Great coaching leaders not only build great teams of performers, they build a great team of assistant coaches. In many cases the assistants go on to become great coaches in their own right.
A cohesive team of assistant coaches allows great coaching leaders to leverage their process and build deeper and stronger organizations.
Bill Shover modeled this impeccably. Each year, even though he might be working with new assistant coaches, volunteer fathers and friends, the players enjoyed consistent styles and approaches due to Bill’s excellent leadership.
Of course not every assistant coach scenario worked perfectly. On one warm afternoon bill invited Jerry Colangelo, the coach of the Phoenix Suns, to come throw batting practice. Having a local sports hero pitching to us was a thrill, especially at age twelve.
Jerry appeared to be a talented hurler, except for one small problem. As each left handed hitter came up he proceeded to hit him with a pitch. By the time I came up to bat, as a leftie, I was shaking in terror expecting to be hit. Sure enough, six pitches later, a fast ball struck me squarely on the elbow and sent me to the dirt writhing in pain. As it turned out, it was worth the pain because Bill and I have enjoyed retelling the story to this day!
