Daily Madden: Kerr Gets Big Payday, But Will Need Help As First-Time Coach
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - The Golden State Warriors Wednesday signed Steve Kerr to his first head coaching job.
"He was a great player and he knows basketball and he was a general manager, but a coach has to do so much more," John Madden told the KCBS Radio morning crew. "You have to have your own program as a head coach. What's your off-season program? What's your training camp (plan)? What's your pre-season plan? How do you build a team? All those things that players don't have to think about and assistant coaches don't have to think about. And once you become a head coach, it's a totally different deal."
Madden said Kerr will need an experienced 'organizational coach' to help run the team.
"If you know what you don't know, then you know how to go get that person... You have to get a guy that has that because there's no way that you can have it," Madden said.
Negotiating with both the New York Knicks and the Warriors, the rookie coach will be among the league's highest paid with his five-year $25 million contract.
"If you have a team that wants you as a coach you're going to get a pretty good contract today, whatever the sport," Madden said. "Now if you have two teams that want you, and they're competing to get you, you're going to get overpaid. And that's exactly what happened here... In the long run, he probably picked the best team, the best players, which is probably the right way to go." (6:50)
(Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.)