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DEVELOPMENT OF A COACHING PHILOSOPHY AND PRINCIPLES
One of the more common items that had to be developed over the course of my
career and in the years leading up to the start of my coaching career was the
development of my coaching philosophy. From one year to the next, the
philosophy has continued to evolve to what I have as my approach today.
In this article, I will take you through step-by-step as to how to develop your
coaching philosophy and the principles by which you will develop and make your
own. I will also show you as we go through each of these steps what my
coaching philosophy is and what principles I use as a basketball coach.
Developing the Coaching Philosophy and Principles
In putting together some ideas as to how to develop a coaching philosophy, there
are three basic steps that I would suggest to all coaches. These steps
will help you in your efforts to develop a coaching philosophy that you can rely
upon year after year.
The first thing you need to do is to understand the definition of success.
Various coaches have differing standards as to what is and is not success.
You as a coach have to determine what you define success to be before you can
pursue it. Consider your definition a goal as to what success is. I
will discuss later on what I have found to be the best definition of success in
the years that I have coached basketball and developed my coaching philosophy.
Second, you must determine what is a successful program. It isn't enough
to know what success is and is not. You have to apply that same definition
to your own program. Maybe you need to examine the history of the program,
or how passionate your fan base is, or what kind of talent your team has or what
you did the previous season. All or any of these will determine what needs
to be done to help you determine what you will need to do to achieve success and
meet the standards placed on you by the fans, players, other coaches on your
staff, your administrators and your community.
Finally, you must develop the approach you will take to having a successful
program. Now that you know what the end game is, you have to determine
what you are going to do to get there, execute it and evaluate your results.
No matter what philosophy you take, you need to examine your philosophy
constantly and make sure it withstands all the scrutiny to which you will
subject it. I liken it to taking a sledgehammer and hitting it against the
foundation and cornerstone of your house. If the cornerstone and
foundation survive the rigorous pounding, your philosophy passes the test.
The biggest part of your philosophy will be your principles. Those
principles are the aspects of your philosophy that you will not compromise.
It is best to base them on timeless principles and wisdom you have come across
in coaching or in having played basketball so that you can make the
determination as to what works best in regards to your philosophy.
My Coaching Philosophy Based on the Three Steps
In looking for a definition of success that can help as many coaches as
possible, I look at the one that was developed by John Wooden when he was a high
school English teacher in Indiana. Parents were defining success for their
children as being a particular grade. The one that Coach Wooden came up
with dealt more with the efforts in trying to be successful. In the end,
Coach Wooden came up with the best (at least in my opinion) definition as to
what success really is: "Success is peace of mind, which is a direct
result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to
become the best that you are capable of becoming."
To me, a successful program varies from one place to another. Some will
tell you that anything less than winning championships is unacceptable while
some places would throw a parade in your honor just for finishing above .500.
All I can tell you is that your definition of success and the expectations
placed upon you will vary from one place to another. If there is one thing
that I would say would be a good coaching job is when the coach of the team gets
his players to play to the absolute maximum of their talents and efforts within
the framework of the team.
I take the approach that I will work with my players, coaches, administration
and community to ensure that we have the best basketball team possible. We
need everyone in on the plan by making it a point to be inclusive. We also
need to have our priorities in order so that we can put first things first and
to make the necessary steps to become the best basketball program possible.
My Coaching Principles
To help me with my coaching philosophy, I developed a list of ten core
principles that I have found to be useful in coaching and in getting people to
believe in my coaching philosophy. The only way that I can get people to
help me accomplish what I want to do and to get people to buy in to my
philosophy is to have a list of principles as to how I govern myself as a coach.
It is also important to remember that your principles are the things that you
will never compromise. You can change your philosophy to change with the
times between seasons, but you should establish principles based on your
thoughts as to what you will never compromise.
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Adherence to the philosophy of what makes a
successful program. It is one thing to have a good
philosophy, but it is entirely different to sell it. The first
part of selling anything to anyone is to believe in what you are
selling. The minute to stop believing in what your philosophy
is, the minute your philosophy needs to be changed. If you
have a good philosophy that you can sell to your players, the rest
will take care of itself.
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"Do what we do". You and your
team have to develop your own style of play and stick with it.
You cannot be a pressing team one night then decide to play zone the
next. You have to be consistent and do what you do best.
This approach I got from Tony Dungy who constantly told his players
to play their game and not get sucked in to what the other team was
doing.
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Being persistent. Former President
Calvin Coolidge made a speech on the importance of pressing on and
not letting up no matter what the odds. You and your players
are only defeated if you concede that you are defeated. If you
stop playing and trying, you stop being successful.
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Being in outstanding physical condition.
Basketball is a physically-demanding game that requires players to
be in the best shape possible. When I worked at William Jewell
for Coach Larry Holley, both he and our women's basketball coach
Jill Cress worked to keep themselves in the best physical condition
possible whether it was playing racquetball or doing cardiovascular
workouts. It is hard to get your players to get into shape
when you yourself are not in shape to handle the rigors and
pressures of this profession.
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Playing as one team with one heartbeat.
A coach has to be capable of uniting a team, not dividing it.
Players cannot be given special privileges that are not earned.
The rules of the program must apply without exception and the
culture of not wanting to let your team or teammates down must be
instilled.
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Using motivational tactics to inspire people to
become better than what they expect of themselves. Coaches
must see potential and get the players to realize that they are
capable of so much more than what they see in themselves. This
must be done by getting players motivated to maximize their talents
and skills within the framework of the team. While standards
for the players need to be reasonable, they must be higher than what
the players think of themselves.
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Earning respect and trust by demonstrating loyalty,
honesty, and integrity as the hallmarks of character. Dr.
Frank Luntz, a noted pollster, has said and written several times
what people want from their elected leaders. The same is true
about basketball coaches. People who want to be led want
leaders who "mean what they say and say what they mean".
Unfortunately, there are leaders in all walks of life, including
basketball coaching, who will say one thing and do something else.
For a successful team, organization or country to function, leaders
must be consistent in their rhetoric and their actions.
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Never lower reasonable demands to meet the
performance of the players. If you believe that your
standards for your players are reasonable and they are not making
the effort to meet those standards, you need to find a way to raise
their level of performance. Don't compromise what you want
from them if what you want is reasonable. Make them find a way
to meet your challenge, even if your have to motivate them to do it.
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Continuously improving no matter how well your team
succeeded. Regardless of how successful the outcome of
your season was, there is always more that you can do to get better
and surpass the level of success you have previously enjoyed.
Whether it is additional film study, reading books, or traveling to
attend clinics and meetings, there is always more that you can do to
improve your team and yourself. The moment you stop trying to
get better is the moment your team and you will go into decline.
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Preparing your players for life after playing
competitive basketball. The day will come when your
players will no longer play the game competitively and there will
also come a day when they will no longer play the game. What
kind of lessons are you teaching your players? When they are
no longer playing for you, they must become better men/women than
they were before they started playing for you. Using them for
short-term success at the expense of helping them grow and mature as
human beings is the worst thing a coach can do for any player.
These are my ten principles that I look to use as a
coach whenever I am coaching a team or at a camp. While there may
be some disagreement as to what your principles may be, this is being
used as a starting point for what makes you a successful coach and what
you want to do to meet your coaching philosophy.
Conclusions
The biggest point of understanding in this article is that your philosophy will
vary based on what works best for you and what you believe. Your
philosophy is yours and yours alone. Be sure to examine your own beliefs
and scrutinize yourself to come to find what you believe about how best to coach
your team.
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