By Annie Moore

University of Louisville women’s lacrosse coach Kellie Young’s recent media

attention has yet again brought into the spotlight the age-old controversy of tough-
love in coaching. As motivators, coaches often walk a fine line between pushing

their players to be their best and pushing them beyond their limits.

College coaches are entrusted with young adults and student-athletes, and play a

large role in forming their careers athletically and academically. As such, coaches

face much criticism when outsiders view their tactics as too harsh. But exactly

how far is too far? Where does a coach cross the line from intense to abusive?

On one end of the spectrum there are coaches who are noted for their benign

behavior on the sidelines, some who incite mediocrity with their wishy-washy

attitudes, and others like former Indianapolis Colts coach who saw success with

his signature “Quiet Strength”.

At the opposite end there are coaches who are historically remembered for their

intense, sometimes aggressive leadership style. Leaders like Bob Knight who

saw immense success as the head basketball coach at Indiana University, but was

constantly scrutinized for being too intense.

Fans, families, athletes and fellow coaches all vary on where they fall on that

spectrum of intensity, but one thing everyone can agree on is success. Everyone

likes to see their team succeed, where they differ is at what cost that success

comes.

Coach Knight led the Indiana Hoosiers to three NCAA National Championships,

11 Big Ten Conference Championships and an undefeated season in 1975-1976.

Knight individually had 902 career Division I college basketball wins, third all-
time behind Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse University and his former player

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University, received the National Coach of the

Year award four times, and coached the 1984 men’s national team to Olympic

Gold.

Advocates of less-harsh coaching argue that tactics like Knight’s breed failure

because the players’ only motivation is fear of failure. Proponents of intense

coaching argue that passion exhibited by coaches can be seen reflected in the

teams they coach which drives teams to higher success.

But in the case of Coach Knight, outside of some Hoosier faithful, he is

remembered less for his successes and more for his chair-throwing, player-
choking outbursts. But if he was such a horrible person as many view him, why

was he allowed to stay at Indiana for 29 seasons? Why was he offered jobs after

his dismissal from IU in 2000? And why was he inducted into the Basketball Hall

of Fame? Because you can’t argue with success.

Coach Knight’s tactics, while controversial, produced the winningest era in IU

basketball. And though some may like to argue that he shouldn’t have been

allowed to coach young people due to his temper, that man’s passion was

exhibited through his team’s success and attitude.

So as we see more coaches like Coach Young being scrutinized in the media for

controversial coaching techniques, let us remember that some coaches are more

passionate about driving their teams to success than others. And also, as a coach

of a major collegiate team every move you make is under a microscope. These

coaches are humans who make mistakes, just like we do.

So next time you get so frustrated you could pick up your chair and throw it… just

be happy there aren’t national television outlets around to capture it.