Lou Holtz as an Effective Leader

Organizational & Management of Athletic Programs
Final Assignment

Through the first part of this paper, I hope to portray and articulate several theories and lessons that I learned from reading the Coach Holtz book. I believe the number one lesson that was driven home throughout the semester and even came up in the Lou Holtz readings was how to become an effective leader. This topic is very important to anyone that is put in a position of superiority because you must get the people that you are in charge of to complete their tasks. Personally, I feel this is one of the cornerstones of being an effective college coach and mentor to leaders of tomorrow.
There are several different styles of leadership and no one style is better than another but you must find the leadership style that best suits you. After researching this topic and reading numerous articles and Lou Holtz’s book, I would say that I am like Coach Holtz in that we are both disciplinarians. I believe that every aspect of a person’s life requires discipline and that is breeds into coaching or being a leader. Along with creating a culture of discipline, one needs to pay attention to the people that work for him or her, praise and reward for good behavior, punish bad behavior. Discipline is often misunderstood in today’s society. I believe that discipline isn’t a bad word and can be a positive attribute and should not be confused with punishment. Discipline is the framework in which you teach a valuable lesson using structure.
An important factor in becoming a good leader is to have values and or principles, ethics and beliefs. Make sure to articulate these core values, ethics and beliefs in a precise manner to your staff. This will hopefully ensure that you as the leader have provided them with a plan and a direction in which they are able to follow and attain individual goals. As a coach you must be able to direct your team and have your coaching staff and your players on the same page