Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2004 Fall Issue -- They Call Me Coach: A Review

John Wooden knew how to win.

In 1927, he led his basketball team, amid heated competition, to an Indiana state championship. In college, he led Purdue to a National Championship in 1932. After graduating, he began a 40 year coaching career that netted 905 wins against 205 losses.

In championships, Wooden is the winningest coach in the history of college basketball, by far. He won ten NCAA championships in a twelve year span at UCLA, where he is called the “Wizard of Westwood” (See the postscript at the end of this review for a longer list of his achievements and awards).He was also a longtime deacon at the First Christian Church in Santa Monica, California.

Wooden’s lifelong winning ways beg for closer scrutiny. Happily, his book, ‘They Call Me Coach’ sheds clear light on the winning principles of success by which he lived and led. Whatever your goals are in life, Wooden’s wisdom will clarify your vision and straighten your path.

Coach Wooden’s greatness lies not in wizardry but in the fact that he knows what matters most. And what matters most? Here we go

Preparation matters to Coach Wooden. For him, “Confidence comes from being prepared.” He didn’t believe in sideline antics or pre-game pep-talks. He trusted preparation more than passion-pumping. Once the game began, he rarely injected himself into it. He believed that coaching was done during the week. His job was to prepare the players in practice and the players' job was to play the game, win or lose. Being prepared was more important than being brilliant, witty, emotional, clever, or the center of attention on the sidelines. He believed, “To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail.”

Respect matters to Coach Wooden. If you played on his team or attended his basketball camps, you did not use profanity. If you did, you left the floor -- no matter who you were. And there was never a fight on any court at a John Wooden basketball camp. Demanding respect from others and for others, Coach Wooden gave his players the self-respect they needed to rise above their field of competition -- FAR above it. Also, Wooden once withdrew a valued scholarship from a great prospect simply because the player spoke disrespectfully to his own mother.

Marriage matters to Coach Wooden. Together, he and his beloved wife Nellie weathered the Great Depression, World War II, and spent 52 years sharing all the joys and fears of married life. Wooden wrote, "Nellie's inspiration and push -- more than anything else -- have contributed to what success I've enjoyed in life."

People matter to Coach Wooden. He understood the strengthening force of friendship. "Honors are fleeting, as fame is;” wrote Wooden, “I treasure friendship more.” While his players were not necessarily his pals, they meant a lot to Wooden. “I never had a player I did not love,” he claimed, “although I had some I did not like . . .” His assistants and managers mattered as much as his players and they all shared equally in the glory of victory. Wooden admired Amos Alonzo Stagg, a Chicago football coach who summed up Wooden's own feelings when he said, "I have made the young men of America my ministry. I have tried to bring out the best in the boys that I have coached. I truly believe that many of them have become better Christians and citizens because of what they have learned on the athletic field."

Team Spirit matters to Coach Wooden. He wrote, “The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.” Amen! To promote togetherness, his players practiced with uniforms alike -- no high school shirts, cast-off football jerseys or different color shorts. Beyond that, team spirit, for Wooden, means thinking of others and losing oneself for the good of the group. It means being eager (not just willing) to sacrifice personal interest or glory for the whole. There’s a big difference between being willing and being eager: A chain gang prisoner may be willing to break rocks to avoid punishment, but is he eager? Listen to the coach, “It is not necessary for everyone to particularly like each other to play well together, but they must respect each other and subordinate selfishness to the welfare of the team. The team must come first.”

Self-Control matters to Coach Wooden. Self-control is preferred to emotional fervor. He said, “You cannot function physically or mentally unless your emotions are under control. That is why I did not engage in pre-game pep talks to stir emotions to a sudden peak.”

Character matters to Coach Wooden. He begins a chapter in his book with the following maxim: "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are." Later, he added, “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” And for good measure, he said, “The true athlete should have character, not be a character.” We get the point.

Faith matters to Coach Wooden. He kept his aim much higher than scoreboards. He said, “Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.”

Thus, basketball is not all that matters. Said Wooden, “I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior.”

Coach Wooden lived under his master’s calling and tried to convey that call to others. Listen to him; “The coach who is committed to the Christlike life will be helping youngsters under his supervision to develop wholesome disciplines of body, mind, and spirit that will build character worthy of his master’s calling.”

Finally, fame did NOT matter much to Coach Wooden. The following poem quoted from “They Call Me Coach” reveals what matters most to Coach Wooden. Hint: it's not fame.

God's Hall of Fame
(Original Source Unknown)

To have your name inscribed up there is greater yet by far;
Than all the halls of fame down here and every man-made star.
This crowd on earth, they soon forget the heroes of the past;
They cheer like mad until you fall and that’s how long you last.

I tell you friend, I would not trade my name however small;
If written there beyond the stars in that celestial hall.
For any famous name on earth, or glory that they share,
I’d rather be unknown here and have my name up there.
Regarding his entry into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach, Wooden only had this to say: "I did not get there alone."

And Coach, no one gets into God's eternal "Hall of Fame" alone either.

A few of John Wooden’s achievements and awards:

‘All-State’ at Martinsville high school for three years (1926-28).
Won the Indiana state basketball championship in 1927.
Three year All-American at Purdue (1930-32).
College basketball player of the year in 1932.
Led his team to the national college championship in 1932.
Made 138 straight free throws in pro basketball competition.
Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960 as a player.
As UCLA coach, led Bruins to 19 PAC 10 championships.
Led his Bruins to 88 consecutive victories (next best is 60).
Led his Bruins to 10 NCAA championships, 1964-75 (next best is 4).
Led his Bruins to 7 consecutive NCAA championships, 1966-73 (next best is 2).
Led his Bruins to 38 straight NCAA tournament victories (next best us 13).
Led his Bruins to 4 undefeated “30-0” seasons (next best is 1).
"California Father of the Year," 1964 (he and Nellie had 2 children).
Six-time NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year (1964, 67, 69, 70, 72, 73).
The Sporting News “Man of the Year” in 1970.
Sports Illustrated Sports Man of the Year (1973).
“California Grandfather of the Year," 1974 (7 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren).
Won 905 and lost 205 as a coach (college record: 677 wins, 161 loses).
Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year in 1973.
Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1974 as a coach.
ESPN’s ‘Coach of The Century.’
He has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Find Wooden’s Pyramid of Success at http://www.coachwooden.com.

Joel Mark Solliday, M.Div., is the editor of Campus CrossWalk and the pulpit minister of the Brooklyn Center Church of Christ in Minnesota. A Pepperdine graduate, he later worked in their Campus Life Office and at ACU as a Missionary in Residence. He earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary.