Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

PHILOSOPHY, MOTIVATION, AND MANAGEMENT 181
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Insights Into Goaching
WOODYHAYES
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I Bhall start with some insights into the coaching
profession that are taken from a book published
in 1969. The author* has eraciously given me
perrnisBion to read {iom it. The name of it is Aot
Liw to VictorJ .
1. One ofthe most impodant characteristics
of a successful coach is be yourself. It was
Socrates who said, "Know thyself'; but it is
up to the coach to be himself. O{ten a young
coach will imitate one ofhis forrner coaches.
It is excellent to emulate a former coach,
but do not imitate him.
2. There are two qualities that a coach must
have to a far grcater degaee than any other
member of the teaching staff. Fimt, the
coach must have an intense and continuing
interest in the welfare and in the allaround
development of each player. With
little reflection, th€ coach wilt realize that
htu own success tu depend€nt on the attitude
a]ld the effortofthose players.Ifhe iB
successtul, he certainly owes much to those
players, and his continual interest and help
to those young men becomes impodant and
worthwhile.
Second, the coach must have an exhemely
shong desire to win. However, it muEt be a
"we" win attitude, not an "I" win attitude.
He is the l€ader of the team, but he is also
a member of the team. When he is confronied
with defeat, he must never use the
sick alibh, "if that pass hadn't been intercepted"
or "if our end had caught the ball
in the end zone." Such excuses are areflection
on the individual player and will be
conBtrued as an attempt by the coach to
remove himself from the blame of losing.
In time of victory there are enough plaudits
foreve4'one, but in time of defeat, tbe
responsibility must be taken by the most
malure and moqr rcsponqible man involved-the
head coach.
3. Therc is one luxury the coach cannot afford-it
is the luxury of self-pity. When the
coach resorh to thi8 psychological mechanism,
his days in the profession are numbered.
4. The coach must assume a positive attitude
toward hisjob. Ifhe enjoys coaching, as a
good coach will, he must realize that he gets
paid for the h€adacheB involved in tbe
coaching profesBion. Headaches-such aB
morale problems, training probiems, undue
pressure*all of these are things tied in
with the profession, and the coach must
recognize thern for what they are. He must
anticipate these pmblems; he must not say
"if they happen," but '\rhen they happen";
and then he must take all prccautions to
keep them ftom happening.
5. The coach must win. There is a Roman expressro'J,
Res noLunt diu mak administrari,
which puryortedly means'Thinss refuse to
be mismanaged long." Inthe coachinspmfession
th€re is no adequate substitute lor
winning.
Criticism must be regarded as irnpersonal,
for ith an occupational hazard. Usuallythe
critic is vocal only because the team lost,
and this cannot be rcgarded as a personal
criticiBm. The critic may not even know the
coach, but he does know that the coach is
the leader ofth€ team that lost. Quite often
this tlT€ ofcriticism is hardest on the
coach who retulns to his own college or to
his own community He must realize that
the same pemon who patted him on the
back as a player can change his aim and
figuratively beat him over the head aE a
coach. The coach and hi€ family who are
not prepared for this will have bad times.
7. In high school the coach is hired for one
thing and fired for anothex On€ ofthe true
anomalies in the high school coaching
'N4. Hayes himsell is rhF ^urhot
ot Hut Li ar t u Vi. turr.