Suzanne Yoculan was the head coach of the women's gymnastics program at the University of Georgia from 1983 to 2009. Coach Yoculan's teams won 10 NCAA championships. They had four undefeated seasons,7 National Championships in her last 11 seasons and a run of 5 consecutive national championships during her final 5 seasons.
 
Coach Yoculan built great teams year after year. She was able to unite great individual high-performance athletes with their own personal goals into Championship Teams. In her book, Perfect 10 with Bill Donaldson, Coach Yoculan recounted her approach:
 
"We believe that the happier the athlete is, the better she's going to do. I like to accommodate the individual needs of the girls. We always say we're a team of individuals first, and that if we meet the individual needs of the girls and work on leadership skills at the same time, then we will develop a TEAM.
 
I don't like to be a real controlling coach when it comes to the little things; I want to give our athletes information and then allow them to make choices. In general, I treat them as individuals. It's important to me that I respect their individual needs. All gymnasts are different. We build our team chemistry by getting to know each other and developing a mutual respect for those differences.
 
I believe you must assure every team member that you are inter¬ested in her as a person as well as a gymnast and that you believe that she can reach the goals agreed on. Students have a life other than gymnastics. It is important that their worries and concerns be addressed, and that coaches play the appropriate role in deciding what is best for the gymnast. What is best for the gymnasts is best for the team.
 
The physical and mental welfare of student-athletes must take priority over all other considerations. Strength and conditioning are the keys to good performance and longevity in gymnastics. Learn what works and apply it, always giving the gymnast's wellbeing top priority."
 
Coach Yoculan's gymnasts knew she would not sacrifice their well being for her own personal interests. She was the boss who you knew would be genuinely happy if you got a job with a different company if it was better for your family. Trust between the Coach and team members is the starting point for all team building. Susan Yoculan would get an A+ in trust from her gymnasts.
 
What grade would your team members give you?

Suzanne Yoculan was the head coach of the women's gymnastics program at the University of Georgia from 1983 to 2009. Coach Yoculan's teams (the Gym Dogs) won 10 NCAA championships, including a run of 5 consecutive national championships during her final 5 seasons.
 
Coach Yoculan' s teams had four undefeated seasons and her 7 National Championships in her last 11 seasons reminds me of Coach Wooden's championship run at the end of his career. Coach Yoculan and Coach Wooden had many championship habits in common. One of them was their communication and philosophy on winning. In her book, Perfect 10 with Bill Donaldson, she described her approach:
 
"Andy Landers, coach of the UGA women's basketball team, told me once about his team philosophy: "We don't have expectations, we have intentions."
 
I thought a lot about that, as I have always believed people only do what's expected of them. But it makes sense: expectations can feel like pressure, but intentions come from within, and intentions can drive an individual or team to succeed.
 
Every time we compete, we intend to win! "You must always want to win," I tell my team, "but winning's not the only thing.
 
"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," has been attributed thousands of times to Vince Lombardi, but Bartlett's Familiar Quotations attributes it to coach Red Sanders of Vanderbilt University (in 1953). The legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback, Bart Starr, commented on Lombardi's philosophy about winning: "Winning to Lombardi was not everything, nor the only thing. He was more interested in seeing us make the effort to do our best. If we did, he knew that winning would probably take care of itself." I follow the same philosophy.
 
Coach Yoculan and Coach Wooden were both able to produce multiple consecutive National Championships with different groups of athletes in high pressure single elimination, winner take all formats. To be sure, both Coaches had terrific athletes (No Coach can coach no talent but not every Coach can coach talent.)
 
The championship habit Coach Yoculan and Wooden both applied was to recognize that their athletes had an intense desire to win and redirected that desire to focusing on their best effort and away from the expectations of others. This approach created an intense but relaxed mentality that allowed for peak performance in the most competitive situations.
 
The Coach or Sales Manager who constantly clamors about the need to win the game, beat the other team or hit the number creates more tension for the elite competitor and the coach becomes another obstacle to overcome. Coaches Yoculan, Wooden and Lombardi have shown what real championship habits look like.
 
Are you an obstacle or a builder of championship habits?

Suzanne Yoculan was the head coach of the women's gymnastics program at the University of Georgia from 1983 to 2009. Coach Yoculan's teams (the Gym Dogs) won 10 NCAA championships. They had four undefeated seasons,7 National Championships in her last 11 seasons and a run of 5 consecutive national championships during her final 5 seasons.
 
Coach Yoculan is one of the winningest coaches in the history of college athletics, however one of the most powerful lessons she taught was how to deal with "not winning" in a very powerful way. In 1997 her team was an overwhelming favorite to win the NCAA championship but fell short. In her book, Perfect 10 with Bill Donaldson, Coach Yoculan recounted how she handled the situation:
 
"I don't like to use the words "loss" or "failure" because nothing is a total failure. It's a "partial success." So how do you deal with the disappointment of not fully attaining your goal?
 
Let me relate the experience we had at the 1997 NCAA National Championship, which we entered as the overwhelming favorite. During the season we attained the highest regular season average in the history of NCAA women's gymnastics.
 
But on the first event in the Super Six, the balance beam, three Gym Dogs fell from the apparatus, counting two falls and digging a hole that would be impossible to climb out of. So, what do you do in a situation like this?
 
First, you must erase the past from your mind by concentrating on the future. You can't do anything about the past. Then you must concentrate on every skill, every routine, and every event, in that order. And we did it! We won each of the other three events. That is as good as we could have done. We came in third, 0.55 points behind the champion, UCLA.
 
And how do you deal with the loss? First, put yourself in the place of the winner. How would you like to be treated if you won? Remember the Golden Rule. Would you like the other team to demonstrate sour grapes?
 
So, I told the team in 1997 that as soon as it was evident who won, they should take off running as fast as they could toward the winning team's place on the floor and congratulate them enthusiastically. We gave the meet away, but we didn't give away our class and good sportsmanship. We could at least win the sportsmanship contest, which is important. As soon as it was determined who won the national championship, I took off across the floor first, with the team right behind me, to congratulate UCLA."
 
What do you do when it is apparent you will lose? What's your mindset? How do you treat the winner?