Leadership in Coaching: Character issues

As a coach, inevitably in society, leadership is evaluated by a coach’s win total. The more wins, then “obviously” the better the leader is, right? I’d say it’s obvious that that is a facetious comment but you can do a quick internet search to see it isn’t facetious.

I may have all the wisdom and right answers but because I’m not an NCAA D1 Final Four coach, my words will be ignored or poo-pooed, especially if a D1 Final Four coach says something to the contrary. This is not based on anything other than a coach’s institutional prestige. It isn’t about instructional ability–and it’s not necessarily about leadership.

This is about observing leadership more than leadership itself. Who would you want to follow? How would you want to know you’d be willing to follow that person? Learning through experience can lead you down the wrong road (the centuries show us many dead soldiers from poor officer leadership and the past eighteen months of a global pandemic are littered with examples of poor leadership across the world on every continent).

So how can youevaluate a leader?

Have you ever heard that phrase–character is the choice you make when you think no one else is watching. In the case of coaches, watch coaches and how they interact with people who offer no tangible benefit to the coach.

A couple years ago, I was brushed off by two (former) Big 10 head coaches in a group conversation–discounting me because I was “only” a juco coach and treating me like a child “Oh, that’s nice, dear…”. In contrast, at a club tournament, the only seat open was next to Russ Rose who saw I was recruiting (which meant I wasn’t a parent) and we wound up having a 30 minute conversation about the state of volleyball, Jim Stone, and a question regarding the efficacy of setter attacks. I had no players capable of playing for Penn State. I did not nag Rose. He just wanted to talk volleyball. See the difference? [Side note: I did an AVCA presentation on ‘Moneyball’ several years ago…Rose was front and center sitting right next to a guy named Kiraly…great coaches interact with everyone and seek to learn from every possible source…even juco coaches….]

Think about college summer camps. How often do you see the college head coach working with the 11-yr olds on Ct. 24 of the Provisional Auxiliary Gym? Or do they just hang out on Court 1+2 with the recruits? You know coaches in the latter category. When I worked for Jim Stone–he made an effort to get to every gym, watched every level–if kids were paying money, they deserved to see the big kahunas supervising the coaching staffs and maybe stepping in with a comment sometimes. See the difference?

How many coaches treat the maintenance and custodial staff as pieces of meat? How many see them as part of the athletic department team as a whole…or at least as a human being with a name? You can name coaches in both categories (and beyond–you know faculty and administrators who fall in each category…I always liked Allen Comm. College‘s president, John Masterson, for this–he KNEW everyone at the college.)

Character is revealed in how you treat people who don’t further your personal goals or your team’s. Writing this, I am hard pressed to think of truly good leaders who treat others poorly.

The cool thing–if you’re someone who’s been guilty of this at some point–it’s easy to change. Simply be nice and helpful to others…what would be the beginnings of “genuine concern.” Not only will this make you a better leader–making the world a nicer place is a good thing in and of itself.