Swensday Stuff

Is a Coach an Engineer?
Swen Nater

Many know, John Wooden majored in English at Purdue University and, after graduation, became English teacher and coach at Dayton High School, in Dayton, Kentucky. Many may not know, he really didn’t want to do that at all. His first love was civil engineering. In his own words, John Wooden wanted to “… build roads and bridges.” Then why didn’t he? Unbeknownst to him when he chose civil engineering as a major, it required summer work. John Wooden was needed on his father’s farm in the summer so he had to choose plan B-English and teaching.

Civil engineers plan and design bridges, tunnels, highways, airfields, harbors, sewage systems, and buildings. Civil engineering is a broad field, including: hydraulics, sanitary, environmental, transportation, soil mechanics and, what John Wooden was interested in, structural. The job description of a structural engineers is:  To supervise the construction to make sure that what is being built is being made according to carefully-drafted plans and being made to last.

When you read what you just read, did you happen to notice words like: plans, design, build, and supervision? These are words also used in coaching or building a basketball team. When I read these words, I wondered if there was a connection between building a building and building a basketball team and if Coach Wooden, when coaching, was really doing the same thing he would have, if he had become a civil engineer. So I e-mailed an architect friend of mine, Harold Page, to see if he agreed. To my surprise he did and here was his response.

The Foundation

Building a Building
It's important when building a building to get the "bones" right: a good foundation, solid structure, lasting systems of plumbing and wiring. The cosmetics of paint, decoration and exterior appearance may be more perceptible to the public but are of transitory value to the life of the structure. 

Building a Team
The same could be said of a team: a team which draws its success from fundamental values of dedication, hard work, respect for all of one's teammates, moral integrity, respect for the game and playing it fairly, will weather the vicissitudes of competition while those structured around stars, glory and an attitude of entitlement arising out of an ill-defined sense of tradition will not have the "legs" to continue in the face of adversity.

The Context

Building a Building
Good buildings respect their contexts. A building designed appropriately for Bellevue might be very out of place in Taos. The materials and construction methods that work well in New England could end in catastrophe in a California earthquake.

Building a Team
I could be wrong, but it seems a coach needs to be very aware of the context for which he is building a team.  The players you recruit, the goals you set for them and the style of play one coaches (I would think) would be different for a small college team in Wisconsin than they would be for, say, UNLV.

The Practicality

Building a Building
Architectural beauty or "style" is rarely the goal of a good designer. It is the bonus by-product that results when the designer has carefully defined and dealt with the functional, contextual and philosophical needs of a building.

Building a Team
Nice arenas, fancy uniforms and a great fight song will not make a good team. Nor will bringing in one or two "stars" to create instant success. But programs that build success slowly based on values of discipline, hard work, and so on, will begin to attract the fans and the traditions that help to make it fun.

The Planning

Building a Building
No meaningful building, bridge, ship or monument was ever constructed without very careful planning by an architect or engineer. In the time of the construction of the great gothic cathedrals of Europe these men were called the "Master Builders." It was the master builder who conceived of grand designs daring to take constructions to new heights of scale and beauty. It was the master builder who knew what skilled trades were needed for each component of a building's construction and it was the master builder who coordinated the interaction of these trades.

Building a Team
A coach is like a master builder. He creates a standard for dedication, discipline and morality. He recruits with an eye toward assembling a variety of talents and physical gifts. He teaches his players their work ethic, their standards of behavior and both the fundamentals and finer points of the game. And, ultimately, he constructs a program with a tradition of not just winning, but doing so with grace and admirability.

Conclusion
John Wooden wasn’t able to fulfill his dream and be a civil engineer, or was he? Is a coach really an engineer?

Huge thanks to Harold Page.
Swen