Ohio State Women’s Soccer Coach Lori Walker-Hock. Photo: Ohiostatebuckeyes.com
After beating Georgia in the opening round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament, Ohio State faced the unenviable task of playing top-seeded Notre Dame on the road.
While plenty of coaches describe the postseason of their sport as what they’ve been building toward all season, Ohio State Coach Lori Walker-Hock shared a different perspective leading up to the game.
“It’s supposed to be fun,” she said. “This is the time of year where you really want to enjoy the accomplishments you’ve had throughout the year. And I think we play better when we are loose and enjoying ourselves.”
A day later, Walker-Hock’s team pulled off the dramatic upset, knocking off Notre Dame in double overtime — arguably the biggest win in program history.
While coaches often preach discipline and controlling what you can in moments of pressure, Walker-Hock’s emphasis on gratitude and joy was a bit refreshing and a valuable lesson that the journey is also part of the reward. Appreciating it while it’s ongoing can create a greater sense of unity, selflessness and overall ease within a team.
Walker-Hock’s message was one of the more insightful coaching ideas I read this week. For this edition of Best of 7, I compiled a list of other impactful recent articles I read with insights into motivation, team building and decision-making strategies.
2. “Turn every single page.”
Sam Presti is widely regarded as the top executive in the NBA, a disciplined and deeply contemplative leader whose end-of-year news conferences have become appointment viewing.
This week, ESPN.com featured a piece on how Presti’s affinity for author Robert Caro — and Caro’s phrase “You have to turn every single page” — has helped inform his leadership style.
"We recognize that in order to be exceptional, in order to be that team, you have to be willing to be an exception, and for us that means staying curious, staying open, knowing you can't find it if you're not looking and turning every page,” Presti said.
Takeaway: I view “turning every single page” as reserving judgment and spending extensive time collecting as much data and information as possible before making a consequential choice. That can be especially difficult when deadlines loom and there’s external pressure for definition and clarity. But the most-sustainable long-term solutions often begin with an initial intrigue, then deep, meticulous study, going where the facts and information lead before taking action.
3. Constant reinvention.
In June of 2011, Erik Spoelstra seemed to be at a low point.
His Miami Heat — with three of the biggest names in the sport — had just been defeated by the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, and pressure was mounting on the franchise to make a coaching change.
That off-season, Spoelstra met with then-University of Oregon Football Coach Chip Kelly to explore utilizing various football concepts within his basketball offense. It sounds a bit far-fetched, but Spoelstra credited some of what he learned on that trip for helping lead the Heat to the next two NBA titles.
This past spring, Spoelstra was down in the dumps once again after his team was embarrassingly swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs.
But instead of lamenting the lack of talent on his roster or assuming what he’d done in the past should be enough, Spoelstra once again essentially went back to the drawing board to re-imagine his offense. The franchise also brought in a highly-touted consultant to help the coach explore various ideas and strategies.
This year, the Heat — despite having seemingly ordinary talent — has the No. 2 offense in the NBA and leads the league in pace. The franchise that entered the season with low expectations is now 13-6 and has garnered widespread praise across the league for its ability to evolve.
Takeaway: While he’s long been adept at creating tough teams, managing conflict and cultivating buy-in, Spoelstra’s greatest coaching attribute might be his propensity for remaining open-minded despite his past achievements. He’s once again reinforced the idea that our most painful failures are often critical catalysts for larger improvement if we’re willing to put our egos aside and re-examine long-held beliefs.
4. “Avoid the anxiety.”
ESPN.com ran an insightful piece this week on the challenging dynamics of being an interim football coach after a mid-season firing.
While there’s no exact playbook for these circumstances, several themes emerged from the piece.
-Create a semblance of structure
-Avoid the “independent contractor mindset”
-Manage standards and expectations of staff without becoming dictatorial
-Allocate specific blocks of time to look toward the future
Takeaway: In times up dramatic upheaval, people recognize the circumstances are difficult and aren’t looking for perfect clarity. But they will respect if the leader can prioritize his/her existing personnel and try to create some basic structure and routine.
5. “It’s a new day.”
On the subject of interims, the Colorado Rockies went a paltry 43-119 this season, one of the worst records in MLB history. Still, the franchise made the decision this week to retain interim manager Warren Schaeffer for next year.
What did Schaeffer do to keep his job? According to Rockies reporter Renee Dechert, he was consistent in prioritizing “communication, player development and relationships,” frequently using the phrase, “It’s a new day” to offer a bit of hope that the game’s outcome wasn’t predetermined.
In essence, he was able to prevent “the clubhouse from falling into despair,” and when a team clearly doesn’t have the talent to compete and constantly sees lopsided results, that alone means something.
Takeaway: When the record is inevitably going to disappoint, there are other KPIs that good management will use to evaluate. Schaeffer’s ability to boost morale and keep players motivated during repeated losing stretches seemed to be a valuable indication that he has the emotional intelligence to also lead the franchise to far better days in the future.
6. “Humility, self-confidence and a certain cunning.”
In the last 11 years, Real Madrid has captured an astounding six Champions League titles, while entrenching itself as the most valuable soccer club in the world.
As a result, one would think it would be the picture of stability.
But Real Madrid has also had six different coaches in that span and has had no shortage of conflict with many of the biggest stars in the sport.
Now, first-year manager Xabi Alonso is facing similar challenges to his predecessors, trying to balance egos, expectations and everything in between.
The Athletic’s Dermot Carrigan described what it takes to survive as coach of the club as “a mixture of humility, self-confidence and a certain cunning.”
Takeaway: We often put top organizations on pedestals and assume that they don’t have the attributes we commonly associate with dysfunction. But this piece reminded me it’s not that top teams always avoid these pitfalls and have impeccable cultures — it’s that they come together in the biggest moments and persevere despite their flaws. The line between triumph and turmoil can be remarkably thin, but the great teams seem to set petty frustrations aside when the stakes are highest, knowing their larger legacy is on the line.
7. "Emotional people in basketball and in business — they're not good decision makers."
After his team’s narrow win over Memphis last week, Purdue Men’s Basketball Coach Matt Painter was asked by a reporter about the seemingly subpar officiating in the game.
But instead of pointing the finger at the referees, Painter pivoted to address his own players’ poor responses to the adversity.
“Learn to play the game, and move to the next play, and not be emotional,” he said. “Emotional people in basketball and in business, they’re not good decision-makers. We got emotional.”
Takeaway: I don’t think Painter meant that we should never demonstrate emotion. But quick reactions to sudden outlier events (a bad call, for example) are rarely positive — and, more frequently than not, have longer deleterious effects on individual and team performance.