Coach | QB Jack Coan Brings Experience, Intangibles To Notre Dame
Robert Hoss doesn’t believe you can measure Jack Coan’s ability as a quarterback with just…well, the measureables.
“Anyone can watch the tape and make their own evaluations, but for me I think you’re getting stability,” the former head coach at Sayville High School in New York says of Coan, who announced he’ll transfer from Wisconsin to Notre Dame to do a graduate season in 2021.
“You’re getting a kid who is going to come in there and not be overwhelmed by the experience.”
Few positions in sports are as unique as the quarterback position at Notre Dame, but Hoss believes Coan’s experiences with the Badgers will help him.
“Obviously, Notre Dame is a national program,” the coach says. “We get that. But here’s a kid who has played in the Rose Bowl. He’s played in the Big Ten Championship. He’s played against top teams. He’s seen pretty much any defense you can put out there.
“He’s got a tremendous amount of experience in playing in 25 games and starting 18. I think you’re getting a kid who is very poised. He’s never overwhelmed by the moment. That’s not just coachspeak, you can watch the tape and see it. Whether it’s a touchdown or an interception or anything in between, he never really changes who he is.”
Coan’s impact on the Wisconsin program was felt on the field and off.
“If you would just scroll over the Wisconsin players’ Twitter accounts, you can just see the love they have for him with their reactions of him going to Notre Dame,” Hoss says.
“He really does leave there as a leader. He was a leader in that locker room. He was a leader with the social movement for some of the players on the team who experienced different aspects of society. He’s going to be a great fit in that locker room. He’ll never take away from what Notre Dame does, he’ll try to add to it.”
Hoss calls Coan “an extremely powerful kid,” but again points to the intangibles as his greatest strengths on the field.
“He processes information extremely fast,” the coach says. “Everybody is going to have an opinion about how strong an arm a quarterback has or how fast they are with their feet, but for someone who is a quarterback person like myself, accuracy and processing information are really big. One of the things Jack has always been very good at from high school to college is processing information and being accurate with the ball.
“Knowing where to go with the ball at the right time as opposed to trying to fit it into a window because you’re not reading stuff as quick as you should, an arm can get you in trouble. I think the biggest things for him are his accuracy and ability to process information very fast.”