Hoosiers

Coach Norman Dale embodied a number of personal characteristics which enabled him to be the quality leader he was in the movie Hoosiers. His toughness, optimism, motivation, farsightedness, and self confidence assisted Coach Dale in gaining the loyalty of the team and the attention of the town. They also helped him to change the losing ways of the early team into the state champion team they ended up to be. Additionally, a number of environmental factors played a role in his success. The almost religious fervor of basketball in Indiana, the quasi-anarchist environment of the town’s men, and the fact that Hickory was a small town all played vital roles in Coach Dale’s success.

The first personal traits that Coach Dale was forced to exhibit were his toughness and his assertiveness. On his first night in Hickory he met the men of town in the barbershop who were all willing to provide their experience and insight on the team and how to coach. Coach Dale had enough self confidence to know that none of these “insights” were going to help the Hickory team win basketball games and let them know they weren’t welcome by turning his back and walking out. Additionally, he was forced to demonstrate his toughness twice more on the first day of practice by telling the temporary coach, “Secondly, your days of coaching are over,” and then by standing up to the group of men after he dismissed Buddy from the team. These actions made no friends of the men; however, they started to show the players who was boss.

When faced with consistent losing early in the basketball season, Coach Dale was able to remain optimistic in what he and the team were doing. He continued to tell the players and the people of Hickory that the team was getting there. He believed that if they continued to work, if they would believe in him, and his philosophy, and Jimmy would come back then they could be a winner. This optimism motivated the players and created an atmosphere of never wanting to quit. They continued to work together, to gel, and they began to win.

The ability to see a goal that no one else has the vision to see is vital to a leader and Coach Dale had that unique ability of farsightedness. He had the ability to see that although this team was small by comparison they could win with fundamentals. He knew that by instilling the players with dribbling and passing before shooting they would have a comparative advantage over the rest of the teams they played since they would always be smaller. The team finally came to realize that by being more fundamentally sound and smarter they would be able to overcome the size disadvantage they had. Coach Dale’s ability to see this fact and his assertiveness in forcing the players not to shoot in practice or within the four pass rule helped them grow as a team.

Finally, Coach Dale was extremely aware of his talents and abilities as a basketball coach. This level of self confidence made it easier for him to deal with the town’s people who felt that because they knew the players better they also knew basketball better. It also created an atmosphere where he felt comfortable dismissing one player from the team and telling Jimmy that the decision to play was up to him. He knew that his ability to coach the players he had left, the players who wanted to play would be enough to carry them through a successful season.

The almost religious commitment to basketball in Indiana created and environment that was extremely conducive to success for Coach Dale. Early