Top 5 Lessons the Military Can Teach Coaches

The military can teach many lessons from what to do during a chemical attack to how to clear a room. Those are military jobs and skills. What are some of the leadership lessons that a basketball coach can use to better improve their coaching or their love of the process? These are a few that I have learned along the way and have learned to adapt to my perspective on coaching.

1. Be a Follower First then a Leader - One of the great lessons taught by the military is the fact that you must first learn how to be a great follower before you can expect to become a great leader. The idea that leaders are born and not made does not apply in the military. In other words, you do not simply walk in and announce you are the next coming of Patton. Instead you are taught about chain of command and your place in it.

When you first enter the military, your place is the splinter of wood on the bottom of the ladder - a fact you will be reminded of daily as you scrub toilets, do pushups until you cannot move, and other fun human games unknown to Milton Bradley. Remember, great leaders are born through the fire of daily discipline and correct character choices.

Your time will come be the follower that you will expect your followers to be.

2. Suck Scum - Be the guy that is willing to do the things that others will not do.
When you are coaching basketball this means working your tail off in the July recruiting period, getting up early to work out your players, and all the little things involved in preparation. In the military you have no choice. You accept the job given to you and work hard to accomplish it in the most efficient way possible. Period. There is no room for emotions - only execution.

When you coach basketball, so many times, people expect good things to happen because they work hard. Hard work does not guarantee success - it is only the ticket to the party. Suck scum and work hard because you do not deserve success without paying this price.

3. Stay Fit to Lead Effectively - Leaders in the military are in physical shape. You know this because you cannot stay in the military without meeting a standard of physical fitness. Also, you cannot rise in rank without paying your dues which takes time. That being said, you know that those leaders in the military are disciplined and expect you to perform at a level that they have already surpassed.

In basketball coaching, I believe that your ability to coach most effectively is diminshed when you cannot demonstrate these physical skills. At the same time, if you know that you cannot physically demonstrate certain movements or skills, it is wise to have someone on staff that can. Stay fit, sweat with your players, and reach new heights of coaching effectiveness.

4. Expect More - Please coaches remember that no matter how much you demand from your players that they are always capable of more. The Navy SEALS teach that the average person can do 10 times more than they think possible. They demonstrate this through a week long trial by fire where the longest they are even allowed to sleep is 4 hours - most are awake in 72 hour shifts.

Translate this to the basketball court and push your players physcially to their limits. Most high school kids do not even know their limits because they have never been pushed to that level. For these players, their first introduction to this is in college. Please do not let your player go to college without any idea about the price they must pay physically. Remember, fatigue makes cowards of us all and physical toughness is a prerequisite for mental toughness.

You cannot be mentally tough without forging your body the way through the fire of your will.

5. Disciplined Emotions - If you look at the most successful coaches in basketball like Tom Izzo, Coach K, Brad Stevens, Roy Williams, and others, you will notice that they have total control over their emotions on the sidelines. Even though they may rant and rave during the game at officials and players, these are calculated manouvers designed with a purpose. They are translating emotions to give these tactics power and command, but like the great actors, deep inside they are calm and collected. This is much like the military where the leaders have been forged through the fires of combat and pressure situations. They must have control over their emotions to make decisions where life and death hang in the balance.

While everyone is still human, I believe the great leaders - in the military and on the basketball court - have command of their emotions and are able to act upon them when needed for the most effect.

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You Had to be Better Than You Have Ever Been

Until I read this article, I didn't realize just how great Hall of Famer Bobby Orr was.An eight-time first-team NHL All-Star, Orr was voted the league's best defensive player eight times.In 1969-70, "Orr became the only player to sweep the league's top awards — MVP, defenseman, playoff MVP and scoring title — and capped it off by scoring the Stanley Cup -- winning goal over St. Louis in overtime."Despite his dominance on the ice, "Orr bristled at the attentions of superstardom." According to this article, during the 1974-75 season, "he scored 46 goals but probably gave away a half dozen more by insisting that teammates had deflected the puck in."One of Orr's former teammates says that Orr "brought others with him; he wanted them involved."

"That's what made him so different: It felt like a five-player stampede moving toward you—and at his pace. He pushed his teammates, [because] you're playing with the best player in the league and he's giving you the puck and you just can't mess it up. You had to be better than you'd ever been."

This is the same quality that Michael Jordan had, Kobe Bryant has, and LeBron James is improving upon. Time will tell how developed LeBron's leadership is when they meet a challenge in this year's playoffs. Thus far they haven't broke a sweat whereas Kobe's Lakers had to survive a game 7 already and a tough come from behind win last night against Denver and their star Carmelo Anthony.

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How do you want to be remembered?

Terrific Q&A in USA Today with Terry Wood, the president of creative affairs and development for CBS

Wood contends that rather than asking yourself what you want to be famous for, people should ask themselves, "What do I want to be known for? What makes me different?" Says Wood: "It's a good exercise to think about how you want to be remembered. You want to think about how you impact the people around you: "What did I do with the time that I had?"

She believes that "famous can be overrated, but if I'm known for something, and that defines who I am, I can take it to the bank."

When asked how much luck has to do with success, Wood says that "timing helps, but I'm a big believer in what you do with the opportunities that are given."

Wood, who is credited with helping to discover stars like Rachael Ray, accepts that there are better chefs out there than Ray, but she adds that "what I love about Rachael is it's never just about the recipe. It's how she connects the food to her passion. Your idea can't be complicated. Explain it in a sentence. Make it you and deliver it with a passion."

According to Wood, a key to excelling is understanding how "to fit in and connect with the people around you." Her advice is to "be a sponge. Try to know as much as you can. What makes the office or the company run successfully? I notice people who add something to the mix. Personality stands out. You never know when an opportunity will come your way. You can't sit with your head down in a cubicle and expect to grow. You need to do the job well and also learn to create the opportunities for success."

But it's not all about charisma, says Wood:

"Personality is about balance. You have to know when to dial it up and when to pull back. That's about reading the room and figuring out how to fit in. It is important that people understand what you're bringing to the table, whether you're the quiet person or the loud person. Your boss needs to be able to look at the room and say, 'I get what he or she does.' Maybe it's humor. Maybe it's new ideas. Think about what you bring to the table and do it appropriately.

Personality can be a lot of different things. It doesn't mean someone who is just loud or gets all of the attention. Personality means that you add something. I like the quiet soldier who gets it done, and I like the hard-chargers who will take on anything I throw at them. It's my job to balance having all of that in the mix. When doing a job interview, I'm not looking for a type, but for a team, to have the right player in every position.

As for leaders, Wood recommends giving people freedom to make mistakes:

"The best decisions will be made when people feel they have the freedom to screw up. I never like to operate by fear. You really have to have confidence in them, let them soar."

Empowering Leadership Fits New Kentucky Coach Calipari

Empowering Leadership Fits New Kentucky Coach Calipari

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Just loved how Memphis coach John Calipari turned over practice to forward Robert Dozier in a move designed to force the quiet senior to take more of a leadership role with the team.

As this article describes, "Calipari left the gym, leaving Dozier on his own to coach."

"He thinks I'm too quiet," Dozier says. "He wanted me to be vocal, get on guys and be more of a leader. I was mad at first, because I didn't want to do it. But I had fun with it. The guys enjoyed it. It wasn't a long practice." The usually subdued Dozier said he tried to get as animated as Calipari, a dynamic, demonstrative speechmaker never at a loss for words. "I had to tone it down," Dozier says, laughing. "There were a lot of people in there."

If you're wondering why, at a Memphis practice, "there were a lot of people in there," it's because Coach Cal opens nearly all of the Tigers' practices to the public.

Retired folks stop in with their grandchildren; a postman comes by after finishing his route. For many elite programs, open practices were long abandoned in an Internet age when word can spread fast to rivals about a team's offensive and defensive schemes or a frustrated coach can show up on YouTube for pitching a fit. Calipari shrugs off those possibilities but notes he keeps some practices closed during the NCAA tournament.

Says Coach Cal: "I don't have anything to hide. You've got people, their lives seem to be this basketball program. They come to practice four or five times a week. They're able to get on the phone and talk to friends about what we're working on."

After his team lost the national championship game last season, Coach Cal was criticized for not having his players properly prepared.

"Either you use an experience to help build you and make you better and stronger, or the experience breaks you," he says. "That experience ... it did nothing except good stuff for us. None of it was bad."

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Tim Duncan's Leadership Evident Even in Defeat

Tim Duncan's Leadership Evident Even in Defeat

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Tim Duncan stood up in the Spurs' locker room Thursday after their 88-67 loss in Game 3 against the Mavericks and did what team captains are supposed to do.

He took the blame.

A day later, coach Gregg Popovich absolved Duncan of it.

“It wasn't his fault — it was my fault,” Popovich said Friday. “It's nobody's fault, really. We win together, we lose together and we move on.”

Duncan notched career playoff lows with four points and two rebounds in Game 3, but that was partially related to the other career playoff low he set — minutes played (15:30).

He sat for most of the second half as the game got out of hand so Popovich could rest him for an early tipoff in Game 4 this afternoon.

Duncan wasn't effective when he was on the court, going 2 of 9 from the field and missing several chip shots that sparked Dallas' fast-break offense.

“I played an awful, awful game, and I want to try to do better the next one,” Duncan said. “I'll use it as my own fuel and hopefully come out here and be a leader.”

Popovich said he appreciated what Duncan was trying to do, but refused to let him shoulder the blame.

“He's a competitor; he has broad shoulders,” Popovich said. “But we lost that game as a group. We did not play well. It wasn't on Timmy.”

“We pulled the plug for that purpose,” Popovich said. “I think you have to be wise, rather than foolishly brave.”

Miami Heat 'No Go Out' Policy

Leadership by the best players is what separates the good NBA teams from the average NBA teams. It is the same at any level from college to high school. Just take a look at what Cleveland has been able to do under the leadership of their superstar Lebron James.

This is a good story about the Miami Heat and their superstar Dwyane Wade. His leadership for the Heat has put him in the MVP discussion. This weekend the playoffs begin and the Heat open up in Atlanta. This can be a burden on some teams since NBA players are often treated like rock stars in the night clubs and bars. Ask any player which NBA cities are the most fun to visit, and Atlanta quickly comes up. The scene, the nightlife, it's a tantalizing combination. And this week, it's forbidden to Heat players. Not by decree of the coaches -- but by captains Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem.

"I think it's the best leadership and the strongest leadership that these guys have shown here in a Heat uniform," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That's the most powerful. We've talked about it all the time as a staff. Sometimes that can fall on, you know, not deaf ears, but when your veteran guys and your captains say that, I think that's a beautiful thing."

"The veteran guys before us, when we came in to the league like Brian Grant, Eddie Jones, that's what they believed in," said Wade, referring to two former Heat captains. "So this is the core of what we know. This is focus time. This isn't play time. Play time is the summer. You can do what you want in the regular season, too. Not now. We're the leaders, so we're just going from what we know."

"The No. 1 focus right now is to take care of business," Haslem said.