“What Coach Wooden did will never be touched”, says one of the all-time great coaches, Mike Krzyzewski. “You can have a pretty good argument about who is the second-greatest college coach of all time. There’s absolutely no argument about who is the greatest”. In 27 years at UCLA, Wooden sometimes won with more talent and sometimes with markedly less. Here are some glimpses of his greatness:
On skill: Wooden insisted on mastering details He believed that “We are what we repeatedly do.”
On discipline: Wooden might say, “You don’t want to be late coming back.” If the player was late, he’d be benched for the game. One star, Bill Walton, arrived for his final season with wild hair. Wooden said “Bill, that’s not short enough. We’re sure going to miss you on this team.” Walton rushed to the barber.
On winning: He was a ferocious competitor whom Walton called a “caged tiger.” Before playing Duke in 1964, he asked his team, “How many of you remember who finished second last year? They don’t remember who finished second.”
On worth: Sports commentator John Feinstein tells the story from 1984 when Wooden wheeled around his ill wife, Nell, at their last Final Four together, visiting friends. As they were leaving the hotel lobby, they drew a spontaneous ovation from all the other college coaches. Asked about it in 2006, Wooden said, “There is nothing like the respect of your peers.” Feinstein said, “As a coach, he had no peers. And he was a better man than he was a coach.”
Here’s my question:
All of us run or help run businesses. Are you insisting on the discipline that John Wooden demanded? Are you as focused as you need to be on all areas of your business? Are you creating the quality within your organization that you need to do? Are you treating your employees the way you would want to be treated?
If not, maybe now is the time to start. John Wooden was not a “Great Man”, just a man that did great things every day.
Bobby Bland PWCA, CIC
Vice President
Commercial Risk Service
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