Characteristics of Great Coaches

 

March Madness is a great time to look at some things great coaches do. Great coaches:

• Promote shared ownership and internal leadership of the team. They create a ‘team’ attitude.
• Love and respect their game.
• Work on their craft every day. They work on the X’s & O’s, strategy as well as on leadership.
• Establish roles on the team. They clearly define these roles to everyone in the program.
• Get everyone on the team to accept their role and fulfill it to the best of their ability.
• Listen to their assistant coaches and to their players.  They don’t feel threatened and they welcome suggestions.
• Don’t over coach. They don’t talk to hear themselves talk, they talk to make a point, to teach, and to motivate.
• Coach in ‘bullet points’ during practice. They keep the action flowing. They keep instructions short and sweet.
• Coach players; not a system. They know it’s not what you run, but how well you run it that matters.
• Pay attention to detail. They know that everything regarding their program is important. Everything makes a difference.
• Are mentally tough. They don’t get flustered.  They know their mental toughness trickles down to the entire program.
• Challenge their players and assistants every day. They don’t allow complacency.
• Learn what motivates each player on the team.  They find ways to light each player’s internal fire.
• Know that you can’t win every game but you can prepare to win every game.
• Are confident without being arrogant.  
• Criticize the behavior or the play; not the person. It’s never personal.
• Will help a player they coached decades ago. Every former player is a part of their team.
• Coach the players on their team the way they would want someone to coach their own son or daughter.
• Teach the fundamentals of the game even at the highest of levels.
• Coach their current team to the best of their ability. They aren’t ever looking ahead to next year.
• Impact and influence lives far beyond their sport. Their sport just happens to be their vehicle.

—Adapted from March 2013 Issue of The Coaching and Leadership Journal

Getting to Us: How Great Coaches Make Great Teams