OT: Will Tom Brady coach after his playing career?

Submitted by Sauce Castillo on

In hopes to keep us from going insane upon upcoming signing day I thought I would bring this up. 

ESPN ran an interview Tom did with Chris Berman earlier this week in which Berman made reference to Harbaugh being the HC at UM and if Tom was taking the job over after his playing days are done.  Tom just laughed it off, but never said he wouldn’t be open to the idea. 

Tom Brady is a hyper competitive person very similar to Harbaugh and has a strong love for Michigan.  He also has more money than he knows what to do with and a super hot wife who he would probably much rather spend time with than be on the recruiting trail.  Does anyone think this could be a possibility down the road? I'll hang up and listen.

yossarians tree

February 3rd, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^

I have been dreaming of this for the last month or so...Jimbo restores the glory here for 8 years or so while Tom finishes his career and begins working his way up the coaching ladder. JH will probably inevitably get the itch to return to the NFL and seek a ring, by which time Tom is ready to take a major college HC position. All a pipe dream, of course, but I definitely think Brady will coach. He is obviously a total film rat and he has been learning from the best for over a decade.

1464

February 3rd, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^

As a player, Brady has a hugely competitive nature.  However, when he hangs it up, I get the feeling he will want nothing to do with being a coach.  He has money, fame, a supermodel wife, and a young son.  I can see him wanting to spend time with his family after he hangs it up, instead of continuing to see them seldomly due to his football schedule.  A TV gig would allow him to continue to be involved with football, but on a much less aggressive basis.

I say there is no way Brady becomes a coach.

justingoblue

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^

I get what you're saying, but starting a career and continuing a career are two different decisions. Belichick might sign another coaching contract but I'd be pretty comfortable guessing that he's not going to Wall Street or medical school when his run in New England is over based on his net worth.

justingoblue

February 3rd, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^

No, I don't think Tom Brady seeks out a highly stressful job with long hours after football, with the possible exception of politics if that's his thing.

Broadcasting isn't going to be either high stress or long hours for him, and I think it's what he's most likely going to do "full time" after he's done playing.

superstringer

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^

Most great athletes make HORRIBLE coaches.  They lack an ability to understand what a "normal" player's limits and drive are.

On top of that... ok, if you're Tom Brady, your post-NFL options are:

1 - sit around with $500M in the bank account (at least) (mostly wifey's cayshe), raise your kids, wake up late, take vacations, eat creme brulee every emal, do some TV here and there, do whatever you want whenever you want.

2 - be HC at a DI college.  Get up at 4 am, watch tape, get on the phone constantly to pander to 16-18 year olds, get on an airplane and fly to every small town in America, deal w/ 115 kids every year and all their issues, get excortiated on MGoBlog for every little thing that goes wrong, BARELY ever see your wifey and kids, go to bed at 1 am, repeat 365 times a year.

Now... just why is door #2 his better option?

mgobleu

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^

to be a coach. Don't laugh, I'm serious. You can tell if he wasn't playing football he'd be hanging out with his wife's friends on some ridiculous yacht somewhere, living like pitbull raps about. He sure as hell isn't putting up with the coaching grind to hang out with a bunch of college kids.

DealerCamel

February 3rd, 2015 at 10:51 AM ^

Before Super Bowl XXXVI, Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady were interviewed jointly by Terry Bradshaw.  Terry asked Tom what he'd learned from Bledsoe, and Tom responded as you'd expect he would.  Then Bradshaw turned to Drew and said, "So, he learned all that from you... what'd you learn from him?"

Bledsoe took one look at Brady in his jeans, visor and Patriots bling and answered, "Well, not how to dress, certainly."  There were some other hilarious moments between the two as well.

Funny how fame can change a man.

DY

February 3rd, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^

Is the one Tom told in the "Brady 6" documentary. Belichick has Brady and Bledsoe in the sideline huddle before the final drive. Belichick says something to the effect of "if the pass isn't there, don't force it. Throw it away." Brady said Blesoe leaned in his ear and said, "Fuck that, let it rip!"

The other great Bedsoe moment I remember from that playoff run is when Brady injured his knee in the AFC Championship and Bledsoe came in to relieve Brady. At one point Bledsoe took a huge hit throwing a TD pass and afterward there was a shot of him on the sideline getting his chin bandaged up. Bledsoe was kicked back on the bench with a huge self-satisfied grin on his face. After the game Belichick was asked who was going to start the SB and of course he says they're going to go with Brady.

WestQuad

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^

I think Tom Brady is a great athlete, but the NFL drafted him in the 6th round because he ran a  5.3 40 yard dash and could barely jump.  I think Brady's ability has more to do with the coaching/thinking/skill aspects of the game than if he were a Vince Young/OSU QB type.  I think he'd be able to coach.  It would be interesting to see if he could relax after playing the game.

 

 

Mr Miggle

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

I'm not sure it applies to Tom Brady or to QBs in general. He's not great because of his exceptional athletic ability.

Becoming a coach was a natural career move for Harbaugh, given his family. It's much less so for most  players.

 

MGoMarley

February 3rd, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^

Don't agree with your first statement at all. Tom Brady has never been the most athletic player on his team, he could have been a "normal" player but he didn't place those limits upon himself. Tom's mentality and focus is teachable, unlike the speed of a 4.3. Great coaches are cerebral. Look what Tom has gotten out of his teammates day in and day out. I think he would make a great coach. But I do agree that is a pipe dream. What would be cool is if he took a recruiting assistant position like Harbaugh did when he was still in the NFL, but idk if that is still legal

mjv

February 3rd, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^

I disagree about mentality and focus being teachable.  While almost anyone can have the focus or drive for a period of time, there are very few people who can sustain that drive and focus eavery day for YEARS to gain the level of success that Brady has achieved.

This is the difference between coaches early in their careers and their decline towards the end.  It is really difficult to bring the same level of determination and focus every day for what seems like forever.  I

Is this a genetic difference, I have no idea.  But you can see this in every walk of life, certain people are driven and others are not.  You see professional athletes like Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, any of the myriad of baseball players once they sign a huge contract, who can't sustain what is required.  And you also see it in players in the last year of a contract have career years.  Motivation is really difficult to bring out of everyone.

And if Brady becomes a college coach, I will happily eat a lemon.  The only thing I could see him coaching is his son's various teams.  

charblue.

February 3rd, 2015 at 10:22 AM ^

he would find satisfaction sitting around thinking about raising his kids on his wife's salary and living off a creme brulee diet.

First of all, if you read a lengthy NY Times profile that was actually linked here last week, you would get a real feel for him.

This guy is driven in a way that Harbaugh approached the game, but maybe more so from a performance standpoint, given his zeal and attention to diet and lifestyle. He clearly wants to be seen as the best pro qb ever, and part of that motivation arises from his time at Michigan and his mixed bag perception then followed by his lackluster draft status as a sixth round pick.

We are inundated here with detail about most kids recruited to this program. Brady's recruitment to Michigan remains mostly murky and primarily driven by the San Mateo, CA high school product and his dad. He was the gangly starter of a mediocre football team who was chiefly regarded as a baseball prospect than a football player at the time. The Montreal Expos had drafted him as a future catcher for their organization.

So, Brady and his dad were forced to send out videos of his high school games to get the kid noticed by football recruiters who were hardly impressed by this effort given the lack of widespread attention this strategy created. Fortunately, Michigan got the film and liked what they saw, because they were one of the few schools who actually contacted him.

Once signed, Brady was the lowest scholarship guy on the qb totem pole. I still remember watching him warming up on the sideline the day of Michigan's greatest triumph in 1997. He was just a skinny, tall guy throwing to Russell Shaw or a backup tight end while Griese and company prepared for a day that would end with Charles Woodson's Heisman-clinching performance etched with a rose clenched in his mouth.

Brady was a redshirt sophomore on that team but barely a contributor. He would have up and down days on the roster, would later discuss and seriously consider a possible transfer. There were three other qbs on the 1997 roster, including Scott Driesbach, Jason Kapsner and Mark Bergin, each with eligibility left and the promise of an incoming freshman expected to be Griese's likely successor in 1998, Sports Illustrated coverboy, Drew Henson, an even better baseball prospect than Brady had been. Brady chose to stay and led Michigan to a come from behind 1999 Orange Bowl championship over Alabama.

So, Brady became the epitome of the Bo legacy statement which now underlines his Michigan career in a way that makes his Michigan days even more remarkable if he had done nothing else as a pro, now arguably the greatest NFL qb ever.

All he was ever promised or given was a chance at Michigan. And's that all he ever sought. He made the most of it. Is this the makeup of a great coach or player? The opportunity to answer that remains in his future, because I think he still has personal goals to achieve and defying critics yet again about what he's capable of in the NFL.

Who knows where his path will lead, perhaps politics, business or a combination. Brady has always been a leader, a driven performer, and someone willing to sacrifice today for the rewards of tomorrow. He is clearly a strong leader, and someone who needs a challenge to direct his energy. Winning football games as a qb is the ciurrent challenge, winning them at Michigan again as a coach might not be a mountain he wants to consider for personal and professional gain. And that would be fine. Because he is what Michigan professes to be about molding.

 

dbrhee

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^

I think that would be the best determinatino if he was to coach or not.. If she said yes, I don't see why not with Tom... IF similar to JH's wife, then why not...  But I think that would be a matter of the time when that decision has to be made.. Never know, she might want to at that point of their lives.. 

ChiBlueBoy

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^

At some point, Tom is going to get bored and want to do something. Even sitting on the beach, next to your hot wife, getting served drinks all day gets old at some point. I think he does the color commentary thing, goes into coaching, starts a business or goes into politics (if he has that inclination). I have no idea which, but he will do something. I don't think long hours would deter him--he leads a hectic life now and may hate the slow down. Coaching is far from out of the question.

It'll be interesting to see.

LSAClassOf2000

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:33 AM ^

I am not sure if he did so this past season (he hinted that he might not), but he did coach at least a season - I believe - at Oak Grove, which is the school where he would work out in the offseason. It's a 6A team in Mississippi, as far as I know. Actually, he's turned down several overtures from the NFL Network to become on on-air analyst, so perhaps he's found something in coaching if indeed he still is. 

flashOverride

February 3rd, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^

Yeah, I can't see it. I'm not even really sure I could see him joining a network. His retirement from football will be retirement from working for anyone but himself. He's a smart guy, I'm sure he's doing something with the considerable money he already has, that should cover him and his family for life.