"His name is Coach Saban. Not Nick. Not Saban."

Can we call him Ms. Jackson if we're nasty?

 

I wonder at what point someone ascends to the title of Coach. Do you address coordinators as Coach? Associate coaches? Position coaches?

 

Once you're a Coach, you're a Coach.

 

"Hey Knight, what's up?"

 

He's one of the few coaches I can remember being in a press conference with and when I addressed him I said coach and not his name. I didn't even want to risk incurring his wrath because it just wasn't worth it. But in 35 years from the time I was younger than everyone I covered, to the time I was older than everyone I covered, I called them all by their first names.

 

Back when I wrote for the student paper in college, I was told that one of the school’s established head coaches disliked being called “Coach.” They insisted on the first name, even from a 19-year-old. Of course I slipped up all the time. Every time that I said, “Coach,” as part of a question or statement, the reply started with “Reporter, ...”

 

It's like politicians that way. Joe Biden hadn't been in office for eight years and Rudy Giuliani for, yet people were still calling them "Mr. Vice President" and "Mayor Giuliani" during the last election cycle.

On a smaller scale, coaches call each other "Coach" so often that it's just part of the culture. I'm not sure if it's to maintain discipline in the program -- similar to how you make your kids call you Mom or Dad instead of your first name -- but if you walk around a high school fieldhouse it's stunning how rarely you'll hear coaches call each other by just their first name. One of our local football staffs has been together, almost unchanged, for about 10 years. They're pretty much family to each other, about as tight-knit a staff as you'll ever find. And even they are 50-50 on calling each other "Joe" or "Coach Joe," or just, "Hey Coach."

 

Is your name Janet? Are we to assume your name ain't baby?

 

They should really piss this guy off and call him Coach Nick.

 

I know an assistant coach who calls everyone "coach." That includes me, and I have never been a coach. We just figure he's that dumb.

 

The Alabama football coach didn't seem to care too much when he mangled Maria Taylor's name a couple of years ago. I'm not going to care if his name gets tweaked to something other than what the Tweet-er bro wanted it to be.

These guys ain't the coaches of the reporters covering their teams. If you forget a name/don't know a name, hailing someone with a, "Coach, can I ask you a ... " is fine. ... But when you know his/her name and default to "Coach" - makes me wonder about your professionalism.

On the subject of coaches calling one another "Coach" during a practice or game or what-not ... completely understand that. Trying to instill a formality to the situation and create an effect for the players by using that wording makes sense.

Knew a guy who used to be a HS coach and then became a HS AD. Even after he became AD, his voice mail said, "Hello, this is Coach Smith. ... " Geesh - is that what your accountant calls you?