As the new season gets under way, more than 100 Division I-A coaches will go to work each morning and find about 200 people waiting for their marching orders.

Players, assistant coaches, strength and conditioning staff, trainers, managers and doctors, along with academic support staff and office staff are all depending on the coach. They look to him to provide leadership and direction in their various responsibilities to the success of the team.

But what about when the band is playing? The ability to function with a clear mind and total focus is a rare trait in such situations. Decisions have to be made in 25 seconds that will affect the outcome of the game, many lives and championship hopes, and a coach must be able to thrive in that environment.

So rather than dwell on the obvious -- the Xs and Os abilities that all good coaches have -- let's take a look at two traits which I believe separate the great coaches from the merely good.

The first is how well he handles pressure. Every coach in the country can tell people what to do before and after games, and they all can break things down on talk shows.

But what about when the band is playing? The ability to function with a clear mind and total focus is a rare trait in such situations. Decisions have to be made in 25 seconds that will affect the outcome of the game, many lives and championship hopes, and a coach must be able to thrive in that environment.

That means a coach has to prepare his team in such a way that it reaches its zenith on Saturdays, because confidence and performance -- not potential -- make the difference in those situations.

Away from the field, great coaches have the ability to look toward the future. There must be a contingency plan for everything. A great coach will never give up on any player and always looks for a way he can contribute to the team, be it by position change or on special teams.

And there must always be an eye on recruiting and replenishing the program. Every player a coach signs must be compared to those the best teams in the league brings in. When I coached at Marshall I asked my staff if a given kid would help us beat Georgia Southern, and at Georgia the question was whether he could compete against Florida and Tennessee.

Consider the following if you want to know how important contingency planning can impact everyone involved with the team:

I was hired as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 1985 and asked to install a basic passing game to complement the wishbone option attack. We wanted to take advantage of the skills of quarterback Troy Aikman, and ended up taking a 3-0 record into an early-season game against Miami.

Aikman broke his leg in that game and it turned into our only loss of the season. But we had a good contingency plan in place and went back to the wishbone with freshman QB Jamelle Holloway, and that, combined with a great defense, went on to help us win the national championship.

I was the head coach at Georgia in 2000 when a similar situation arose. We had a veteran team with Quincy Carter as its only experienced quarterback, and he ended up injuring his thumb against Florida. I opted not to play talented freshman David Greene over the last four games of the year -- in order to save his redshirt year -- and we went just 2-2 the rest of the way.

We had saved David a year of eligibility, but the losses to archrivals Georgia Tech and Auburn probably cost me my job. I looked toward the future, and while it was an unfortunate situation for me it was a positive for Georgia because David has turned out to be a great player over the last two years.

ESPN.com college football analyst Jim Donnan takes part in chats and makes observations on Saturdays as part of College GameDay Online.