Successful Coaching Lessons by an Old School Coach

Why would anyone want to read this book? Good question, that demands an answer. Everyone is a coach in some manner or another. It does not matter what you are doing, someone is going to tell you how to do whatever you are doing. That is coaching in the most important form that exists. Plumbers are coached, repairmen are coached, children are coached [most of the time by parents], barbers are coached, the President of the United States is coached, and the list can go on and on. As far as I am concerned, I have not won any national championships, nor have I been in demand for speaking engagements. If you compare my coaching record to others, my won-loss record is good, but it does not stand out. With that said, let me explain what I have to offer then you decide. This book is not just about my life as a coach but rather, the lessons I have learned through my coaching career. Coaching Lessons by an Old School Coach covers 170 coaching lessons I have learned in my 53 years of coaching. My assistant football coaching record of 142-43 tells you the quality of the Head coaches I worked with in football, and I owe so much of my success to them. However, I enjoyed equally well coaching golf, track, tennis, cross- country and volleyball in both genders. "Old School" is about coaching period. It is not a particular sport, gender, age, or level of play. I have coached on every level of play that exists in schools, coached both genders on those levels along with almost every sport that a school offers. Everyone coaches sometime in their lifetime. It doesn't have to be about a sport and could be many things. Since I ended up with over 1000 wins coaching basketball at thirty-one different schools along with twenty-six different Head basketball coaching positions without a losing record, I guess you could say my main sport was basketball. At this point in time, I know of no one in the United States of America that can match that record, nor do I know anyone wants to top me. No doubt I have a strong passion for coaching and a passion for sports, particularly competitive sports. I believe that athletics is a huge part of the educational process. I believe that athletics is the best example we have in the educational process where discipline, commitment, and teamwork are expected of the students. When these attributes are applied elsewhere in education, all students' success rate improves. Another reason I write this book is for the common coach that coaches any sport, not just basketball. The common coach is the majority in the real world of coaching. That includes people coaching only to help someone learn a trade or a job. Only about 4% of coaches live in that glass house of big money and big fame. The common coach in schools across the world is where the work is done from the early morning hour till the sun goes down. The hours are long, and the pay isn't exciting. Coaches at schools deal with unhappy and happy parents, administrators, and faculty, but more importantly, they deal with our youth of today. The common coach in schools has more influence on our youth of today than anyone except parents. They live in the real world of coaching, and I have a great amount of respect or the job they do.