View From The Dugout

A College Coach's Perspective

by Brian Tompkins

Sportsmanship Is A Choice

How rare and refreshing it is in the world of sports to see somebody handle a potentially career-changing moment with grace and what a welcome respite for what passes as the norm at all levels of sports. Read More

Who Knows The Scoop? Reflections On My Open Door Policy

Why do coaches with open door policies see so few athletes crossing their office thresholds? Read More

The Persecution Of Excellence

The Connecticut women's basketball team recently completed a much-ballyhooed run to its second consecutive national championship and the accomplishment was all the more remarkable because they did so by going undefeated over those two seasons, winning by an average of double digit point margins, and establishing a record winning streak of 78 games. Read More

Beware Of Lefties - Teaching Fear Through Baseball

There are good reasons why a kid should not run with scissors, or touch a hot stove, or cross the street without looking, or talk to strangers, or eat without washing their hands but unmeasured parental fear is not something that we want them to inherit either.

Encouraging successful athletes to think highly of themselves and their bona fide achievements is one thing but to allow or even encourage youngsters of limited ability who haven't accomplished anything to adopt a swaggering mindset is troubling because their perspective is not based in quantifiable reality. Read More

The Feelgood Paradox - Can Camaraderie And Competitiveness Coexist?

In most athletic teams camaraderie is a desirable quality; it can foster a sense of security and belonging; it can boost an individual's confidence while creating synergistic well-being within the team and it promotes cooperation. It can also enhance the enjoyment and fun associated with being part of something bigger and more important than oneself. Read More

Basketball Insanity - Two Weeks On The Brink

There are few annual sporting events that capture the imagination of the American public more completely than the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Take a cross section of any community in the country and one can find fans wrapped up in basketball insanity regardless of age, gender or socio-economic status. Even in a crammed menu of televised sports that ranges from the Super Bowl to the Summer Olympics, the NCAA tournament is viewed with a unique and special reverence. But why? What is so special about the NCAA tournament? Read More

Sport As A Vehicle - To Have And Have Not In Argentina

I recently had the good fortune to spend a week on a soccer trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina as a staff coach with the United States Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program and to experience the exhilaration that comes with seeing the sights of a beautiful city for the first time. I was also confronted with some eye-opening comparative realities about the stark cultural differences in what participation in sports can mean to kids in different parts of the world. Read More

Competitive Sense vs. Common Sense

Where does competitive sense end and common sense take over? That is a question that coaches must navigate on a regular, even daily, basis when pushing athletes to get the best out of themselves. Some recent incidents illustrate that if coaches and administrators are faulty in their judgment it can have unintended but nevertheless far-reaching and even catastrophic consequences. Read More

Schadenfreude - Relishing The Fall Of O.J.

OJ Simpson is going to prison. Read More

Sit On The Bench? I Don't Think So!

"I want it all and I want it now." Those lyrics have been featured in a recent television credit card commercial but were actually written with some rebellious prescience in the late 1980's by the rock group Queen. They sang of a desire to see young people seize the day and march boldly into an unknown future. Little could Freddy Mercury and Co. Read More

The Would-Be Veterinarian

Youthful dreams, inspired by successful people, often miss the point. Read More

No Winners - The Lament Of A Packers Fan

Thoughts on the handling of Brett Favre's departure from Green Bay Read More

The Age of the Specialist

Whatever happened to the multi-sport high school athlete? Read More

Who's It All About?

It is always somewhat telling to witness an embarrassed youngster turn to the sidelines during a game and tell their parent to be quiet or calm down and in essence suggest that “this isn’t about you.” Read More

You're A Nice Guy But...

Reflecting on the Willie Randolph saga and decency in sports

Inspiration From a TV Newsman

Tim Russert was a master connector and communicator who embodied what many coaches would like to be. Read More

Are We Coaching The Play Out Of Our Kids?

It is increasingly difficult to find a college freshman who has ever played or even practiced their sport without a coach or other adult around. Read More

Welcome To The Dugout

“If Pele had been born in the jungles of Borneo and somebody had given him a soccer ball, he’d have eaten the bloody thing!”

Thus was I introduced at a coaching clinic in England, to the notion that great athletes, even god-like soccer players such as the great Pele, were not born with skill. Read More