#1 - If your team has problems, it's YOUR
fault!
"Find your own self in anything that goes bad. It's awfully
easy to mouth off at your staff or chew out players, but if it's
bad, and you're the head coach, you're responsible. If we have
an intercepted pass, I threw it. I'm the head coach. If we get
a punt blocked, I caused it. A bad practice, a bad game, it's
up to the head coach to assume his responsibility." - Paul
"Bear" Bryant
This might be the most important rule for it gives you
the power to improve your team or program. You see, if you
believe that you're the CAUSE for all of your team's failures,
it logically follows that you can also be the CURE! So
don't blame any one else, heap all of it on yourself and two
things will happen: You'll lose lots of sleep trying to figure
out how to improve things and your team will get better! Down
deep, the athletes know that problems and losses aren't always
the coach's fault, and they will work hard for the coach who
takes responsibility.
#2 - If your team has success, give ALL credit
to your athletes, assistant coaches, administration and parents!
"If anything goes bad, I did it... If anything goes really
good, then they (athletes, assistant coaches, parents, administration)
did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games
for you." - Paul "Bear" Bryant
Jim Collins in his book "From Good to Great"
describes the first two rules as the Window and Mirror Attitudes.
Great leaders look out the window to give credit to factors outside
themselves when things go well and, if they cannot find a specific
person to give credit to, they credit good luck. On the other
hand, they look in the mirror to take personal responsibility
when things go poorly, never blaming other people, external factors
or bad luck.
#3 - "You should strive to make EVERY
kid in your program the best wrestler and person he can be."
- Ray Nunamaker, former wrestling coach Nazareth High School,
PA
This rule is related to your philosophy of coaching. While
many coaches don't spend much time pondering this aspect of sport,
make no mistake about it, this is the most important component
of coaching! Why? Because everything you do from scheduling to
practice is determined by your philosophy, whether you are conscious
of it or not.
One of the most important aspects of your philosophy is whether
your program is going to be a pump or filter. If your emphasis
is on winning than you'll probably weed or filter out those kids
that can't be starters. You'll start the season with 45 wrestlers
and end up with 15.
Other programs try to pump up or build up every kid
in the program, starters and non-starters. Their goal is to provide
EVERY kid on the team with the best in terms of instruction,
opportunities, conditioning, schedule, philosophy, etc. They
start the year with 45 kids and end with 48! It is our belief
that from the high school level on down programs should have
this "pump" philosophy.
#4 - Coaching - It's ALL about what the kids
LEARN!
See "Coaches Never Lose"
for more insight.
#5 - Don't make the mistake of thinking that
all your wrestlers are as motivated as you were at the peak of
your competitive career.
Think back to when you STARTED wrestling. Kids come out for
the sport for a wide variety of reasons and few of them are ready
and willing to train hard.
#6 - If you think ONE wrestler MIGHT be more
motivated by some action, DO it!
Disclaimer: common sense must prevail here. Don't go crazy!
Also, keep in mind that it is difficult to have one thing or
action motivate all your wrestlers. A "shotgun" approach
is more effective. You need to do a 1,000 things, some big and
some small, to ensure most of your wrestlers will be motivated
most of the time. For ideas on motivating your wrestlers read
these articles: Challenge,
Achievement, Recognition
and Offseason Program.
#7 - If you practice, you wrestle.
This rule is the key to keeping kids on your team. Your greatest
priority should be to get matches for all your wrestlers. Do
what you have to do, but get them matches. You could over schedule,
enter two different tournaments the same day, go to tournaments
that permit unlimited entries or perhaps enter two teams in the
same tournament. Wrestlers are like foreign languages and muscles:
Use them or lose them!
#8 - It takes a hundred GOOD people to make
a GREAT program.
There's a lot to this rule. First, you can't do it alone,
nor do you want to! (See Coaching
Duties for all the "its" that need to be done).
While the more you do, the better your program will be, they
don't have to be done by the coaches. Get other people such as
students, teachers, administrators, managers, parents or fans
to do them. They will not only feel a sense of accomplishment,
but will become your most avid fans. Coaches tend to try to do
it all because it takes time to train people to do these tasks
and coaches tend to have a "If-you-want-it-done-right-do-it-yourself"
attitude. Do as much of the training before the season starts,
as time is at a premium once the season begins! It takes a 100
good people to make a great program. You're #100; now you've
got 99 more to go!
#9 - Never have more than nine rules!
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