Bad coaches cheat. Copy. Do what is trending.
Great coaches are… Creators.
Creators: Move the game forward, have either new or remixed ideas from other fields, push, break, and challenge the status quo:
Many people ask why I’m still not back coaching professionally. The main reason, other than not being offered an HC job, is this…
I don’t want to work as an assistant for a HC who is a “Copier” archetype. And the game is full of them right now.
Most young, New Wave-minded coaches take the path that everyone thinks they should take. In 2020, when I decided to step off the traditional coaching ‘ladder up’ path, I thought about this quote by Peter Theil:
The path that was set for me vs. the path I wanted to take was different. And because there are more ‘Copiers’ than ‘Creators’ in our game…
The ‘Normal’ Path had odds of looking like this for me:
-Tier 3 assistant
-Tier 3 HC
-Tier 2 AC working for a ‘Copier’
-Assistant in D3 or USHL working for a ‘Copier’
-D1 Assistant working for a ‘Copier’
and so on…
If you don’t have the realization as Theil did, you don’t ‘think very hard about where the path is going.’
Narrator: “Drew had that realization.”
Spending that much time working for people that I didn’t align with, didn’t sound awesome. So I decided to opt out of that path by playing a different game.
The ‘Creator’ coach’s are in the small minority right now, and if I’m going to work as an assistant, I want to work with a Creator. Copiers are the disaster I’m choosing to avoid. The anti-goal for me is, “Don’t work with a copier.”
I imagine I’m trying to find teams to work for as Harvard recruits for their sports teams. They can’t go to a game and watch every player. Their list of ‘potential recruits’ is a lot smaller than most. And they are okay with that.
Instead of opening myself to all of the doors, I want to walk through the one that is right for me. I’ll attract the right one based on proof of work in time.
At this point, you might be asking, “What is a Copier?”
You might have met 1 or 230 of them…
The best way to figure out if someone is a Copier or not is to take a page from Sam Hinkie’s book. If you’re interviewing with a HC, talk about a leadership or sport topic and attempt to go ‘to the bottom.’
This means, go down the rabbit hole as far as you can, if they can’t dig very far and start speaking in cliches and ‘press conference soundbites’, good chance you have met a Copier.
Copiers: Don’t understand the aspects of their jobs from first principles which limits their effectiveness, makes them less adaptable, and therefore significantly less fun to work with.
The Copier is Broken
Copiers are the folks I’m about to make fun of… This is again done purposefully by me. It’s a clear sign to ‘Keep Away’ if you’re offended. You’ll be offended if you’re a Copier archetype.
A quick DM conversation will explain:
A New Wave Coach sent me this video and caption…
Outside the box
My response:
His response (because humor and joking are still things):
Then I did the thing where I pushed it further:
Then he added height and perspective so I could write the rest of this article:
The 3 Reasons You Copied in School
There were three reasons you copied the ‘smart kid’ in school. All 3 stem from the same emotional state. Lack.
IQ- lack of brain power
Insecurity- lack of confidence in ‘your own’ solution to the problem
Give a fuck- lack of care about the subject to study for it
If you think I’m about to connect this to what coaches do… You’re decent at pattern recognition, the first point might not apply to you.
Let’s talk about the one that’s going to piss the most amount of people off first. The IQ subsection…
Deep inhale… Here we go.
IQ
If you can’t understand the drill/activity/concept from first principles, you’re already losing.
Tell me if you’ve ever been on the ice with a coach who has explained an activity/drill this way:
Alright team, we are going to do the NTDP 2 v 1. I saw the USA national team run this drill when I found out when their practice time was, I drove down to Plymouth and stole this from them. This is how it goes… (explains the drill)
If you don’t know what Dan Muse knows from first principles:
Why they are running the drill
What concepts and skill blends they are focusing on inside of the drill
How to progress and regress the drill based on where your team is at
Then copying a drill that a “good team/good coach” runs is the dumbest fucking thing you can do.
The first player that has a question, you won’t be able to help. Trust lost.
When the drill breaks down, you won’t know how to troubleshoot it. More trust lost.
‘Rob and do’ never looks good on you…
If you can’t think your way ‘around’ the activity, you’ll never extract value ‘through’ it.
Insecurity
The insecurity piece builds on top of our example from above.
If you don’t believe in your ability to think for yourself, you’ll outsource it to an expert.
And that’s not good enough.
Copying the smart kid in class by looking over his shoulder when the teacher isn’t looking doesn’t get ‘you’ anywhere.
Here’s a little secret…
Being wrong being ‘yourself’ and trying something that’s ‘yours’ feels 100x better than copying some guy with no context.
Do you feel good that you have no idea why you’re doing what you’re doing?
Do you feel good that you’re going with what’s currently trending on “coach twitter?”
Do you feel good that you’re impersonating someone else?
Being a copy of a copy?
Here’s a quick excerpt from Surf the Wave to hammer this point:
Fitting in is being inauthentic, being part of the trend. What you are failing to realize is this…
As a person and player or coach, you have a unique:
skill stack on the ice ( your strengths)
personality
emotional profile
set of mindset skills
set of leadership/behavior skills
Those all give you leverage to create your own personal monopoly in the world. You need to be looking for the place you “fit”(play to your strengths,be yourself) not the place you can “fit in.”(trend and blend in)
OK… Pause. I feel you getting heated… Breathe and continue… The next sentence you are about to read might change your life. Ready?
Instead of being insecure being yourself, you need to mindfuck yourself that being someone else should be the thing that makes you squirm.
Read the last sentence multiple times.
Rewire your brain to a new way of thinking about insecurity. Truth bomb in 3,2,1:
When pretending to be someone you aren’t feels worse than being afraid of being you, you’ll change real quick. Fuck what’s trending, Trendset. Do you.
If you’re very uncomfortable with what I just said, that’s good, you’re on your way to having an insight or starting on a road to changing. The game needs you to evolve.
Okay, on to the last point.
Give a Fuck
The most disheartening thing I’ve seen popping in and out of youth rinks in the last 2 years that I’ve been “out of the game…”
Coaches sitting on the dasher, sipping on a coffee while the team is ‘practicing.’
If you don’t give a fuck about the subject, you’ll also outsource your thinking to a drill book, or worse, things you know off the top of your head because you did those drills as a kid 30 years ago…
People that don’t care about math cheat off the smart kid.
Coaches that don’t care about ‘coaching’, cheat their players.
Half-Life
If you’re feeling some sort of way right now, good. That was my intention.
You’re either smiling at your computer or phone or you’ve long chucked your phone at the nearest wall and haven’t made it this far… (I’m not paying for that)
If you’re still reading, here are my CTA’s…
If you’re not creating, your call to action is to start.
If you refuse to lean into that, your call to action is to quit coaching.
P.S. If you’re upset with me, you’re upset with ‘you.’ This reality is a mirror.
Bring on the comments.
Want More?
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