Don Yaeger's Great Teams helps define what separates success from mediocrity.
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1) Culture...the environment or ecosystem surrounding a program. Every player and coach "inhabits" and impacts culture. No universal culture exists. The same players can play in different sports with entirely different cultures. One can be collegial and another hierarchical. One can be player-driven and another autocratic.
2) Problem solving. Some coaches encourage teams to "figure it out," e.g. Gregg Popovich of the Spurs and to a lesser degree Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics last year. Others have a more rigid framework where coaches "impose" solutions. Often blended structures of high collaboration are best.
Teams can be fragile. For those watching "The Dynasty" about the Patriots, the arrival of Aaron Hernandez brought a volatile and violent character into the mix.
Years ago we added a good player during tryouts. The team was slightly better and the culture changed, not clearly better or worse, just different.
Lagniappe.
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