Leading Well - Lessons from Coach Wooden

Man, I’ve been slack in writing! Got a hundred excuses, if you care to hear them, but mainly just haven’t prioritized it. So for both of my faithful readers who have been missing this column recently, thanks for coming back!

I love reading about and watching great coaches. I’m thinking of some of the most well-known and successful coaches like Bear Bryant, Vince Lombardi, Coach K, Tom Landry, Tony Dungy, Bobby Bowden, and a host of others. And one John Wooden. 

These guys are masters in their field. 

For me, a great coach not only knows the X’s and O’s well, but also lives his or her life with integrity, passion, and wisdom. He pours his heart into the development of his players, both on and off the field. He sets the bar high, challenging them to achieve more than they think they can, and provides all the resources, training, correction, help, and encouragement they need to succeed. 

Coach Wooden was the best of the best. The “Wizard of Westwood” led the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team to an unprecedented 88 consecutives wins and 10 NCAA championships, including seven in a row. But his tremendous influence upon the lives of those he led far surpasses his achievements on the hardwood. 

One of Wooden’s star players, Bill Walton, said this in 2007 interview: “When I left UCLA in 1974 and became the highest-paid player in the history of team sports at that time, the quality of my life went down. That’s how special it was to have played for John Wooden and UCLA.” 

Wooden invested in the lives of his players and knew that life was more than basketball. More than caring about their potential as basketball players, he truly loved them as people. He sought to instill within them values such as humility, gratitude, hard-work, teamwork, responsibility, honesty, consideration of others, serving others, and the importance of family and love. 

He often taught: “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what people think you are.” How true, and how relevant! 

We need leaders like this in our world today. Fathers, we need to lead our families like this. Teachers, coaches, business leaders, government authorities, bosses, fellow pastors, big brothers and sisters, and all who have influence in another’s life – let’s lead those whom God has entrusted to our care with integrity, passion, and wisdom. Let’s be the best we that we can so that we can help others become the best that they can be – and that life is always and only found in Christ Jesus. 

Coach Wooden was also a strong Christian man who read his Bible daily and once wrote: “I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior.” 

And I say “Amen” to that! Friend, let me urge you put your trust in Jesus who alone can save from sin and death, who alone can grant abundant and eternal life to all who believe, and who alone can lead you to live in a way far beyond your own expectations, for your good and for His greater and glory. Now that’s some great coaching!