When the Yankees hired Aaron Boone out of the broadcast booth to be their manager, he had never held a job in baseball as a coach or manager, or even as a scout or executive.

But it is not quite true that Boone, 45, is completely bereft of coaching experience. For the last five years, he was the defensive coordinator of the mighty Steelers, a youth flag football juggernaut in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he makes his home.

“We used to joke with him when he was interviewing for the Yankees’ job,” said DeAndre Wadlington, a parent of one of the team’s players. “We’d read all this about him not having coaching experience and we’d be: ‘C’mon, man. He coached the Steelers.’ All he had to do was show his résumé.”

Wadlington paused to laugh.

“I told him when he got the job: ‘The Steelers prepared you for this.’”

Wadlington laughed some more, but he might have been on to something. Many of the qualities that parents say they saw Boone exhibit with their boys — upbeat, confident, calm and able to connect with players — are among the reasons the Yankees chose him.