Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has been this generation’s best college basketball coach. However, Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright is college basketball’s best head coach right now.
With Monday evening’s 79-62 national championship victory over the Michigan Wolverines, Coach Wright won his second title in three years. Afterwards, ESPN reporter Andrea Adelson profiled the Wildcats’s leader. You can read her full article here.
As I read Adelson’s article, I gleaned 14 Leadership Practices Of College Basketball’s Best Coach – Villanova Wildcats Jay Wright:
- The Best Coaches Deliver Superior Results – Coach Wright is one of only three active coaches with multiple NCAA championships. He is also just the second coach in Division I history with four straight 30-win seasons. Villanova has an incredible 136 wins in the last four years.
- The Best Coaches Put Together A Great Coaching Staff Around Them – Former player Kris Jenkins said. “We’ve got the most wins over the past four years in college basketball. That’s a testament to the coaching staff, Coach Wright and the guys that he recruits.”
- The Best Coaches Do Not Often Always Inherit The Best Situations – Just a few years into his tenure at Villanova, the NCAA placed sanctions on the program after some players made improper and unauthorized phone calls.
- Building A Program Often Takes Time For Even The Best Coaches – In Coach Wrights’ first three seasons, Villanova had zero NCAA tournament appearances.
- Many Of The Best Coaches Once Faced Or Were Even Fired – Because of Villanova’s slow build under Coach Wright, he was on the hot seat going into the 2004-05 season.
- The Best Coaches Bring Energy To Their Programs – Former player and current Wildcat’s director of basketball operations Mike Nardi said, “Just starting the program from scratch, obviously the tradition was there but regenerating the energy…”
- The Best Coaches Get The Right Players For Their System – Nardi continued, “and getting us back to that winning tradition and putting guys on the floor that would play hard every night and defend … it was only a matter of time that something like this may happen.”
- The Best Coaches Reproduce Other Coaches – After receiving his business degree, Nardi played professionally overseas. Once his playing career concluded, Nardi get into coaching as well.
- The Best Coaches Maximize The Talents Of Their Players – Former player Josh Hart said, “You can take guys like him, guys like me, turn them into national champions who aren’t highly recruited, turn them into NBA players and develop them.”
- The Best Coaches Value High-Character Players – Hart continued, “He takes guys who are under-recruited, talented guys, high-character guys, and helps transform them into great basketball players.”
- The Best Coaches Care Deeply About Their Players – Villanova guard Phil Booth said, “Everybody just sees cool Jay on the court, but how much he really cares about the players on this team shows a lot.”
- The Best Coaches Demand The Best From Their Players – Booth added, “He develops players, he really demands you to be the best player you can be.”
- The Best Coaches Improve And Expand Your Skill Sets – Booth continued, “A lot of players came here and have one skill. They can shoot or score. He’ll make you a defender, he’ll make you a good passer, he’ll make you a great rebounder. He does it all for you.”
- The Best Coaches Avoid Complacency – When next season begins, Coach Wright will not rest on the laurels of this year’s team. They will begin training camp with the exact same drills which has made the team a success the last four years.
As a bonus, my friend Matt Farlow emailed me his leadership thoughts from Villanova’s victory. They are spot-on. Here is what he said, “After a hot start where they were making shots and flying around on defense, about five minutes into the game Michigan’s starters got tired. As a result, they started missing shots, allowing open shots for Villanova and committing careless fouls. Before they recovered, Villanova had seized control of the game and never gave it back. Ministry and leadership requires hard work and lots of it. That said, to continue performing at a high level, leaders must have a system in place that helps them stay fresh. The question to ask is, “What is it that keeps you fresh and performing at your best? Have you intentionally built into your schedule some sort of rhythms for your own refreshment?”
To receive leadership insights from college football’s best coach, Alabama’s Nick Saban, click HERE or on the image to the left for my new ebook The Leadership Of Nick Saban: Timeless Truths From The Incomparable Head Coach Of The Alabama Crimson Tide. Enjoy!