One thing about measuring coaching

Posted on: March 7, 2017 at 13:05:06 CT

Wins/losses don’t measure coaching. They measure success (or lack thereof), which is the result of a formula of which coaching is an input. Along with lots of other factors like roster talent, fan support, resource support, player execution, opponent strength, officiating, etc. All of those things together yield results which are measured in wins and losses or tourney results, etc.

All things being equal coaching can absolutely drive results, its probably the most important single factor. But all things are never equal, all of those other factors always differ greatly between different programs and even different time periods.

Coaching is measured by being able to establish an identity or having a distinct style, adapting to suit your resources, having a sum greater than its parts, level of execution, player development, game planning, dead ball situations, player effort, attention to detail and focus towards the finer points of basketball, certain statistical metrics, etc. You can’t tell if someone is a good coach because they made the sweet sixteen or by looking at their won/loss record. That only tells you if they were successful, which isn’t the same thing.

We need someone who can be successful, absolutely. But we need a good coach first and foremost. Because all of the other inputs into the formula for success won’t be like for like from the situation that past success was derived from, we are just hiring the coach.