COACHING FROM THE HEART

by Marc Sites, Assistant Coach Liberty High School (CO)   List any great team or dynasty in the history of sports and every team had a great coach. John Wooden at UCLA, Bill Walsh with the 49ers, Phil Jackson with the Bulls and Lakers, Red Auerbach with the Celtics and the list goes on and on. On the flipside, there have been plenty of talented teams in sport that were never champions and many times the culprit for their failure was ineffective coaching or leadership. Thus, coaches can have a significant impact on the fortunes of their teams. All coaches would like to be known as “great” coaches when they hang up their whistle for the last time. What constitutes a “great” coach? Win/loss record, knowledge of X’s and O’s, relationship with players are all certainly viable criteria. Is there another question that should be asked and answered first?   My nine year-old