Coaching is a much more complex task than many perceive it to be. Particularly when it comes to coaching a high caliber team at the collegiate level. Muffet McGraw however, has seemed to find her niche as one of the most successful and renowned college women’s basketball coaches in history. As McGraw enters the NCAA tournament this week as a number one seed, one should take note of how well she demonstrates the aspects that Play Like a Champion coaching guide preaches.
Muffet not only boasts of having an overall winning percentage of .733 in her 25 years coaching at Notre Dame, but she additionally has been nominated for the Naismith Coach of the Year award among many others, and has prepared all of her current and prior players to not only be athletically talented but excel in the real world as well. She is also well known for her extraordinarily high basketball IQ, and her demeanor in which she presents herself on and off the court.
This is why when analyzing the GROW standards that were discussed in the Play Like a Champion coaching handbook, I immediately envisioned Muffet McGraw. It is clear that she has clear goals for herself, the team as a whole, and her individual players. More importantly, she also possesses the mastery of basketball to achieve them with the talent she is able to recruit. As far as relationships go, McGraw is known as one of the most personable coaches, and prides herself in finding the perfect pieces to fit into her puzzle of a team. She treats them as her very own family and requires that they do the same. McGraw clearly nurtures ownership through the opportunities she presents her players on and off the court. This demonstrates that McGraw fully understands the impact that ownership can have on a team once each individual buys into their role. Finally, it is evident that in addition to the prior three qualities Muffet places a high value on winning, yet promotes it in the right manner.
With her noteworthy career winning percentage, and the quality of the players she has produced in tandem with her impeccable reputation, it is clear that Muffet McGraw is an idealistic coach and overall person. Her assistant coach Jonathan Tsipis supports this by claiming "Coach McGraw has continually been challenging the players and understanding what buttons to push and when to push forward and when to step back a little bit ... it's just been an amazing job." It would be quite difficult to argue for a more qualified coach who strongly embodies all of the GROW model criteria to achieve such a high level of success.
