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Thursday, August 28, 2025

A Brief Classic Education for Coaches and Multiple Bonuses

Coaches are teachers, historians, psychologists, judges, and more. Share our classical education with our student-athletes. Use analogy where applicable to playing or coaching basketball. 

“Veni. Vidi. Vici.” - Julius Caesar, 47 B.C.  

Caesar proclaimed, "I came. I saw. I conquered." That's always the goal although not always the result. Students of coaching also remember what Dean Smith said. "A lion never roars after a kill." 

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle  

Success in sport reflects our mastery of habits. 

  • Self-care is a habit - diet, exercise, sleep 
  • Skill development 
  • Study - reading, video, basketball IQ/game management
  • Resilience - mindfulness/sport psychology (have we taken even one mindful breath today?)
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits says that our habits are votes for the type of person we want to be. 

“Every battle is won before it is fought.” - Sun Tzu, fifth century B.C. 

Successful players and coaches fall in love with training. Preparation is physical, mental, game planning, player development (e.g. drill book), playbooks, and more. 

Author Salman Rushdie discusses our creative imagination and our critical imagination. Coaches develop our philosophy, offensive and defensive program and playbooks, and then revise it according to our people, opposition, and results. 

“Fortune favors the bold.”

The saying dates back thousands of years and has been adapted and adopted by many cultures. Coaches want players to reflect their philosophy. Strong teams invariably have aggressive players, although aggression comes in many forms - power, speed, craft. 

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates

Socrates preached the value of self-reflection and critical thinking. Watching a game, we see "intention," what a team is trying to accomplish at both ends of the court. If it's not apparent, then it's likely that clear strategies don't exist, that the teaching isn't good, or the players aren't receptive. 

"What we do now echoes in eternity." - Marcus Aurelius   

Marcus Aurelius wrote the classic Meditations. Should we care about our coaching legacy or what would we like it to be? 

Aurelius frequently reflects that even the most celebrated men—heroes, philosophers, emperors—are quickly forgotten. He reminds himself not to chase after posthumous fame because those who hand it down are fleeting, too. In Book 4, Section 19: “All of us are creatures of a day; the rememberer and the remembered alike.”

Our biggest impact is upon those whom we coach. Seek to provide them a memorable, worthy experience. 

“No one can hurt you without your permission.” - Epictetus 

We've all had different types of coaches, different personalities, different substance, and different styles. In "The Four Agreements," Ruiz reminds us to "Never take anything personally," because what others say to us or about us often isn't true. 

A firehose of ideas surrounds us every day. Filter it and use whatever we can to make those around us better. 

Lagniappe. How does a play affect you? 

Lagniappe 2. Shooting drills from Coach Haefner.  

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