Former Steelers OLB James Harrison may or may not have a knack for coaching, but he is not about to find out, apparently, which may be a change of heart. In recent months, he said that he once put a feeler out to the Steelers organization about coaching. He told Ben Roethlisberger that he never heard back. But more recently, when asked if he wants to coach, he said that his love for the game isn’t strong enough.
“Do I want to coach? I do not want to coach unless it’s my kids. I would be willing to do that if it was my kids, but to put actual time…”, Harrison said on the Nitecap podcast with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco. One wonders, though, if he might not have a natural knack for it.
I always go back to something James Harrison said a few years back, recalling T.J. Watt’s rookie season. Watt began his career rushing off the right side before moving to the left in his second year. On Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin podcast, he talked about how he noticed a move Watt could do from the left side that he couldn’t do from the left, and saw his future there.
It might have been in that same Footbahlin episode in which he said he put a feeler out that Ben Roethlisberger relayed what it was like to watch a Steelers game with James Harrison. Roethlisberger insists that Harrison kept calling out what plays were going to be run. Evidently, he picked up a tell from an offensive lineman. The point is, he has an eye for the game, and even a desire to share it.
There was that time last season that Harrison stopped by and gave an impromptu training session with Nick Herbig. It’s not the craft of coaching itself that is at issue, though. It’s simply the nature of the job, which he sees as more mentally demanding than playing.
“It’s a lot of time that goes into it. For me as a player, I put a lot of time in it. But as a coach, you’re putting even more time into it”, Harrison said, explaining why he is not interested in pursuing a coaching career. “And that’s not something that I’m willing to do. My love for the game is not that great”.
Harrison said that he would give everything he has from dusk ‘til dawn as a player. But now as a retired former player, to move into the coaching ranks and all that entrails, “I don’t have that love for it”. That, and the fact that he doesn’t want to coach underachievers.
“That’s something I would have a hard time with”, Harrison said, when the topic was brought up. Given how he played and trained, that’s hardly a surprise. He wouldn’t want to accept anything less than what he gave when he played. “Especially when you’re looking at what they could be if they put in the time, the effort”.
Steelers HC Mike Tomlin has employed many former Steelers players over the years. Though they hold no official titles, according to the team’s website, Ryan Shazier and Ike Taylor are working within the organization. Or at least they had been in the very recent past; it’s hard to say right now. But it would be cool to see James Harrison participate in a coaching internship in training camp. Alan Faneca and many others have given it a go. At least that would give him more perspective to decide whether it’s really not for him or not.
