Formal Friday

John Wooden

1910 - 2010

He wore suits like every other coach so today's post is not about John Wooden's style but just to realize his legend. The architect of an iron clad dynasty at UCLA that includes 10 National Championship (7 in a row), an untouchable win streak of 88 games, four unblemished seasons and 38 NCAA Tournament wins. All of the before mentioned are NCAA records and are the result of Wooden's coaching which solely focused on making his players better and understanding success. So much has been said about him as a fixture in the sports world; he was a teacher beyond the boundaries of a coach as said by one journalist;

"Coach Wooden taught good habits. That’s it – that’s the answer.

Move past the equation, delve deeper, and the text of his good habits curriculum becomes the inculcation of values, knowledge, team spirit, discipline, consistency, standards, ideals, balance, character, details, hard work, love, self-control, loyalty, diligence, and more, including how to put on your socks in the most effective manner."

As time moves on we will learn to appreciate the presence of Wooden's aura; he offered not only a blueprint to success on the hardwood but also in life. It's crazy to come to realization that his teachings are the epitome of a sure shot to success, all I know is that there might never be a coach of his stature but we all can learn to get somewhere in life if we run coach Wooden's plays.