Clear eyes, full hearts can’t lose — you know the mantra. Head coach Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights is an absolute legend for his passion, ability to connect with players, and of course, his penchant for winning. However, Kyle Chandler, the actor who played Taylor on the show, recently admitted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he “couldn’t coach my way out of a paper bag.” In fact, he declines opportunities to speak in front of teams, coaches, and players for that very reason.
Obviously, however, his lack of coaching experience didn’t hurt him in his role on Friday Night Lights. Interestingly enough, he attributes that to reading a biography of current New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick:
“The irony, of course, is that Chandler had reservations about taking the Coach Taylor role. “Billy Bob [Thornton] played the original coach [in the 2004 movie], and I thought, ‘I’m not old enough, I don’t have that,’ ” he says. Plus, he wasn’t exactly a sports buff, much less an athlete. “He’s not that guy who’s going to sit down on Sunday and watch eight hours of football,” says Taylor Kitsch (who played FNL‘s Tim Riggins), with whom he bonded during long motorcycle rides. Chandler found inspiration in a biography of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick…”
This is pretty interesting because Belichick seems the opposite of Taylor personality-wise — he’s certainly not very outgoing — but there’s no disputing that Belichick does know how to win. We’re not sure how we feel about this whole Belichick-Taylor connection though.