The Paradox of Coaching

I thought it might be appropriate during this joyous holiday season to pause and take a moment to do some reflection. This post marks a temporary suspension of the A Coach's Dozen: 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches that series will resume next week. I have always tried to add a personal touch to everything I do. I think it is just part of my nature of wanting to bring a unique twist to whatever I am doing. This has been true in my family life, my approach to education, even how I would cut the grass on my baseball field, and especially how I have attempted to approach my work as a coaching scientist. For that reason, I have made a point of asking the coaches I work with a simple but very personal question: “What do you want other coaches to say about you?” Not too long ago I asked that question to a man I have always considered one of my coaching mentors. His response was equally personal and simple, “I want coaches to say my team is well coached.” Those words, well coached, haunt...

This article marks the eighth installment for the 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches . This post investigates the success paradox--the belief that the best test of any coach is to see what happens after someone makes a mistake. As a researcher who investigates the paradoxical forces involved in athletics, and as an educator who attempts to help coaches learn to be better coaches, I have been asks (too many time to count) what is the one idea that makes the biggest difference between great coaches and wayward coaches. My simple answer is this: For every positive, there is a negative. Failure is inevitable, so the key to success is to learn to be good at learning from your mistakes. The ability to capitalize on experience is the hallmark of great coaches, and the nemesis of the wayward coach. One of my research heroes Dr. Robert Sutton of Stanford University once said, “Failure sucks but instructs”. The paradox of success holds true for everyone, including those who deal with very dangerous...

This article marks the seventh installment for the  13 Beliefs of Good Sports Coaches . This post looks at the belief that attempting to be everything to everyone is not only foolish but impossible to do well. I mentioned before that I teach a Fundamentals of Coaching course at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Recently, the class discussion turned to the topic of delegating responsibilities. It is too simplistic to say, all good coaches are good delegators. Every coaching manual, leadership book, and self-help guru has so often repeated the idea leaders must delegate responsibilities, I feel the impact of this truism is losing its impact. During our class discussion, one of my students posed the question, how do wayward coaches fail to delegate? After a lively round of give-and-take, mainly lead by the student who originally posed the question, I would like to share some of our conclusions. At the onset, I would like to thank Taylor Concepcion (my student) for much of wh...

This article marks the sixth installment for the A Coach's Dozen: 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches .  This post looks at the belief that to be a good coach you must be a great teacher. With the tip-off of the college basketball season, the march to madness has begun again.  What that means for me, and countless other hoop fans, is the daily digestion of newspaper and magazine articles all breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of every one of the 347 Division I university teams.  I am sure this is a similar pre-season ritual for many of you with your favorite sport.  During my current obsession of scouting reports and team breakdowns, something struck me.  It seems the favorite cliché used by every sports reporter when describing college basketball coaches is… player’s coach .    By no means is the term player’s coach new to athletics.  In fact, I can’t recall ever meeting a coach at any level of competition that either didn’t describe themse...

Recently, I posted a list of 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches .  Now I’m following up by digging deeper into each of them.  This post is the fifth principle: I am a creator of spirit. In the dark hours of August 17th, 2017 a storm like no other hit the Gulf Coast of the United States.  The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey is still being felt months later.  However, after the initial shock has worn off, we can begin to appreciate the stories of courage and heroism shown by so many during the disaster.  Many of these stories highlight the courage of coaches and athletes who stepped up to meet the challenge.  Please look here and here for a couple of these heartwarming stories. Great coaches understand the power of athletics.  They understand that there is an energy inherent to sport that can affect not only athletes, but everyone in our society.  The special power that athletics possesses, call it spirit, comes from the fact that athletics ...

Recently, I posted a list of 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches .  I’m following up by digging deeper into each of them.  This post is the fourth: I am balanced.  It investigates how great coaches strike a balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough. Over the past few months I have been consulting with a local high school football team.  It has been a great experience, and I can honestly say I have learned more from the team’s coaches than they have learned from me.  On one particular day, as I arrived at practice three players passed me walking in the opposite direction.  The look of shock and awe on the players’ faces was my first clue that this day’s practice was not the usual routine.  Taking my spot under the goal post, I immediately sensed the tension in the air.  Dave (the head coach) was stalking the sidelines like a hungry grizzly bear after a long winter’s nap.  This was not his usual low key, good-humored, almost mothe...

This post is the third installment in the series A Coach's Dozen: 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches . One of my favorite coaches of all time is the legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi.  His story is told in one of the best coaching biographies ever written, David Maraniss’s When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi .  I admire many things about Coach Lombardi; his passion, his commitment to family, his faith in the power of both sport and God to bring out the best in people were all keys to Lombardi’s coaching philosophy.   Yet, the thing I admire most about Vince Lombardi is that he didn’t suggest for a second he had discovered a new way to coach.  He never pretended his success resulted from a mysterious or complicated method.  My favorite quote of Coach Lombardi’s isn’t his most famous ( winning isn’t everything… ), the quote I liked best is when he said, “Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things...