The San Antonio Raiders? (Or, dickhead coaches)

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Yeah, forgot about Parcells. I was only around Dean Smith a couple times when I was just out of school and maybe I was feeling something while others were much more comfortable around him.

It's not simply an issue of being great. It's that rare mix that makes guys like that and it's not always a compliment. I don't know if Ditka was like that during his coaching days. The times I interviewed him, he could not have been nicer and more friendly. Big difference from talking to someone at a HOF ceremony and weekly pressers during the season.

Nolan Richardson was another one. Dealt with him a couple times and he was a pretty intimidating guy. Not on the level of Bob Knight, but still a big presence.

It's one thing when someone is as physically imposing as Parcells, Knight, Richardson, but I remember seeing writers who had covered the league for 30+ years and they looked scared shitless of Davis.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Or John Denver, had he lived to this day.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Parcells could be more charming in an interview setting than most of the gruff personalities aforementioned.
Just as Bill B. can if you ask him about the history of the Wing-T or evolution of the tight end.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Very true. He could also be an insufferable dick.

If you're asking Bob Knight technical basketball or strategy questions, he would be great, and then someone would ask him a question he didn't like and it would turn on a dime. I always got the same sense with Parcells, although Parcells wasn't as much of a bully as Knight was.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

No one is as much of a bully as Knight.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

I'm told that after the Giants won the Super Bowl, Parcells came into the post-game news conference, cleared out the first 2-3 rows and insisted the regular beat guys come forward and occupy those seats. He had his moments.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Bill could absolutely be quite engaging and funny and really wasn't bad to work with in my brief experience.

But the issue we were discussing is the kind of presence that commands a room. Whether Parcells is at his charming best or his dickhead worst, he has that presence.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Not so much presence but disarming a room of its cynicism- Bobby Bowden.
You could have hated the program and its problem children but it was hard to dislike the guy in that setting.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

I got him once before a press conference for a feature I was working on and the PR staff gave me five minutes with him. He was amazing and when I told him the five minutes were done (bad move, I admit) he told me it was OK and the interview went for another 10 minutes.

He then walked into a press conference and ripped the shit out of one of the writers who asked the first or second question and then it got worse from there.

He could be a dick, but I admit, I always liked the guy.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

I've never met a more likable big-time coach. Nobody is even close. No big time coach was as accessible as Bowden.

I'd hear people whine that his beat writers "kissed his ass" all the time. My response was, "Can you imagine what a dream it would be to cover this guy?"

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

Of the active "Power 5" coaches now, Frank Beamer is probably the closest to Bowden in terms of accessibility.

 

Re: The San Antonio Raiders?

I'll put Mike Riley at Oregon State in the running for most accessible, as well. A genuinely nice guy, even when he was suffering through that brutal 1-15 campaign he endured with the Chargers.