Stacy Bell FB

Reflections from a retired Head Football Coach who started 6 - 38, kept his job, then won a conference championship and was named national coach of the year. Continually communicate the vision. Live the vision. Remain faithful despite tough times. Over Promise in order to Over Deliver Love unconditionally! Lose or win always show your team how they are moving forward to fulfilling the vision. Listen. You never know where a good idea will come from. Boosters parents players administrators all they want is for you to listen to what they have to say and respond in a manner that reflects that you appreciate their interest in your program. Evaluate, recruit, retain and develop. Catch players and staff doing things right. Nothing is more motivating than encouragement and praise. Limit corrections to things that are critical. Correct the critical. Fix the fixable. Do the little things. Make sure your players go to class. Go to other teams sporting events. Etc etc Actively seek out people essential to the program to visit with even after a loss. President, Athletic Director, and boosters. Maintain contact with players’s parents. Give them encouraging news to keep them motivating their kids to continue to develop and improve and be a positive part of the program. Coach for an audience of one. Be concerned with God thinks about you not what others think about you. Don’t stop believing. Your positivity must overcome the negativities that others are putting into your players lives. Be a Tigger the world has enough Eeyores. Stay the course. If you keep going forward, even if it’s in the wrong direction, you will eventually end up at the destination. However, if you keep changing courses, you will end up in the middle of nowhere. Remove all sarcasm. You may think it’s funny, but to the players and people most connected to the program, it is not. There are better ways to get the message you need across. You impact more people with the way you handle adversity than the way you enjoy victory.