Do you need to play the position in order to coach it?

Your acquaintance is a moron and if he is ever a HC he will have a VERY difficult time filling a legit staff if he is hiring based on playing experience.

And how many rules and techniques have changed since you played? Even if you played OL in HS on a traditional flipper blocking wing-t team it doesn't mean you'll be able to apply those techniques to a modern zone based spread. You would still have to learn those techniques.

Belichik (and many others) can coach every position on the field. At a very high level.

Belichick wasnt even a good player. Played a little bit at a D3 school.

The coach the OP is referencing is an idiot.

I knew a school that ran the Wing-T. Their O-line coach was 5'7, 150lbs and had never played a down at line. He was a quarterback in high school and ran the wing-t, he knew the responsibility of every guy on the field. He learned the shoulder blocking principles and was an outstanding line coach.

For reference I am 350lbs played DL in college and have coached DL, OL then more recently OLB and MLB along with dabbling in DB. Our team was successful every year. You either know it or you don't. Doesn't matter if you played the position. Shoot our former DC played DB in college and then coached college OL for a long time. I would also say it doesn't matter how many studs you churn out either as long as your position group is solid.

I am an offensive line and DB coach. I played the offensive line but I think I coach them both equally well.

Playing and Coaching are not the same.

So, does that mean I can only coach the bench?

lol!

I've said that "having a baby doesn't make you a gynecologist"

So who should we accept as the authority here?

Clinic Speaker who has a highly successful career at the peak of his profession where he coaches at a Top 25 program, has developed All Americans, makes 6 figures, and gives the clinic talk.

Some random "acquaintance" with no notable background who says that Clinic Speaker is clueless because he never played the position.

Hmm... that's a tough one.

As for some quick examples off the top of my head...

Alex Gibbs was a DB growing up. He turned into one of the greatest OL coaches of all time.

LaVell Edwards developed more All American and HOF QBs than probably any other college coach of all time. He was an OL in his playing days.

Bill Walsh was famous for revolutionizing NFL offenses with the "West Coast Offense" and developing QBs. He played TE and DE.

Facts seem to prove your acquaintance wrong.

I guess I'm good to go then
1st grade RT
2nd QB
3rd RG/CB
4th DE/WR
5th LB/TE
6th TE/DE
7th DE
8th TE/DE
9th TE/DE
10th LB
11th LB/TE
12th WLB

I played OL/DL and a little goal line FB in high school. Now I am most comfortable working with DBs. I've coached all of the positions on the field and I'm an adequate coach with some, awful at others. But, I'm a much better coach for working with a variety of positions. dcohio has a great philosophy as an HC: he won't let a guy coach a position he's played. This forces them out of their comfort zone, to learn more about the game and grow as a coach.

I've coached with a fair number of guys who were standouts in high school and college at their positions but they weren't good at coaching them. They were exceptional athletes that picked up on the skills within the position they played quickly when playing. As such, they struggled to work with your average high school level player because they couldn't figure out that the skills weren't going to come to those kids as easily as it did to them.

That's a big dude.

I guess he works a lot on rows and deadlifts and other pulls to be good at that. Probably some grip strength stuff would also be in his workout plan. Body weight training would also be very functional. Bench press would be stupid and should not be emphasized at all. I mean, who would ever have to push a coach while laying down on your back?

Do you think he does triphasic undulating periodization macrocycle protocols?

I can see where ladders and footwork training would have a direct effect on his performance also. What type of warmup do you think he does?

I think said acquaintance is clueless

That is a great story. I heard him talk about it at a Bama clinic.

They got beat something like 50-6 first time. Had NFL Hall of Fame coaches scheme against it for the championship game.

And...

Got beat like 28-0.