What Great Coaches Do Differently

11 Elements of Effective Coaching

Rob Haworth, Todd Whitaker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781596671508
• eBook ISBN: 9781317930044
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book describes the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of great athletic coaches. Where do they focus their attention? How do they spend their time and energy? And how can others gain the same advantages? Here, Rob Haworth and Todd Whitaker describe the qualities of champion athletes, coaches, and parents. Applying and extending the concepts presented in Whitaker's What Great Teachers Do Differently and What Great Principals Do Differently, this book demonstrates how effective coaching calls for "people skills" that the best coaches practice every day. Perfect for the coaches of your favorite school sports teams! "Plenty of real sports examples! The authors present a positive approach to understanding what great coaches do differently." -- Gene Shelkett, Principal, Eisenhower High School, Lawton, OK

Chapter 1

Why Look at Great?

Coaches all around the globe have access to the same stuff—the same amount of practice time, the same drills, access to basically the same information. Why is it that with all the same stuff at their disposal some coaches succeed year in and year out with almost the identical talent as other coaches whose teams struggle season after season?

To answer that question, let’s look at Coach Fox, who has been the varsity coach at Orange County Jr.-Sr. High school for six seasons. Over those past six seasons Coach Fox’s athletes sweat it out in the hot summer months just like all the other teams in the AAC (Ail-American Conference) and work all season long to improve. In fact, Coach Fox’s Rumbling Sloths actually spend a little longer in preparation than most teams in their conference, which includes their cross-county rivals and defending AAC champions, the Green County Eagles. Coach Fox’s team suffers through the same two-a-day conditioning drills as do the Eagles and the rest of the AAC. They attend preseason conditioning just like the Flying Eagles and the rest of the AAC. In terms of natural talent, Coach Fox’s athletes have the same natural talents as other teams in his conference. The Sloths practice the same amount of time as other conference schools. Each spring Coach Fox’s coaching staff loads up the school van and heads off to attend the same clinics as the other coaches in the conference. Yet Coach Fox has never competed for the conference title. Not only that, but over the past six seasons, the Sloths have failed to post a winning season.

Why is it that while Coach Fox struggles to get players to practice on time, the Green County Flying Eagles are showing up earlier to practice and staying late? Why is it that Coach Fox’s athletes have their heads down after a mistake, and the Flying Eagles keep their heads up and move on to the next play? Why is that Coach Fox’s athletes are concerned about playing time, but the Green County High athletes continually demonstrate a sense of loyalty to the team concept? Why is it that Coach Fox fails while the Eagles reach new heights? Maybe it’s the coach!

Dr. Todd Whitaker, co-author of this book and a former basketball coach, teacher, and school administrator, has been studying “great and differently” for years. His studies have yielded many interesting insights by asking one simple question: What do the greatest do differently?

For example, if four outstanding coaches hang an inspirational quote on the locker room bulletin board—“Play Like a Champion Today!”—we might conclude that one key to effective coaching is an inspiring quote posted in the locker room. However, what if less effective coaches display the same banner? The quote itself then does not guarantee success. So what are the effective coaches doing differently than other coaches? Of course it does not mean that you should not post inspirational messages in your locker room or that you must copy everything great coaches do. But the practices of great coaches do not get in the way of their success—and others can learn from them.

A valuable component of Dr. Whitaker’s work has shown that greatness is composed of a wide variety of skills. In his informal observation and interviews, he has identified differences between the more effective and the less effective professionals. We have applied the same principles to coaches. Of course, he found some identical behaviors that showed up in most every setting. For example, in examining what great teachers do differently, he found that almost every teacher—from the best to the worst—takes attendance. But as he sifted through his observations, he began to compile traits of the best teachers and the variables that set them apart from their less successful peers. For example, in an athletic setting almost every team stretches and warms up before practice. So what are the differences between what great coaches are doing and what Coach Fox and other less effective coaches are doing?

The Clinic

Would you spend money to see Coach Fox give a clinic on offensive and defensive philosophy? Of course not. You are not going to spend a dime of your coaching salary to hear Coach Fox. Then if not Coach Fox who would you spend money on to see at a coach’s clinic? We’re not talking about the athletic department’s money; we’re talking about your hard earned paycheck. We bet it would not be the coach whose team you beat easily during the regular season nor the coach who routinely has a losing season. No, you wouldn’t spend either your money nor your time listening to either one of those coaches. Although you might argue that you should sit in on Coach Fox’s clinic session to hear what not to do.

The truth is, as coaches, we already know plenty of what not to do. We know not to berate athletes in front of their teammates, not to try something during a game that we have not practiced during the course of the week, not to treat our star athlete differently than other members of the team (or should we)? We don’t need to sit in on a coach’s clinic to learn what not to do. As coaches, we face a number of choices, but eliminating what not to do does not move us forward.

So, who would you would spend your money to see? Coach Phil Jackson, Coach Pete Carroll, Coach Pat Summit, a coach that has been successful against you, or the coach who year in and year out has had success? Look at it this way— if you had your choice of listening to an outstanding coach, who had won championship after championship or Coach Fox, you would surely see the championship coach. As Coach Rob Haworth, I had this experience at a coaching clinic at the University of Tennessee in the 1990s. At the conclusion of the clinic session featuring the head men’s coach from Appalachian State University, the host gave the coaches in attendance a choice. As coaches we could go and listen to the assistant men’s coaches from the University of Tennessee, or we could sit and listen to an actual practice session for the Lady Vols. I actually think the men’s coaching staff wanted to take a break because nobody moved. All 300 plus coaches stayed in their seats to listen and watch the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and one of the few college coaches with 1000 or more wins. It was really not even a choice for those coaches in attendance. In fact, I would bet that many of the coaches only came to the clinic to hear eight-time national champion coaching great, Pat Summit, head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team.

The lesson is clear: Coaches who want to become better find value in examining what great coaches do rather than what other coaches do not do.

Self-Reflection

One challenge in any profession is the ability to self-reflect accurately. If you have ever been to a wedding reception and watched people dance, then you know exactly what I mean. There are some individuals at the wedding reception who move gracefully around the dance floor and then there are those who couldn’t dance the hokey-pokey or the chicken dance. The only problem is that the hokey-pokey, solid gold dancer doesn’t know he’s bad. In any organization, those who know how they are coming across to others, that is, how their behavior is received, work more effectively than those who do not. We all struggle to achieve this self-awareness, but all too often we fall short. In the studies of educators described earlier, practically all thought they were doing a great job; but only some of them were right. Effective coaches have the ability to self-reflect.

Throughout our careers we have known several ineffective coaches who think they are great coaches. These coaches see themselves as Krzyzewski, Paterno, or La Russa when in fact they are Coach Fox. They have an image of themselves that does not match how they come across to others, and just like their fellow educators in the classroom, most are doing the best they can.

The Curse of Previous Knowledge

They are doing the best they can because it is all they know how to do. They use those methods and practices they were taught as an athlete or as an assistant coach as their guide on how to be a coach. They, like all of us, call upon previous knowledge when confronted with a new task—previous knowledge that does not always serve us as we would have hoped.

Take former educator of the year, Guy Doud (1998) for example. Guy tells of a situation in which he called upon previous knowledge only to have it end up as one of his most embarrassing moments. As the story goes, Guy was a young lad in middle school attending his first physical education class. This class required that all young middle school boys wear an athletic supporter (jock strap). Now Guy was an overweight student, who went to his first PE class having never worn a jock. As he opened up his leather gym bag with the white plastic handles attached to the side, he found his jock still in its blue and yellow box. Guy opened the box and pulled out his jock strap. Now Guy, who had never worn a jock strap before, pulled it out of its box and called upon a tried and true method that had never failed him before. That tried and true method was something he had heard ever since he was able to put his clothes on by himself—the tag goes in the back. Unfortunately for Guy, the tag for a jock strap is in the front. What was an embarrassing and frustrating moment for Guy Doud can also be a frustrating time for young coaches who have only previous knowledge to work from. Not that they are going to put their jock on backwards, but that they miss out on an opportunity to become a more effective coach.

Effective coaches understand the concept of the curse of previous knowledge and attempt to not let it hinder their performance. They understand this concept is a powerful force, as well it should be, because all of education depends upon it.

Read the following passage and while you are reading it count the number of “F’s.”

In his book, “Efficient Filing Systems,” Peter R. Robertson of Yale University reports, “Finished files are the result of scientific study combined with the years of experience.

How many “F’s” did you come across? If you found fewer than 9 “F’s,” count again. If you still can not find them, here is a hint: Make sure you count the “F’s” in the word “of.” Why were you unable to find all of them? Your mind was simply exercising muscle memory and the curse of previous knowledge. Ever since you were old enough to read you have been exercising your mind to say and think of the letter “F” in a different way. You have trained your mind so well that it does not see the “F.” As your mind reads over the word “of” it does not process an “F,” but rather processes a “V.”

Previous knowledge could either be a blessing or a curse. It could be what is referred to as the curse of knowledge (Heath & Heath, 2007). If your mentors and previous coaches were poor, and that is all you know, then you are hampered by your coaching tree.

The Coaching Tree

A coaching tree is similar to a family tree; however, instead of showing the various descendants from your great-grandfather Adam, it shows the relationships of coaches. The most common way to make the distinction is if a coach played under or worked as an assistant for a particular head coach. If you are familiar with the trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” you understand the concept. This trivia game based on the assumption that an actor can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. Think of it this way—how many steps are between legendary football coach Bill Walsh and Mike Tomlin? As head coach of the San Francisco Forty-Niners, Coach Walsh employed assistant Coach Dennis Green, who would become the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. As head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Coach Green employed Tony Dungy as his defensive coordinator. Coach Dungy left Minnesota to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and later the Indianapolis Colts. However, while at Tampa Bay, Coach Dungy hired a defensive backs coach named Mike Tomlin who would later go on to coach the 2009 Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Coaching trees are found in every sport. For example, Pat Summit and Hank Iba have extensive basketball coaching trees.

The coaching tree process works out great if you start out with a great coach at the base of your coaching tree. However, most coaches are not fortunate to have a Bill Walsh at the bottom of their tree. Also the farther away you get from the patriarch of the tree, the more outcomes are affected as well. Coach Fox from Orange County High is part of a coaching tree. Probably not the Bill Walsh coaching tree, but a coaching tree all the same. He is the product of what he has been taught. If you are currently coaching, you are part of a coaching tree.

Purpose of the Book

This book is intended to help you branch out as a coach and to examine what great coaches do differently. It is not about the tactical and technical aspects of sports. You will not find tips on your offense and defense or breakdown drills in this book. This book is about who we are as coaches; more directly it is about what we do as coaches. This book is not complicated; in fact many of you are probably doing some of these things some of the time. Yet the great coaches, the coaches of significance, are doing these things all the time. A coach of significance is a coach who positively impacts the lives of the people he or she encounters as well as enjoys success in the win-loss column.

Think of the greatest coaches in your league. Not necessarily the coach who has the most wins but the coach who enjoys the success of having made a difference in the lives of others and has consistently enjoyed the sweet taste of victory along the way. Is that a coaching tree you would like to be a part of? What if every coach in your league was like that coach? Would that be a great league? Of course it would. And if all athletic programs had coaches like the greatest coaches in your league, the athletes who walk off the field of competition will be better as a result of their experience. As you read through this book, you will find the contents to be simple in concept—but not always easy to consistently implement.

Instant Replay

Why Look at Great?

1.What the Greatest Do Differently. If four outstanding coaches hang an inspirational quote on the locker room bulletin board—“Play Like a Champion Today!”—we might conclude that one key to effective coaching is an inspiring quote posted in the locker room. However, what if less effective coaches display the same banner? Then the quote itself does not guarantee success. So what are the effective coaches doing differently from other coaches?

2.The Clinic. Who would you spend money on to see at a coaching clinic? You are not going to spend a dime of your coaching salary to hear someone that cannot help you become better. Coaches who want to become better find value in examining what great coaches do rather than what other coaches do not do.

3.Self-Reflection. One challenge in any profession is the ability to self-reflect accurately. In any organization those who know how they are coming across to others and how their behavior is received work more effectively than those who do not. We all struggle to achieve this self-awareness, but all too often we fall short.

4.The Curse of Previous Knowledge. Ineffective coaches are doing the best they can because it is all they know how to do. They use those methods and practices they were taught as an athlete or as an assistant coach as their guide to how to be a coach. That previous knowledge could be either a blessing or a curse. It could be what is referred to as “the curse of knowledge.” If your mentors and previous coaches were poor and that is all you know then you are affected by the curse of previous knowledge.

5.The Coaching Tree. A coaching tree is similar to a family tree; however, instead of showing the various descendants from your great-grandfather Adam, it shows the relationships of coaches instead of family members. The most common way to make the distinction is if a coach played under or worked as an assistant for a particular head coach.

6.Purpose of the Book. This book is intended to help coaches examine what great coaches do differently. It is not about the tactical and technical aspects of sports. This book is about who we are as coaches; more directly, it is about what we do as coaches.

Chapter 2

People, Not Programs

One reason that Coach Fox may not know success is that he does not know what really matters most. What matters mos...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Why Look at Great?
• Chapter 2: People, Not Programs
• Chapter 3: Inside Out
• Chapter 4: Coaching 101
• Chapter 5: Your Best Athlete
• Chapter 6: Expectations
• Chapter 7: Playing Time
• Chapter 8: Who Is the Most Comfortable?
• Chapter 9: Planning
• Chapter 10: Over-Coaching
• Chapter 11: Winning
• References