Five More Quotes....

From the "people WAY smarter than me" drawer, here are another five quotes which might disrupt your thoughts and ideas. 

"And it begs the question what do we as coaches today see as disrespectful? What do athletes see as disrespectful? You know, inconsistency and I wholeheartedly agree. Consistency and personality; having that personal integrity is paramount to not only earning respect but also maintaining an element of psychological safety. And yet we also know as coaches, part of our responsibility is to kill it (win) or make adjustments on the fly and sometimes we don't get the chance to explain what can be perceived as a lack of integrity or inconsistency or something that's disrespectful. So how do we navigate this as coaches? What is it that we need to do in order to maintain respect, but also do the job we're tasked to do in a way that feels like it's taking into account what is respectful for the situation?"

Coaching advocate J.P Nerbun explored this question on his podcast, "Coaching Culture." It begs the question of how Coaches must navigate being human in emotional situations and how to earn respect in a generation that isn't easily giving it.

On the same podcast, Nerbun's cohost Nate Sanderson talked about a story where respect was given for the wrong reason.

"I remember JP we had a consultant on from the NFL world here a few years ago. He was talking about trying to bring a different approach to practice and I think he was going to the Dallas Cowboys to watch practices and gave some suggestions to the coaching staff and they blew him off and ridiculed him for his ideas. He pushed back with science and research and rational thinking, and the coach pulled out of his pocket his NFC Championship ring and just threw it on the table and said, "when you get one of these let's come back and have a conversation." If you're reverting back to your record or your results, your conference championships, if that's what you're relying on in order to earn the respect of players or your coaches on your staff or the parents in your program, there's more to it than that. That does demonstrate credibility, but it says nothing to the agency of those that help you get there."

Jaime Morrison, who has coached with the USA Women's National Team, the Netherlands Olympic program and currently overseeing the Texas A&M program in College Station. Here, on the Coach Your Brains Out podcast with host John Mayer, Morrison is talking about how his coaching mentality has morphed over the last few quads.

"My biggest thing is just making sure that we're flexible. I think that we're able to be flexible in some of the things that we're talking about and also that we're curious constantly. I became a huge Ted Lasso fan and watching that dart scene where he's like, be curious, not judgemental is 100% where I've gone through to all of this. And I was talking to Keegan Cook about this, early in my career when somebody did something that I disagreed with I was like, that's silly. And now in my career at this point, I'm like, I want to know why they're doing it and understanding that there's probably some sort of reason behind it, where I'm like, that makes absolute sense. I'm going to look at the foundational principles that caused that person to do that. And that might influence mine, or I might take piece of it, not all of it, and make it my own in some way, shape or form. So I just think we should be looking for reasons to go do things and influencing our first principles, but we should be holding on to them for the long term."
"One of the things I was proud of, and it's something LeBron had said, a successful career is you maximizing your career. You maximize the skills you have and the natural talent you have. And I looked back at my career and I felt like I maximized what I was given. I have the negative wingspan. Relative to other NBA players, I'm not that athletic. Like through all these things, I had to figure out a way to maximize my career. And I said this to you, and  I'm going to say this on air. I feel like the mark of a good coach, at any level, particularly in the NBA, is that he maximizes his players. He maximizes the group. And I feel like you've done that. And as has been said to me, all of this s*** is more art than science."
Former NBA player J.J. Redick has a conversation on his "Old Man and the Three" podcast with the NBA's Orlando Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosely about how success in the NBA is measured. Below is Mosely's reply.

"The truth is the truth, right there. He is absolutely right on that one. He's spot on with that one. I can't describe it... how to say enough that you just want the best for these guys. You want them to be as successful as they can be because everybody can't be LeBron. Everybody can't be a Luka. Everybody can't be a Joel Embiid. But in your role, what are you going to do to establish who you are in the NBA. Can you be the best version of that? That's it. I think asking how do you find that is also knowing how you fit with that particular team, where you are and find that role for that moment."
Finally, the last word from one of our favorites. University of Arkansas Head Women's Volleyball Coach Jason Watson is talking about how he's changed his preseason routines to adopt a more player centered and science based training.

"We start in August and the traditional way is we'd go back to camp and get our fundamentals lined up and then we'd ease into systems and stuff like that. We don't do any of that any more. The first day of practice, we play."
We will continue to listen for those golden nuggets of coaching wisdom and if you have any you would like to share, please do. In the meantime, with summer approaching, enjoy your down time, embrace discomfort and new ideas and do something you have never done before.