The Coaching Tree

Ken Bone was just hired as the new head basketball coach at Washington State University. This in it self is not much of a story, coaches are hired and fired pretty regularly at that level. The truth is, you don't need to be a sports fan to find the real story within the story.

Ken Bone was an assistant coach at the UW from 2002 to 2005. He was part of Romar's staff where he worked with and learned from a successful leader. Bone was then hired as a head coach based on the repuatation of both Coach Romar and the program itself.

Lately, another Husky Assistant coach has been in the news as well, his name is Cameron Dollar. He is being sought after for other NCAA coaching vacancies. It is here we begin to uncover the real story.

Coaches that are trained up under Lorenzo Romar are being targeted to fill the head coaching positions at other schools. Why? The answer in part is because success breeds success. The basic theory is goes something like this: The UW is successful because of the coaching of Lorenzo Romar. Romar is passing on his secrets and system to both players and coaches. Therefore, if we can hire one of his assistants they can do the same thing for our program.

This hiring technique in prevalent in other sports as well. The NFL is full of this type of thinking. Mike Holmgren's coaching tree is huge. Many of his assistant coaches end up as head coaches for other teams and many of their assistants become head coaches as well.

The neat part about a coaching tree is that guys like Mike Holmgren and Lorenzo Romar didn't just appear out of nowhere. They too came from and are part of even bigger, more extensive coaching trees.

This is one instance where church life and sports seem to intersect. I love how these coaching trees are formed. They are birthed because veteran coaches mentor and empower the next generation of younger coaches.

I look forward to the day when there will be people in ministry that I've had a hand in mentoring, encouraging, and empowering. My pastor has begun to experience this after years of ministry and it's fun to see him enjoy the fruit of his labor.

My prayer is that as I grow and develop as a leader that I'd remember to take time to pour into the younger generation of budding leaders. I pray that I wouldn't be selfish with what I'm learning and go to the grave without passing the torch to others. I thank God for the people who have poured into my life and I want to do the same for the next generation.