For instance, Bama football may have high expectations, but the chances for success are much better than Nebraska. UCLA basketball is a tough one. Northwestern football is a hard job. Pro sports teams are only hard bc bad owners or awful cities. Buffalo Bills, Raiders, Redskins, Knicks, Blue Jays, etc
 
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There's so many to name for college football Miami they expect instant results if not you will hear all about from their famous alum and boosters, same thing at FSU or USC.

Sadly Uconn football trying to recruit in the northeast and compete against the warmer schools like Houston, USF, UCF, and Cincy near the Midwest. Gotta find diamonds in the rough with recruiting they get any national attention their sr yr they get poached by the bigger programs. Any coordinator or position coach or even strength coach who has even the slightest amount of success is gone in a year or 2. Gotta constantly hire young coaches and hope your not hiring the next Bob Diaco.
 
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the Q

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Any youth sport when kids are 10 and older. A lot of parents think you are holding back their D1 son or daughter.

Adults are, by far, the worst part of youth sports
 
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Those who mentioned coaching the national soccer teams are correct. But I would add Mexico to the top of that list.
 
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NHL- don't know too much hockey so start with this one I would say the Canadiens and Redwings I guess.

MLB- Yankees, of course the expectations these days you have to be a yes man and do everything Cashman and the analytics team tells you to do.

NBA

Knicks- moronic management

Lakers-expectations, no patience from management, coaching Lebron and his demands, also coaching Lonzo and dealing with his dad.

NO- coaching a star player who wants to leave.

OKC- I would imagine coaching Westbrook can't be easy

NFL

Redskins-Working for a moronic owner and not given a chance to rebuild.

Cowboys- Same situation as the Skins a little better though.

Raiders- Only reason to coach there is for $$$$$. Gotta deal with crazy expectations, manage a lot of egos.

GB- Because it's in GB and as nice as it would be to coach Rogers can't be easy to keep him happy.

College

Kentucky BB- Crazy expectations and hillbilly fans

Bama Football- 10-2 is never good enough those fans might actually slash your tires and destroy your house if you ever lose a game.

ND Football- Expectations fans still stuck on the Knute Rockne days don't think a top recruit really cares about ancient history.


ND football has double digit win totals in three of the last four seasons and just made the playoffs, going 12-1 last year (losing only to the national champions).

Who cares about ancient history? ND is 22-4 in the past two years.

The Irish seem to be recruiting pretty well.

That said, I agree that it is a tough coaching gig.
 
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ND football has double digit win totals in three of the last four seasons and just made the playoffs, going 12-1 last year (losing only to the national champions).

Who cares about ancient history? ND is 22-4 in the past two years.

The Irish seem to be recruiting pretty well.

That said, I agree that it is a tough coaching gig.

True Brian Kelly has done a great job there as well as he can there, I'm just saying in general how many coaches after Lou Holtz have had long term success there can only think of Brian Kelly.
 
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I dunno.

I'm not sure we have anything in the US that comes as close to say... Brazil/Argentina and then Real Madrid/Barcelona/Chelsea in Soccer. Chelsea's had 13 different managers since 2003. Real Madrid has had 16 APPOINTMENTS (they've rehired a few guys.. they are on their 3rd manager so far this year)... Even Barcelona is on its 9th coach. They fire guys for going on losing streaks. Any losing streak. Not sure Manchester United is there yet, but PSG is getting there and even though they're ultra pragmatic - Bayern Munich can be brutal, too... they've hired 13 guys since 2000.

Here in the US? Eh - not too sure i'd want to be the football coach at LSU or Alabama. The Red Sox and Yankees are tough jobs too both with lunatic fan bases to keep happy. I mean w/ the Red Sox they're on what - their sixth manager since 2000? The Yankees are on their third?
 

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