The Four Crafts

We like to argue about whether coaching is an art or a science, but I think it's a craft.

Here’s why:

• Craftspeople have a defined vision for what it is they’re setting out to create.

• Craftspeople are highly skilled with a multitude of tools, which allows them to create nuanced, one-of-a-kind pieces.

• The goal of any craft is to pursue mastery. Indeed, to be recognized as a master, you are required to submit a ‘master piece’ and have it assessed by the other masters of your guild.

• Once a master, one of your obligations is to ensure the knowledge transfer from one generation to the next.

In art, there is the pursuit of mastery but little motivation to teach what you know.

In science, there is the defined vision but also an active agenda to eliminate nuance.

It seems to me that many of the challenges that modern head coaches face can be traced to a lack of craft knowledge. We’ve lost our vision, reduced our skillsets, pursued outcomes, and deferred coach education to outsiders.

This site is dedicated to re-claiming our craft knowledge.

Head Coaching Has Four Crafts

There are four craft areas that modern head coaches are required to master:

🏭️ Organizational Craft

🧢 Personal Craft

🎒 Locker Room Craft

♟️ Game Craft

What makes head coaching so difficult is that the four craft areas are interdependent. A problem in your game could stem from your organization, and a personal solution could knock your locker room out of equilibrium.

While each domain will take on a different level of precedence and priority depending on the state of your team, or the stage of the season, they are never dormant. Each area is equally intricate to learn, constantly evolving, and littered with landmines.

Allow me to explain the four craft areas in more detail:

Organizational Craft

Think of this as your ability to navigate the administrative areas of running a team, such as:

Your ‘office work’ is more than just completing the tasks themselves, it also includes the organizational dynamics that come with being part of a human enterprise.

It is here where many organizations beat themselves before their players have even stepped foot on the field of play.

Organizational craft is also area that most head coaches struggle, because it is the most removed from what they do in order to get the head coaching role in the first place.

In short, you don’t get to practice organizational craft with any meaningful panache until you’re on the job.

Personal Craft

Your fiercest opponent is yourself, so think of this as scouting yourself just like you would scout an opponent.

You’re seeking to find out everything you can about yourself in order to recognize patterns that can guide your future success.

Personal craft is the area that has seen the most development in the last decade, and it is the one that has the highest potential for continued growth over the next decade.

Unlocking yourself is a worthwhile pursuit because in copycat leagues with largely commoditized tactics, analytics, and preparation techniques, you are your team's greatest source of unique competitive advantage.

As Pete Carroll reminded us in his farewell press conference, "To me, the essence of being as good as you can be is to figure out who you are."

Locker Room Craft 

Think of this as how you manage your team, and keep them on track as they progress through the different stages of the lifecycle.

The most fascinating of the crafts, it is also the most volatile.

It is an exercise in trying to understand why a certain group can do certain things, and other groups can't.

While it can often feel like herding cats, your locker room mastery is the bedrock upon which sustained success is built.

Game Craft 

Think of this as how you conceptualize and teach the game that you’re playing.

The most exciting and heartbreaking of the crafts.

Most head coaches are elite in their game craft, but in my opinion the greatest opportunity for continued development is refinement.

Despite the increased complexity of tactical systems in modern sport, it is the growth in staff sizes that has made it toughest to master game craft.

The fragmentation of performance makes depth of knowledge difficult, and the need to 'pull it all together' into a cohesive effort adds layers of dynamism that are still relatively new.

In another example of lost craft, I’ve observed a growing number of coaches deferring to practice design in order to solve problems after the fact, rather than in-game interventions. We must continue to develop our coach's eye and show bravery to make tough decisions that change the game.

Cody’s Notes

• In a cruel irony, your excellence in one craft area is often what gets you hired as a head coach. It gives you a false sense of security. What got you here won’t get you there.

• Being skilled in one or two of the craft domains still leaves you deficient overall. You must diligently pursue development in all four craft areas in order to be considered a master.

• Beware the head coach who thinks they’ve figured out all of these areas. That is someone who is destined to fail.

• Superior craftsmanship is about how all four craft areas fit together, so consider the links between the domains.