Kong Midas has fallen: On Heroes and Coaching Contribution

Today one of my heroes died.

Inge Bråten (L) with Bjørn Dæhlie

Inge Bråten, one of the most successful coaches in Norwegian history, was more than man to me. 


Through not a single interaction, and hell, not even that much info about him, this man helped shape the direction of my life. Admittedly, due to my lack of actual knowledge about him, a lot of this is my own perception. But isn't that was heroes are all about, perception?

When I was starting to ski, he was the head coach of one of the strongest Norwegian national teams in history. During his time there (a scant 5 years), his athletes won a total of FIFTEEN Olympic or World Championship GOLD medals.

While I was in college learning all I could about enduruance physiology and ski technique, he lead Sweden to 3 gold medals at the 2006 Olympics in Turino.

As I was starting to make my move to coaching professionally, he moved to Canada. In 2009 at the Liberec World Championships, the Canadian men had one top-20 finish. In the 2010 at the Olympics, after Inge took charge, they had 8, FIVE of which were top-10's.

While it absolutely could be argued (and rightly so) that some of the Canadian success in 2010 is due to home Olympics (more money), and the fact that Dave Wood already had the men on a nice upward progression, it is incredibly evident that everything Inge Bråten touched turned to gold. 

How did this shape my life? Because it gave taught me that coaches MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

"Of course coaches make a difference!" you say, with just a hint of derision. Well, yes, but how much? What's the difference between a bad coach, a good coach, and a great coach?

I can't tell you how many interviews I've seen where the coach puts all the onus on the athletes. "Oh no, I can't take any of the credit for our results." Horseshit.

Now, I'm sure I'll get some flack for my perspective on this issue, but hear me out.

1. An athlete puts in the bulk of the work, absolutely. And an athlete can perform pretty well without a coach. But, how much better could they do with a bad coach? How much better with a good coach? How much better with a GREAT coach? In my estimation (simply for a talking point) I'd say a coach is responsible for at most 49% of an athletes success. Can be substantially less, absolutely. It can never be 50%, because while very occasionally an athlete can reach his/her potential (like, 1 in a million) without any coaching whatsoever, a coach can never get an athlete to reach his/her potential without, well, an athlete. Make sense?

2. How can I, as a coach, in good conscience think anything else? If I believe that an athlete doesn't need me, or that there is no difference between a bad coach and a good coach, what impetus do I have for improvement? Why get any better if it's not going to make a difference? I feel that it is my responsibility to feel that I make a huge difference to an athletes performance, BECAUSE IT WILL DRIVE ME TO BE THE BEST COACH I CAN BE.

Inge Bråten was a GREAT coach. And I will not rest until I am too.