WEED = COACH’S Success!  The word WEED sets the tone for us as an acronym.

W—WINS   Most of all, a Coach must WIN to keep their job, recruit effectively, establish himself/herself as a “good” coach.  The expectation of wins varies from school to school depending upon their history, their place conference, the longevity of the coach, the success present & past of the coach, the reaching of a bowl game (almost automatic), and his salary. To “buy out” a coach could be a multi million dollar pay out with nothing in return except … paying the salaries of the NEW coach and the former coach 😊 The Coach must WIN in the recruiting battles for future players if he’s going to continue WINNING in the games/contests.

….The Coach must WIN while he’s on media presentations. Those type of presentations are easier, and more effective, when players are part of the interview. The Coach must win in his Regular weekly meetings with local press, during game interviews, whenever on the “road” recruiting with the local media of that area. No swing & misses are allowed!!

…The HC must WIN in the recruiting battles for the super-star players. Only a handful of coaches reached the peak that they could almost hand-pick their players.

E—ENGAGE A coach MUST be able to ENGAGE all sorts of people with varied backgrounds, vocabularies, jobs, most of whom support the school.  He must ENGAGE his staff daily. Sports is always a major part of the discussion but the Coach must ENGAGE his coaching staff  & players on a personal level,  also.

….Clearly he MUST ENGAGE his team @ practice, during games, outside of his sport, on campus, etc. The COACH must ENGAGE the recruits he seeks and their families. Don’t ever think that the player is the only one of the family who decides which scholarship to accept. Mama’s power is very strong!!!

….To ENGAGE the media  (seemingly 24-7) with a honest, positive spin. Most local media covering your school are very familiar with you, your team & background. So, the Coach must be a “straight shooter” w/o criticizing directly his players.

…To ENGAGE countless other “fans” who are excited about “meeting” coach. In order to ENGAGE fans, family, friends, etc, the Coach must possess strong communication skills and tons of patience!

E–EXPECT… A coach must expect to work countless hours in planning, recruiting, meeting with staff, film of practice/games of his team and future opponents. A coach must expect to see the “unexpected” most every day.

…..A Coach must EXPECT that HE will have the most passion for the game & practice…more than his players & their parents generally.

…. The Coach must EXPECT that he’s looking over the entire program—status of current players—obviously the skills of the sport that they are playing, playing time, their basketball goals, their grades, their acceptance socially (or they an outsider? Or they like most college students?)

….The Coach must EXPECT to be brought “up to speed” daily with the recruiting status on each player being recruited. Now…in this new world of NCAA sports, the Coach must meet with leaders of the alumni regarding the depth of the NIL money that they could offer prime recruits. The Coach must have outlined clear guidelines for his players/parents. 

….A coach must EXPECT to be criticized. Parents/Fans who are often blinded by their love for their son/daughter view the game through a different Lense. Sometimes, the person presents a valid complaint about the use of their son/daughter, neighbor, grandson/granddaughter or strategy of the game. Unfortunately, the criticism often is made at a difficult time—e.g. immediately after the game when emotions are still stirred up. Now, there are times when the criticism is “right on”. That DOES happen. It’s tough to hear but…down deep, you know that it’s true.

D-DISCIPLINE… Every team expects to have the Coach demonstrate DISCIPLINE and to expect the coach to be Disciplined herself/himself.  Being DISCIPLINED should not be designed for punishment but for established expectations to be met to maximize the time allotted for practice. Further for developing individual & team habits on & off the field/court.

…Unless of an emergency, the Coach should be DISCIPLINED enough to be “on time” for each practice. If there is a transportation issue regarding the length of practice, the Coach has to be DISCIPLINED enough to meet those standards and demand it of his players.

…A Coach must be DISCIPLINED enough for his staff members to make valid suggestions to him or modifying practice or game, individual or team skills.

….Coach’s actions MUST reflect the DISCIPLINE that he expect of his team—e.g. organization of practice to help facilitate a wider range of individual & team skills. The Coach has to reflect the discipline that he expects of his/her team. Being punctual for the start & end of practice sets a good tone. An expected length of time for practice should established early in the season.  

…Coach should establish orderly, planned out practices that maximize practice time. The DISCIPLINE it takes to follow that schedule as a backdrop of developing discipline for the players & coaching staff. The practices should flow from 1 drill to next as individual skills=-both offense & defense, team execution, special situations should be sharpened each day.

It isn’t always easy to WIN,  or to ENGAGE, DEAL WITH EXPECTATIONS or DISCIPLINE current athletes–

….Look around the sports world.. LA Dodger manager Dave Roberts is challenging Shohei Ohtani (arguably the best batter in the MLB)  to improve his plate discipline with runners in scoring position.

….Long ago, many of the premier MLB players tried managing….most didn’t last long. What comes “natural” to a star is a steep challenge for the regular “Joe” or sometimes for the Star player who just does it naturally.. One of the best batters in MLB history had a difficult time as a manager—Rogers Hornsby. Hornsby, who batted 358/.434/.577 in his 23-year playing career, was hired by the StL Browns  in 1952. Hornsby clashed with players and lasted just 51 games(27-24)!! He tried it again in in ’53 season, he posted a 64-82 record through 147 games in 1953. That ended his managerial career. In this era, most of the managers didn’t reach the MLB as a player or had a nondescript career in the MLB. Successful Managers w/o MLB playing experience are rare. The Cardinals, however, have chosen to go with Ollie Marmol. He has NO experience playing in the MLB.

 …Over 140 managers have not played any MLB ball as a player! However 42 managed prior to 1900 so it’s about 100 managers over 124 year span(1900-2024).  The vast majority had short stints, only 14 managed more than 1 year! Most were very short, as in a “bridge” situation.

…Some say THE BEST MLB HITTER of All Time was Ted Williams. His career batting average , not his batting average for 1 year, was .344!!! He pounded out 521 HR’s with a lifetime OPS of 1.116—3rd highest of all time. His OB% was .482! Think about that –a .500 OB% would be getting on base one half of your at bats!!!! Wiliams refused to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. So he drew many, many walks. Ted missed several MLB years due to his military service.

….Remarkably, Williams’ baseball career was interrupted TWICE in his career! He was drafted in 1942 to 1946. He missed 4 years due to World War II. He was a fighter pilot! Williams reported for action in 1946. Williams was called back up for the Korean War on Jan 9, 1952. During his Korean tour he had 39 combat missions and was hit 3x in the air. To top if off, he had to make a Crash Landing in his very 1st mission in Korea!! Star player or NOT, His “best”day in the military was on a cold November day in 1952, Williams shot down 4 Soviet fighter jets!! (he kept it a secret for many years!) He returned  back to Boston in August 1953, with only 10 days practice, he rejoined the Red Sox.  He hit a HR in his 1st game back with Boston!  WOW! Just think what his batting marks would be if he hadn’t served Uncle Sam in two different time frames!!!!! What DISCIPLINE did he possess? What a HERO!! But…dealing with MLB players as a Manager seemed more difficult to him. He managed just 4 years (1969-1972). He posted a managerial record of 273-364 with a winning percentage of .429.

Now…who are these leaders that demonstrated those highly developed managerial skills?  I picked MLB since the Lou hasn’t had the opportunity to have many other professional teams for any length of time.  I chose the best 3 NCAA Basketball Coaches and my top 3 out of the 745 MLB managers of all time (from my perspective).  I have chosen managers of recent vintage since they had to deal with a very difficult, major factor–Free Agency. Further, I’ve observed these managers first hand. Prior to Free Agency, a manager could have a super-star for his entire career. That is still possible….but not a sure thing! Another one of my factors was the success with more than 1 team.

BEST MLB BASEBALL MANAGERS-from my view. Based on several different teams, World Series Championships, longevity. Here goes….

TONY LaRUSSA—3 World Series titles( in 3 different decades in 3 different cities); 6 pennants and 13 Division titles-only Connie Mack has managed more MLB games—and he was from a totally different era than Mack (Mack was the owner!) My judgment may be skewed since I observed his skills in many, many Cardinal games.

–Further, he won multiple pennants in both leagues w/record of 2,884 wins and 2,499 losses

–Durability—He Won a World Series in 3 different decades–Winning 4 Manager of the Year awards

Innovative strategies—Tony is credited with the idea of a 1 inning-Closer! Ironically, Tony began his managerial career for the White Sox in 1979 and concluded his career as a Manager of the White Sox in 2022!! We saw him first hand as he won consistently in the Lou…Jim Edmonds once said during a broadcast that Tony was planning 2 or 3 innings “down the road”

…DUSTY BAKER—managed 5 different teams over 26 years. His relaxed demeanor (with his toothpick in his mouth constantly) hid the competitive nature of Baker. Baker played in the MLB for 19 years prior to moving into his managerial role. A .278 lifetime batter, he belted out 320 doubles, 23 triples, 242 home runs! As a manager, he finished in 1st place with all 5 teams at least once (10 times total) !  His lifetime record as a manager was 840-715.

…JOE TORRE–Years Managed: 29 (1977-81 New York Mets, 1982-84 Atlanta Braves, 1990-95 St. Louis Cardinals, 1996-2007 New York Yankees, 2008-10 Los Angeles Dodgers. He led his teams to the playoffs 14 times in his final 15 seasons as a manager. Many of Torre’s assets were off the field. He was known as a master organizational psychology, managing more in the clubhouse than on the field. Further, Torre was a master of emotional intelligence, which is the ability to understand what motivates people. With those skills, he was able to build trust, commitment & loyalty from his players. Torre

Career Record: 2,326-1,997 (.538 winning percentage)

Postseason Appearances (Pennants Won): 15 appearances with 6  World Series -Won: 4  Series in 1996, 98, 99, 2000.

BEST NCAA MENS BASKETBALL COACHES

JOHN WOODEN—Won 10 NCAA Championships in a 12 year span; Was HC from 1948-1975 with a 664-162 record; was a firm believer in fundamentals; changed the game with his whole court 3-1-1 pressing- he was the 1st to use it the entire game (to my recollection); believed his starting 5 had earned the majority of playing time (didn’t substitute much). Sat with legs crossed w/o standing up for the entire game(except timeouts). His 1st NCAA Championship team used the 3-1-1 press throughout most of the game. Which led to other NCAA teams pressing much more often.  Later, Wooden had superior post players—Lew Alcindor & Bill Walton. So, Wooden modified his approach on offense. Each of them referred to Wooden as the “mentor”!

BOB KNIGHT—controversial coach due to his “relationships” with referees. He coached Indiana For 29 seasons. “The General” led the Hoosiers to 3 national championships, 11 Big Ten championships and one National Invitation Tournament title.

…Like Wooden, didn’t substitute much (hardly at all until the game was “decided”). His man/man defense (which was all he played) was textbook—aggressive, tight, handled screens well, didn’t foul frequently. Knight coached the last undefeated NCAA-M basketball team in 1976.

DEAN SMITH—longtime HC @ N. Carolina. It seems to me that he was one of the first coaches to go deep into his bench.  He continually changed defenses, offenses, matchups. He pioneered the idea that whole court presses could be utilized throughout the game as he substituted often & frequently.  When he retired, he was the winningest coach in college basketball. He led the Tar Heels to national championships in 1982 and 1993, to 13 ACC Tournament titles, 11 Final Fours and an NIT title.

Coach K of Duke could have easily been on the list. I don’t think that he used more “innovative” stuff on the court. He relied very heavily on matchups offensively & defensively. He was a tremendous recruiter, a super “fundamental” coach, always had his team well prepared for the opponent.

Thanks so much for your read!  Please spread the word to family/friends.  Send me YOUR top 3 MLB managers &/or 3 NCAA-M Basketball coaches.  Bob