Successful coaches are passionate about mastering their craft – not just the Xʼs and Oʼs of their sport. Sport specific knowledge is important, yet it doesnʼt separate average coaches from great coaches. There are a lot of brilliant people in every sport who canʼt coach a lick.
Great coaches realize that there is so much more to their craft. They study and understand group dynamics, motivation, personal growth, goals, communication and so forth. They love the game, they love learning about the game and this feeds how they teach the game.
Check out this excerpt from a recent article about Jim Caldwell, first year head coach of the Super Bowl bound Indianapolis Colts.
A book-strewn table in Caldwell’s office is testimony to his intellectual energy and insatiable curiosity.
“The Drunkard’s Walk” is one of the titles. It’s physicist Leonard Mlodinow’s plain-speaking examination of probability theory and random events and their impact on human existence, from physics to football.
Another is the Bible. This is the one for which Caldwell reaches first after arriving at the Colts’ Northwestside complex, usually between 5 and 6 a.m. What he reads is grist for meditation during the pre-dawn run that comes next, weather be darned.
“Exalt thyself and be humbled, or humble thyself and be exalted,” he might say in a team meeting a few hours later. Or perhaps, “Talent beats hard work only if talent works hard.”
Said safety Jamie Silva, “I bring a pen and pad into our team meetings and write down the things he says. Somebody could write a book if they followed him around for a while.”
Caldwell’s curiosity didn’t arise with his appointment as an NFL head coach. It was evident throughout the 32-year apprenticeship that brought him to that position.
As an obscure young assistant coach at Southern Illinois, he began writing letters to college head coaches, anyone who did something unusual, especially if they did it unusually well. Caldwell typed his question at the top of a sheet, left space for a scrawled answer and included a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Bear Bryant answered. So did Tom Osborne, and a legion of others.
Caldwell sought, studied, sorted, absorbed. He came to believe that speed is crucial, particularly at this time of year, when fatigue is prevalent and a step or two can be decisive.
For nearly a third of a century, he took notes on every meeting conducted or talk given by the half-dozen head coaches under whom he worked. The notebooks, about 50 of them, fill a shelf in his office and box on box in a storage facility in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he maintains a home.
No wonder then, Colts defensive Robert Mathis would say: “A first-year head coach just coming in, he’s about the most prepared a guy could ever be. He’s on top of everything.”
That’s a good thing, because his players were watching.
“When you’re dealing with a guy like Tony Dungy, which is the highest of the highs, and then you have a new coach come in, you’ve almost got to have a drop-off,” linebacker Clint Session said. “We did not have a drop-off.”
Source: Phil Richards, IndyStar.com, 1-22-10
I’ve found this same theme in each of the interviews I’ve conducted for Inside World Class Coaching. The five coaches who combined have won over 35 National Titles – time to hit the books!
I recently had the chance to spend an evening listening to legendary football coach, Lou Holtz. Ok, so there were about 2,000 people in the room – I still felt like Lou was 
talking directly to me.
I’d never given much thought to the skinny, bespectacled coach before that night. Yet Lou Holtz, the only coach in the history of college football to lead six different teams to bowl games, made a lasting impression on me that night.
Here are some of the insights that will stay with me:
- “Coaching is coaching. You get to help other people be successful. That lasts a lifetime.”
- “Being a coach is a chance to be significant in life.”
- The title “coach” comes from above (the administration); the title “leader” comes from below (your players).
- A coach (in any sport) needs four things to be successful:
- A vision for the program.
- A plan to achieve the vision.
- To lead by example everyday.
- To hold people accountable.
- When his son Skip asked his dad about what to say to a new team for the first time, Coach responded, “You tell them that you come here to become us. We are not here to become you. And that’s based on five assumptions I make about every player I’ve ever coached:
- You want to graduate;
- You want to be a champion;
- You want to be a great performer;
- You want to have respect for your teammates;
- And you want to contribute positively as a member of our society.”
- He told an incredible story about the importance of trust on a team. On his South Carolina team that went 0-11 in his first year, he quipped, “Records can be deceiving. We weren’t as good as our record indicated.” It was a difficult year, he admitted, one in which his wife had major cancer surgery for the second time, his son fell into a coma and his mother died.
The next year, Coach learned that two former players from that 0-11 team were arrested for selling drugs.
“I was so mad because I wanted to know why those players didn’t trust me,” Holtz said. “Nobody said anything. And then Jonathan Martin stood up and said, ‘Coach, I trust you. A lot of my teammates trust you. But I look around and see some people I don’t trust.’ And then Andre Dixon said, ‘I’ve got to lock my locker when I take a shower.’
He told them to go home, make three columns on a piece of paper and write down the following:
1. Things I don’t like about myself that I can’t change,
2. Things I don’t like about myself that I can change and
3. Everything I did last year I regret.
Coach ordered a tombstone and met with the team the next day. The entire team buried those papers. “We made the commitment that we would trust our teammates, on the field and off the field”, Holtz recalled.
That South Carolina team would go on to post the third-best single-season turnaround in college football history, going 8-4 in Holtz’s second season and defeating vaunted Ohio State in the Outback Bowl.
Yes, looks can be deceiving. I never thought I’d glean so much from a short, skinny man in glasses!
I recently had dinner with Brent Rushall, one of my former professors from San Diego State (Master’s program). The man 
is a wealth of coaching science knowledge (check out his site, http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/ if you ever need researched based answers to coaching questions).
One of the stories he told me is unfolding right now in professional baseball. It seems that a consultant to the Philadelphia Philles convinced the team to practice “peer coaching” where players coach each other. The inside scoop reveals that the players love it! They arrive early to practice, stay late, take extra reps and report increased enjoyment. Sounds like a coach’s dream!
Research from the classroom has documented the benefits of peers helping peers, meaning teachers helping teachers and students helping students. Thus far I’ve found only a few references to peer coaching in sport. Here’s an overview of the concept:
“Peer coaching uses a support community (“cohorts”) with feedback procedures to improve or change classroom procedures. Specific outcomes of peer coaching are increased practice, increased skill development, appropriate use of new strategies and longer-term retention of skills. Knowing whom to approach, what to ask them for help with and being sensitive to individuals’ needs goes a long way in building a strong culture. Students need to have others to share successes with and to support each other in taking risks.” Source: Teaching sport concepts and skills: a tactical games approach By Stephen A. Mitchell, Judith L. Oslin, Linda L. Griffin
Stay Tooned! I plan to find out more about this intriguing, World Series worthy coaching model!
It’s amazing, coaches are directly responsible for literally hundreds of hours of learning. Our 
effectiveness depends a great deal on how well we apply our understanding of the learning process.
The “laws of learning” below provide valuable insight into the learning process that will assist in providing a rewarding experience to your team.
Law of Readiness. An athlete learns best when they are ready to learn – they will not learn much if they see no reason for what they’re are doing. It’s imperative to provide a purpose and objectives for what you are doing on a daily basis. Posting and sharing your practice plans provides motivation to participate in the learning process.
Law of Exercise. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Things that are most often repeated are best learned. This is the foundation for practice and drill. It’s nearly impossible to recall something we do or hear once. Athletes learn by applying what they’ve been taught so build in ample time for “drilling”. Remember that practice makes permanent, not perfect unless the task is taught correctly.
Law of Effect. Emotion runs the show! Learning is stronger when accompanied by feelings of satisfaction, pleasantness, or reward and weakened when associated with feelings of defeat, futility or confusion. Negative motivation is an “oxy-moron”, it does not work in learning. It does not mean that we need to set it up where our athletes succeed in every situation. What’s important is that we engage our athletes and they feel like they are making progress. Like I always say, “Fun – the closest physiological profile to the zone AND the appropriate “F” word in sports!”
Law of Primacy. This means that what ever is taught first, often becomes the strongest. “Unlearning” something is harder than learning it right the first time. For the coach, it means what you teach the first time, must be correct. If your athletes have some “unlearning” to do, patiently start back at the beginning and relay the foundation piece by piece.
Law of Intensity. A real time, vivid learning experience teaches more than a routine or boring one. This is why athletes want to scrimmage rather than drill. It’s true, they get more from the real thing than they do from a substitute. Make your drills more like the real thing. Simulate playing conditions and tempo whenever you can. Video tape and stat practice just like you would a competition – talk about creating a sense of urgency at practice!
Law of Recency. Things learned last will be best remembered. The opposite is also true. The longer your athletes are away from a skill or tactic, the harder it is to remember and implement. It’s important to bring practice sessions and competitions full circle. Circle the team up and repeat, restate, or reemphasize the training and or competitive objectives. Leave your athletes with the important information they need to remember.
These six laws of learning are suitable for most learning situations. Keeping them in mind while planning practice helps to create an optimal learning atmosphere for your athletes.
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