Why was Wayne Gretzky such a bad coach?

[mouser]

His team sucked.
No other team ever offered him a coaching job other than the team he partially owned

And even more damning, the Coyotes replaced Gretzky with Dave Tippett in 2009—who then took the team to three straight playoff appearances, including a conference final with much of the same roster Gretzky “coached” to futility.

There was a popular narrative back in the day that it wasn’t Gretzky’s fault he failed as the Coyotes head coach because the team was so bad. Tippett killed that myth.

Tippett has his own coaching warts, but he was able to extract far more production from the Arizona roster than Gretzky ever came close to.

 

[Sniper99]

Bad coach and even worse Canadian.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

And even more damning, the Coyotes replaced Gretzky with Dave Tippett in 2009—who then took the team to three straight playoff appearances, including a conference final with much of the same roster Gretzky “coached” to futility.

There was a popular narrative back in the day that it wasn’t Gretzky’s fault he failed as the Coyotes head coach because the team was so bad. Tippett killed that myth.

Tippett has his own coaching warts, but he was able to extract far more production from the Arizona roster than Gretzky ever came close to.

This basically comes down to Tippett being an actual coach. Gretzky had no coaching experience and was in over his head.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Too Americanized

 

[Acallabeth]

Yeah, Olli Jokinen once explained this.
He was coached by the Great One, moving up the ice in practice, head on a swivel, looking to pass to a teammate.
Afterwards Gretzky asked him, why didn‘t pass to the 4th guy who just stepped on the ice and was out of sight, exactly behind him crossing the blue line.
“Coach, I didn’t see him, even if I tried.”
Gretzky looked puzzled…”Yeah, but didn’t you KNOW where he was?”
It was OJ’s turn to look puzzled. But at least he realised that Gretzky has an otherworldly vision and IQ.
You just can’t teach it. And if you are not able to understand the limitations of your players, you become a shitty coach.

I played hockey with a guy whose brother played for him. He said Gretzky would say to his brother (a fourth line mostly AHL guy) things about certain plays like “when that guy does this and the puck goes here you have to do this and go here” and his brother would basically be thinking “how the hell am i going to process all that that quick”. Basically Gretzky thought the game at too advanced a level for it to translate to normies.

While these anecdotes point towards a woeful lack of teaching skills, I think the concept that Gretzky couldn't comprehend his players' limitations is somewhat overblown. I'm sure he could figure out that he wasn't coaching a roster full of 200-point players

But I have said before that the NHL coaching doesn't seem to be very professional. To become a coach in European football, even superstars need to obtain a license, and a Pro license requires coaching experience in minor leagues. Even Zidane worked for Real Madrid for several years as the team's sporting director before becoming an assistant to a great manager Ancelotti, then coaching their minor team and eventually becoming the big team coach. Gretzky just stepped into the head coach role right away with no training (and, I suspect, having experienced little coaching as a player).

He couldn't relate to players if I had to guess, that's most elite level players who become coaches. There's more 4th liners + plugs who become better coaches than the elite talent that's played the game. You need to be relatable to the 13th forward as much as you are to the franchise forward.

I think there's more to it. Tampa's players doesn't seem to be bothered that Cooper wasn't even a pro player.
Maybe the reason for star players rarely becoming great coaches isn't the matter of them not being able to do so, but rather not having a need or desire to be a great coach. Stars are wealthy, successful and have a great reputation. Why would they keep making sacrifices for a new career that is stressful and very likely to tarnish their image?

 

[Voight]

Going way way back. I would say Bill Russell from basketball. He also won two finals in the NBA during the Celtics dynasty as a assistant coach and player at the time. But I agree that it is very rare.

Red was still pulling the strings then so even tho Russell was "head coach" he didn't have the same authority or power the other coaches had.