Petrino and Guillen---What are you thinking?

What do the names Ozzie Guillen, Bobby Petrino, Stan Van Gundy, Jim Tressel and Sean Peyton have in common? If you guessed these are all guys who have multi-million dollar contracts to coach a simple kids’ game then you are on target. The question becomes how do these coaches make decisions that clear thinking rational people would have no difficulty in knowing that these behaviors range from totally inappropriate to border line criminal?

The answer to this question is they lose perspective. Some blame can go to the American sports system that kisses the feet of winning coaches and athletes while castigating those coaches who do not lead their teams to the promise land. Additionally, generating huge sums of revenue for their teams magnifies the coach’s perceived value to those who hire and fire while providing leverage to their “representatives” when contract time rolls around. Tack on the constant adulation of the media and the desire of the press to have the ‘inside story” and big time coaches quickly can develop a nasty case of self-importance.

But also realize that what this all comes down to is power and how leaders deal with the unique situation where they have an abundance of power. While these coaches grab the current headlines in USA Today and Sporting News, many non- sports leaders have abused their position in many different ways that were much more egregious. Remember President Clinton, John Edwards, Bernie Madoff and Kenneth Lay (Enron), all of whom demonstrated a serious abuse of the leadership responsibility that accompanied their positions of power. Realistically many individuals, who have no intent on abusing power and have all the right motivations when they move into a leadership role, lose perspective and forget that they got to where they are because they were able to secure the trust of all their followers.

Sports leaders, because of the nature of athletics and the fact that their success is measured every time one of their team crosses the boundary line for competition by having that scoreboard indicate success or failure, may be more vulnerable to rationalizing unacceptable behaviors based on misdirected focus on winning games. Unbelievably coaches break rules, alienate segments of the community, engage in criminal offenses, lie to their bosses and their teams, denigrate individuals (players, opposing coaches and programs) and ruin their families because their sole purpose is to put a W on the scorecard. They lose perspective on their own importance and the importance of a kid's game.

For all the entire headline making coaches who lose perspective there are tons of others who do great things and help a multitude of individuals in many different ways. Many do not fall into the pitfalls of ego driven leadership and become great models for the right way to do things. All of us in sports need to accept our leadership responsibilities and remember why we chose to be coaches or sports administrators. I believe that Guillen, Petrino, Van Gundy, Tressel and Peyton all entered the coaching profession for the right reasons; unfortunately the bright lights blinded them along the way. Remember as your career develops: don’t let the bright lights interfere with your values and principles that have you headed down the right path. Follow your principles and in the long run, you will be a much bigger winner.