COACHING CONSISTENCY

This afternoon I took a quick break to do a little reading (which I do and recommend).  Today I did some rereading of notes I took from "You Win in the Locker Room First," by Jon Gordon.  The following passage comes from former Atlanta Falcon head coach Mike Smith.  He speaks to the importance of consistency on the part of a coach and his approach to his team regardless of situations and circumstances:

"I see it all too often.  Coaches will begin the season with one philosophy and attitude, only  to change their approach and attitude when the team starts to lose.  As a leader you must be consistent in your leadership style, approach, attitude, philosophy, and tactics.  If you start off being supportive and friendly with players, you cant' go from being a player's coach to someone everyone hates.  You can't go from encouraging to condescending.  If you are not consistent throughout the year you will lose your team's trust, and as soon as that happens, you lose the locker room and in turn lose games.  Please know this doesn't mean you wont' have moments of anger or frustration.  We all do.  If you are a coach with high expectations who yells at times, your team will know that's your style and they will expect that from you.  The key is to be who you are and coach the way you do all year long no matter what your win-loss record is.  Your team must know what to expect from you.  They must see that you stick to your principles and philosophy through adversity and challenges.  You must be the same coach at 0-8 as you are 8-0.  It's hard to do, especially when you are losing and the pressure mounts, but if you don't, then you are doomed for failure.  The character you possess during the drought is what you team will remember during the harvest."