We plan to share out our updated recommended book list again after our upcoming “Love What You Play 3rd Online Event” this summer, but one of the books that many of our past guest speakers have recommended has been “They Call Me Coach” one of John Wooden’s must-reads for coaches, teachers and anyone in a leadership role.
I just reread the book again while I was on holidays and thought would be a great reference for our next blog post.
Regardless if you are a grassroots coach parent, competitive non-parent coach, in the high-performance stream or teaching if you know anything about Coach, you have probably heard from many that many argue he is the GOAT (Greatest One of all time).
Why was he?
Many feel because of what he accomplished as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins Men’s Div I Basketball Team for 29 seasons, where he lead the team to 10 NCAA National Championships, seven of which were consecutive, 88 consecutive wins over 3 seasons.
Did you know that it took him 16 years before he lead UCLA to their first national championship in 1965?
He shares in his book that it was due to the fact that he was still learning HOW to coach even though he had been an accomplished player himself, had coached high school and at Indiana U before he accepted the position at UCLA. He also shares that in order to accomplish what he did, you have to have talent, and Coach had just “a few” good players during his tenure, including NBA Hall of fame players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton.
Did you know that his first preference to coach was not UCLA, but Minnesota?
Due to a snowstorm, Minnesota was unable to call Coach at the assigned time to discuss so he assumed that they were not going to offer him the head coach position so when UCLA called an hour later, he accepted and then turned down Minnesota when there were able to call after the fact.
I Wonder …. would John have been the GOAT if he had accepted the position at Minnesota in lieu? Perhaps yes, perhaps not, but it is yet another example how the decisions that you make in life can impact the path your life takes.
Did you know that Coach potentially may not have even reached that point of accepting either offer?
He had to have an emergency appendectomy to remove his inflamed appendix that required 30 days rest from the Navy. As a result, his orders were changed and one of his Purdue Teammates who also enrolled in the Navy took his place and sadly was hit and killed by a kamikaze while at the gun position for the Franklin Battleship.
Coach shares further nuggets how his journey evolved while coaching at UCLA and the path to the first of 10 NCAA National Championships and those that followed but what amazed me the most is how many players he remembered, their contributions to all of those teams and his constant refusal after he retired to share whom he felt were the “best” or what he felt would have been his overall all-star team.
One of which was the script that his father shared with him that he carried in his wallet that was his guiding words of wisdom;
- Be true to yourself.
- Make each day your masterpiece.
- Help others.
- Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
- Make friendship a fine art.
- Build a shelter against a rainy day.
- Pray for guidance, count and give thanks for your blessings every day.
As my father passed away when I was really young, anytime I come across advice relayed from a father to son it strikes a special note with me, I can only hope I can do the same for my son.
Some other things he shared regarding two the ones that went on to NBA Hall of Fame Careers;
Back Cover of “Coach Wooden and Me”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Probably one of my favorite pictures of Coach is the one that was taken at an event where Kareem helped him walk across the court when Coach was in his 90’s decades after he retired and had coached Kareem. Just one example of the impact that Coach had on so many of his players’ lives, many continued to stay in touch with Coach and attended his service when he passed away in 2010 at the age of 99.
Imagine if the hundreds of players you coached still reached out to you decades after you were their coach?
Did you know that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s birth name was Lewis Alcindor? (as shared in the book, but his full birth name was Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.)
Like Muhammed Ali who changed his name from Cassius Clay when he opted to convert to the Islam faith, so did Kareem when he did so.
As Coach went on one of the very few recruiting trips (he did not believe in visiting players at their homes and relied heavily on his assistant coaches or referrals to recruit players) to spend time with Lewis’s parents at 1AM in New York (his father worked afternoons) to confirm his acceptance to play at UCLA for the better part of the remaining chapters when he references Kareem, he still called him Lewis.
When pressured by media in the years after coach retired, he shared that Kareem was the best overall player that he ever coached and was one of the main contributors to 3 of their NCAA National Championships.
Another “pretty good player” that Coach had who followed Kareem was Bill Walton, also went on to the NBA to have a hall of fame career, who potentially may not have been on the team after his first season.
Why?
Because Bill grew his hair, beard, sideburns and showed up at the beginning of the season and Coach told him that he had to get it cut. Bill tried to retort to say he had been MVP of last years NCAA championship but as always Coach won the argument as he had a few demand rules, one was that his players be clean shaven, hair and sideburns at a certain length that ONLY HE determined was appropriate.
What were Coaches other demand rules?
- Don’t be Late:
He did not want players to arrive late for practices, games nor did he believe in running practices longer than planned as he understood that they had to focus on their studies as much as athletics
- No Profanity:
I too don’t believe that swearing is appropriate at any age group when you play for a team regardless if it is recreational, competitive or high performance you represent your community with CLASS.
- Never Criticize a Teammate:
Coach, as do I, believed in the importance of teammates have each other’s backs and the importance of selfless play (vs. selfish), you win as a team, you lose as a team.
My version is the value of respect, in addition to players respecting their fellow teammates, I expect them to respect their coaches, parents, opposition, officials, the game itself, as well as others in their community, their elders, classmates, teachers and so on.
Coach also shares insight on his pyramid of success, still a go to for many coaches and leaders, and what I loved most about the book is each chapter he shares one of his infamous “Woodenisms / Quotes” or a poem/verse that he was fond of to be the theme of the chapter.
Many of those we have shared over the years on our social media pages, but for this weeks Newsletter Quote of the Week is one of my all-time favorite quotes by anyone;
The reason why Coach was the GOAT, is not only what he accomplished in terms of success his teams had over his career, but it was the legacy that he left behind in terms of developing all of his players into the best people they could be.
Our role as coaches is not to make a living, our calling/purposes like Johns and other amazing great coaches others in past, present and in future is to make a difference by developing youth into adults.
That is our role, our reason for being.
Please ensure that the legacy that you leave behind is a positive one and you are not a kids last coach.