Read Time: 3.5 min

🗂️ What’s in Today’s Newsletter:

🔍 A Simple Question with Big Implications: Does coach development start in the right place?
🏈 Anecdote: What Coach Prime knows that others miss
📚 Research Insight: Why self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership
🧭 Action Steps: Five ways to help coaches develop from the inside out

🧩 The Idea: Do We Have Coach Development Wrong?

It's a simple idea today. We want to question the current coach development with what we think is foundational and primary to leading any team or program — and we have the evidence to back it up.

Here’s the question:
Are coaches getting better at the right things?

🏈 Anecdote: Coach Prime’s Real Secret

Pay close attention; you’ll hear other coaches and players say the same thing about the most successful coaches. They’re invariably described as genuine and authentically themselves.

“What you see is what you get.”

Mike Leach, Dawn Staley, Dan Campbell, Dabo Swinney, and Jürgen Klopp are all examples of coaches described by their athletes as unique individuals who are or were never afraid to be themselves (clips and articles in the links provided). And there are many more!

Say what you want about Deion Sanders—Coach Prime—but you can’t deny one thing: the man knows who he is. In a profession where most coaches mimic others, speak in clichés, and chase tactical edges, Coach Prime has leaned fully into self-leadership. His confidence is contagious. His clarity of purpose radiates. His staff and players feed off his unwavering sense of identity.

Hise Gibson, a lecturer at Harvard Business School, performed a case study on Deion Sanders’ leadership. He discusses below some of the things he found:

It’s easy to focus on the flashy marketing or the transfer portal wins. But the real story is this: Coach Prime’s ability to lead others flows directly from his ability to lead himself. That’s not charisma—that’s intentional identity work.

📚 Research Insight: Self-Leadership is the Foundation

In a 2020 review published in The Leadership Quarterly, researchers identified self-leadership as the precursor to all other forms of effective leadership. The ability to regulate one’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts—especially under pressure—was more predictive of team outcomes than technical knowledge or leadership style.

We’re going to say that again — for those that may have missed it.

THE ABILITY TO REGULATE ONE’S BEHAVIOR, EMOTIONS, AND THOUGHTS—ESPECIALLY UNDER PRESSURE—WAS MORE PREDICTIVE OF TEAM OUTCOMES THAN TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE OR LEADERSHIP STYLE.

(Sorry about that - but anecdotally, from regular readers I get to talk to in person — this is our most scrolled-over section, so I had to try and grab those folks’ attention) 😅

It’s that important.

Wait a second, should our game plans be just as much about how we will lead ourselves down the stretch of a tight game as what play we will run?

Put another way: coaches who can’t lead themselves won’t be able to lead others sustainably.

Despite this, coach development programs overwhelmingly focus on strategy, recruiting, and compliance. Leadership is often a breakout session. Self-leadership? Barely mentioned.

Are we building tactics on unstable foundations?

🧭 Putting It All Together: 5 Takeaways for Coaching Leaders

1. Start with Identity, Not Strategy: Help coaches name who they are before what they do. Self-awareness precedes self-leadership.

2. Assess Internal Scorecards: Use tools (like the 100X Leader assessment) to help coaches evaluate their performance and leadership.

3. Normalize Inner Work: Leadership development must include journaling, reflection, therapy, or coaching—not just Xs and Os.

4. Reward Self-Regulation: Celebrate when coaches remain composed under pressure. That’s leadership. That’s growth.

5. Train Before the Crisis: Don’t wait until burnout, breakdown, or blowups. Self-leadership training is preparation, not punishment.

ICYMI - we gave away a guide on how we would lead a book study with your team so that you could do it! Get it below!

💭 Closing Thought:

Coach development often looks like learning how to build a team, run a system, or manage a staff. But if a coach can’t lead themselves with clarity, consistency, and character—none of it lasts. Leadership begins within. Let’s stop treating it like an elective.

Keep Up With BETTER

Very quietly, we have built a 5 Voices Playbook where Kevin and Seth walk coaches through the nuances of coaching each of the 5 Voices. It includes a built-in dashboard for you to track the Voices of the players on your team. We are ironing out the marketing of this, so we haven’t officially “launched” it yet. But if you want, the course is ready to go today.

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 receive the Culture Playbook as part of a guided community led by Kevin and Seth.

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, and 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 levels. Over time, we will continue to add content, resources, and offerings. You’ll get discounts on future products that the public won’t get. And no, the price is not changing.

We’re targeting a public launch in early January, offering newsletter readers early access and a 25% discount. Fill out the form using the link below, and we’ll send you a link to get started.