You may remember that 49ers coach Mike Nolan, in a fashion trend I wholly endorse, sported Reebok suits for a couple of games last year to honor his father Dick, who coached the Niners back in the day. Jack Del Rio of the Jaguars also joined in on the fun, with some stylistically clean results that earn nothing but a thumbs-up here.
Nolan and Del Rio appealed to Lord Iron Fist Goodell to wear suits on the sidelines at every home game, and the Rog allowed it to be so, which, again, I cannot encourage enough. More of the NFL’s coaching ranks should be rocking the threads, especially because the hoodies and athletic gear are not exactly flattering on most of the coaching fraternity, especially for the Fat Walrii like Eagles coach Andy Reid and Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren — custom tailoring does wonders for anyone, period, even if it has to be Reebok doing the tailoring work.
Frankly, I’m still of the belief that if you are any kind of head coach or manager, you ought to be sporting some nice threads. I understand that part of the reason why managers in baseball wear uniforms has to do with the extreme heat that baseball is played in during the summer months, but it would be nice to see folks like Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox sporting something a little more Connie Mack like in the dugout rather than faking it in baseball uniforms.
There would be a downside, though — get big league managers in suits and I guarantee there will be a hacking down on tirades and volcanic explosions a la Piniela or Earl Weaver, because the last thing anyone wants to do in a styling three-piece is get the shoes scuzzed up by kicking dirt on the umpire or sweating all over the sucker — running up a dry-cleaning bill.
Eh, screw it. Maybe it’s not worth it, to trade entertainment for appropriate dress, although there are managers like Willie Randolph and Bud Black who could rock suits in the dugout easy.
[...] 2 Noise thinks coaches in suits are classy. Who am I to [...]
If Holmgren and Reid’s teams didn’t play each other occasionally (and they hadn’t once shared clipboards coaching for the same team) it would be extremely difficult to make the case that they are, in fact, two separate people.
This issue gets discussed in the nflfans community on livejournal fairly often, and I confess that I didn’t have much of an opinion on it until a couple of regulars (ladies, if that matters) confessed a secret yearning for the hot bod of Jack Del Rio during one of those conversations.
So now I’m agin’ it. I don’t need those thoughts in my head. Not about Jack, anyway.
— Ajax.