Book It: "The Politics of Coaching"

Carl Pierson wrote an important book, "The Politics of Coaching: A Survival Guide to Keep Coaches from Getting Burned."

Pierson covers many of the situations leading to the success and failure, triumphs and demise of coaches. As a coach with over forty seasons of coaching in three different sports, he shares his experiences and a variety of stories, some of which strain credulity.

For example, he discusses a football player, late to special teams because he is texting on his cellphone. He gets to the field, tucks his phone into his sock, and receives the ball. After being tackled, he checks his sock to make sure his cellphone hasn't been damaged!

Pierson understands the dynamic of coaching communication well. He recommends that coaches promote the program and be positive, but manage expectations which will invariably not always correspond to reality. 

He discusses another situation where one successful coach undermines another younger coach, in order to slide into a postion where he will inherit better talent as the talent pool in his sport runs dry.

He also discusses in depth what I call "the Prime Directive". The Prime Directive is that each parent will, quite understandably do whatever possible to advance the progress, playing time, and status of their child. No one will advocate for that youngster as well or as fiercely as they can, and how that impacts other players, the team, and the community may not matter.

For example, he discusses a situation where two sets of parents instruct their youngsters not to communicate with each other on the team. He has to call the parents in for a meeting to resolve the problem in what must have been an awkward meeting. 

The coach's job is to do what is best for the team, which cannot always be congruous with all the players' and parents' aspirations, dreams, and hopes.

"The Politics of Coaching" can help coaches improve both their on and off the court coaching and communication. If you coach or want to become one, you can benefit from reading Carl Pierson's message. Honesty and authenticity help, but they won't always get you the job you want or keep you there.