Page 281 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Lessons from My Notebook
tain based on popularity didn’t seem like a particularly productive 263
exercise when it came to creating a successful team.
I could have solved the problem by appointing each year’s cap-
tain myself and not leaving it up to the players. In fact, that’s what
I began doing—with one major change; specifically, the team cap-
tain was selected, by me, on a game-to-game basis rather than for
the entire year.
While there were four notable exceptions to this policy at
UCLA, I recognized the great benefit of passing an “honorary”
team captaincy around on a game-to-game basis. It was a very good
“carrot” that I could use in rewarding players for various produc-
tive and unsung contributions to the team—for example, hard
work and hustle during practice, a good attitude, and other less
glamorous but important acts.
Even though the pregame duties were negligible, every player
took pride in being chosen to stand up and represent his team as
its captain. The reward of being selected captain for a game by the
head coach was a great motivational tool.
At the conclusion of my first season at South Bend Central,
the players were informed there would be no election for cap-
tain of the following year’s team. I began personally appointing
the player who would serve as that game’s captain and an-
nouncing the selection in the locker room shortly before the
tipoff for each game.
When I arrived at UCLA, the same situation existed—a team
captain, Ron Pearson, had been elected by the players at the con-
clusion of the previous season. At the conclusion of my first year
of coaching the Bruins, I instituted my South Bend policy—a team
captain would be selected by me before each game.
There were four exceptions to this rule in the ensuing 26 seasons
at UCLA. Four times I felt it would be productive to appoint a