Coaches Week

This week I am doing a tribute to coaches all week long, maybe two weeks, in honor of my father who, last Friday, coached his final game in Meriden on the basketball court at Maloney High School. I am going to make up posts as I go, whether it is my favorite coaches of all time, the best coaches, worst coaches, etc. Today, I would like to do a little piece on why it is so difficult on coaches to lose. Enjoy!

The other night while I was in and out of a much deserved nap during Sportcenter, I saw an interview that had coach and former coach Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight. Coach K talked about how difficult it was to lose a game. He said the lack of sleep, not eating, and the ultimate feeling of being defeated is something that you just can't get use to. Then not even an hour later, Coach Knight was doing the Duke/St. Johns game and then was asked by Brent Musburger, "Coach what was the best win in your coaching career." With that Coach Knight replies, "I can't really pick out a best win, but I can tell you what my worst loss was." Why is it so important and so hard on coaches to win and more so, so difficult to lose? I'll explain.

First things first with two high profile coaches like Coach K and Coach Knight, at the college level you have to win or you will lose your job, period. So when you think that you have prepared your team to the best of your knowledge and you lose the game, I can very much understand. At the high school level, I believe that your ultimate goal as a coach is to win, but also you are teaching your players not only the game but discipline. But back to the topic at hand. Losing is part of life, but not for a coach. You can never, ever get use to losing on the court, field, etc. Winning builds a positive character while losing does the opposite. And as a coach you never want to make your players think that it is ok to lose, because it is not! Here are some famous lines that you probably remember that cannot get any truer.

"Winning is everything and nothing else matters."
"You play to win the game!"

The first one was taken from the movie We Are Marshall and of course the second being from former coach Herm Edwards. When you get your team prepared for battle and those quotes are instilled into your players before the game, you will lose. And as a coach that is entirely unacceptable. Because when you are doing everything in your power to be victorious, it means nothing if your kids just don't have it in them. While I was coaching freshmen high school basketball we were winning at the beginning of the season which was nice because my team was doing everything that I ask of them. By mid-season they thought that they knew it all and came into games not prepared to win, they came to play but not to win, if you can understand that analogy. As a coach that is unacceptable and you will pay! Now when your team loses a close game and you know that you got the most out of them that day/night, then that can drive you insane. All we ask as coaches is to go out there and give us your best and ...

"In my book your going to be winners!"

That's it. Finally, why do we as coaches dwell on the loses. I have no idea why we can't get them out of our heads. It so pathetic. I still remember the year my cousin and I took a Mickey Mantle team to upstate New York for the Regional Finals. We went 30-3 that summer before the tournament and got eliminated in the semi finals. I can't for the life of me remember a single win in that tournament, but I do remember both losses very well. I can honestly tell you that I might have slept a total of 4 hours the next two days, constantly thinking about what we could have done for us not to get eliminated. Sad but true, freshmen basketball I was the same way. I couldn't sleep for anything if we pulled a loss. I would even go as far as watching the game on video as soon as I got home from the varsity game.

You have to have serious issues to want to be a coach. I guess that's why most of us do it. Losing makes you want to be better so you don't have to have that feeling of being defeated. Because, you will always be remembered for winning not for coming in second. And if your the one who comes in second, you most definitely will be the only one to remember!