Coaches’ stress stems from lost perspective

My favorite story: Former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs used to have his wife tape dinner-table conversations so that he could keep up with his family. He would listen to the tapes between important meetings. You know: like punt coverage.

I feel bad for coaches who’ve obsessed and stressed themselves to the point of having health issues. I really feel bad for their families. But it’s all self-inflicted.

Perspective, people. The jobs that truly should be considered the most stressful don’t involve wearing a whistle around your neck or deciding what to do on fourth-and-1.

Brain surgeons and heart surgeons have high-stress jobs. It’s easy to understand if they lose sleep at night.

Emergency-room doctors, anesthetists, obstetricians, mental-health counselors who have to hear other people’s problems all day and strive to dissuade them out of harming themselves.

Pilots. Air-traffic controllers. Presidents. 911 operators. Detectives and first responders to a murder scene. SWAT team members. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines.

School principals. (My wife made sure I added that one.)

Football coaches seldom lose because they didn’t work hard enough. Actually, sometimes the contrary is true. Some coaches and general managers have told me they took a year off between jobs to decompress and evaluate themselves. The added perspective paid off.

Hopefully, all coaches will begin to take better care of themselves — and understand that spending five fewer minutes in the film room isn’t the end of the world.