Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
(originally published on March 20, 2013)
This is the time of the year when there are a lot of open basketball coaching positions. Most good athletic directors should have some kind of a working list of potential replacements if they should ever have an opening in one of their sports. Yes, they can accept resumes but they should have some names and ideas of people that they might want to go after. This is the same whether you are a DI athletic director or a small college athletic director.
In his book WINNING EVERY DAY, the former Notre Dame football coach, Lou Holtz, tells the story of the Trappist monk who was allowed to say only two words every three years.
After the first three years, he met with the his order’s Brother Superior and said, “Bad bed!”
3 years later, he came back to say, “Bad food!”
After 3 more years of silence, the monk said, “No TV!”
Another 3 years passed. This time, when the monk met with Brother Superior, he handed him his robes and sandals and announced, “I quit!”
Brother Superior said, “Well don’t expect me to try to dissuade you. You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here!”
(originally published on March 7, 2012)
A recent blog posting by Helen Wheelock got me thinking about coaching job searches and who administrators hire. Seems like most of the talk always centers around the DI coaches, especially the “up-and-comers”. I do not profess to know exactly what makes a good coach in all situations. Good coaches in a bad situation can lead to struggles and failures, whereas unproven coaches (i.e. assistants) in good situations can lead to success and excitement.