It’s different, the relationship fans have with the men who coach their teams and the men who play for those teams. Fans are inclined to idolize athletes; they want to cheer them, support them, forgive them their slumps and indulge them their streaks. Oh, they’ll boo them, yes, but only as a last resort.
Coaches?
Put it this way: Tom Coughlin has won two Super Bowls, yet there is a segment of Giants fans – larger than you would suspect – who weekly wonder if Coughlin knows if the ball is blown up or stuffed.