A qualitative study on teaching methods and leadership strategies used by six legendary Texas high school football coaches.

Date

Access rights

Worldwide access.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

With this multiple case study, the researcher examined the different teaching methods and leadership strategies used by six coaches actively coaching in the fall of 2016 who are considered successful in their fields. Four of these coaches have won four state championships; which is more than any other active coach in Texas High School Football, and the other two coaches have won three state championships and are currently coaching at the highest level of college football, Division I. The research question was, “What teaching methods and teaching strategies are used by Texas high school football coaches in championship winning schools?” In order to probe further, the following sub-questions were formulated: (1) What methods did the coach use to understand his subjects in an effective manner? (2) What were the work and community environments like for the coach at his school and town? (3) What type(s) of leadership did the coach model with his team and staff? (4) How did the coach continue his development as a coach and teacher as well as the development of his staff? This qualitative research was conducted by interview and all of the questions were connected to a four-part framework. The four parts of the framework were: Coaches as More Capable Others, Orchestrators of the Environment, Leadership, and Coaching Development. After the interviews were recorded and transcribed, they were coded and analyzed by the researcher and two other people with research experience. After comparing with the other researchers’ findings, 10 themes seemed to emerge from the study. These 10 themes seemed to be present in all or most of the six successful head coaches’ teaching methods and leadership strategies.

Description

Keywords

Texas high school football.

Citation