WSJ - Why the Oregon Ducks don't believe in yelling

[Sker4Ever]

Very good article about how to coach kids without screaming and yelling. Can't help but think Mike Riley has the same approach towards teaching kids

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/oregon-college-footballs-kinder-gentler-team-1420663969

[RedRex]

How.....nice. Is Phil Knight now marketing emotional bubble-wrap for athletes? Maybe a wristband that beeps whenever the wearers feelings get bruised?

[walksalone]

somebody's mom brings orange slices and everyone kicks in 5 bucks at the end of the season for a pizza party?

[Sker4Ever]

I think actually they are playing in a big game on Monday...pizza party must be after. You can make fun of it, but it appears to work

[Count 'Bility]

Damon bennung as a coach at a top notch class A programin Nebraska has spoken about this quite a bit in light of the team's meltdowns under Bo in how todays kid ( tho college guys are men. Grown ass men, so ill refer to them as players) just takes to reaching a different way due to various curcumstances of upbringing. The different lifestyles these athletes come from anymore. The game is so mental anymore that i wod think yelling and tantrums and even excessive celebrating can have negative impacts. Sure you can take the hardass approach and whatnot, but bottom line is, do you wanna win or not?

 

We know good and well from iur run in the 90's how many different things need to factor in to a dominant run. Its a hell of a lot more than jimmies and joes and Xs and Os. The 90s Florida Sts and Nick Saban would agree. So wgatever Oregon is doing is working. You cant question it. The scoreboard speaks for itself.

[The Dude]

RedRex's comments with the R. Lee Ermey avatar is perfect.

[Scratchtown]

You want a kid to shutdown the operation? Yell at him for making mistakes in practice. It's funny how coaches think yelling is the answer, yet most of the time it's the coaches who don't coach efficiently.

[Touchdown Tommie]

I agree that yelling is not a great motivator...I am looking at from the current parent side. I coach high school football and we were having a very intense practice and one of our coaches got fired up. The next day he was called into the AD's office because a parent saw him yelling. You have to continue to pat these kids on the back and tell them how great they are or parents will complain that you are too hard on them. The coach being fired up was a positive thing in this case...he was not even yelling at individual kids. He was just so dang excited that the kids got it figured out.

 

There is a fine line these days and it is difficult to know where that line is. I do feel if you do it at the right time, it can be beneficial. If you constantly yell and bitch at the kids they shut you out a long time ago!

[Count 'Bility]

And the other bad part about it all is that no yelling at all isnt the answer either. But the great coaches can balance the two in a perfect mix as well as be able to balance differently among different individual players. We've seen Bo yell at guys and they respond and we've seen Bo yell and the team or guys totally collapse. But the bottom line is, it is a different kind of player from a mental standpoint, and you have to instill confidence rather than constantly tear it down.

 

 

Edit. And apparently this is pretty much the same thing TouchdownTommie said. I replied without even reading his post.

[Lux]

I graduated within the last 7 years. My coach yelled at all of us, his assistants, and even the other teams head coach. My coach grabbed facemasks said things like 'I don't think you're big enough to start this game'. My coach used foul language. I would do anything for this man and I have no doubt anyone whos played worked for him would day the same thing. Oh and he wins more games than anyone else. I feel this no yelling thing is part of the everyone is special crowd. I don't support it and would love to see some research on the topic.

[The Dude]

Raising your voice can be effective. I think it loses its effect if you do it all the time, though.

 

We're still going to have yellers on the staff (watch some Cav on YouTube). There's a difference between yelling to get a point across and screaming because you can't control your emotions. The latter is never an effective teaching tool.

[Hunter94]

I graduated within the last 7 years. My coach yelled at all of us, his assistants, and even the other teams head coach. My coach grabbed facemasks said things like 'I don't think you're big enough to start this game'. My coach used foul language. I would do anything for this man and I have no doubt anyone whos played worked for him would day the same thing. Oh and he wins more games than anyone else. I feel this no yelling thing is part of the everyone is special crowd. I don't support it and would love to see some research on the topic.

yes, and less give everyone a trophy and a blackshirt.......out of control is one thing.......Pelini was a f'ing idiot......raising your voice selectively is another

[Blackshirt96]

You want a kid to shutdown the operation? Yell at him for making mistakes in practice. It's funny how coaches think yelling is the answer, yet most of the time it's the coaches who don't coach efficiently.

 

I played hockey thru the college level & have had many different types of coaches. I could easily say I don't remember ever having a coach who didn't yell. The really good coaches did both teach & yell. They knew when they needed to yell & when they needed to teach.

 

One of the problems today is kids seem very emotional these days. It might sound wierd, but I really think it has to do with all the stuff that is put into food & all the extra hormones put into milk & meat.

[Count 'Bility]

 

I graduated within the last 7 years. My coach yelled at all of us, his assistants, and even the other teams head coach. My coach grabbed facemasks said things like 'I don't think you're big enough to start this game'. My coach used foul language. I would do anything for this man and I have no doubt anyone whos played worked for him would day the same thing. Oh and he wins more games than anyone else. I feel this no yelling thing is part of the everyone is special crowd. I don't support it and would love to see some research on the topic.

yes, and less give everyone a trophy and a blackshirt.......out of control is one thing.......Pelini was a f'ing idiot......raising your voice selectively is another

 

I think that's what he's getting at though. The coach Lux is referring to is legendary in Nebraska High School football. And it works for him. But it's also a culture that is engrained into that school. I guarantee you that guy doesnt go all Pelini on people. He'll pick and choose his spots. And like I said, you have to find that happey medium between yelling and not, as well as from player to player, cuz each is different. We had two kids on our flag team screwin around so we made em run a lap around the field. One started laughing, the other cried. It is what it is.

 

In koch's book, Anatomy of an Era, there are numerous players from that time even that would talk about how Osborne never raised his voice. He had an established being that all he would have to do was give someone a look, if even that. TO's prestige was enough. Player after player stated that knowing they let TO down was far more effective than yelling ever was. Not so say other coaches didnt completely dress them down, but TO never did. His presence was enough. These are the mind games a coach as legendary as the one Lux played for can use. He can teach teach teach, but when it doesnt come to fruition, he can use the freakout mentality. It works there. And he's earned the respect it would take for such a thing. Now you take some young coach only at a place two years comes in and does it, I guarantee you most kids/players' reactiion will be "god, what a f'ing a-hole. Who's this dooshbag think he is?" Know what I'm sayin?

 

The bottom line is, if you think that kids and college players are not generally different from a mental and emotional standpoint in their ability to handle a complete dressdown, youre doing yourself a disservice. Cuz they are. And moving forward in the athletic world, the coaches that realize this and deal with it properly and find the balance and proper time for "yelling" will be successful in the future. We can harp all we want about Bo Pelini's tyrades and how my old coach yelled at me and it didnt affect me and so on, but the scoreboard doesnt lie. When Bo went off, way more times than not, the team imploded, regardless how much the players "loved" the guy, and up in Eugene, theyre playing for National Championship, and have been in the hunt each year for about 6 years now. So I'd say whatever theyre doing works, FOR THEM.

 

And lastly, it's not just about yelling, it's the message. What is being taught.

[swmohusker]

You can be a great coach and yell at the kids and you can be a great coach and calmly coach kids. Whatever you do has to be true to your personality and it is not really the tone you are using but the information you are giving. If you are giving correct feedback to fix a mistake and it works for him then they will trust you and it doesnt really matter how you say it. I have had coaches that use different types of methods, the most effective are the ones who know what they are talking about. And yes sometimes yelling is a means for a coach to mask they are not really sure what needs to be done to fix things. See this a lot at team camps. Coaches absolutely screaming at a kid when the real reason the mistake occurred was because of poor scheme and putting the athlete in poor position to be successful.