Jimmy V: A College Basketball Leader: Jim Valvano

Jim Valvano, otherwise known as “Jimmy V”, was a college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. This paper will cover Jimmy and define his true leadership qualities. Jimmy was an icon in the sports world not only for his coaching ability. He taught the world that leaders need a vision, leaders need to connect with their followers, and that leaders learn from their followers. Jimmy defied the rules and transformed his players into exceptionally good players and even better people. He taught more than basketball to his players and reached outside of his coaching arena to touch the lives of people across the world. If you saw Jim Valvano’s statistics as a head coach you would not be overly impressed with his stat line. He is 346-210 overall

Valvano married his high school sweetheart and they had three children together. He played college basketball at Rutgers University and graduated in 1967. After his graduation he began his coaching career at Rutgers as an assistant coach. He finally became a head coach when he took a job at Johns Hopkins University where he stayed for one season. He went back to being an assistant the next year at Connecticut for two years. Following that he went back to head coaching at Bucknell, Iona, and eventually finding a home at North Carolina State University. Valvano stayed at NC State for ten years. He led the team to two conference championships and one national championship. This national championship is where we first saw the leadership of Jim Valvano shine. He did not have one of the best teams in the country. In fact his team was even lucky to have made the tournament in the first place. His players believed in him and they bought into his idea of winning a championship. He made sure that his followers were strong people. He did what any good leader would do and pick the strongest followers to go with him. He led his team on one of the most spectacular tournament runs in the history of the NCAA tournament. He would not have been able to do this without the leadership ideals talked about later in the text. Valvano was forced out of coaching after his ten year stint at NC State due to being diagnosed with bone cancer. It would

Valvano gave a speech at the 1993 ESPY awards in which he depicted his ideas of leadership. He stated that leaders need a vision. He said that in one practice every year he would have the players practice on how they would act when they win. He did not say if they win, he said when they win. Valvano was giving his players a vision. They had something to believe in and play for. They were not playing just to look good and move on to the professional level. They were playing to win a national championship. Valvano envisioned an idea for his team and his team bought into that vision. He also taught that leaders need to connect with their followers. Valvano stated that he often would randomly call his players into his office just to chat with them. He wanted them to feel comfortable with him. They did not just talk about basketball, they could talk about anything. Valvano’s followers, in this case his players, were comfortable with him and they trusted him. They had no doubt when it came to their leader. Valvano fully understood the value of connection. He also taught that leaders learn from their followers. In Valvano’s final speech he talked about the four things that the 1983 national championship team taught him. They taught him hope, dreaming, persistence, and love. These four things came from the connection that Valvano had with his players. The 1983 national championship team