Just out of curiosity, why would his playing career be irrelevant? He obviously had enough athletic ability to make it to the Major Leagues. But he was a below average Major League hitter. If he was unable to develop himself as a hitter, when he had every motivation in the world to do so (his financial future depended on his ability to play the game), what makes anybody think that he can develop others as hitters? What has Darnell Coles shown that convinces anybody he's the answer? What raw talent has he developed into a top flight hitter? The Brewers are 6th in the NL in OPS so they seem to be doing just fine. More generally, I just don't buy the anecdotal evidence. For every Gennett there was a Chris Carter. Arcia is younger than Brinson who has a .512 OPS with Miami. I honestly don't know if Coles is doing a good job or not but since the offense is above average it's hard to make a solid case against him. Guys like Shaw and Aguilar have been great with the Brewers after never accomplishing much elsewhere. The Brewers have been below average in runs scored every year of Coles' tenure, never higher than 20th. Chris Carter is an odd example in Coles'' favor as he was basically the same exact one trick pony for the Brewers as he was for his entire career anywhere.