In the sports world, some of the most common and successful coaches happen to be former professional players of their respective sports. Steve Kerr won five NBA championships as a sharpshooter before leading the Warriors to multiple championship titles. Deion Sanders, one of the most electric NFL players of all time, is now in command of the Colorado Buffaloes. Aaron Boone went from playing for the Yankees to managing that same franchise.
But do years of experience playing the sport automatically make someone a better coach? After all, coaching is not heavily dependent on athletic skill; it’s about communicating, leading, and building trust.
At Palo Alto High School, that question is far from hypothetical. The athletic program is filled with a mix of coaches, some former star athletes and others who never played the sport they lead.
Among the coaches with strong playing backgrounds is Tim Mulcahy, the assistant varsity girls’ water polo coach who played the sport at UC Davis and UC Berkeley. Mulcahy, who even continues to play the game to this day, which has shaped his abilities as a coach.
“I see tendencies before they’re going to happen, I can see just by looking at the pool which player is, or is going to be in trouble, and I can see a miss-match before it has happened,” Mulcahy said.
In addition to the strengths Mulcahy holds as a coach, he refers to how playing the game as a young student-athlete also comes with its own limitations by having unrealistic expectations for his players.
“I expect that I have an hour and 30 minutes of their full attention and focus on water polo when they walk through the pool deck gate,” Mulcahy said. “And that isn’t so realistic because they have this academic pressure that I didn’t have when I was a kid playing water polo.”
Kevin Hambly, the Stanford women’s volleyball head coach credits his experience in shaping his perspective. Hambly played professional volleyball overseas after playing Division I volleyball at Brigham Young University.
“Playing the game has influenced everything about how I coach,” Hambly said. “I see the game as a series of problems to solve and I have a level of empathy for the players that, unless you played, you can’t truly grasp.”
Hambly added that his experience as a former pro athlete allows him to see the game at a high level and understand what’s required to play at that level. However, he recognizes that each of his players sees the game of volleyball differently and may or may not share the same perspective he had when he was a player. Instead of guiding his players with strategies and tactics that worked for him as a player, he emphasizes his role in challenging and supporting his players’ individual approaches.
“I want them to have their own personal view of the game and seek their own solutions, which are often different from the ones I would suggest,” Hambly said. “My job is to present the right problems to them, so they are compelled to solve them.”
Another advantage these coaches can hold is a sense of built-in trust among their players. Players respect a person who understands competition pressure firsthand.
“It’s easier to trust a coach who’s actually played,” Varsity soccer player Koji Silverberg Shirota said. “They know what we’re going through.”
Sophomore and varsity diver Lucy Bothe backs up this sentiment.
“Coaches who’ve competed know how stressful it gets, they know when to push us and when to back off,” Bothe said.
Coaches from a playing background will often say that their background gives them an edge in their ability to read the game, make quick strategic decisions and deal with the highs and lows of competition emotionally.
Still, despite the fact that a coach with playing experience might inherently seem like a better fit, that’s not always the case. There are plenty of examples, even at Paly, of successful coaches with relatively little playing experience.
One prominent example is Paly’s JV boys’ basketball coach, Brandon Byer. Byer entered coaching through an open assistant coach position at the University of Missouri. During his four years on the Missouri coaching staff, Byer had learned all the behind-the-scenes and what it takes to build a winning team.
“In my first year as a manager, I realized how awesome it was to be around a high-level Division I program,” Byer said. “Seeing what coaches go through, planning practices, recruiting and preparing for opponents, was really the catalyst for me wanting to become a coach, even though I never played at that level.”
The challenge for him is using the knowledge and transferring it to teaching without having played at a high level himself.
“Because I never played the sport at the level I’m coaching now, I can’t always understand exactly how players are feeling in high-pressure moments,” Byer said. “I just have to go based on what I think they need.”
But he maintains that such challenges compel him to pay closer attention to communication, preparation and strategy so that players are able to understand the game in terms that go beyond physical skill. And the record speaks for itself: just two seasons ago, Byer led his team to a league title with an impressive 11-1 record.
“I’ve had to dedicate myself to researching and understanding the game at a deeper level,” Byer said. “Players can tell if you don’t know what you’re talking about, so I’ve got to prove it through preparation.”
Although Byer never played basketball at a high level, his coaching style still resonated deeply with his players. One of his former athletes, Kane Do, said that Byer’s unique perspective gave him an advantage in certain areas that even experienced former players sometimes overlook.
“Coach Byer approached everything like a teacher,” Do said. “He broke the game down step by step instead of assuming we already knew things. Sometimes coaches who’ve played forget how hard it is to learn those details for the first time.”
Do also noticed that Byer’s preparation and openness to feedback set him apart.
“He was always studying film, trying new drills and even asking for our thoughts after games,” Do said. “That made us feel like part of the process. You could tell he really wanted to learn along with us.”
Still, Do acknowledged that experience on the court can make a difference in certain moments.
“When the game gets intense, I think a coach who’s been in those situations might have an easier time reading the pressure,” Do said. “But Byer made up for it with how calm he stayed, he focused on solutions instead of emotions.”
In Do’s eyes, the best coaches combine both qualities, the perspective of experience and the mindset of a student.
“Whether you’ve played or not, the best coaches are the ones who keep learning,” Do said. “That’s what Coach Byer showed us.”
The belief that playing experience necessarily translates into being a superior coach is prevalent in sport culture, but at the high school level, where development and mentorship come first, the reality is different. A non-playing coach might be missing the natural game sense but can possess analytical ability, creativity and excellent communication. A player-coach can be superb at strategy but struggle to translate their instincts into teaching moments.
In terms of practice, Paly coaching staffs typically divide these up.
Often, former players handle technical training and strategy, with non-player coaches handling leadership, preparation and team culture. They all deliver a complete coaching experience.
At the end of the day, when the whistle blows, players don’t worry as much about whether or not their coach played pro and are more concerned about how the coach stimulates, motivates and guides them. This argument regarding whether playing experience is vital may never be settled. Technical skill and intuition are vital, but leadership, communication and coaching are equally important.
For Mulcahy, experience equates to the fundamentals of the game; without a strong foundation in these basics, success will not be achieved.
“Until you learn how to pass and catch the ball, you can’t play or coach water polo,” Mulcahy said. “So you have to have the fundamentals to build on; if you don’t have those as a coach, you could draw the most intricate play, and it’s not going to work.”
Similarly, Byer shows that passion, commitment and inquisitiveness can make up for what many lack in individual playing experience.
“I always loved basketball,” Byer said. “That time at Missouri made me realize I wanted to coach. Even though I never played at a high level, I found my passion through teaching the game.”
Ultimately, a clipboard does not care about a coach’s background. Whether a coach scored winning goals. Paly’s multi-cultural coaching staff affirms that there is no recipe for success; that greatness can result from playing background, teaching credentials or most often, a combination of the two.
So, does experience in playing make a better coach? Maybe. But as Paly’s wide variety of coaches demonstrates, from Tim Mulcahy to Brandon Byer, greatness does not start with a jersey. It starts with leadership, instructional and relationship-building abilities, qualities that will not show up on any resume.
