When you speak of the Pat Rileys, the Phil Jacksons, you have to speak of Don Nelson and the success that he has had in the game.
All really successful coaches have a system.
I have been impressed by Carlo Ancelotti, Kevin Keegan, Arsene Wenger, Guus Hiddink, Christoph Daum and Sam Allardyce.
Greg Davis, Ron Randleman, David Bailiff, Paul Rhoads, Urban Meyer. I would be remiss if I didn't mention all of them as influences.
In Seattle, I've talked about how Pete Carroll is such... I'm kind of surprised at the variety of styles that successful coaches can have. Some are very communicative and positive and energized - like, Pete Carroll has all that in spades. Some of them are more cerebral; some are more directive.
Sir Alex Ferguson already has his place in the history books; he is definitely one of the best coaches ever.
I've lost count of all my assistant coaches who have been made head coaches.
If you ask a million players who they would want as manager, they will come back with a top three list of Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, or Diego Simeone.
Wenger and Mourinho are different, but there is one thing they have in common, and that is that they do not like defeats. And I think this is the driving force behind the success of both of them.
The Premier league is better with Mourinho.
