Black Widow
01-23-2009, 10:03 PM
World Wrestling Entertainment has a coaching vacancy.
After nine years as a WWE performer, "The Coach" Jonathan Coachman left the promotion last year to pursue another type of announcing career. Coachman is now anchoring segments for ESPN News along with other broadcasting responsibilities for the all-sports network.
"Sportscasting has always been my dream," Coachman said in a recent telephone interview. "I enjoy wrestling and I'm a fan, but I never wanted to spend my whole life in it. This was a no-brainer for me."
A local television news reporter in Kansas City, Mo., before joining WWE in 1999, Coachman never strayed far from his sports roots. He served as a sideline reporter for WWE owner Vince McMahon's ill-fated XFL pro-football league in 2001. More recently, Coachman worked part-time for College Sports Television (CSTV) and Madison Square Garden (MSG) Network with a primary focus on college and pro basketball.
Juggling those responsibilities and a full-time WWE schedule eventually became too much.
"It really started to wear on me the last couple of years," Coachman said. "I enjoyed the (WWE) job, but not the travel. Toward the end between doing games and WWE shows, I was on the road five days a week for 51 weeks a year. I also got married, which put strain as well."
Coachman's love of travel figured into his wanting to join WWE. In fact, Coachman said the main reason he initially agreed to a WWE job interview was the chance to visit New York City for the first time.
It wasn't long before Coachman was seeing the world. "Coach" debuted doing backstage interviews and quickly gained fame for being the butt of insults by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Coachman gradually segued to play-by-play and analyst duties on both of WWE's flagship shows ("Monday Night Raw" and "Smackdown") as well as several stints as a heel "general manager." Coachman, who played small-school college basketball, even wrestled on occasion.
Coachman said he enjoyed serving as general manager more than an announcer because of McMahon's excessive demands from the latter position. McMahon is known for telling his announcers what to say during shows and then becoming infuriated if certain story-line points aren't emphasized strongly enough.
Coachman's final WWE appearance came last April after a bumpy stint as a "Smackdown" commentator.
"In the GM-type role, I got to be creative writing my own (interviews)," Coachman said. "It got to the point that announcing for me wasn't all that much fun because we didn't really get to do what we wanted. As good as Vince was to us, he could be very controlling. I understand that. This is his baby."
As he began expanding his announcing horizons, Coachman admits he worried that some of his outrageous WWE antics would threaten his credibility among sports fans and other employers. It turns out Coachman had nothing to worry about.
"In the last 18 months when I was at MSG and asked (by WWE) to do a few things a legit sports guy wouldn't do, I questioned that a little bit," Coachman said. "But I also found quite a bit of our (WWE) audience -- maybe 95 percent -- doesn't watch real sports. I never received any backlash whenever I did something a little off-color."
Coachman doesn't have to worry about offending anyone's sensibilities again. Coachman says he will never work for WWE again as he blazes a new career trail in sports journalism.
"I have nothing against WWE," said Coachman, 36. "I still talk to a lot of those guys and occasionally go see them backstage. But that chapter in my life is certainly closed. There's no chance I'm going back."
scrippsnews.com
After nine years as a WWE performer, "The Coach" Jonathan Coachman left the promotion last year to pursue another type of announcing career. Coachman is now anchoring segments for ESPN News along with other broadcasting responsibilities for the all-sports network.
"Sportscasting has always been my dream," Coachman said in a recent telephone interview. "I enjoy wrestling and I'm a fan, but I never wanted to spend my whole life in it. This was a no-brainer for me."
A local television news reporter in Kansas City, Mo., before joining WWE in 1999, Coachman never strayed far from his sports roots. He served as a sideline reporter for WWE owner Vince McMahon's ill-fated XFL pro-football league in 2001. More recently, Coachman worked part-time for College Sports Television (CSTV) and Madison Square Garden (MSG) Network with a primary focus on college and pro basketball.
Juggling those responsibilities and a full-time WWE schedule eventually became too much.
"It really started to wear on me the last couple of years," Coachman said. "I enjoyed the (WWE) job, but not the travel. Toward the end between doing games and WWE shows, I was on the road five days a week for 51 weeks a year. I also got married, which put strain as well."
Coachman's love of travel figured into his wanting to join WWE. In fact, Coachman said the main reason he initially agreed to a WWE job interview was the chance to visit New York City for the first time.
It wasn't long before Coachman was seeing the world. "Coach" debuted doing backstage interviews and quickly gained fame for being the butt of insults by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Coachman gradually segued to play-by-play and analyst duties on both of WWE's flagship shows ("Monday Night Raw" and "Smackdown") as well as several stints as a heel "general manager." Coachman, who played small-school college basketball, even wrestled on occasion.
Coachman said he enjoyed serving as general manager more than an announcer because of McMahon's excessive demands from the latter position. McMahon is known for telling his announcers what to say during shows and then becoming infuriated if certain story-line points aren't emphasized strongly enough.
Coachman's final WWE appearance came last April after a bumpy stint as a "Smackdown" commentator.
"In the GM-type role, I got to be creative writing my own (interviews)," Coachman said. "It got to the point that announcing for me wasn't all that much fun because we didn't really get to do what we wanted. As good as Vince was to us, he could be very controlling. I understand that. This is his baby."
As he began expanding his announcing horizons, Coachman admits he worried that some of his outrageous WWE antics would threaten his credibility among sports fans and other employers. It turns out Coachman had nothing to worry about.
"In the last 18 months when I was at MSG and asked (by WWE) to do a few things a legit sports guy wouldn't do, I questioned that a little bit," Coachman said. "But I also found quite a bit of our (WWE) audience -- maybe 95 percent -- doesn't watch real sports. I never received any backlash whenever I did something a little off-color."
Coachman doesn't have to worry about offending anyone's sensibilities again. Coachman says he will never work for WWE again as he blazes a new career trail in sports journalism.
"I have nothing against WWE," said Coachman, 36. "I still talk to a lot of those guys and occasionally go see them backstage. But that chapter in my life is certainly closed. There's no chance I'm going back."
scrippsnews.com