Who helps the coach?

A friend who is a college coach tells me the other day that players from another program have been coming into his office asking for resources to develop their team’s culture. It seems that the program they are part of won a national championship a few years back, and since that time, they have changed coaches, and the team culture has plummeted. Performance is way down, and results are far removed from where they once were. The players have lost confidence in their coach and thus are turning to other coaches and programs for help.

So I ask my friend, “who is helping the coach understand this problem in their program?”
The answer: no one.

This is the disturbing reality of college athletics. There is no one to help coaches develop, to provide objective insight, and to support them as they navigate culture issues like the one described above.

I built Performance Rising because, as a former coach, I know what it is like to feel isolated and alone as the gears of competitive athletics and team dynamics turn around me. However, what I find is that coaches, in general, have no idea that there are resources to support them. They keep slogging along, just like did, until either the problem(s) resolve themselves through happenstance, miracle, or graduation, or they get fired.

Think of the coach described above. His/Her team is in full mutiny. They have lost all confidence in his/her leadership. He/She is, in my experience, destined for termination, as his/her players and their parents start griping to the administration. Soon, the administration will see that it is easier to remove him/her and start new than to address the problems that exist.

This coach is on his/her way out, but they don’t have to be. These problems can very quickly be addressed; voices can be heard; changes can be made. The team can emerge from this downturn as a better collection of humans, all dedicated to a shared goal. This is THE defining moment for that team.

If only they knew that…