Old school paper from a coaching course, vintage 1981 or 1982

My Goals as a Coach

By Mark Rauterkus, from 1982 Coach Course at Ohio University

I have strong feelings that coaching, like all of athletics, is influenced by luck. The luck involved in coaching is related to finding the proper coaching setting that best suits the coaching style, philosophy and needs.

Most of my coaching goals revolve around the perfect coaching situation. It is somewhat of a challenge to be hired by a special team who will welcome the coach with open arms, open checkbooks and with no strings attached.

When I find that great job, I’d be able to be established for the long-term project of developing the team and the athletes. My teams are driven hard toward success. Success needs identification, and my teams have personal and team goals.

One of my goals is to be the best in my state, association or conference. Some coaches I know have higher goals. They want to be a contender on the national level. They drive their swimmers to international goals. I feel this is like hitting your head against a wall. A coach can not make the best swimmers in the world. A coach can make the best swimmers in the state.

Most people, given a great coach and years of work, can contribute to a team effort at the state level of competition.

My last goal, once I get established in the ideal position which is breeding winner after winner, is to enjoy it. I want to have fun coaching. I wonder about coaching burn-out and boredom. I realize that doing the right job at coaching is a hard task that never quits.

To help me cope, I’ll need to have a good source of recovery and recreation at the end of the season and at the end of each day. Coaching is so intense that I will have to blow-off steam in other areas.

Another reason for better mental health and satisfying recreation is to save the ego from poolside failures . A coach can not win all the time. Sometimes a coach is so tied to the team that a loss is damaging to the individual. Other reinforcers to help bolster the identity and ego are important for long-term happiness in the coaching profession.

At this time I am too young to know where these other satisfactions will be derived from. I have always been one to have a few projects developing on the sidelines.

For the not so distant future, I would like to work on a full-time basis in a productive program. It is time for me to live off of my coaching income. I have developed my coaching skills and lived like a slave all my life. Now I am in the process of marketing my skills in an attempt to garner a regular paycheck. I am not interested in any further employment for the sake of "experience" rather than fInancial support.

Some of the most attractive jobs for the next few years are at the university level. In a campus setting I could coach most of the time and still be around the books in case I should feel the urge to read.

Who knows what the future holds? 

Like I said at the top of the paper, Luck is important. 

The harder I work,the luckier I get.