Broadcasting

 Steve Kerr and Mark Jackson were both very successful basketball players in their own right, but it seems to me that broadcasting helped punch their head coaching tickets.  Becoming broadcasters for the NBA helped these former players provide their knowledge of the game and it gave front offices a chance to witness highly educated basketball minds.  They both have very high basketball I.Q.s and this allowed some NBA front offices to scout them, even if they weren’t necessarily preparing to become head coaches.