Goodbye To A Great Coach

Today’s article has nothing whatsoever to do with golf.  I am going to ask all of you golf nuts out there to bear with me.  But I the passing of a legend yesterday just got me to thinking.  And I just had to write about John Wooden.

When you look back over the years, just his success as a coach is enough to blow you away. His accomplishments include 10 NCAA titles, at one point winning 7 in a row.  During a stretch that included a record of 205-5, he had 4 seasons with a perfect 30-0 records.   But so much of what you will hear about Wooden and what impacted me as well is about the man himself.

What has always impressed me so much about John Wooden was how he achieved success while impacting so many of his players in huge ways.  If you watch over the next couple of weeks, you will hear those testimonies pouring out.  And they are well deserved in my opinion.

He was intensely loyal.  He taught life lessons, not just basketball.  He was all about team, not the individual.  And he cared about his players immensely.  And he knew how to win, and in a big way regardless of the talent he had.

As I observe sports at the college and professional level there is no doubt that they changed quite a bit since Wooden was at UCLA.   Many might say that he couldn’t achieve today what he did in the 60′s and 70′s.  We’ll never know, but based upon what I know about the man, I wouldn’t put money on that.

Everything I’ve read, seen, and heard about Coach Wooden can be summed up in one simple phrase  “He was one of the totally genuine good guys.”  And the world will miss him.

Thank you coach for all you did and taught to all of us!