Good to Great...Dakota Ridge XCTF
Good to Great...Dakota Ridge XCTF 2017-2018
Good is the enemy of great
And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that
becomes great.
We don't have great schools, principally because we have
good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good
government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so
easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority become quite good-and that is
their problem.
------Jim Collins (Good to Great 2001)
In Cross Country...We are a good program...and recently we have
settled for being just that.
For Track and Field, we are not a
good program yet (mediocre) and we are still searching for an identity.
As the 2016 school year ended we met as a school athletic
program for our annual Athletic Legacy awards night. Every year we rightly honor the fantastic efforts of our schools student-athletes and coaches who had success throughout the school year.
I sat for most of the night lost in thought.
I felt the pain and frustration of being humbled by a Track
and Field season that exposed my flaws and left me searching my soul for ways
to improve. We had some good things happen during the year for sure and
there is a significant sense of pride in that. As always, we did have some
great individual stories come to fruition. (I wrote extensively on the season in a previous blog post). However, as a program we are
still searching for something more than 5th on the girl’s side, 8th (Last) on
the boy’s side in League. 3 Student-Athletes at State meet. Overall as a
program, I feel we are camped out on the outskirts of Mediocristan and it is my fault
we are there and no one else’s.
I reflected on our 2016 Cross Country season…. We are good,
and in some sense… really good. We have principally been so good that top 10
team finishes in the State Cross Country meet register as same old same old
garnering us little if any recognition or respect among our peers. A compliment
to the longevity and goodness of the program in some sense. In 2016, we did our
same thing. We pulled a girls’ team that frankly was on paper not supposed to
make the State Meet, and through some hard work we erased the need for a ton of
luck and we earned our spot in the state meet with a tremendous performance
when it mattered most at Regionals; a credit to the girl’s indeed. On the boy’s
side, we stayed the historical course making the State Cross Country meet for
the 15th consecutive year; Finishing 8th, back in the top
10 for the first time since 2012.
I sat among school administration, coaches and hundreds of
parents and athletes deeply considering my place in the school and attempted to
be honest with myself about my own level of work leading the program. I asked myself
what are my most ardent critics saying about me? What is not being said about
me that coaches are saying about others who are successful? Am I those things?
Some realistic
conclusions about how I have coached the team: I have been an average or good
coach at best in Cross Country and for Track and Field I’ve been down right
mediocre. I have a very nice base of technical knowledge about our sport,
training athletes and the like and I do okay coaching it. I put in a lot of
hours and money in my own continued education on many fronts, psychology,
physical therapy, athletic training, physiology etc etc all in a holistic
approach to continue progress our student athletes.
However, ... I make plenty of mistakes. I have not delegated well. I have been
distracted by a lot in the last few years. I have not communicated well and
have been quite disorganized. I have lost my patience with our kids. I have not
taken care of myself and I have nearly burned out of coaching. I have been brutally ineffective at pushing
our track and field program forward. I failed to get the most out of super
talented kids. Despite efforts to do so…I
have not achieved a high level of respect among my peers. Be it politics, lack
of advocacy, or just the straight forward success others are looking for to be
accepted. I have not achieved the level of respect a great coach earns among
his peers. For that I hold myself responsible. Principally...The kids and my assistant
coaches have made me look better then I feel I have been the last couple years.
I am in their debt for them being so good.
I was recently talking to a parent about our team and
program. I was commenting on the initial few weeks of the summer and noting how
different everything feels with this incoming freshman class. I said to the
parent “ I am finding out already I will need to get my barring’s here and make
some adjustments in how I coach them”. The parent said “sounds like they are
raising their game, and you are going to have raise yours as well”.
It is the truth. I must get better.
Over the coming few weeks as we move toward our team camp I will
share with you all some thoughts about our program. Asking questions along the
way. At our team camp we will engage in
a robust discussion related to many of the concepts we are looking to engage
with as we move forward as a program.
To close this post, I want to answer the question of what
greatness might look like for a Cross Country Track and Field program. Using
Jim Collins three tests of greatness as a guide here is some thoughts of what
greatness looks like:
Superior Results
Our most important results come from what is happening in
the classroom. Exceptional effort in the classroom is essential for a high
school athletic team. Secondly, nothing is more superior then winning championships.
Greatness is only achieved when championships are won. We can be a highly successful
or very good program as we currently are in Cross Country, but until we win a
championship we are not great. We can and will have years we are proud of wherein we don't finish as champion. Our 2015 Cross Country season comes to mind where we excelled at the next two guideposts, but did not finish as champions.
Distinctive Impact
We must have a lasting positive impact on each other and
those in our community. We have talked about the concept of “do anything that
brings honor to your family and yourself”. We want to create lasting positive
memories for each other that leave us feeling like we had an incredible
experience being a part of the program. Being involved in school activities that enhance the experience of being a part of this team is an aspect of this. The high level of success we have seen from student-athletes involved in student government, the play and musical are examples.
Lasting Endurance
We may not be great every year. We will find the road to
greatness may take years and will be paved with setbacks. No matter what the
situation we are facing, we must fiercely protect the long-standing tradition
of success we have achieved within the program. Hold to good, yes. Preserve the
high level of success that was built year after year through mile after mile, throw
after throw, rep after rep on the track, in the field and in the weight room.
Preserve the high level of academic and social success we have achieved. Do
your part to help move the team to greatness be it this year or ten years from
now.
JIM’S TWELVE QUESTIONS
DEVELOPED BY JIM COLLINS. RELEASE VERSION 3.00. © 2014
http://www.jimcollins.com/tools/TwelveQuestions.pdf
Coming up:
Who is on the bus?
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