Start with an honest assessment, then get every leadership role working on its part. Bruce Brown, after visiting hundreds of high school and college programs, concluded that almost every athletic program sits at one of three levels: strong (fine-tune and keep it going), average (turn it up), or in trouble (turn it around). Identify your level with role-by-role checklists — what administrators, the athletic director, coaches, athletes, and the community each notice — then attack the specific gaps. Program-wide change is never one coach's job. It takes administrators who hire the right people and stand by them, coaches who share athletes and support each other's programs, and the elimination of every excuse for failure.
What separates a strong athletic program from an average one?
Intentional leadership. In Brown's framework, average programs win when the talent is good and lose when it isn't, because leadership is left to chance. Strong programs are intentional about everything: a clear purpose, preset standards and values, taught leadership, positive traditions, and high trust. Many average programs believe they are strong — and don't want to find out otherwise.
What is the athletic director's role in program-wide improvement?
Treat your coaches as your team. Brown challenges athletic directors to identify what each coach does well and where they need to grow, then provide training, mentoring, and honest assessment — including feedback gathered from athletes. Value, support, and retain good coaches: remove every reason a great coach would leave your program.
How long does it take to turn a program around?
Expect years, not weeks. One high school volleyball program Proactive Coaching worked with went from drama and mediocrity to a state title in four seasons by teaching core covenants and leadership skills. And the work never stops — after the championship, the same leaders met again to plan how to sustain the culture.
What excuses hold athletic programs back?
Brown catalogs them: small school, poor facilities, kids only play one sport, no parent support, no administrative support. His answer, again and again, is to control the controllables. Share athletes across sports, build feeder programs, train parents, take pride in the facilities you have. In great programs, excuses do not exist.
The checklists that turn this framework into action — role by role, level by level — are in Assessing and Improving Athletic Programs, included with membership — $180/year and the 7-day free trial.
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