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Being A TV Sports Analyst Is Apparently An Awesome Gig

Jeff Van Gundy is officially out of the running (by choice) for the New Jersey Nets‘ (or any) NBA coaching job. Next year will mark the fourth consecutive season out of coaching for Van Gundy – and most likely also the fourth consecutive season he could have had a coaching job if he wanted it. It seems, though, that Van Gundy is too happy doing what he’s doing – providing color commentary for NBA games on ESPN – to go back to the grind of running a team. And he’s not alone in that line of thinking.

Consider Jon Gruden, who was linked to both the Notre Dame and Washington Redskins head coaching positions last year, before agreeing to stay on as part of ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth. And then there’s Bill Cowher, who will spend his fourth consecutive year out of coaching to stay with CBS, surprising pretty much everyone that he’s still not coaching. And Cowher could have any job he wants. The Bills would have taken him. Some believed that not only would the Redskins have taken him, they’d have given him huge money. The Jets were more interested in him than he was in them – you get the idea. Yet here he is, still doing TV.

So why do all these hyper-competitive, hyper-intense guys keep declining to return to the hyper-intense, hyper-competitive business that’s made for them? Well, it seems like all that competition and intensity takes a toll. Rather than make massive salaries working mind-numbing hours and spending every waking moment around the game, on TV they get to make massive salaries working far less stressful hours and spending still-significant, but much less, time around the game. Plus, the repartee is just delightful.

One thing to note, however, is that Gruden, Cowher, and Van Gundy still aren’t very old in coach-years – Cowher is the oldest of the bunch at 53. Most likely, all of them will be back in coaching again at some point (although we think that every year). But these guys have all had too much success and love their respective sports a little too much not to throw themselves completely back into the fray. But since they all have such a nice back-up plan, they can take their time doing it. Though exactly when any of them will return is unsure, one thing is – if and when ESPN has to replace Van Gundy, they won’t be looking at Lawrence Frank.

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