What 5 Coach of the Year Awards Taught Us About Great Coaching
This past week, an NCAA coach we partner with won their league's Coach of the Year Award. It's the fifth time we've had a front row seat to watch a coach we've worked with receive that honor.
What stands out isn't a shared personality or style. It's that the best coaches avoid some of the most common traps in coaching.
Here are the 3 most common traps for leaders, and how we support leaders to overcome them:
Trap 1: Believing there's a prototype of a great coach
We've worked with introverts and extroverts. Some view themselves as tacticians, others as relationship builders. Coaches who are loud in the locker room and coaches who prefer to say less.
The trap: believing you have to fit a certain mold to be effective. Great coaching isn't about having a particular set of traits and characteristics, it's about how you use yours to advance the group in front of you. Every athlete quietly asks three questions:
Is this coach one of us?
Are they in this for us? (versus themselves)
Can they help us get where we want to go?
This becomes the anchor of our work with coaches. From the starter, we help them get clear on their leadership strengths: what they value, what they take pride in, what makes them them. So they can show up authentically and lead from their genuine strengths rather than someone else's blueprint.
Trap 2: Thinking culture is built in big moments
The best coaches don't rely on big speeches or halftime talks. They understand that culture is built day in and day out, and that as leaders, they are always impacting the culture:
How new athletes are brought into the group
What gets praised and tolerated in front of the group
How the coach responds to adversity, mistakes, and pressure in public moments
The rituals, routines, and structures that keep the culture relevant even when no one is watching
Every one of these moments sends a message: This is who we are, what we stand for, and how we do things here.
We work with coaches to develop a shared identity with their teams, and understanding of what it means to be "one of us". From there coaches have the tools to represent that identity, advance that identity, and embed that identity in daily drops.
Trap 3: Believing great coaches need to have all the answers
Leadership is a group process, and the best coaches use this understanding to their advantage. Too many coaches get caught in the trap of trying to guess how athletes are thinking, feeling, and based on those guesses, try to figure out the right thing to do or say.
The best coaches aren't afraid to ask the questions or offer observations, without knowing exactly what they will lead to. They are willing listen to honest answers, and work with athletes to co-create solutions. They also seek input from staff, research, and outside perspectives, not because they lack confidence, but because they want to learn.
We sit alongside coaches, offer an outside perspective, and create the conditions for honest reflection. The reality is it can be lonely at the top, and coaches worry about who they can truly lean on. We ask the questions that are hard to ask from inside the program, surface what's actually going on beneath the surface, and help coaches turn that into action.
The Bottom Line
The best coaches aren't defined by personality, speeches, or having all the answers. They're defined by the daily practices that shape how their team thinks, behaves, and connects.
