Recently, I read Dream Big Dreams: The Jack Donohue Story by Mike Hickey, a thoroughly entertaining biography that is required reading for Canadian Basketball coaches. Both Andy Higgins – who knew Coach Donohue personally – and I found the book to be very insightful and had difficulty putting it down. I’ve listed three lessons any coach can take from Jack Donohue’s life and coaching career.
Helping Players: Jack Donohue helped the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team, the College of the Holy Cross, and Power Memorial players, among others, lessons about teamwork, responsibility, sacrifice, and enjoying life, that they remember to this day. He exemplified the potential of the coach to shape the lives of young people. Although the players may have questioned Donohue at the time, they now appreciated how much he helped them improve themselves.
Players must understand their role on the team, receive an opportunity to do what they do best, and know that that someone on the team cares for them (source: Author Unknown). In the coming months I will try to follow Coach Donohue’s lead and stress these aspects of my coaching philosophy.
Donohue never abandoned a friend when they were down, including acquaintances who were incarcerated, Al McGuire during his illness, and Steve Konchalski when he was fighting Basketball Canada (successfully) over his wrongful termination. He maintained his relationship with players and coaches from New York City like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jack Curran, and Lou Carnesecca for the rest of his life.
Technical Fouls: While coaching Power Memorial as an opponent was shooting foul shots, Donohue strode onto the court and took the ball from the player’s hands. He refused to give it back until the official listened to his concerns. (I once had to call timeout to speak to an official about a technical foul that he assessed to a U.T.S. player for using profanity; perhaps I should have been more forthright.) When the U.S.S.R. was taking Canada to the woodshed, Donohue entered the court, assumed a defensive stance, and began guarding the Soviet ballhandler.
After the “T”, Donohue exclaimed that “someone on this team has to play defence.” Like my colleague Kash stated this afternoon: “different players are motivated in different ways and a coach must know what buttons to push.” Caring for players means standing up for them during games.
Supporting Other Coaches: Donohue was known and appreciated for the help that he provided to other coaches and the Coaches of Canada organization. Many coaches in Canada are part of the Donohue family tree (Ken and Kathy Shields, Steve Konchalski and Doc Ryan, Jay Triano, Olga Hrycak, Leo Rautins, and Chris Critelli). Coaches must not only mentor players but others in their profession, a responsibility Donohue never shirked.
Once, Donohue and a friend were volunteering at a local high school practice when the school’s Athletic Director walked into the gym and asked them to identify themselves. Donohue introduced himself as the former coach of Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team. The A.D. asked them to leave because they didn’t have the “proper qualifications” to coach at that school. I know another Athletic Director who forbade a former Canadian Olympic coach from making an appearance at his school but illuminating the error of his ways will inspire neither a critical self-evaluation nor spur the school to improve their methods.