A Great Coach

I have often wondered: What is needed for a coach to be a good coach? Or maybe even a great coach. Let me talk about great coaching. What shall we use as a criterion to label a "great coach"? Let us use just one: championships. Some coaches have told me that they don't care about championships. They care about helping to develop young men into responsible men. Who wants to argue with that? Do little league coaches care about winning? Do little league players care about winning. How about high school football coaches? What do they care about? How about high school football coaches in the state of Texas? Do they care about winning, or do they care about building "strong young men" in mind and body? Let me get to the point. Let us talk about college football. A college football team needs 5 things: 1) facilities 2) a coaching staff 3) players 4) a supporting staff (administration) 5) fans. Insert the word "great" before each factor and you will really have something. I will refer to the five factors as 5F. What I am talking about is not rocket science. It is akin to common sense. Nevertheless it is still deep because it is about dealing with people. It is about hard work. It is about inspiration. It is about leadership. It is about motivation. It is about skill. It is about DIHLMS (the aforementioned). Of the 5F; factor #2 is the most important. He is the leader. He is the motivator. He is the teacher. He is the inspirational force. He is the responsible one. He is the one the critics lambast or praise. The great coach deals with every part of the 5F. He will get the great facilities. He will bring out the best his coaching staff has to offer. He will make sure great players are recruited. He communicates well with support staff. He loves and appreciates the fans. In a very real sense: the game is played for them. A great coach must have DIHLMS, but DIHLMS will not work without PLK. What is PLK? PLK is: PASSION for the game, LOVE for the game and KNOWLEDGE of the game. DIHLMS is the means. It is the transporter. PLK is it's substance. DIHLMS is the vehicle. PLK is the passenger. This is an idea. It is also idealistic. Is not a championship season an ideal come to pass?