Rainy Day Planning

A long time ago, there was an American president named Calvin Coolidge, famed for keeping calm under almost all circumstances.  Asked why, he talked about rocks heading down a hill towards a car and he noted–if you start dodging while they are at the top of the hill, you don’t know which to avoid so you panic about all of them, even if only 1-2 are coming your way.  Better to be patient, identify the dangerous ones, and then take action.

In most situations, this is good advice.  Wait and act once you are sure what the real problem is.  The catch that the story doesn’t mention…sometimes you don’t KNOW there’s a problem until it is on you when there’s nothing to do but deal with it head-on.

I’m a big fan of preparation for as many circumstances as possible (contrary to the great Coolidge story above).  I figure if you have thought through a situation and alternative actions possible during it, you will be a better leader when that crisis hits.  If you are not leading, you’ll be able to respond/support quicker/more effectively as well.  The thing is–if a problem comes that you’ve considered previously and you know your answer, you eliminate hesitation AND greatly increase your chance of success because you are not forced to rapidly reach a critical decision.  You’ve thought it out far in advance.

You can look at the various responses to the Coronavirus pandemic to see which nations were prepared, which were assertive, and which…aren’t.  When thinking about improving your coaching, don’t limit yourself to just your sport or just sports–look for examples in other fields, whether that’s a pandemic, a business failing, historical events, or even the process of writing a book or homework assignment.

So what sorts of problem should a coach consider in advance?  I’m ending this with a list of ones I’ve come up with.  Some of these are FAR more serious than others.  Please–if you have others you think are great to think about in advance–put them in the comments section so future readers can see them as well.

• Who are you going to leave in when you are out of timeouts?

• How are you going to address a discipline issue with Player X?

• How are you going to address X’s problem with the rest of the team?  Are you going to do that?  Should you do that?

• You can break a rule and gain an advantage.  It’s a rule no one else is following.  Do you do this, why or why not?

• What is your response when Player A tells you she is pregnant or he has his girlfriend pregnant/wants to quit to support her?

• What happens if you are accused of improper behavior by one of your current athletes? (presuming you are innocent of the accusations)

• What do you tell a senior and previous starter who is losing his job to a freshman?

• What needs to be said in the locker room 10-30-60 minutes after the season ends?

• What do you do when an instructor says Player J cheated and J categorically denies it?  Punish? Suspend?

• Player B is underage and caught with alcohol.  Do you act immediately? Do you wait for the court results?

• What do you do if a tragedy strikes your program–a current player’s parent killed in a car crash, your assistant suffering a brain hemorrhage, an athlete in your department in critical condition/maybe dead because of alcohol at a party?

• What’s the plan if one of your travel party has a heart attack/kidney stones/whatever 5-6 hours from home?

I realize you don’t need a detailed plan for all of these–but even 15-30 minutes of consideration of each scenario is valuable.  In some cases, discussing these sorts of things with your athletic director is helpful and in others–a talk with your team.  They may have other ideas regarding the worst possible thing to happen during a season that matter from a player’s perspective.