Coach John Wooden
It isn’t difficult to find leaders. Generals and politicians stand out because they are well-documented. Buddhist monks like Thich Nhat Hanh are not so obvious, but still relevant. Another area where leaders shine is in coaching. The best coaches are also teachers. Bill Belichick and Vince Lombardi hold special places in NFL history. The NBA has Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach. Scotty Bowman and Toe Blake still lead the NHL in Stanley Cups. But the best coach ever in American history belongs to the NCAA. John Wooden not only won titles, he produced good students and good people. He did this by being a role model. He said, “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” He didn’t recruit athletes for his teams. He recruited students with good character - that also happened to be good athletes. Many of his athletes went on to great NBA careers, but many didn’t. He ensured they were all ready to use his tools and methods to be their best.
People listened to Coach Wooden because he led by example. He did not preach winning, and it was never about him. He thought of himself as a great practice coach. He didn’t try to run every minute of every game. He didn’t try to intimidate referees. He believed if he prepared his players, they would do what’s right, and the results would take care of themselves. No coach has ever duplicated his results. He started building his credibility while still a college athlete. He was the first 3x consensus All American while at Purdue. He finished college and played some NBL professional ball. He started teaching and coaching high schoolers. He moved up to Indiana State. He turned that program around in two years. UCLA and some bigger universities called. He arrived at UCLA and found a disaster. High schools had better facilities. Good players did not want to come to UCLA because there was no reputation for success. Coach Wooden applied himself and his principles. He got the community to support a facility upgrade, and he built momentum. During the lean years, Coach Wooden refined his message and techniques. Great athletes liked his style and were anxious to learn from him. Many people remember Coach Wooden as the guy who coached Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton. He wasn’t always blessed with talented big men. He played small-ball before it was fashionable, and he won two Championships that way.
Coach Wooden’s college record raised the bar for coaches:
10 National Titles - runner up is Coach K from Duke with 5
7 Consecutive National Titles
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88 straight wins
4 perfect 30-0 seasons
6X NCAA Coach of the Year
20 PAC-10 Championships
1st man to enter the NCAA Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach
For many years I thought Coach Wooden was the perfect coach. Nobody’s perfect. Rumors swirled about exceptions made for famous players - Bill Walton. Some critics pointed out UCLA booster Sam Gilbert gave gifts to prominent players. Coach Wooden admitted that he provided meals for his athletes that couldn’t afford tickets home to be with family at holidays. The greatest coach of all time was a human. He retired before he turned 65 because the pressure to continue winning was taking its toll. His success was making him bigger than the game. He no longer enjoyed the process, so he stepped down.
Coach Wooden had plenty to say, and he wasn’t shy about telling it. In a 2001 TED Talk, Coach spoke about his experience. He has over 7,500,000 views. Leadership students still study and apply his Pyramid of Success. The Pyramid deserves and will get its own article. It is the most detailed model I’ve ever seen for personal development for a player, coach, manager, or leader. Coach Wooden held to three rules:
1) Be on time. Start on time. Finish on time.
2) Be neat and clean when traveling as a team. Neat and clean in all things. No Profanity.
3) Never criticize a teammate.
He held himself and his players to those rules, and they would still work today for building a team. Coach authored or co-authored over 30 books. He left UCLA in 1975, but stayed busy with camps, clinics, and speaking engagements. A college friend told me about attending a John Wooden clinic. He said it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. Coach Wooden commanded unprecedented respect. Attendees wrote down everything Coach Wooden said. They even took notes about how to put on socks and lace up shoes. It is hard for us today to comprehend that kind of respect for a leader. Coach Wooden left us in 2010 a few months shy of his 100th birthday, but we can still learn from his example.