An analysis of National Football League coaching trees and the network they comprise

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze professional football coaches' coaching trees and the network they comprise. Employment histories were collected for head coaches (HCs) in the National Football League (NFL) along with the NFL HCs under whom they served as assistant coaches (ACs) prior to their first NFL HC position and repeated until no new mentors were found. Coaches' win-loss records, championships, and Pro Football Hall of Fame status were obtained. Three themes emerged from data analysis: (a) ''Roots are a Must, But Fewer are Stronger''; (b) ''Established Roots Prosper and Flourish''; and (c) ''Prolific Bounties are Not Necessarily Successful Ones''. Analysis revealed: (a) a limited number of apprenticeships appeared to be the best way to achieve HC success; (b) AC apprenticeships are best served under successful HCs; and (c) the weight attributed to an AC's experience working under a successful HC should be viewed cautiously.

Coaching legacies: influence propagation through temporal social networks in the Australian Football League

“…Our experiments showed that, for most coaches, this results in a centrality value primarily determined by the number of seasons they have coached future coaches. The current study extends the existing research on coaching trees, which to date has been primarily concerned with the question of whether success is inherited down (7,8). It gives credit to a hypothetical influence of coaches on future coaches regardless of their explicit success.…”

“…The current study extends the existing research on coaching trees, which to date has been primarily concerned with the question of whether success is inherited down ( 7 , 8 ). It gives credit to a hypothetical influence of coaches on future coaches regardless of their explicit success.…”

“…Moreover, several top 20 coaches hold the Legend status that individuals receive "if they have had a particularly significant positive impact on the game of Australian Football." 8 The number of Legends is capped at 10% of the total Hall of Fame size, which currently results in 29 Legends. 9 Coaching more future coaches offers the opportunity to spread influence.…”

“…They are often relied upon for recruitment, since a primary strategy for choosing a coach out of candidates is to examine with whom he has worked in the past and whether his mentors were successful coaches themselves ( 7 ). Coaching trees also provide an opportunity to analyze a coach’s influence on his assistant coaches ( 7 ) and can give insights into coach mentoring ( 8 ).…”