What defines a player's coach? It's pretty hard to quantify.
For me, "player's coach" has a negative connotation. It's a coach who lets his players walk all over him under the guise of caring for them.
Here's an example: I think it was the 30/30 on the 90's Cowboys where Aikman recounted a story about how the year after they won the Super Bowl with Switzer guys were getting lazy and showing up late to practice. And one practice guys were really doggin' it, and Aikman [paraphrased] goes, "I told Switzer that the guys weren't into it, and I was getting frustrated and waiting for him to blow up and tear the team a new one. And then he goes, 'Hey guys, it looks like you aren't feelin' it today, so how about we all just go home and try again tomorrow.' And I just about blew a gasket."
Lou Holtz wisely said, "Don't beat a team when they're down."
I think CGC's done a pretty good job of that. After the Clemson shellacking it wouldn't have done any good for him to start yelling at the players and telling them none of them would even be an SEC benchwarmer. I think he realized this would be a tough year and is minimizing the "y'all suck ... ON THE LINE!" talk. I think once his program is in place we'll (probably?) see more of a "football coach"; he did play LB in college, after all. Dabo, for all his baptizing and "Family Matters" talk is a pretty tough guy.
Time will tell, but honestly, I don't think CGC is a player's coach by my definition.