> Yes, a manager is more like the coach of a sport team.

Do a lot of sports team have coaches that have never played that sport in their life?

Never played at all would be strange (it seems uncommon to watch a sport you have never played, let alone make a career of it). It's pretty common in the NFL to see coaches who were never professional players and possibly only played at a small college to boot.

If I understand correctly, the short answer is no.

While one who has at least dabbled in coding is preferable, a great manager can be effective even if they've never written a line of code in their life.

I'd much prefer a manager who knows how to manage but not how to code over a manager who knows how to code but not how to manage.

As if the 3rd option does not exist. A manager that knows how to manage but also knows how the pie is made.

That's obviously ideal. I didn't mention it not because it doesn't exist, but because I was trying to do a "compare and contrast" with the other two, more extreme, cases.