An Informative Essay On What Makes A Great Coach

There have been many coaches that go in and out of programs that have no impression on their programs, except for wins and losses. What would one say makes a great coach? Is it the amount of wins they have accounted for? The athletes they produce? Some may say that what makes a great coach is the win versus lost ratio, along with consistency. I believe wins only make a coach good, but the impact they have on their athletes and sports, puts them in a category of their own. There isn’t many coaches that can be put in this category, but Pat Summitt, Vince Lombardi, and John Wooden are all coaches that have been put in a league of their own.

One of the first coaches that comes to anybody’s mind that knows sports, when they think about great coaches

that had a dynamic impact on the game, Pat Summitt would be on the top of the list. After a long 38 season career, Summit had to step down due to effects of early-onset dementia-Alzheimer. Pat Summitt went won 1,098 games and only lost 208 in her 38 seasons in as Tennessee’s head coach, won 8 national championships, won 16 SEC championships, and failed to make the Sweet Sixteen only once in her career. Summitt transformed the game with her personality and outstanding coaching abilities. Vicki Baugh, one of the athletes coached by Summitt stated, “It was the biggest blessing in my life playing for Pat Summitt,” Baugh said. “My favorite thing about her was that she was all business on the court, but was also a mother figure to all of us. She cares for her team as if they were her own daughters.” (Linton, Pg. 1) Summitt not only coached her players, but made them feel like they were a part of her family as well. In coaching my athletes I would instill the importance of family and togetherness in all of them. Making sure the athletes are not scared of me, but still respect me as their coach. I would like for the athletes to feel safe around me, as though they could come to me for anything, from track help to personal issues. Forming personal relationships with athlete, is not so I could be their friend or all into their personal life, but show them that there is much more to life than this sport. This style of coaching Pat Summitt had made her one of the most influential coaches to ever coach and changed women’s basketball forever.
Next, is a coach that had a great impact on his sport as well, Vince Lombardi head football coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1968.

Lombardi in his nine seasons, the Packers won 98 with only 30 losses and 4 ties, in addition to that he went 9-1 in the postseason. He also won 5 championships, 3 of which were in a row, from 1965 to 1967. His coaching career was cut short after dying to colon cancer at age 57. Lombardi’s hard, but understanding coaching style made him successful and hard to let down. Jerry Kramer, a Green Bay guard, stated, before the Super Bowl: “I feel that his Sunday every guard in the National Football League is depending on me not to let him down.” Kramer’s fellow lineman, Fuzzy Thurston, added, “I don’t want some guy to come into my steak house, point at me and say, ‘you played on the first team to lost to the AFL.’” (Clary, Pg. 1) He gave his athletes the sense of responsibility and accomplishment. For me this would look like showing my athletes that they are capable of being great and them the correct tools to be successful, so they should have no reason to mess up. Let them know there responsibility in the team and making sure they can handle responsibility. I feel when the athlete feels as though they have a responsibility, they perform better and work

harder.
Lastly, but certainly not least, John Wooden basketball coach for the UCLA bruins from 1948- 1977, arguably the best coach ever. His statistics are dazzling with, an 80.4% winning percentage, with a record of 664 wins and 162 losses for his career. He also went on 88 game winning streak and has 10 national championships, He was the first person to be inducted into the players and coaches Hall of Fame. John Wooden was the perfect example of a cooperative coach. Denny Crum stated, “He never made you feel like, ‘That would be a stupid thing to do.’ He’d always say, ‘Let’s look at it in practice, and see which way we like it, and we’ll go from there.’ He never turned down an idea that you had that might be a little better than the way he had done it. He never felt like he knew everything.” (Crum, pg. 1) I would use this style almost exactly as Wooden did. I would make sure that I have a nice communication with my athletes to make sur we are on the same page. Try to make sure my athletes are comfortable with what we are doing. If not, we could compromise and make it where it could be easier for all of us. This way one could keep the athlete as happy as possible and the coach as well.
In conclusion, Summitt, Lombardi, and Wooden are all coaches the left there mark on the game before they left the game. Each one of these coaches had impressive statistics, some of the best, but they had that others did not was the influence they brought to their athletes and to their game as a whole. So I ask again what makes a coach be considered a good coach. The wins to losses ratio? Consistency? No I believe you need all of these things, most importantly that impact they have had on their athletes and people around them.