Coach Boone's Character Change Throughout The Movie

The beliefs and values held by many of the characters change over the course of the film as a result of Coach Boone and Coach Yoast’s work. It is clear that their belief in racial equality and love for football helped a team, and ultimately a town, begin to come to terms with the issue of race in America’s schools.

Although the film did not examine in detail the knowledge coach Herman Boone possessed before he began his position with the Titans, it shows glimpses into his experience and wisdom. Boone clearly knew and loved football, as evidenced by his hours of dedication and labor. In the scene where he is first introduced to coach Yoast, he describes his past experience as a coach in North Carolina, and his previous winning seasons. Coach

Boone’s personal knowledge pertaining to issues of race, group dynamics and relationships was exemplified in a scene where he made his players reseat themselves on the bus based on offensive and defensive teams. This forced players of different races to interact and bond as a team. Coach Yoast also exhibited an understanding of the dynamics of teamwork and issues of race. During training camp when the athletes were forced to run and re-run drills, he allowed Gerry Bertier and another teammate work through their differences rather than getting involved. This allowed Bertier, a white player, the chance to show support for his black teammates and improved trust on the field.
Throughout the film there were many individual situations that stemmed from one key issue that was present in the sixties – desegregation.

When Boone was appointed to the position of football coach at T.C. Williams High School, he became the visionary of success to the program. His vision for the team from the beginning was to win a state championship. As a leader one must be a visionary and have an ultimate goal that needs to be accomplished. Difficult situations continuously present themselves and need to be handled effectively in order to accomplish the leader’s vision, which often occurred during Boone’s journey with his team. Throughout the film, no matter what circumstances Boone encountered, he was able to stay focused on the goal of winning a championship which consequently allowed the team to

succeed.
As a leader assumptions need to be put aside in order to accomplish the task at hand. Boone made some quick assumptions regarding Yoast and his belief system and values based on events that were occurring in their town. Ultimately, Boone made a wise decision approach Yoast at his home and discuss the situation. However, Boone should have been honest instead of arrogant and overbearing. Instead of trying to prove that he was qualified to run the team he should have tried to explain the pride that he was trying to instill to his fellow minorities in their town. Boone's actions caused an instant dissension among the coaching staff. If Boone would have been open about the events surrounding his appointment this dissension might not have occurred and the team might have seen the respect between the two coaches and taken a lead from them.
The hostile nature of the town was a factor in every decision the coaches made. In order to proceed on the path to success, they needed to realize there is no changing the world’s dynamic in the span of one football season. Boone and his staff made a wise decision by changing their perspective and not setting out to solve the problems of the entire town. Boone particularly made every effort not to ignore the problem of race; he just narrowed the gap of his reach. He realized that he needed to deal with the race issues on the team and not the community. Boone was challenged by this interpersonal dilemma but made a decision to strive to achieve goals which were truly within his grasp.
Throughout the film, the odds were against Boone and the success of the Titan football team. The school board was scheming against Boone, and the team was racially divided because of the segregation issues. As a leader, integrity needs to be kept intact by finding a way to overcome the negative conspiracies and scheming while keeping a strong value and belief system.
The stages of group development are something that every team will go through, whether football or not. The journey may not be clean all the way through, they might start to norm, then a situation will occur and you may take a step back to storming again. However it has been made clear that your team won’t reach their full potential unless four stages are completed. There are five stages of group development; Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. Creating a group or team bridges people with different personalities, and groups typically go through different stages as they work to complete an assignment. Psychologist Bruce Tuckman's model is very useful for understanding the key components of group and team development. Tuckman explains how group dynamics, whether that group is a business organization, non-profit foundation or a social clique, must pass through various stages of its life cycle. Each of these stages reflects a particular mode of activity within the group and how the group starts, grows and eventually dissolves. The “forming” stage occurs when the team first assembles together. During this initial meeting, team members share information about their experiences and develop first impressions of other members. The "storming" stage is often the most turbulent time in any group's life cycle. In some instances, the storming stage can bring about "brainstorming," where the ideas are brought up, debated and measured by their merits. The "norming" phase occurs when the personalities of the group have settled into their roles. During this phase, the individuals understand their responsibilities and act as a cohesive unit to accomplish the company's goals. The "performing" phase sees the group at its peak. Each member knows his role and carries out his duties with the full support and understanding of the rest of the group. The final phase, "adjourning," reflects the end of the group's life cycle. Adjourning can occur when a project is completed, when members of the group leave the company or when the company closes its doors permanently.
Group dynamics plays an important role in this film. A new team is formed involving both white and African American players, and Coach Boone makes it extremely clear who the boss is by stating, “this is not a democracy, this is a dictatorship…I am the law”. The players are quite resistant towards the idea of desegregation. This is apparent when the players leave for summer camp and the players decide not to ride on the same bus as a teammate from a different race. Boone quickly notices the antics and sets the players straight before the buses pull away. Boone understands the importance of his group’s dynamic and passionately informs this to them by explaining, “I don’t care if your black, white, green, blue or orange we will ride together as one” and then proceeds to mix the two buses. The Storming phase is first identified as the players arrive to camp. Julius and Gary are put in a room together. Julius puts up a poster and doesn’t remove it when Gary tells him too. When the two of them start fighting, the majority of the team come charging in and take it out on random teammates that having nothing to do with the discrepancy. Before these players were challenging the leadership, now they are challenging each other. The players are fighting for positions, playing time and respect within the team. However as the camp goes on, the team dynamic changes; they begin to get to know each other, spend time together and hold each other accountable, no matter their race, when they do not perform their best for the team. Boone and the coaching staff notice this transformation at this point allow the players to continue to handle these situations themselves. The most significant stage of group dynamics within this film is performing. The team now shares an image of perfection and strives to succeed. They achieve a 13-0 win streak and they ensure that every team remembers the day they played the Titans. Without the stages of group development a group/team transformation is not possible.
The Leadership style and behavior of Coach Boone over the duration of the camp and season aids the progression of the Group Development stages, how the team performs, and has both a positive and negative effect on his players. He first installs a dictatorship with his players; they do not make the decisions within his program. He instills this by stating “I am the law”. His mannerisms and behavior with the players creates a level of respect. Coach Boone demands perfection and the players strive to achieve this goal. Boone’s mentality and passion to play the best they possibly transpires to the entire team and their attitudes and perspective change. As the film progresses and the players begin to work together, the coaches take a step back and allow them to solidify their own relationship without trying to mold them any further. Leadership style and behavior are crucial to group dynamics and ultimately performance. If a leader has no respect or control over the players the team won’t be able to progress efficiently through the stages of group development and ultimately achieving their goals. Coach Boone was extremely effective as a leader, he may have pushed the boundaries but the players bounced back and pushed through the difficulties. Without the passion and input from Boone as a leader, the team would have no direction. Boone is the leader who helps them progress through each of the stages. He encouraged development, and sparked the arguments in order to entice the norming and performing process. If Boone was not as strong, the group dynamics of the team would slowly developed and possibly not have been successful at creating a strong bond between the players. Boone possessed effective transformational leadership skills and was exemplified as the team strengthened and produced the results they were capable of.
Boone worked extremely hard at solidifying his team as cohesive army ready for war. Cohesion is a dynamic process, reflected in the tendency of a group to stick together and remain united in a pursuit of their objectives. There are two types of cohesion. Social is more about how to get along with others and Task is more about how well a team works together to achieve a common goal. Boone made it clear he “doesn’t care if they [the players] get along…they will respect each other”. The Titans fall under the task cohesion type. They work together towards a common goal. The four main factors affecting their cohesion is the environment, the leadership, the team and their personal lives. The leadership and team had a positive effect on their cohesion as Boone encourages them to get to know other teammates and work on making each other better players. However, the environment they live in and the personal lives created difficulties in becoming a unified group. Society did not agree with these students playing on the same team together. Some of the player’s attitudes were having a negative impact on the team so they were excused from the team and no longer welcome to be a Titan. Without Cohesion and without the team bonding and comradery, the late stages of the Group Development and ultimately group dynamics would not have been achieved. The players needed to stick together in order to fulfill their goals and achieve the success they deserved.
The internal conflict between Coach Yoast, Boone and the players soon disappears once their team begins to continuously beat their opponents. Boone is seen to be very open and flexible when it comes to his players. The coaches work well in sync for most of the film. Yoast often find himself deferring to Boones leadership. However it is only by their final game that both coaches truly get to shine and show the best of themselves. Boone by this time is a commanding presence who has an emotional connection to his players. Coach Yoast at this point challenges the status quo giving up his spot in the hall of fame to ensure that his team gets the victory. By the end of the film both Coaches have a Commanding Leadership style. They both know how to motivate their players and get the best out of them. And they realize enough to stay out of each other’s way and trust the other to do their jobs. Such leadership becomes crucial to their victory. And when they do succeed in winning it shows how leadership can go a long way in ending interpersonal conflicts and creating brilliant opportunities for everyone.
The consequences of undertaking change in a society are excessive.

Any leader who tries to change something in a substantial way is going to face situations in which they have to make enormous decisions. The penalties of those decisions are going to affect whether the change happens. Societal change of the magnitude in Remember the Titans has great consequences for anyone who is assisting with the change. The positive values are long term in that the greatest objective was met, desegregation and equality among all people. The negative consequences of decisions were short term because it was harassment and ridicule for trying to incite change. A leader's role is never easy, but when the ultimate goal is met it is such a rewarding satisfaction, the sacrifices do not

matter.