COACH MEYER: "You can't sell something if you don't own it. A player can't be tough if the coach is soft."This speaks directly to the core of the importance of leadership and what we as coaches are expected to provide. Coach Meyer would often talk of one's ability to watch a team and know exactly what was important to the coach that ran the program. He would say you tell what they stress in practice by how they played the game and that we should remember that in how we ran our program.
It goes back to accountability of the coach.
I'm a firm believer that on the collegiate level the coach has a great deal of responsibility in regard to his or her's team's performance. If we did not play well than there are four areas that point back to us.
The first one comes in our ability to teach. At practice did we give them the necessary drill work and practice structure to improve their play to the level necessary.
Secondly, we must consider our ability to properly prepare the team to play. This involves both physical and mental preparation. Are they in shape? Did we over work them? Did we provide motivation to help stimulate them? Was our scouting information accurate? Did we develop and install a good game plan.
Third on the list, is how well did we coach once the ball was tossed up. Did we execute well in timeouts? Did we have a plan B to go to in case our game plan was unsuccessful? How about our substitutions? Any and all game adjustments are critical for success.
Finally, if we have taught well, prepared well and coaches well and still failed, then on the collegiate level we must look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, 'did we recruit the right type of players to succeed.' Do they have the desire to work in practice? Are they able to concentrate and comprehend all elements of preparation? Do they have the desire to compete on game night? Did I recruit the type of players to fit our system and contribute to victory?
The high school coach doesn't have the luxury of recruiting. A high school coach can only handle the first three elements to the best of their ability with the particular players that they have on hand. And if they can look at themselves and know they did a good job in those three areas they need to feel good about the job they did regardless of the outcome.
