The college football coach

Being a former college football player, be it at a small school, I think there has been a shift in coaching styles throughout the years. In the beginning there was Knute Rockne. Rockne was the first coach to instill the idea in his players as a coach and a mentor as well as a friend. The coaches job was not only to teach them and coach them to win games but to guide them into becoming a man. However, as college football got to be more of a spectacle and such a great importance was put on winning there seemed to be a shift. Coaches were more focused on pushing their players to their limits and doing whatever it took to win. Great examples of coaches like this were the famed "Bear" Bryant and Woody Hayes. Though these coaches have gone down in history as some of the greatest of all time, they weren't really know for their charismatic and lovable personalities. These coaches were known to really push their players and a lot of time be hated by their players because of the extent to which they were being exerted. 

Nowadays it feels as if there has been a shift back to a more traditional and charismatic coach like that of Rockne. From personal experience I have seen this. When I played in college the main goal of our coach before even winning games was to shape his players into men. He put a high importance on faith and character. During the recruiting process he made it known that these were his goals and that he looked forward to his recruit being a part of something great  during his weekly phone calls. I also see this same style in coaches like Jim Tressel from Ohio State and Pete Carroll from USC. They seem to really care about their players not only based on their ability but their characters. These coaches develop close personal relationships with their players and have a very clean and fun-loving image to the media. While you can say their styles may seem different, they both seem to evolve around personal relationships and building character. In these ways I think the college football coach has transformed back into the ideals of Knute Rockne and the "unique formula".