Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
(Originally published on April 11, 2012)
Joe Paterno, Jim Tressell, Bruce Pearl, the list goes on and on. You can now add former University of Arkansas head football coach to the list of great coaches . . . great leaders, that fell short of their obligations as individuals of character.
All of us sports fans have heard it said that “Defense Wins Championships”. Though that axiom has a lot of legitimacy, it is hard to say whether it is 100% true. Lots of things go into winning a championship. However, I must say that this year, it seemed that I noticed more winning coaches praising their team’s defensive efforts as the main reason for their success. This has gotten me to thinking about my team and whether or not we should emphasize defense even more next year. It probably can’t hurt. Regardless, here are some of the examples that I am talking about when it comes to defense helping a team win a basketball championship.
Congratulations to James Justice, the 5’9 All-American guard from Martin Methodist College, for winning the 2012 State Farm College Slam Dunk Contest. He beat out seven NCAA Division I players, including Miles Plumlee from Duke University. If you didn’t see it on ESPN, then I highly recommend it. If nothing else, seeing the judges (including Bobby Hurley and John Salley) react after James’ last dunk is priceless. Here is the footage (courtesy of SBnation.com).
“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” (Abraham Lincoln)
(originally published on March 27, 2012)From March 10-20, I spent time serving on the NAIA National Tournament Committee. It was a bittersweet experience. Meeting all the coaches, watching all the games, observing many practices and helping the tournament run smoothly was great. However, it was difficult watching the teams play knowing that we had been fairly close to qualifying ourselves. If only we’d won 1-2 more games, we might have been one of the 32-teams that earned a bid. I must say that Rob Edmission’s Oklahoma City University team was extremely impressive throughout the entire tournament. They beat Union University in the championship game, which is no small feat. As I watched the games and thought about how to get my team to the tournament, I came up with some observations. In no particular order, I have listed them below.