I recently wrote On Coaching about why focusing on culture is more important than focusing on wins. I'll write a little bit about what the right culture in athletics looks like in my mind.
It's a trick question.
College athletes are naturally motivated. The question is more about amplification and direction.
Lack of communication limits their personal drive and obscure performance reviews reduce personal experimentation.
I’d guess at minimum 50% of that motivation is intrinsically derived. It'd be ridiculous to say college athletes don't like praise and recognition- we crave it! But in my experience, external motivation is rather fleeting when the going gets tough-- especially in the middle of February at 5am.
As referenced before, I strongly believe athletic departments must focus on culture above all else to achieve consistently high success in the long run. That culture has to walk the fine line of supporting and developing the individual while promoting the goals of the entire team and department. Admittedly, much easier said than done.
Another hypothesis of mine is that the less transparent an organization is the harder it is to identify that line. Transparency has long been the enemy of coaches and athletic directors. In game theory we see a definite advantage of being on the better informed side of an asymmetrical information game. The problem of having an ace up your sleeve as a coach or administrator is that this presumes your athletes are in some way another opponent to be defeated.
Athletes are an athletic department’s revenue generators. We sell jerseys, we sell tickets, we capture audiences attention for enormous ad sales.
College athletes are assets
We are assets— not liabilities— to be developed and appreciate in value to the athletic department, during our 4 years of eligibility and beyond.
This weekend I was apart of a discussion lambasting decisions by high profile players. Athletes are treated like children and yet expected to act as professionals.
That's Insane
If you expect college athletes to behave like professionals, treat us like professionals.
It's a radical suggestion; being open and honest with prima dona 18-22 year olds seems insane.
It should start with giving high school athlete's reasonable goals and expectations during the recruiting process. Competitive recruiting strategies would see short term gains but as an organizational philosophy it would help attract more mature athletes capable of contributing sooner and reduce churn.
Communicate
Across the board, athletic departments should take every opportunity to dispel ambiguity and disinformation. They (should) exist to enhance the personal brand of the athlete and school’s brand in parallel.
Communication is extremely hard, especially across an organization of 500+ student athletes. It needs to be a centerpiece of athletic department strategy, weaving together academics, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and sport-specific coaching, just to name a few.
Understanding that each of these units plays an important roll in developing an athlete and that none trump others but should in fact work in harmony is maybe the hardest step.
I haven't even mentioned specific strategies to motivate athletes, just a cultural framework. Collegiate athletes are already motivated people, directional clarity empowers motivations to be the best.
The desire to be better is suddenly actionable in a transparent organization. On top of having information on where to improve, athletic departments should be providing educators/coaches to guide the improvement.
The icing on the cake is that the athlete and department's purposes now align and both are working toward the same goal. When athletes' success is clearly defined by their mentors imagine just how hard they'll work.