Coaches boast sizable influence on professional, collegiate teams: study

CHICAGO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- coaches have significant impact on success in both the professional and collegiate ranks, according to a study posted on the website of the University of Chicago on Wednesday.

coaches account for 20 percent to 30 percent of the variation in team outcomes, concluded the researchers of the study after analyzing hundreds of seasons of data, including wins and losses as well as scores and statistics.

"We find that coaches do, in fact, matter, and suggestions that coaches are interchangeable, which has been the dominant view in the sports analytics community, are not true. In every sport we studied, we found that coaches impact variables that contribute to a higher winning percentage," said Christopher R. Berry, a leading policy scholar renowned for innovative analysis at the university.

The study also found that coaches matter more in college football than in the pros. They significantly affect points scored, points allowed, point differential and victories, according to the study.

Meanwhile, the researchers discovered that coaching impact varied across the sports studied, which included Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, college football and college basketball.

Baseball managers, for example, had more impact on runs allowed as against runs scored, while college football coaches affected outcomes more than their professional counterparts, it added.