once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Odds are you will encounter some players and parents who are not on board with your program. Not only are they not on board, but they voice their displeasure with you and your methods to anyone and everyone who will listen, and actively recruit others to share their sentiments. You cannot let these people tear down your program and infect the rest of your fragile team. You must confront these people directly and let them know you need their full ef- fort and support to make this work. If they can’t genuinely give you the kind of commitment you need, then you likely need to part ways, even if their son or daughter is clearly the most talented athlete on the team. Develop a pipeline.
When building your program, you continually need to think about ways to upgrade your talent. If you are a college coach, you need to fo- cus intently on recruiting. You must hit the recruiting trail hard and de- velop strong relationships with key coaches to gain inroads with the best talent. If you are a high school or club coach, you must create and develop a feeder system, or improve the one currently in place. By building relationships, inter- est and support with key players and coaches, you will be able to develop and strengthen a reliable and much- needed pipeline of talent into your sports program.
6
Maintain persistence. As part of the process, you will run into numerous obstacles and adversities in building your program. You must have the persistence to see yourself and your team through the tough times. You must stick with your plan, adjust when necessary and believe in the long-term viability of your vision. A great book to read to inspire you through the process is Seth Godin’s The Dip. Godin reminds us that the successful people in life are the ones who make it through the inevitable dips in life where it seems like suc-
7
coachad.com
cess is not only improbable but im- possible. By being patient, passion- ate and persistent, success usually comes to those who stick to it longer than others who give up their dreams along the way.
Godin writes, “If you haven’t al- ready realized it, the dip is the secret to your success. The people who set out to make it through the dip— the people who invest the time and the energy and the effort to power through the dip—those are the ones who become the best in the world. They are breaking the system be- cause instead of moving on to the next thing, instead of doing slightly above average and settling for what they’ve got, they embrace the chal- lenge. For whatever reason, they re- fuse to abandon the quest and they push through the dip all the way to the next level.”
Where there is a strong enough will and a belief in your mission, there is almost always a way to pow- er and persevere through the chal- lenges in life.
your program will be made in stages and is far from a linear progression. Most programs are a continual work in progress and take typically three to five years to build. Many weeks along the way you will take two steps forward, then the next week, take a step backward.
8
Understand the big picture and re- alize that just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, so neither will your program. Envision each step you are taking as an investment and another brick in the foundation of your program’s long- term success. With time and the right people, processes and culture in place, you too will eventually take your pro- gram to a higher level.
This patience and perspective must also extend to administrators. Athletic directors today seem to have a much quicker hook, especially at the college level. Some are firing coaches after only two years on the job. It’s nearly impossible to build a respectable program in two years,
Patience and perspective. Understand that progress with
especially if the cupboard is practi- cally bare. Keep in mind that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski would have never reached more than 900 wins in today’s climate because he almost surely would have been fired. His first three seasons with Duke, his teams went 17-13, 10-17 and 11-17 with many clamoring for his head after the third year. Athletic director Tom Butters stuck by him. Butters reflected on the dire situa- tion as he spoke with a beleaguered Krzyzewski after his third season. “I told him, ‘We’ve got a public who doesn’t know how good you are. We’ve got press who are too stupid to tell them how good you are. And the biggest problem right now is I’m not sure you know how good you are.’ With that, I opened up my desk and tossed a new five- year contract to him. He sat there, and he had tears in his eyes. This was a constant flow—one tear after the next—for several seconds. Then I recall him saying, ‘Tom, you don’t need to do this.’ I said, ‘Mike, on the contrary I not only have to do it, I need to do it right now. You make the announcement today. I’m not making it. You tell them you’ve been extended five more years and let’s let the people know.’”
My advice to athletic administra- tors: Do an amazingly thorough job on the front end when hiring your coaches so you get highly talented people who are the right fit for your program. Then give them your full support, sufficient resources in align- ment with your expectations and enough time to get the job done and get through the dip.
Building a program is grueling
work. However, the payoff and pride in successfully building a program is also extremely gratifying. Use the eight strategies outlined above and you too will power through the dip and soon position your program to break through to the elite level.
To learn more about putting your programs on the path to success,
visit
www.janssensportsleadership.com March/April 2013 15
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