Read Time: 4 min

Coaches, Athletes, ADs, and leaders, this week, we wanted to address and evaluate the state of coach development and share our solution at the bottom of this newsletter.

As a reminder, here is what to expect from this newsletter:

• 1 Leadership Idea

• 5 Minutes or less

• 1 Story from a Coach, Athlete, or Leader

• 1 Piece of supporting research

• 5 Takeaways you can immediately implement.

✨ The Idea: Rethinking Coach Development

So much of current coach development is centered around information. Where can I go to get more information? Books, clinics, conferences, events, courses, videos—we’ve all been to those. They’re good, but they seem to be missing something.

But, if you think about your development, every single one of us has 1-2 people we point to who taught us most of what we know. So, when we look at how we’ve learned, it centers around a relationship.

So, why is coach development currently centered around information and not community?

Imagine if we shifted the focus from simply providing knowledge to fostering a true community of coaches. You learn 10X more by observing someone in action than listening to them talk about it. What if the most powerful development tool wasn’t information but shared experiences?

🌳 Wisdom from the Field: Coaching Trees

The industry term for this is “Coaching Tree.” Another way to think about a coaching tree is a leadership network. Think of a top NCAA Football program. The head coach is leading an organization of 150-200 people. There’s no way they can lead everyone directly—they’d be stretched thin. But they can pour themselves into 3 to 4 people and then ask those people to do the same… and so on and so forth.

Perhaps there is no better example of this than Bill Walsh, a coach we have written about. Walsh took seriously the responsibility of developing coaches and is widely known to be one of the most open sharers of the craft. His coaching tree spans multiple generations of current NFL Coaches.

It includes current NFL Coaches Andy Reid, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Mike McCarthy, and Raheem Morris. It doesn’t include other coaches like Steve Kerr, who Pete Carroll mentored. Pete Carrol was mentored by, you guessed it, Bill Walsh.

Your impact in a few generations won’t be measured by what you win but by the quality of relationships you develop with the coaches, athletes, and leaders you surround yourself with the most.

📚 The Science of Learning by Doing

Research supports the idea that learning through observation and collaboration is often more effective than passive absorption of information. A Journal of Applied Psychology study found that hands-on, experiential learning leads to greater retention and skill application than lecture-based learning. Similarly, communities of practice—groups sharing common goals and learning collaboratively—enhance understanding, creativity, and problem-solving. (Source)

This aligns with the "situated learning" idea, which states that people learn best by participating in meaningful, real-world activities alongside experienced practitioners. Watching a skilled coach adapt to challenges in real-time teaches lessons that no textbook can capture.

This is the crux of the argument. No amount of information transfer can do this. While conventions and conferences are good, they pale compared to being in a community with other coaches. Coach and leader development must shift from a model around information to one centered around relationships and community.

🎯 Practical Takeaways

BETTER is working on ways to make this happen, including creating our online community. But if you’re an AD who wants to do this better at your school for your coaches, or you are a coach who wants to do this better in your program, here’s how we would incorporate community-driven learning into coach development:

1. Shadowing Opportunities: Create programs where young coaches can shadow experienced mentors during practices or games. Observing real-time decision-making is invaluable.

2. Peer Coaching Groups: Form small groups of coaches who meet regularly to share challenges, strategies, and feedback. Building trusted networks fosters deep learning.

3. On-the-Job Mentorship: Pair less experienced coaches with veterans to work side-by-side, not just talk theory.

4. Video Analysis Together: Record not just players but coaches in action. Analyze and learn together from real-life scenarios.

5. Community Over Content: Shift the focus of coaching clinics from lectures to interactive workshops and shared experiences.

By embedding these practices into coach development, we can create environments where learning thrives through connection and collaboration.

✨ Closing Thought

The best coaches don’t just accumulate information—they embody it. They pass on what they’ve learned, not through lectures, but through actions, relationships, and moments shared with their teams. Building communities that allow coaches to learn from one another might be the shift we need to elevate the next generation of leaders.

So this week, ask yourself: How can I invest in the community around me?

BETTER’s Solution to Coach Development

As a part of our work, we lead cohorts of leaders. It’s just one meeting a month with a topic, some homework, and sharing about how it’s going. But it’s powerful. Many of the coaches and leaders in our cohort express the following sentiment:

“I wish every coach got to experience this on some level.”

So, we thought, why can’t they?

As a part of what’s next for BETTER.

We are launching a community around the Culture Playbook.

Until now, the Culture Playbook has been something you buy and then get. We wanted it to be so good and affordable that every coach in the country could access it.

From now on, leaders will get the Culture Playbook as part of a guided community that Kevin and Seth will lead.

If you’ve enjoyed our newsletter, imagine a community where we will take you and others through a deeper level of how to install the systems for yourself, athletes, or other coaches. You can ask us questions directly. We can guide and share discussions, share ideas, and get feedback.

We will host monthly calls. Every coach will have direct access to us. We will lead guided discussions and encourage coaches and ADs to share best practices. We want it to become the absolute best resource for all things Culture Development, both at the program and department level. We will continue to add over time. And no, the price is not changing.

We’ve been building it for several months now and are incredibly excited for you to see it and join. We’re targeting an early January launch. Join the waitlist below to make sure you receive all the information regarding our solution to coach development.