Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
11-time NBA Championship coach Phil Jackson said, “The strength of the team is each individual member, and the strength of each member is the team.” As a coach, you understand the importance of building a strong team.
There are plenty of teams that consist of skilled individuals and athletes with tremendous physical assets. However, some of these teams never reach their potential because they are just a bunch of puzzle pieces that don’t seem to fit together.
There’s no doubt that you want a stronger culture and a successful program. This is oftentimes accomplished when you have athletes that are good leaders. This might manifest itself in the form of strong team captains, upperclassmen, or an overall atmosphere of all players taking responsibility for the team’s leadership.
However, whether the leadership on your team is currently where you want it to be or not, you can do something to make it even better.
There’s more to a good team than just talent, strategy, and philosophy. The best teams have a high level of trust, respect, and a sense of purpose. This doesn’t happen by accident. Building a strong and healthy team is intentional.
There’s an old adage that says, “One day the winter will come calling and it will ask what you did all summer long.” You reap what you sow, and this is no different for your athletes, your team, or even yourself. The off season is a great time to prepare for the upcoming season. It’s a great time to build strong habits.
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…
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.
It’s very exciting to join a new program and start fresh.
Whether we’re a young coach or a wily veteran, head coach or assistant, there are still some important things to remember as we begin this new job.
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” (John Wooden)
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and a few years ago he wrote a book entitled “Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-year friendship on and off the court”.
John Wooden was the legendary basketball coach at UCLA when Kareem (then known as Lew Alcindor) played there.
John Corcoran has worked in Hollywood, written speeches for President Bill Clinton and lost his job when Arnold Schwarzenegger became the Governator. Even though he’s lived in California most of his life, he is the world’s worst surfer, although he does speak Valley Girl fluently. His day job is working with small business owners and entrepreneurs as a lawyer and business advisor. He created a website called SmartBusinessRevolution.com where he shows small business owners and entrepreneurs how to use relationships to attract more clients, customers and revenues. John’s podcast has been named by Inc. Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Podcasts for Entrepreneurs to Learn Personal Finance From.”
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
Tracie Hitz is a personal and professional branding strategist with more than 20 years of branding, marketing and sales experience in the sports industry. She launched Hitz & Branding, LLC in June 2018 after twenty years in the sports industry. In this new endeavor she helps people set goals, tell a story, land a date, land a job, or land anything they want.
Immediately before founding Hitz & Branding, LLC., Tracie was the Director of Championships & Alliances at the NCAA. In her first year, she oversaw the 2014 Women’s Final Four sales efforts that led to a sold-out arena in a first-time host city, and the following year she led the charge to record the largest attendance at a Women’s Final Four since 2010. Tracie came to the national office after working in the C-Suite as the Chief Marketing Officer at Old Hat Creative for 3.5 years where she doubled its annual revenue each year working with over 80 professional and collegiate sports organizations.
She was named to the C-Suite for the NACMA Board of Directors in 2008 and was the Board advisor from 2010-2013. She has been a member of the UNC Center for Research in Intercollegiate Athletics Board of Advisors and the IUPUI Tourism, Conventions and Event Management Advisory Board since 2015. She received her bachelorʼs degree in Communication (Journalism) from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri in 1997 and her masterʼs degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University in 2003.
Paul Tesori is the caddie for professional golfer Webb Simpson. Paul was on the bag when Webb won the 2012 U.S. Open and 2018 THE PLAYERS Championship. In addition to Webb Simpson, Paul has caddied for some of the best golfers in the world including former #1 player Vijay Singh. In total, he has more than 20 wins as a PGA caddie.
We caught up with Paul between THE PLAYERS and the Open Championship (to be held at Carnoustie, Scotland). The memories of the record-setting performance at THE PLAYERS was still fresh in his mind (especially since it is played at TPC Sawgrass, which is Paul’s home course). Webb led THE PLAYERS Championship from start to finish. Along the way, he equaled the course record with his 2nd-round 63, and also the 36-hole and 54-hole PLAYERS scoring records. With the win, Webb became just the 9th player to have won THE PLAYERS and a U.S. Open. The victory also made Webb World Golf Hall of Fame eligible in the future.
Paul is a Florida native and attended the University of Florida. He grew up loving sports and played golf and baseball. He was such a good golfer that he even played 21 events on the PGA Tour himself. Paul and his wife Michelle run the Tesori Family Foundation, which was founded in 2009. The foundation helps supports various charities throughout the country with focuses ranging from childhood homelessness to battered women’s shelters, from children battling disease like cancer to animal rescue charities like the Jacksonville Humane Society.
In today’s episode, we discuss: