"The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain."
Winning is hard. That's why it's valued.
NBA regular season win leaders for the past ten seasons:
| Rank | Team | Wins | Games | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | 530 | 800 | .663 |
| 2 | Denver Nuggets | 495 | 801 | .618 |
| 3 | Milwaukee Bucks | 486 | 801 | .607 |
| 4 | LA Clippers | 466 | 800 | .583 |
| 5 | Golden State Warriors | 464 | 793 | .585 |
Of course, NBA regular season wins don't necessarily translate to NBA titles, profits, or fan satisfaction.
An owner's North Star could be profits, publicity, winning or some combination.
Other levels lack the resources of professional sport. At these levels, coaches apply their own meaning. Winning matters in varsity sports and beyond. Nobody will convince me that winning is the Holy Grail if you coach U14s or U12s. That's the stuff of Springsteen's "Glory Days."
What is sustainable competitive advantage?
It's consistent winning, not necessarily championships. Wooden didn't win a National Title at UCLA until his 16th season. Dean Smith won a championship in his 21st season at UNC. He said that even without having won a national title that he never felt like a loser.
How do you get it?
There's an evolution underway. Our local girls' program won ten consecutive league titles including five undefeated regular seasons. That benefited from a coaching stability, a solid youth program, two players from the METCO program, health, and luck.
Top players left the system for the Prep or Private school world. Wins have become much harder to come by. The strength of the volleyball program attracting elite athletes also mattered.
Friction
Friction shows up amidst 'the discipline of execution' - the triad of people (coaches and players), strategy, and operations.
Replacing coaches, changes in the youth program, and improvements in other programs also create friction.
For years, Coach Ralph Labella and I offered off-season (May to September) twice weekly development sessions. That's history.
Overcoming Friction
What are some ideas for returning a program to prominence? This is 'spitballing' not proven success.
- A local coaching summit getting the best ideas from stakeholders, especially coaches in the system.
- That could only take place in a "safe space" with no blame game attached, just curiosity and openness.
- A "campaign" to attract and retain players starting at a young age.
- Return to offseason development (who's invested?)
- A couple of free coaching clinics with paid coaches brought in with booster club funds.
The Pushback
Ego is the enemy. Solving a problem requires diagnosis and treatment with "a starting over" approach without a postmortem examination on the past. Almost invariably, bruised feelings emerge, regardless of the intent.
Without repeating the "talking dog" story, I don't see any of this happening. Happiness is being wrong.
Lagniappe. Everyone loves a great back door cut.
Backdoor Set of the Week!!
— Logan Parrott (@loganparrott3) August 31, 2026
2026 SEC Conference: Florida vs Kentucky
"Stagger Decoy - Backdoor" pic.twitter.com/jwbE6UYtCq
Lagniappe 2. What's on your checklist?