Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN
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.
🔊 Click here to listen to the 2-minute audio version of this article.
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.
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.
The late great Billy Graham liked to say, “A coach will impact more young people in one year than the average person will in a lifetime.” The quote didn’t distinguish between head coaches or assistant coaches. All coaches have an opportunity to make a difference.
As a head coach, your platform is greater and you may have more opportunities, but your assistants can make a tremendous difference in the lives of your athletes – both from an athletic and personal level. The best programs have great coaches. A good head coach can only do so much if the assistant coaches are not very good.
Having a good assistant coach isn’t automatic even if that person has the knowledge or experience.
Here are 6 ways that you can better utilize your assistant coaches more effectively…
Selecting team captains is one of the most important things that you’ll do all year for your program. You want to select the right individuals who’ll best lead, influence, and impact their teammates.
Utilizing an application during the captain selection process can be beneficial. This article will outline some of the reasons you might want to use this tool, as well as some things to consider if you decide to take advantage of this resource.
As a coach, you want to be successful and do all you can to achieve positive outcomes. However, sometimes you unknowingly block your team’s success.
The legendary football coach George Allen was the first to say, “What you do during the offseason determines what you do during the regular season.”
Success during the regular season doesn’t just happen because we want it to. Wishing is not a strategy.
Whatever we want for our athletes, coaching staff, or team during the regular season must be built in the offseason. Games and matches might be contested during the regular season, but athletes and teams are made in the offseason.
You’re a coach, which means you have a position of leadership. However, keep in mind that just because you have a business card, plaque on your office door, or embroidered shirts saying “coach” doesn’t mean you are a good leader. There are plenty of politicians, CEOs, administrators, and yes, even coaches that aren’t maximizing the leadership potential of their positions.
Your status as a coach provides you a tremendous opportunity and starting point to make a positive impact on people. Leadership isn’t about positions or status, but about influence. Anyone can be a leader because anyone can have influence. However, you have a head start because you have power, status, and authority. You have a built-in platform and opportunity to use your power for good … or for bad.
As a coach, you’re constantly trying to lead your team as far as you can each season. This is true regardless of your resources or talent.
However, some coaches are blessed to be a part of programs that have high-performing individuals. High-performing teams usually have individuals that are more talented than most, but as coach, your role is to get the most out of them.
As a former college basketball coach, March Madness is my favorite “holiday” (insert eye roll from my wife).
I love the intrigue, excitement, and storylines. My wife always shakes her head when I plop down on the couch for days at a time.
There are really three kinds of basketball teams when March rolls around…