North Carolina assistant Dre Bly discusses transition from playing to coaching

For former Tar Heel great and current North Carolina cornerbacks coach Dre Bly, the transition from making plays to coaching players was fairly easy. In fact, Bly says coaching isn’t much of a challenge to him. He loves it. He’s surrounded by coaching/teaching-minded people. The job comes naturally to him.

At a recent press conference, Bly was asked about the transition and gave a long and thoughtful answer addressing how he enjoys getting to coach young men every day. You can read below:

“I don’t think coaching has been a challenge to me. My mother and father taught school for over 30 years. I got five kids, I’ve been coaching. My personality has been pretty much suited for being very relational and teaching and giving back. You know, the stereotype of former players struggling transitioning to coaching. But I mean, it varies. Everybody is different, but it’s based on your relational skills. Some guys can get up and draw their stuff on the board, and they’re better suited than somebody that’s very relational. To me, what you can teach a player, how he responds to you, is what matters.”

It’s all about the relationships for Bly. Sure, some coaches may draw up better plays or possess smarter football minds. But none of that matters if you can’t connect with the players on a personal level.

“I’m blessed to be around some great men. When I took this job, going on four years ago, I didn’t come in trying to outperform every man that was here. The one thing I wanted to flourish in was being very relational with the guys. Making sure that my guys understood technique. You know, they were going to embrace the brotherhood. And then, every year I want to get better in another area. I think what happens in this profession with guys — they try to take on so much and not rely on different people for different roles. So I’ve embraced my role.”

Bly continued, praising North Carolina head coach Mack Brown in the process.

“I think Coach Brown has done a tremendous in allowing his coaches to be who they are and that’s my approach. I’m loving what I do. I’m going to continue to get better. My guys are continuing to walk the way I walk. They’re going to be aggressive, be nasty; that’s going to be their mentality.”

Bly is clear with his message: that he loves coaching. For him, he enjoys working with young men every day, and while results are important, wins won’t come unless the coach and player are on the same page.