'Coach' John Wooden

Part III of Talent Code as about great teachers/coaches ("Talent Whisperers ").

Coyle talks about a basketball coach called John Wooden, whom I had never heard of. So I spent some time looking him up this morning.

Not surprisingly, he spoke at TED.

A couple of quotes from that talk (and I am sure from many other Wooden talks, interviews, and articles).

Success is ... Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction and knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.

No written word

No spoken plea

Can teach our youth what they should be to be;

Nor all the books on all the shelves

It's what the teachers are themselves.

In the mid-70s a psychologist named Ronald Gallimore spent some time studying Wooden's principles, which resulted in at least three articles/books.

1. Tharp, R. G. & Gallimore, R. (1976). Basketball's John Wooden: What a coach can teach a teacher. Psychology Today, 9(8), 74-78.

2. Gallimore, R., & Tharp, R. G. (2004). What a coach can teach a teacher, 19752004: Reflections and reanalysis of John Wooden's teaching practices. The Sports Psychologist, 18(2), 119-137.

[Have to figure out how to get these from the University Library]

3. You Haven't Taught Until They Have Learned: John Wooden's Teaching Principles and Practices , by Swen Nater & Ronald Gillimore (2006)

I could not find the book in our local library, but found has a short review by Steve Turley

From that review

For Wooden, teaching is essentially a moral and ethical enterprise embodied in the values, beliefs and actions of the teacher