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Wear and tear
Coaching can be a dangerous job with stress adding to deteriorating health
By Lynn DeBruin
Rocky Mountain News
March 8, 2005

BOULDER - When Ceal Barry says goodbye to a game she has known for more than two decades, she will leave with her health intact.

In an occupation in which stress these days is measured by the number of coaches collapsing, that might be more of an accomplishment than the 427 victories she has racked up as the University of Colorado women's basketball coach.

"I just didn't want to have all the (problems) I see in my profession. I've seen a lot (in 26 years)."

She was speaking about a different kind of March Madness, the stress-related responses that have claimed some of the game's best coaches.

Two months ago, Oregon State's Jay John was taken away in an ambulance because of chest pains and shortness of breath stemming from the hypertension he failed to address.

In November, longtime Penn State women's coach Rene Portland, a former CU coach, just days after fainting on a team flight, took a three-game leave of absence because of health concerns.

Just last month, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who missed most of the 1994-95 season because of exhaustion, gave players and fans a scare when he fell to the court after becoming light-headed during a timeout. He was OK, but he had doctors check him out just be sure.

Few will forget the sudden resignations of Rick Majerus and Rudy Tomjanovich.

Majerus, who resigned from Utah midway through the 2003-04 season because of health concerns, backed out of coaching Southern California in December after only a few days - even though he was not going to coach the Trojans until next season.

Though he always has battled weight problems and has had multiple heart bypass procedures, he said he was physically fit for any job "except astronaut or coach."

Tomjanovich, only 43 games into a five-year, $30 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, said he was physically and emotionally spent and worried the stress might bring back the bladder cancer he beat less than two years earlier.

"All I was thinking about was how to win the next damn game," Tomjanovich said at his farewell news conference. "It just kept wearing on me and wearing on me and my resistance got low and it hurt my health."

Football has its own examples, from the burnout cited by Joe Gibbs and Dick Vermeil to the heart problems experienced by Mike Ditka and Dan Reeves.

Ditka, who guided the Chicago Bears (1982-92) to six NFC Central Division titles and a win in Super Bowl XX, suffered a midseason heart attack in 1988.

He eventually left coaching to become a TV analyst, part owner of the Arena Football League's Chicago Rush and a national spokesman for "Tackling Men's Health," a wellness program sponsored by the NFL and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline.

Reeves, who led the Denver Broncos to three Super Bowl appearances, had to be taken to the hospital in 1990 after failing a stress test during training camp.

He still remembers the burning sensation he felt in his throat and the inability to catch his breath - the result of three blocked arteries that would be cleared with an experimental procedure.

Eight years later, while coaching the Atlanta Falcons, Reeves again felt chest pains - this time during a game - and would require quadruple-bypass surgery.

"Stress? What stress," he joked now that he's out of coaching.

Though skeptical at first about the effects of stress, his amazingly good cholesterol results clearly correlated to his new life of leisure.

"I don't have to guess anymore. There's no question it affects you. The question is, 'Can you handle it?' " Reeves said.

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Just recently, former Broncos offensive line coach Alex Gibbs decided he couldn't.

Though Gibbs signed a three-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons 14 months ago, he has backed out of that deal.

He has decided he will work part time the way he did his final three years in Denver or sit out next season completely, then reassess his options.

"I knew probably about the 10th game that I was beginning to show some of the same signs," Gibbs said, recalling the near nervous breakdown he suffered in Denver 41/2 years ago.

He couldn't control his temper and couldn't get along with fellow coaches.

"I didn't like myself, but I couldn't stop working and couldn't slow down," Gibbs said. "We were playing well, we were in the (playoff) hunt and I kept going."

Compounding the stress was the fact as part of a new coaching staff, Gibbs and the others in Atlanta essentially worked the equivalent of two NFL seasons.

"It was five months of 100-hour weeks, then a seven-month season with 115-hour weeks," Gibbs said.

Maybe he could have handled that when he was 25, but not at 64.

"I'm just glad this time I recognized it," he said. "I want quality. You start to ask how many great years do you have left in your life, what am I working for?"

He said he already feels better having made the decision and soon will settle into a new routine, one that involves morning runs up Phoenix's Camelback Mountain, reading and gardening.

He even will dare to sit down to eat, something he didn't do for six months at a time while coaching.

"I don't think I'm going over the edge anymore," he said. "I know where it is and I'm not getting that close."

Frozen by stress

For Barry, there were a few defining moments that ensured she would find the happy medium many others cannot.

She spoke candidly about the "frozen shoulders" she experienced in 1995 and 1999, stress-related adhesions in her shoulder girdle that left her unable to buckle a seat belt, open her car door or put on a sweatshirt.

At first, she ignored the symptoms just as she ignored the mail that arrived at her home during the 1994-95 season.

"We were 30-2, No. 2 in the nation, we had this place packed," Barry said of 11,064-seat Coors Events Center. "Back in those days, my bills would be overdue. I'd open a bill but wouldn't remember if I'd paid it."

Even when she thinks back to 1997, where photos show her cutting down the net after the Big 12 championship, it still is hard to forget the pain of strep throat - an illness that probably should have kept her off the bench.

"I've had stress-related challenges. When those things happened (in the late 1990s), I made a conscious decision that I was not going to be one of those coaches," she said, referring to those who do not eat right, drink too much and do not exercise.

After experiencing that second "frozen shoulder" in 1999, Barry realized she had to back off a little bit. She would continue with her diligent exercise routine, one that always has kept her trim and fit, but made a conscious effort to take more time for herself.

"Of the 28 years doing this, I would say the last eight I have definitely taken more time. And it's probably impacted my job, too," said Barry, ever self-critical.

Whoever fills her shoes not only will have to replace a coaching legend but cope with the pressure that has increased over the years because of recruiting wars, television exposure and the presence of pro leagues for women.

"I didn't quit because I'm in bad health. I resigned because I need new energy, need new focus, need change and so does this program," said Barry, who will stay at CU as an assistant athletic director.

"So it's time for a change, time for growth. But there are certain pitfalls in our profession as far as the stress is concerned."

As for ways others might deal with that stress, Barry was forthright.

"We're role models," she said of coaches. "We literally need to practice what we preach and we need to make sure that we live what we preach.

"The good coach is going to understand that they have to live good health."

Good and bad

To hear medical experts talk, stress is not always a bad thing.

John Murray, a noted sports psychologist in Florida, said a little stress has proven beneficial.

"There's research to show stress can actually activate the immune system and toughen people to cope with the demands more effectively," he said.

Where it is dangerous - and when it can trigger physical problems from heart disease to cancer - is when it goes unchecked for prolonged periods without relief.

He has worked with coaches and players on ways to manage stress before it becomes too overwhelming.

"We have to stop putting Band- Aids on things," he said. "Do you wait until your teeth rot before you go to the dentist? We need preventive care."

Murray has advocated all sports teams do assessments on players and coaches to determine how each responds to potentially different stressers.

"Because the stakes are raised, you've got to have additional resources," Murray said.

Some, however, question whether there is an answer for ultracompetitive types such as Gibbs.

Mark Schlereth, an NFL lineman- turned-TV analyst who played under Gibbs, said he sees the same danger signs in himself.

It is why he does not lift weights anymore, fearful he will get into a competition with himself that will result in injury.

"I'm old. I'm beat up. I'm broke down," he said.

But that did not stop him from jumping into a recent college drill when he saw players using improper technique.

"I snapped. I was out there practicing with them," he said. "That competitive spirit is there. I can't taper that."

At least as a player and analyst, there is control over the product.

"In the (media), you're responsible for what product you put out there. You write a (bad) article and guess who gets blamed?" he said.

"Not in coaching. You could put the best game plan in the world together, but if guys don't care or aren't motivated or go out and (mess) it up, it goes on the coaching staff."

While the win-or-else mentality might be no different for a coach than it is for a corporate executive, Reeves said there is one difference.

"Everybody knows your job better than you do," said Reeves, who has been fired three times. "There's no (other) profession where everybody on Monday knows what you did wrong. If you're a CEO, you have quarterly meetings and the board may know but the public doesn't scrutinize you.

"I'm a lot smarter now that I'm host of a (sports) talk show."

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Tel: 561-596-9898