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Sunday, September 27, 2026

Basketball - What Is Your Superpower as a Coach?

What is your superpower as a coach?

A Dick Bennett acolyte might offer a combination of:

  • Passion
  • Unity
  • Servant Leadership
  • Thankfulness (Gratitude)
  • Humility
Any discussion of humility would require mention of Benjamin Franklin's thirteen virtues. 

And Franklin realized his limitations. Paraphrasing about humility, he offered, "If I should ever achieve it, then surely I would be proud." 

Intangibles can only take you so far. 

The most successful coaches master combinations of: 
  • Recruiting (nobody wins without talent)
  • Resources (The compensation arms race is a battleground)
  • Player development/Teaching (surround yourself with good people) 
  • Leadership and Culture
  • Attitude (Jay Wright as a paradigm)
  • Organizational skills 
I think it was Danny Hurley who said that the process is streamlined because coaches can eliminate some recruits by asking, "What's your number?"

Teddy Roosevelt understood that "Comparison is the thief of joy." Any discussion of 'the greatest' becomes tainted by "Yeah, but" with qualifiers like, "If not for Sam Gilbert" or "If not for Michael Jordan" or "I never got the endless stream of first round talent." 


So what does an aspiring coach need to do?

1. Decide what she needs to do and what sacrifices are doable?
2. If (1) is a go, commit to your process.
3. Learn every day. 
4. Accept an 'apprenticeship', ideally with a good teacher. If you don't surround yourself with good people, success is unlikely. 
5. Find a mentor or mentors.
6. Study the game (video, books, clinics, websites, blogs)
7. Make player development a high priority.
8. Study great coaches but be authentic to yourself. 
9. Work on resilience. Mindfulness can help. Mira Nair said, "You need the soul of a poet and the hide of an elephant." 
10.Maintain perspective. If you have to be the smartest guy in the room, then you will need to find smaller rooms.

In her MasterClass, Helen Mirren was asked what it takes to be successful. Her answer was brief. "First, always be on time. Second, never be an a*hole." In the infinite universe, I'm a nobody without a superpower. I can live with that. 

Lagniappe. "First above all to thine own self be true." 


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