Bjcorbin's Blog

As a person who’s played for several coaches, who’s been a coach on numerous occasions and who’s interacted with many of those who have coached my kids, I believe that every coach could benefit from considering the following points.

1. Opponents don’t need to be enemies. A popular tactic amongst coaches is to demonize their opponents and then stir the fires of hostility in their own players. While this approach can sometimes pay dividends in the short run, it tends to backfire over the long haul. Anger is generally a poor motivator for consistent performance and frequently results in detrimental side effects.

2. There is no shame in admitting that another team is more talented than yours. It has become almost sacrilegious in coaching circles to say this out loud, but sometimes the other team just has more weapons at their disposal. Trying to pretend that isn’t the case doesn’t fool anyone and can make a coach seem less than credible.

3. Good coaching can only take a team so far. In an era where some coaches have achieved mythical status, it is often assumed that the right coach can turn any team into a winner; but in truth, the best that a coach can do is to help their players reach their full potential. The collective potential generally forms the ceiling for a team and is something that most coaches (especially at the amateur level) have little or no control over.

4. The best coaches adapt their game plan to accommodate their team’s strengths and weaknesses. When a coach has sustained success with a particular game plan (e.g. the option offense in football), it becomes tempting to force their teams into that mold; regardless of whether they fit or not. The best coaches remain students of the game, so that they can tailor their approach based on the pieces that they have to work with.

5. Defeat does not become failure until you refuse to learn from it. Adversity is an inevitable part of life and learning how to deal with it is a huge component of finding success. The best shooters in basketball miss about half of their shots and the best hitters in baseball don’t get a hit at least six out of every ten times they get to the plate. Ultimately, this makes teaching players how to handle setbacks a critical element of successful coaching.

6. Trash talk shouldn’t be part of the game. Though many young coaches might disagree, I would submit that “trash talking” detracts from both the game and its players. If a player has the skills, they’re better off letting their play do the talking. If they don’t, all of that brash chatter just makes them look foolish. For all of the talk about “getting into an opponent’s head”, there is little real evidence that trash talking has any positive impact on winning percentage.

7. Having a “winning attitude” doesn’t win the game. Though a “bad” attitude can easily cost a team the game, simply having a “good” attitude cannot win it for them. Ultimately, talent, preparation and execution must be combined with the right attitude in order to achieve regular success.

8. No single player should be allowed to be bigger than the team. It is commonplace for “star” players to expect special treatment and their own set of rules; but coaches who give into that kind of pressure generally lose the respect of the rest of their team.

9. Yes, there are “moral victories”. In this era of win at all costs, it has become popular to claim that there is no such thing as a “moral victory”; but for many human beings, that is the only kind of victory that they will ever experience. Like teaching a baby to walk, moral victories are the first small steps toward consistent success. Coaches who don’t believe in such things often burn themselves (& others) out, while trying to make their teams run before they’ve learned how to walk.

10. A team takes on the character of their leadership. If a coach doesn’t like the character of their team, it might be time for some soul searching. A team’s character can’t help but reflect (& often magnify) the coach’s strengths and weaknesses.