A Coach Who Cares

     What does it take to rise to the top in professional sports? There are over 120 teams total in the four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB). If you add to that all the hundreds of NCAA teams that are also competing throughout the year, there are thousands of teams throughout the country, each led by a coach with a personal coaching philosophy. Whenever you see a coach who achieves dynasty-like consistency and success, people start to notice. They start looking at the coach’s philosophy about the sport and about his players. 

Pete Carroll is one coach who’s gaining a lot of attention not only because of his Seahawks’ trouncing of the Broncos in this years’ SuperBowl, but also because of his unique and unconventional coaching philosophy. His style is so unique, many have a hard time even giving it a title. Carroll himself said he has heard his style “laidback,” “free willy,” and “doing whatever” coaching, among other things.

     So what makes Carroll so unique? Unlike a distant authoritarian kind of coach who wants his players to fear him, Carroll is extremely positive and close with his players. He encourages team closeness through basketball and other activities outside of practice time and even had a basketball court installed near their practice facility. He is also known for playing music in the locker room and blasting Mackelmore during practice. His philosophy is to make each player not only the best player he can be, but the best person he can be. He encourages individuality and using each player’s unique strengths rather than seeking conformity and compliance. These are the principles he has built his team on and obviously it is paying off.

     While many of us are aware of his recent success in turning around the Seattle Seahawks, his record at USC is probably even more impressive because he not only led his team to the top, but he kept them consistently at the top for almost a decade. Many people doubted his ability to be successful when he returned to the NFL because his energetic, positive coaching style seemed more suited to college-level coaching. However, his success with Seattle has got people curious whether such a positive and personal coaching relationship really is going to emerge as the best way to get players and their teams performing at the highest levels. It will be interesting to see whether he can maintain this kind of success as he continues with the Seahawks.

     Many have long debated the balance between focusing on winning and focusing on having fun and developing the players in sports. If Carroll’s approach continues to work, it may soon be that coach-player communication philosophies start to include the possibility that it doesn't have to be one or the other. Having fun and developing positive communication patterns may not only be the best for players, but a winner's recipe.

Gus Malzahn led the Auburn Tigers to the National Championship
 game just one season after they finished with one of the worst records in the SEC.

     If you are interested in what Carroll is doing with his teams, a few other coaches that I thought about writing about because of their unique philosophies are HerbBrooks, Gus Malzahn and Larry Gelwix. It is interesting to see how different each coach's style is and yet look for similarities in their communication philosophies that helped them reach the top.