Program Philosophy: Introduction

This is my program (coaching) philosophy. Though it’s certainly in line with what we’re doing in Pittsburgh, it doesn't belong to any particular team right now. I created it with a hypothetical team in mind and envision using it when I have a team of my own one day. I don’t claim much other than the arrangement to be original; rather, it’s a collection of ideas borrowed from people like: Pat Riley, Brett Ledbetter, Shaka Smart, Simon Sinek, Jim Collins, C.S. Lewis, J.J. Reddick, P.J. Fleck, Daniel Pink, Eugene Peterson, Angela Duckworth, Viktor Frankl, John Wooden, the New Zealand All Blacks, John Miller, the Navy Seals, Jack Clark, Anson Dorrance, Nick Saban, Daniel Chambliss, Jerry Garcia, Urban Meyer, Chris Petersen, Bono -- and most significantly Dave Brandt (it's not unfair to call this a reorganization of ideas he talks about). I’m sure there are many others who’ve influenced it as well, but I’ll fail to give them all credit.

I began creating this document when I became head coach of the Eastern Nazarene men’s soccer
program in March 2013. At first, I did little more than copy the core values used by Coach Brandt during my playing days at Messiah. Slowly, however, I made it more and more my own. As much as anything, I wanted to put concepts like purpose, identity, pride, core values, culture, excellence, organizational greatness and success in context with each other and the bigger picture. This document has gone through many iterations and what I’ve posted here is only the most recent version.

I plan to write more about it in future posts.