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Are most successful coaches "mean?"
I'm having a hard time thinking of many great coaches that don't yell at their players. Belichick doesn't seem like a yeller. Nor does Phil Jackson. But looking at other successful coaches, it seems that being a hard-ass and yelling seems to do more than being a nice guy. Bill Self yells at his players a LOT. So did Mangino.
Tom Coughlin is a hard-ass. Jim Harbaugh. Bill Cowher. Marty. Nick Saban (college only, it seems). Bobby Knight.
It seems like it takes a special kind of coach to motivate his players without yelling at them to really get their attention. I'm not saying that yelling is indicative of success (lol Haley), just that, in general, it seems like more coaches have more success with being mean than they do with taking the Romeo approach.
I'm also certain that I'm leaving out a ton of coaches that are successful and DON'T yell. So, I'm open to being wrong about this, but it just struck me the other night that I can think of more successful "mean" coaches than successful "nice" coaches.
It also seems as though players today are less comfortable being yelled at than we were back in my day. And I'm only 31, so it's not like I'm THAT old. But I never had a problem with a coach yelling at me to either motivate me or point out mistakes I made on the field. I feel like it made me better as a player.
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