How Much Can a Coach Improve a Team?

How Much Can a Coach Improve a Team?

This is a question I asked myself a couple of years ago, and it recently came back to me in a conversation. It’s something I’ve reflected on a lot over the years, especially as I’ve worked across very different environments, from beginners at school level to elite athletes in professional leagues. So where did I land on? Read on to find out.

Answer: A Lot

If you asked me pre-COVID, my answer was probably a lot.

My coaching philosophy is focused on teaching systems of play through game-like practices and using statistical analysis to optimise performance (see team values 2 and 3). I was convinced this approach could significantly elevate a team’s level, especially when training time was limited.

The results backed it up. At City University London, I won three divisional BUCS titles in four seasons between 2015 and 2019. It peaked in the 2021–22 season. I won the London League Division 1B Women’s title with Flaming Six Coyotes and both the BUCS Southeastern Tier 1 and BUCS Trophy Cup with UCL Men, all in my first season with them. It continued in the summer of 2022 when I won the All Nations Juniors Tournament with Asia Girls and got second place in the All Nations (Adult) Tournament with Team USA. This was vindication that I was on the right track, especially if you have limited training time.

Up to 10%

However, my view changed in the following 2022-23 season. Flaming Six Coyotes and UCL moved up a division, and we were suddenly playing against teams with far better players, more depth, and some with full-time set-ups. Despite still believing in my coaching philosophy and trying to squeeze out all the performance I could from my teams, we lost a lot of games. I couldn’t bridge that performance gap by coaching alone. I realised that there are levels to this game. If you want to win, you need those players who are on that level or beyond it.

That losing season was when I first asked the question of how much can a coach really improve a team? After reflecting on it, I settled on up to 10%. It’s not based on any statistical analysis or research. It’s just a number I thought was about right.

Depends on the Players’ Experience Level

I also discussed this with another coach in London. He made a great point that if you’re coaching beginners or juniors, the improvement could easily be 100% or more. That’s true. An inexperienced player will naturally improve through practice alone. Obviously, a good coach can improve players at a greater rate and/ or to a greater extent.

So the answer is that it probably depends on the experience level of the players. For inexperienced players, a coach can improve them greatly. However, the more experience the players have, the smaller the improvement will be. Reflecting on the time with Flaming Six Coyotes and UCL Men, I still feel like up to 10% is about right. However, when I coach the American School in London Boys Varsity team, I would say I could potentially improve the team by up to 30%. I put up some ballpark figures in the table below. Again, this is not based on any research – it’s just what I think. I would say my actual coaching impact is about half of what’s quoted.

The Recruitment Factor

I was recently on a call with the management team at Hyderabad Black Hawks. They asked for my perspective on why we hadn’t been successful last season (we were last in the Prime Volleyball League) and what they could do for next season. My answer was simple: you need to recruit highly effective point-scorers if you want to be successful. I said that if they did that, they would be 80% of the way to winning the league.

This led me to think about the recruitment factor. If you are great or smart at recruiting great players, the level you can improve a team becomes almost limitless. The question isn’t about squeezing more out of the current roster. It is about raising the performance baseline entirely. If you can recruit a team that’s overpowered for the league, your coaching life is going to be easy. You can probably just let the players play and not do too much “coaching”.

Final Thoughts

I originally asked myself that question — how much can a coach improve a team? — as a reminder that coaching can only take you so far. And I still believe that. You can absolutely beat better teams through smarter teaching, sharper strategising, and more effective analysing (especially in my case). But there’s a ceiling in what you can do, especially for experienced players (I estimate up to 10% improvement). You can’t perform miracles against teams that are simply on a different level. Talent still matters.

That was my conclusion until I considered the recruitment factor. Rather than trying to compete against teams that are on a different level, you can simply recruit players who are on that next level, or even above that. You’re no longer trying to squeeze 10% more out of what you’ve got; you’re setting a higher performance baseline. Once you can recruit players who are on that higher level, you then apply all of your coaching skills to take them even further.

Now, I’m not sure if that answer has just killed the soul of coaching. Surely, coaching is about teaching and developing players. Recruiting better players does feel like a cheat code to coaching. This is probably a discussion for another time.