Coaches' Sideline Attire

[epper]

I've been thinking about this a bit lately, was wondering what everyone else thought.

I've always thought it was kinda ridiculous in baseball that the manager has to wear the player uniform. No one wants to see Charlie Manuel's potbelly with red pinstripes stretched around it. (Thank goodness Rex Ryan isn't a baseball manager...). It's as stupid as making Phil Jackson wear the Lakers' yellow tanktop/gym shorts, or Bruce Boudreau decked out in pads and skates.

But which form of head coach/manager sideline apparel do you like most?

• Baseball: Player uniform, complete with hat, personal number and spikes. Occasionally will throw a team-branded windbreaker or "dugout jacket" overtop

• Football Head Coach: Team-branded apparel. Headwear ranges from hats to visors to toques in the winter. Apparel can range from polos, to windbreakers, to Belichicks' famous 3/4 length hoodie, to parkas. Pants range from khaki's to atheltic pants.

• Hockey & Basketball: Formal suit and tie.

• European Soccer: Formal as well, but during warm weather they can lose the sport coat and just go dress-shirt/dress-pants, and in the winter they might throw a peacoat and scarf overtop.

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Personally, I like the way the NFL does it. I like seeing variety in the jackets and hats they wear, showing off the coaches' personality a bit. Special props to when they wear throwback gear to match the team's throwback jerseys.

[Breakwood]

Suit and tie definitely. The coach is the leader of the team. He calls the shots, and he needs to look like done who's in charge.

[NJTank]

I think it will be cool if every sport was like baseball and coaches were in full uniform.

[Sport]

When I played baseball in high school I didn't get to wear the number I wanted because one of our assistant coaches took it. Not the manager, an assistant, in HIGH SCHOOL. I know it goes back to when most of the managers also played, but it's ridiculous that they wear uniforms. Hell, Dusty Baker wears a pair of wristbands for every game. Is he gonna insert himself in as a pinch runner?

I don't want to see baseball managers dressing in suits and ties. That's not practical for an outdoor summer sport and Connie Mack is long dead. I'd prefer if they dressed like NFL coaches.

I'm okay with hockey and basketball coaches in their suits and ties. They're winter sports and they're indoors. It just adds a professionalism that you don't get with a polo shirt and khakis.

[B-Rich]

? Football Head Coach: Team-branded apparel. Headwear ranges from hats to visors to toques in the winter. Apparel can range from polos, to windbreakers, to Belichicks' famous 3/4 length hoodie, to parkas. Pants range from khaki's to atheltic pants.

Both in college and pro football, the idea of ALL coaches dressing like this is pretty much a "given", I find it interesting that it is a relatively recent "given". As an example, look at the footage of Ditka when he coached the Bears in the late 1980s-- shirt, tie, "Bears" sweater vest-- and when he coached the Saints in the late 1990s-- a little more casual with the polo in this shot, thouhg he was known to rock the "sweater vest and tie" look in his Saints days:

Of course you had the throwback experiment a couple of years back with NFL coaches Jack Del Rio and Mike Nolan wearing suits on the sidelines.

Look at footage of Tom Landry, the Bear, Johnny Majors, etc. -- all wearing suits well into the 1980s. Then you had lots of college coaches (in the SEC in particular) who matched their frat boy counterparts in the stands-- khakis, white shirt, tie, team cap. Woody Hayes of Ohio State generally had this look:

But it was carried into the 90s by(losing) SEC coaches Curley Hallmann and Ray Goff.

Then again, you go back and you see coaches as early as the late 60s going tie-less and wearing team-branded caps and windbreakers almost exclusively. Bud Grant of the Vikings and Bo Schembechler of Michigan come to mind:

[Bmac]

I like when baseball coaches wear dugout jackets and such with the team hat. I like the more casual attire in football, sweatshirts, jackets, maybe a hat. But that's just me, mr. casual.

[Lee.]

Waiting for slats7 to weigh in before I form my opinion on the matter.

[nash61]

I'm going hockey/basketball with NFL a close second. The angry hat toss is legendary.

[BBTV]

There is no reason to dress in a suit and tie. You're not in the office, and these are adults who are millionaires. Your outfit isn't going to let them know "who's in charge" - your leadership ability will.

[OnWis97]

I wholly admit that my opions are probably based on "what I am used to".

BASEBALL:

I like the uniforms. And I know the player/manager is a thing of the past, but I still like that all coaches wear the uniforms. I wish more would still do it (Gardy and Francona come to mind...it's funny that they have uniform numbers when you never see the jersey). Essentially everyone that gets on the field wears it (except if the trainer is needed). I know most disagree and I offer only one argument besides "it's cool and I am used to it" and that is that the base coaches would look weird (but again, maybe that's just what I am used to).

Football:

I should prefer the suit, since the team gear rule involves being billboards for Reebok. However, logo creep aside, I like the hats and various team polos, jackets, sweatshirts, etc.

Basketball/hockey:

This is where I most diverge from what I am used to. I'd like a bit more casual. Maybe not as wide of an array of team gear (nobody dressed like Belichick) and no hats. Khakis and a polo with a team logo on the chest or something.

[AlaskaAJ]

I'm personally a fan of the Baseball when they wear the team jackets/pullovers.

[illwauk]

I honestly couldn't care less about what any coach wears as long as they do their job and do it well. But if I were one, I think I'd be partial to the fedora & peacoat look made famous by Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.

[The_Admiral]

People knock baseball managers in uniform, but I think it would look strange to have them in civilian attire. Having some guy in a polo shirt and khakis come up the steps and start screaming at the umpire would look not like a manager but rather like some guy in the crowd that security hasn't caught yet. Everyone who's on the baseball field should be dressed for the baseball field.

I don't really care what football coaches wear but most of them should probably be dressed a little nicer than they are.

Basketball and hockey coaches should wear suits, but if a hockey coach wanted to wear a tracksuit to a game I would not begrudge him that.

[Drakonius26]

Now, that's how you go to work. Otherwise, I'd wear a hoodie, with the sleeves intact, and in the same color of what my team's jerseys were for that game.

[nash61]

Not all hockey coaches wear suits.

[The_Admiral]

The coaches wore letterman's jackets at the 2009 Winter Classic. I thought it was pretty sharp, especially on that goofy-ass mustachioed assistant coach on the Red Wings.

[infrared41]

I've passed this along every other time this subject has come up so I may as well do it again.

According to Sparky Anderson (he was asked about this in an interview I heard with him years ago) the reason baseball managers and coaches wear uniforms and cleats is because they do things like pitch BP, hit fungos and infield practice etc. Back in the day there was no Nike or Adidas producing "sports specific" attire. It was either a uniform or a suit and tie. I think we can all agree that Casey Stengel hitting infield practice in a suit and tie would have looked ridiculous.

My guess is baseball managers and coaches wearing uniforms was born of necessity and continues today because of tradition.

[Lights Out]

Personally - with the exception of baseball - I think all head coaches in football, basketball, and hockey should wear team apparel. They're one of the guys in charge of the team, might as well promote it.

[BBTV]

Now, that's how you go to work. Otherwise, I'd wear a hoodie, with the sleeves intact, and in the same color of what my team's jerseys were for that game.

and blend in with everyone on the sidelines. I guess it happens from time to time, but I'd guess that not many coaches try to camouflage themselves so they're players can't find them to pick up signals.

[oddball]

I don't care what a coach wears, as long as he coaches his team to wins. If he wins, I don't care if he's wearing a clown suit.