Building A Successful Program

7 Elements Important To Building A Successful Program

Bob Stoops

1.ESTABLISH TRUST – Players have to trust and believe in one another.  You have to find different ways to get the players close.  When I first got to Oklahoma, if we had eight players in the dining hall, we would have them sitting at seven different tables.  Now, you walk in our training table and you will see eight players at a table that only seats six people.  You have to find ways to get the players to care about one another.

2.ESTABLISH DISCIPLINE – All players want to be disciplined.  The coach has to be strong enough to give it to them.  I do not believe that all players should be treated the same.  You treat them the way they deserve to be treated.

3.ESTABLISH A WORK ETHIC – You must have a good effort.  To me the best compliment you can receive is when someone tells you “Coach, it is fun to watch your team because of how hard they play.”  I value that comment more than any other.  We grade effort.  We watch the tape of the game.  After we critique the film for assignments and fundamentals, we will go back and go through it quickly to see who is playing hard and who is not playing hard.

4.BE CONSISTENT IN HOW YOU TEACH YOUR SYSTEM – We want to let players hear the same terms over and over.

5.CREATE A POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT – Make sure players have fun while they work.  Talk confidently and positively to players.  Eventually they will believe you.  You want the guy that isn’t so good to think he is great.

6.ACKNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE NOT POTENTIAL – We are going to play players that play hard and make plays.  Don’t play potential – play players!

7.BE SURE THAT PLAYERS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY OF WINNING AND LOSING WITH THE COACHES  - Coaches take all the blame in the media.  I am talking about in the meeting room and one-on-one.