Is Notre Dame QB Jack Coan A ‘Game Manager’? Why He Says It’s A Good Label
The “game manager” moniker is a slippery slope.
With how high-flying offenses can be in college football these days, it’s often used as a slightly belittling term. A game manager simply is not seen as a prolific passer. Think Greg McElroy, not Tua Tagovailoa or even Mac Jones. Alabama’s quarterbacks have come a long way in the last decade.
Not every QB views the game manager tag in a derogatory sense, though. Notre Dame starter Jack Coan was asked directly what he thinks of it. He didn’t sound at all displeased with the notion some would insinuate he fits the description.
"I don't know exactly what 'game manager' equates to,” Coan said. “I mean, it sounds good. I feel like it's a guy that protects the football, keeps the team in good situations, is great situationally, throws a lot of completions — I feel like that's all good stuff."
So what’s to make of Coan’s comment? Is it a self-admission he’s not going to light up opposing defenses for 300-plus yards and three-plus touchdowns every weekend? Or is it a fifth-year college quarterback understanding his limitations and being reasonable about what he can do with his strengths?
Probably a bit of both.
Coan isn’t appearing high on lists of Heisman Trophy odds. He has 23 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in his entire career. Those numbers wouldn’t sniff Heisman consideration in 2021. They’re probably not good enough to win the Davey O’Brien Award, given annually to college football’s best quarterback, either.
Coan didn’t transfer to Notre Dame to win awards, though. He’s here to win games. With the cast of characters he has around him on the Irish roster, he can certainly do that — even if the 6-3¼, 223-pound QB is just a game manager.
Tommy Rees, Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator, was a bit of a game manager himself during his playing career in South Bend from 2010-13. He didn’t overwhelm defenses with his arm, wasn’t overly athletic and was not one of the premier playmakers in the sport.
Rees still went 19-8 with 7,670 passing yards and 61 touchdowns and 37 interceptions in his Irish career. Not mind-numbing statistics. But not terrible ones either. Coan hasn’t drawn any comparisons to Rees anyway. He’s bigger. He’s more accurate. He can make throws Rees couldn’t.
Rees said Coan has been a joy to coach.
“It’s the consistency in Jack’s approach day in and day out that’s put him in a pretty good position,” Rees told reporters less than an hour after Coan was named the team's starter.
Coan told Rees not to go easy on him from the very first spring practice five months ago. Rees responded that he might need a few sessions to get comfortable coaching a newcomer in that way, but Coan wasn’t having any of that.
“I told him there’s no need,” Coan said. “I said I feel comfortable. I’m ready to go. I can take the hard coaching. It’s all I wanted.”
Coan is no Ian Book with his legs. He’s not going to look to run nearly as much. Probably not even half as much. But that doesn’t mean he can’t. Coan ran for 2,551 yards and 33 touchdowns in his high school career in Long Island.
“It’s definitely something I can do if I feel that I need to,” Coan said on being more of a dual-threat quarterback. “If the opportunity presents itself, I’d definitely do it.”
That’s not something a game manager by every definition of the term would say. Sure, Coan likes a lot of what the label entails. He admitted as much. But he definitely does not bring a limited mindset to the table.
He’s going to manage games. What quarterback isn’t trying to do that? But he’s also going to do everything he can to win them. He’s not going to put that burden on the Notre Dame defense or junior running back Kyren Williams or anyone else.
He can get help from them. But at the end of the day, he’s QB1. That title will always come before game manager or whatever else anyone decides to call him.
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