Measuring Success

I think as coaches/teachers we need to be aware of who's standard of success you may be trying to live up to. If you have walked into a successful program and are replacing a successful coach, it is easy to fall into the trap of comparison. EVERY coaching situation is unique. Try your best not to spend emotional energy on comparing what you have or have not achieved with a previous coaching staff or with other coaching staffs in your area. In the words of Don Meyers, "Be who you is!" So one of the first areas to avoid in measuring success is comparison.

A second, and I believe more consuming pressure of success, comes from our culture. We may remember who won the national championship in NCAA basketball but we usually can't remember who was second? If the only measure of success is who wins it all, then by that standard, very few teams are going to be considered successful. We all want to be winners. So if you have a winning season that can be considered a measure of

success. Let's be honest. You can do a fairly poor job of coaching and still have a team with a winning record. In fact, some of the BEST coaching jobs I have seen have been done by coaches in programs where they have

had a losing season.

"Don't move. He's got the drop on me!"

My favorite definition of success comes from the legendary John Wooden. "Success is the direct result of the self satisfaction in knowing you have done YOUR BEST to become the best you are capable of becoming." Many coaches fall into comparison traps, culture traps, and other false standards for measuring success. If you can look your face in the mirror during and after the season and say you have done the best you are capable of doing, then it is success.

What you may consider to be a failure may very well be exactly what you need to motivate you to greater levels of success. Someone once said that

the measure of a person is what it takes to discourage them. Failure is part

of the success equation. Some people are so overwhelmed by failure they

become blinded by what they can and should learn from it. I have no facts to back this up but it seems that ordinary to below average players make better coaches than those who were stars. Why is that if its true? It may be because the average to below average player learned from his/her mistakes while the star failed so seldom they didn't learn some very valuable lessons.