Bobby Clark: They Called Him Boss

Here's an awesome tribute to Bobby Clark, recently retired coach of Notre Dame men's soccer: "They Called Him Boss."

Direction

"Direction is more important than speed."

Bill Belichick On Goal Setting

From an interview with Bill Belichick: 
Q: "With all you have accomplished in your coaching career, what is left that you still want to accomplish?"
A: "I'd like to go out and have a good practice today. That would be at the top of the list right now."

Core Values: USC Football (Pete Carroll)

Three Rules
Rule 1: Always protect the team
Rule 2: No whining, No complaining, No Excuses
Rule 3: Be early

Here's more.

My Coaching Philosophy

I posted an older version of this document last year (my "program philosophy"). I've modified the document since then and wanted to share the latest version:

Areté

I first heard the word 'areté' when listening to Brian Johnson interview Dean Karnazes, ultramarathon runner and author of Road to Sparta. It fits really neatly with the idea of "helping players become the best version of themselves." Areté is defined as "living at your highest potential moment to moment to moment."

Here's a video that describes the concept in more detail: 

Process

"A goal without a plan is a wish." - Antoine de Saint Exupéry

My Favorite Lines: Extreme Ownership By Jocko Willink And Leif Babin

The following are a few of my favorite lines from Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin:

Introduction
"The only meaningful measure for a leader is whether the team succeeds or fails."

"Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame."

Chapter 1: Extreme Ownership
"On any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win."

"When subordinates aren't doing what they should, leaders that exercise extreme ownership cannot
blame the subordinates. They must first look in the mirror at themselves. The leader bears full responsibility for explaining the strategic mission, developing the tactics, and securing training and resources to enable the team to properly and successfully execute. If an individual on the team is not performing at the level required for the team to succeed, the leader must train and mentor that underperformer. But if the underperformer continually fails to meet standards, then a leader who exercises extreme ownership must be loyal to the team and the mission above any individual. If underperformers cannot improve, the leader must make the tough call to terminate them and hire others who can get the job done. It is all on the leader."

--

To be continued ... 

Terrier Identity

The following is from an article on Huddersfield's David Wagner:

"We call it the Terrier's identity. Exactly the style of football I love is like a terrier. We are not the biggest dog, we are small, but we are aggressive, we are not afraid, we like to compete with the big dogs and we are quick and mobile and we have endurance. We never give up. This small dog has fighting spirit for sure." 

"I don't set targets because sometimes targets are limits and we don't like limits. But I'm not a dreamer, I'm a worker."

How The Astros Went From Baseball's Cellar To The 2017 World Series By Ben Reiter

This is awesome: How The Astros Went From Baseball's Cellar To The 2017 World Series.

"The Astros, though, never claimed to own a crystal ball, or that they would never make a mistake. They always expected to make many of them. Their goal was to make marginally more correct decisions than their competitors in the long haul."

"The most remarkable thing of all about the Astros is this: they told everyone exactly what they were going to do—and then they did it."