In sports, a coach or manager is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.
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The term coach is sometimes equivalent in U.S. usage to the term manager in other English-speaking countries in reference to the director of a sporting team, particularly with regard to Association Football. Additionally, the director of the operation of a team in baseball, a sport far more popular in the U.S. than in any other English-speaking country, is also properly referred to as a "manager", particularly in the context of a team of adults, as opposed to youths or even college players.
The title "Coach" is also one of respect or affection, often replacing the first name much like "Doctor" to become "Coach Smith". Some former players will still address their instructor as "Coach", even if both the player and coach him/herself have long retired or graduated on.
The term "coach" has been expanded greatly in American English usage, especially in recent years, to include such non-sports-related concepts; see the article on coaching for more information.
Coaching entails the application of sport tactics and strategies during the game or contest itself, and usually entails substitution of players and other such actions as needed. Most coaches are former participants in the sports in which they are involved, and those who are not have usually had extensive training in the sport.
In some professional sports operations the head coach also serves as general manager, the team executive responsible for acquiring the rights to players and negotiating their contracts, generally in recent years with their agents, and for trading or dismissing players, but these roles have been increasingly likely to be seen as separate functions fulfilled by separate persons in more recent years, although many coach/general managers still exist.
Many coaches, usually those of school-sponsored sports teams, also bear the responsibility of teaching the skills, rules and tactics involved in a particular sport to its players. This can be accomplished individually, by team, by division (ex. Defensive Coaching, Offensive Coaching, etc.) or by position (ex. receiver coach, quarterback coach, etc.) where applicable.
Under this system in which duties are divided, there is necessarily a head coach who oversees all other coaches as a supervisor.
Some groups focus on the training of coaches like the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS). NAYS is the nation's leading youth sports educator and advocate with national programs that educate administrators, coaches, officials and parents about their roles and responsibilities in youth sports, in addition to offering youth development programs for children.
NAYS programs are provided at the local level through dynamic partnerships with more than 3,000 community-based organizations, which include parks and recreation departments, Boys and Girls Clubs, Police Athletic leagues, YMCA/YWCAs, Catholic Youth Organizations and other independent youth service groups throughout the country. NAYS also has a strong presence on military installations worldwide.
A coach, particularly in a major operation, is traditionally aided in his efforts by one or more assistant coaches known as the coaching staff.
Many times, in major team sports the principal coach (usually referred to as the head coach) has little to do with the development of details such as techniques of play or placement of players on the playing surface, leaving this to assistants while concentrating on larger issues.
All major US collegiate sports have associations for their coaches to engage in professional development activities, but professional coaches tend to have less formal associations, and have never developed into a group resembling a union in the way that athletic players in many leagues have. Most coaching contracts allow the termination of the coach with little notice and without specific cause, usually in the case of high-profile coaches with the payment of a financial settlement. U.S. collegiate coaching contracts require termination without the payment of a settlement if the coach is found to be in serious violation of named rules, usually with regard to the recruiting or retention of players in violation of amateur status.
Coaching is a very fickle profession, and a reversal of the team's fortune often finds last year's "Coach of the Year" to be seeking employment in the next.
Many coaches are former players of the sport themselves, and coaches of professional sports teams are sometimes retired players.
Successful coaches often become as well or even better-known than the athletes they coach, and in recent years have come to command high salaries and have agents of their own to negotiate their contracts with the teams. Often the head coach of a well-known team has his or her own radio and television programs and becomes the primary "face" associated with the team.
Tania G Cassidy, Robyn L Jones, Paul Potrac Understanding Sports Coaching: The Social, Cultural and Pedagogical Foundations of Coaching Practice, Routledge, London, 2008
http://www.routledge.com/books/Understanding-Sports-Coaching-isbn9780415442718