It's tough to be a successful coach at the professional level in any city. Being successful in a city like Boston where sports are revered and every play can be life or death? That's damn-near impossible.
Boston is one of, if not, the best sports city in the world. The fans are devoted, educated and passionate, and there aren't many markets that are able to produce winners right now like Boston.
But while Boston can bring unparalleled levels of success for those in charge of the teams in Boston — the head coaches — it can also bring stress along with a never-ending supply of gray hairs.
Fans and media alike expect the most out of their sports teams, and when they don't get the success they so desperately crave, they usually go after the head coach.
Take Terry Francona for example. Francona has to lead his team through a grueling 162-game schedule and every night he must explain each and every one of his decisions — right or wrong — with a media gathering that is very willing to point out to him when those decisions are wrong.
This season, it's been even more difficult for the two-time World Series-winning skipper. He's had to deal with a rash of injuries experienced by very few teams in any sport.
But he's not alone, of course. Celtics coach Doc Rivers thought about walking away at the end of this past season, a season in which his team came within a quarter of winning their second championship under him.
The stress of his job is evidenced by not only his uncertainty about whether or not he'd return, but one look at Rivers during a postgame news conference should tell you all you need to know. Not to mention every night is a balancing act in an attempt to keep his stable of future Hall of Famers happy.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick does his work in Foxboro, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel the pressure of Boston. Belichick is so good at what he does, that expectations are always sky-high. When you're one of the best, everybody expects you to be the best every year, something the hooded one can definitely attest to.
At the end of the day, perhaps Bruins coach Claude Julien has it the worst, relatively speaking, of course. Boston is a hockey town, maybe more so than anything else, and Julien is the man who currently has the job of bringing a Stanley Cup back to the success-hungry fans for the first time since 1972.
Not to mention, there was that whole playoff collapse against the Flyers last year still fresh in the minds of B's fans everywhere.
Coaching in Boston. It's something that can be great, and it's something that can wear you down in a heartbeat.
While we have four talented coaches, all of them have difficult jobs. The question is, though, which head coach has the toughest job in Boston?
Share your thoughts below.
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