Coaching Vision

Coach Wooden on the Importance of Emotional Control

By Steve Horan

Coach Wooden became a master of emotional control, choosing intensity over emotionalism.  And he credits this development as one of his success factors.  One of his former athletes, Fred Slaughter, comments on Coach Wooden's demeanor when the team was losing badly:

By modeling emotional control, Coach Wooden was able to instill emotional control in his own athletes.  But Coach Wooden humbly states he was not always this way.  Earlier in his career, before all the championships, he had multiple episodes in which emotionalism got the best of him.  He had to learn to control his emotions over time. 

So what does all this mean for us coaches who are not quite so famous or successful as the Wizard of Westwood?  Well, if Coach Wooden is humble enough to admit his mistakes, perhaps we can do the same.  And if Coach Wooden had to spend time learning to choose intensity over emotionalism, there is hope for us all.  The Coach leaves us with three 'rules to lead by' which can help all of us, at every level, elevate our coaching:

1) Control emotion or emotion will control you;

2) Avoid excess and shoot for moderation;

3) Instill emotional discipline in your athletes.

From a player-development standpoint, it is important to remember that rules 1 and 2 are necessary for 3.  Just like Coach Wooden did for Fred Slaughter, we can instill emotional control in our athletes by modeling such control ourselves.

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"Intensity makes you stronger.  Emotionalism makes you weaker."

These eight words kick off Chapter 7 of Coach John Wooden's 2005 book, Wooden on Leadership.  They are compelling and cautionary words for every coach who brings a certain passion to the job.  Why?  Because so many of our mistakes are caused not by our lack of knowledge, but by our own emotionalism.

Coach Wooden begins with an important distinction between emotionalism and intensity.  Emotionalism is the state of being ruled by our emotions.  It comes with ups and downs in mood and inconsistent behavior.  It often comes with anger.

Intensity, on the other hand, is a state of conscious focus on what we want to accomplish, and awareness of what we are saying and doing at any given time.  Whereas emotion is passion without stability or balance, intensity is passion with purpose and control.    

I'd look over at Coach Wooden, and there he'd sit on the bench with his program rolled up in his hand -- totally unaffected, almost like we were ahead.  And I'd think to myself, "Hey, if he's not worried why should I be worried?  Let's just do what the guy told us to do."

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Coaching Points

Coach Wooden offers three 'rules to lead by' which can help every coach at every level:

1) Control emotion or emotion will control you;

2) Avoid excess and shoot for moderation;

3) Instill emotional discipline in your athletes.

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