The Future of Coaching

This is a John Moore Feature

I heard so many great coaches speak at coaching school throughout the years.  To my recollection, all the speeches began with, “I’m not gonna talk about Xs and Os, I’m gonna talk about building character.”  I wondered, after about 5 years of this, why they all seemed to focus on character, team building, pride, etc. and not on strategy.  I wanted to learn more about the game and I had heard these speeches in one form or another for years.  I was caught up in my own world and often overlooked why coaches do what they do.

One good reason to focus on the general good of sports is that coaching opponents were in the room and nobody wants to tip a hand.  Secondly, in a general session, breaking down a play on film is not ideal.  Most importantly, there were new coaches in the room who needed to hear the message.  The message was, and still is, that sports are important and we are teaching kids how to be good adults.  I was very fortunate to have mentors and peers who were great coaches and understood the importance of what we do.  When I see New Mexico coaches making a name for themselves, I am filled with pride when I can say, “I coached that kid.”

When we reach a certain age we see a new generation of coaches enter the field.  Many of these coaches are coaches’ kids.  I spoke with Jeff Lynn of Roswell High about this topic.  He spoke of how cool it was to be a kid on the sidelines, a part of the Friday night thrill.  He also played for his father, a dynamic with built in pressure on both player and coach.  “If you had a bad day at practice, you knew you would hear about it home.” After high school Lynn discovered he had a knack for coaching which was not surprising.  

Coach Lynn, head coach at Roswell High School, is widely respected and is now the president of the NM Coaches Association.  He learned better than most the joys and difficulties of being a head football coach.  Still, he has inspired others to go into the profession not unlike his father, David Lynn, and coach Bud Elliot.  His advice to new coaches is to be yourself, “If you are a yeller, yell.  More importantly be a sponge and be coachable yourself.” When I asked if his players had become coaches, he rattled off a list of head coaches in New Mexico proudly.  Coach Lynn has a great grasp of the future of NM coaches.

Inevitably, the old coaches move to retirement and are replaced with the next wave of coaches.  I wonder how many coaches, while coaching realize when they have inspired a player to consider entering the profession.   Coach Lynn said, “Kids hear a lot of voices and they are not always good.”  Coaches must be the good voice.  We teach skills, we teach the competitive spirit, we teach a sport, we teach the importance of team, we teach character, and if we are lucky, we inspire others to become the good voice.  

To all coaches, every day is like career day and you are the example of what being a coach is like.  With all the pressures of coaching, the daily grind, it is easy to forget how important coaches are to our athletes.  None are perfect, but if we are good enough to inspire others to be better than we were, then we become the stewards of the game.