Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
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Some coaching candidates are excellent talkers.
They know how to describe culture. They have polished answers about leadership, accountability, recruiting, and player development. They understand the language athletic directors want to hear.
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As a middle schooler, my mother wouldn’t let me play tackle football. I figured I’d be able to talk her out of it prior to entering high school.
I guess I overestimated my lawyering skills.
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Most athletic directors have sat in coaching interviews that felt productive in the moment but became difficult to evaluate afterward.
The conversation was good. The candidate was engaging. The committee liked them. They seemed confident, prepared, and aligned with the department.
But when it came time to compare candidates, the room struggled.
Having a good team captain can make your job easier. Conversely, if your captains struggle to lead effectively, then your team will most likely underperform during the year. Team captains can often make or break your season.
You’d probably love to have a Derek Jeter, Sue Bird, Tim Tebow, or Mia Hamm-type captain, but those are exceptions, not the rule. No matter who wears the captain’s armband or dons the “C” on their jersey, you want to be training them and helping them develop their skills for this leadership position.
As you think about selecting your team captains, maybe you’ve always done it a certain way. Maybe you’re ready for a change. No matter how you select your captains or how successful this process has been in the past, you should always be evaluating your methods so that you can be as good of a coach and have as strong of a program as possible.
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When athletic directors hire a coach, it is natural to focus first on the program.
Can this person recruit?
Can they coach the sport?
Can they build a competitive roster?
Can they connect with student-athletes?
Can they create a healthy team culture?
Those questions matter. But there is another question that deserves just as much attention: