"Leadership. He's got to be able to stand up in front of the room and lead the room," said Texans general manager Charley Casserly. "If they don't believe you and they won't follow you, it doesn't make a difference what you say after that. I think leadership gets into credibility. You have got to be able to lead a group of men forward." -- Charlie Casserly, GM - Huston Texans

"I think focus and discipline are the top traits," said Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver. "All these coaches are good Xs and Os guys, but there is a presence that comes from focus and discipline to make your players better. If your players can see this and buy into what you are teaching, you're going to make them successful. It's no different than our other business. People have to buy into what you are trying to sell. When they do that, they believe in what they are doing and that makes them better players. Bill Parcells has done that with Quincy Carter, that's probably the best example of what I'm talking about." - Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver

"Personally, I think the No. 1 trait is the ability to get people to perform at a level they don't think they are capable of," said Chiefs president and GM Carl Peterson. "I think that quality is that much more important than any other quality. That's what Dick (Vermeil) did in Philadelphia, he did it in St. Louis and he's doing it with us in Kansas City. I ask him to get his players and coaches to perform at a level they didn't think possible. When you have 53 guys, 20 coaches and all the egos at this level, that's a big challenge." -- Chiefs president and GM Carl Peterson

When it gets difficult, I think there are some coaches who will not face problems and the adversity face-to-face," said Colts owner Jim Irsay. "They'll go into the film room and try to spend twice as much time with the Xs and Os instead of spending more time leading. The Xs and Os part is not even close to the leadership quality in my estimation. In fact, I'd put organizational skills next after leadership.

"I've seen a lot of guys who are the flavors of the year and guys move up the links because they are part of the West Coast offense tree or guys from a defensive school. But if they don't have the leadership skills, it's going to be difficult for them to succeed." -- Colts owner Jim Irsay.

"I think the ability to understand how to formulate a plan, implement it and cause the people under your command to believe in you and what you are doing and to follow you down the course that you set," said Browns admiral Carmen Policy. "When I use the term leadership ability, I am clueing in the fact that there are some givens. A coach has got to understand what he knows and what he doesn't know, and he has to balance those shortcomings with his strengths. I honestly believe you can have all the knowledge that there is in football, but if you don't have those leadership qualities, you're going nowhere in the National Football League." -- Browns GM - Carmen Policy

"I would say the top trait of a successful head coach would be conviction," said Tampa general manager Rich McKay. "What I mean by that is the conviction of how he goes about his business. It may be boisterous and tough and a hardliner. It may be that they are soft and business-like. Whatever their style, they must do it with conviction. If they have conviction, they'll create consistency. If the players don't know what to expect and there is no consistency, it seems to me that players will lose faith in the coach." --Tampa general manager Rich McKay

I think the trait that is most important is intelligence," said Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie. "It's like being a CEO of a company but you've got to be able to deal with so many areas of a team. He's got to get all parts of that company to gel together and fit as one. There is so much more to the job now than just the coaching aspects. You've got to have that intelligence in order to make all those parts work together."- Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie