Good coaches go beyond X’s and O’s

Years ago, when learning about coaching at the knee of West Valley track hall of famer Jim McLachlan, John Preston recalled an incident in which he wanted to kick a pair of misbehaving freshmen off the track team.

McLachlan’s reply to Preston: “What else can you do to have an influence in their life besides kicking them off? Once you kick them off, you no longer have any influence on them at all.”

McLachlan had the ability to see through the stubborn façade of a young rebel and discover the athlete. That, I believe, is what sets the best coaches apart. They have qualities beyond the obvious.

Coaches all read the same books, attend the same clinics, apply the same X’s and O’s, and often share similar strategies. But the results on the playing field are not equal.

It can be argued that talent wins, not coaches. But given talent’s transient nature, certain programs shouldn’t consistently thrive.

The best coaches have a knack for discovering potential and the ability to inspire that transcends teaching offense, defense and technique.

That belief was reinforced when talking with Scott Jones, the retiring wrestling coach at Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) High School. We discussed how he brought out the talent in a youngster who lacked self-esteem and confidence.

“I’m a good storyteller and passionate enough that they believe it’s heartfelt,” said Jones of his ability to motivate. “I’ve had so many experiences of kids who (succeeded) when they weren’t supposed to and I tell (others) as a freshman, ‘Is that you?’ If a kid who has doubt really believes you believe in them, they slowly start to believe in themselves.”

Darrin Nelson has coached North Central’s girls to second- and first-place state track and field finishes. When he began a decade ago there were eight girls on the team. Last year he had 89.

He mails out letters each season to every freshman and sophomore girl inviting them to join. His goal at each season’s introductory meeting is to have 120 attend.

“Early on, what we were trying to do was create an atmosphere that’s challenging, hard work and fun,” Nelson said. “Our philosophy was to get every single girl at this high school to come out that wants to.”

Then it becomes a matter of sorting through the rough to discover the diamonds. Winning was a by-product.

His strategy derived in part from his elementary school teacher father who gave Nelson an appreciation for how much he cared for kids. The other part came from former NC activities coordinator Ed Fisher, a successful football coach.

“I always had a belief we had the kids here to do well,” said Nelson. “If you don’t have that belief, how in the heck can we succeed? If our attitude is that this is our lot in life, baloney.”

Granted, wrestling and track and field are individual sports apart from team activities. But I’ve met and befriended an abundance of coaches in all sports over the years and the best have all had common ingredients.

First is their ability to identify and attract athletes into their programs whom others might overlook. Next is the ability to transfer overwhelming passion and optimism onto athletes, imparting on them an almost unrealistic belief in their capabilities.

More often than not, those athletes reward them with extraordinarily Herculean and memorable achievements.