Running head: LDRS 600 FINAL EXAM

Leadership, Management, Supervision, and Coaching:

LDRS 600 Final Exam
Amy Gade
Fort Hays State University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

LDRS600: Supervisory Leadership
Professor Karl Klein

LDRS 600 FINAL EXAM

For LDRS 600: Supervisory Leaderships final exam, I selected the film Coach Carter to
evaluate as it relates to the various concepts learned throughout this course. I selected this
particular film from the options offered for a few different reasons. First, I have loved this movie
since the first time I saw it. Coach Carter is a powerful film that follows the story of a talented
group of high school basketball players. These student athletes have put the idea of being an
athlete above being a student. This team struggles with egos, academics, and the reality of a grim
future facing most of these young men after high school. With a new coach taking the helm, an
alum of that same high school, these basketball players become the center of media attention.
After benching his team for grades below team standards, Coach Ken Carter helps these young
men improve their abilities, first in the classroom and then on the court. The Richmond Oilers
finish with what is a storied basketball season and saw many of their students onto collegiate
basketball careers. Coach Carter is a classic Cinderella story of the most unlikely of people
finding success beyond their dreams.
Second, Coach Carter has so many powerful scenes. In fact, some of my most favorite
scenes in any sports movie are from this film. These powerful scenes show some of the
challenges faced in coach/player interactions, along with the trust and the relationships that can
build when a coach positively influences players. Some may not see the direct correlation
between leadership, management, and coaching, but in many ways, they are one in the same. A
coach supervises, manages, and leads their athletes with lessons that are reflected on and off the
court, field, track, pool, etc. I, myself, am directly able to see the challenges, frustrations, joys,
and highs and lows that are a part of the coaching experience. So lastly, I selected Coach Carter
because my husband is a high school basketball coach, much like Ken Carter. Watching this
movie, I am reminded of some of the experiences my husband has had over the past five seasons

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coaching. I am reminded of the opportunities he, as a coach, has to make an impact on a group of
young men every single year coaching a sport he loves.
I found many applications of the leadership and management concepts we learned
throughout this course that can be applied directly to the role as a coach and are displayed within
the scenes of Coach Carter. Coaching involves many of the management functions identified in
the Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri (2011) text, Supervisory Management: The Art of Inspiring,
Empowering, and Developing People. I also saw many correlations between the techniques and
approaches used by Coach Ken Carter and those discussed in our text, such as the steps in
controlling and the concepts of decision making, organizing, and empowerment. This essay will
include discussions about the above-mentioned concepts and others learned throughout this
semester as they relate to a coaching role and scenes from the 2005 film Coach Carter.
Mosley et al. (2011) defined management as, working with people to achieve objectives
by effective decision making and coordinating available resources (p. 6). While coaching and
management are not traditionally used in the same context, it is apparent they share some
similarities. As the manager of the team, a coach uses effective decision making to teach the
fundamentals of a sport, to select starters and substitutes, to create a playbook, and to schedule
practice routines so the team is most prepared to face their opponents. As the teams manager, a
coach coordinates the available team resources, which includes the players, the facilities, the
equipment, and any available finances. Likewise, as the manager, a teams coach works with the
players to identify the goals and objectives of each practice, each game, and the season.
Subsequently, the coach works to help the team achieve those set goals and objectives.

Leadership is a concept more commonly referenced with coaching. Northouse (2013)

defines leadership as, a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to

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achieve a common goal (p. 5). The sheer nature of sports involves a group of individuals, the
team, working together to achieve a common goal, a victory. In athletics, one can typically
deduce that it is the coach who is responsible for influencing the team. While each coach coaches
using their own coaching philosophy or style, it is likely their leadership style is indicative of
some of the more effective. Although there are several different approaches to leadership,
contemporary leadership research argues the most impactful styles include developmental,
transformational, adaptive, and servant leadership (Mosley et al., 2011).
There is great debate within leadership and management research as to whether every
manager is a leader or every leader is a manager. Northouse (2013) says, Leadership involves
influence, as does management. Leadership entails working with people, which management
entails as well. Leadership is concerned with effective goal accomplishment, and so is
management (p. 12). While similarities exist, there are also notable differences. Management is
responsible for producing consistency and order, whereas, leadership is responsible for
producing movement and change (Northouse, 2012). Most would agree one is not always
indicative of the other, but as it relates to coaching, it is likely a coach embraces functions of
both.
Mosley et al. (2011) identified five managerial functions to describe the activities all
managers perform, they are: (a) planning, (b) organizing, (c) staffing, (d) leading, and (e)
controlling. A coach, at both the high school and college level, typically does all five of these
functions for their team. Mosley et al. (2011) also discussed the various roles played by
managers, roles that include interpersonal, informational, and decision-making roles. As a coach,
an individual is responsible for interpersonal interactions with players, other coaches, parents,
and fans. Likewise, the coach is responsible for disseminating information to these same parties

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and also to activities associations, newspapers, and radio stations. As we know, a coach is singlehandedly responsible for decisions regarding the team, schedules, rules, and policies.
Planning, identified as one of the core managerial functions, is closely related to
controlling. Mosley et al. (2011) identified the five steps involved in controlling as: (a) to set
performance goals, (b) to measure performance, (c) to compare said performance with the predetermined goals, (d) to analyze performance results, and (e) to take corrective action, as needed.
The steps of controlling directly relate and almost epitomize what it is to coach. A coach
determines the goals for a sports seasons and measures performance by evaluating improvement
in skills and success in games. A coach then determines how performance measures up to those
goals, analyzes results of individual players and the team, and makes adjustments throughout the
season to improve win possibilities. A coach, in all regards, is an acting supervisor, leader, and
manager for the players of their respective team.
Coach Ken Carter in the 2005 film Coach Carter displays so many of the abovementioned characteristics of a leader, manager, and coach, an extremely effective one at that.
Coach Carters success with this particular team and its season was not without struggle and
hardship. It is how Coach Carter chooses to handle particularly difficult moments that makes him
and his team rise above the challenges. It is Coach Carters effective use of decision making,
organizing, and empowerment that puts his team in a position for something they have never
attained before, success both on the court and in the classroom.
Mosley et al. (2011) define decision making as, the conscious consideration and
selection of a course of action from among two or more available alternatives in order to produce
a desired result (p. 66). Coach Carters first effective use of decision making is in his decision to
accept the Richmond coaching job. While his first experience in watching his to-be team left him

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anything but impressed, Coach Carter chooses to see an opportunity. Opportunity can be defined
as a circumstance that makes way to advancement or development (Mosley et al., 2011). His
choice to get involved with these young men paved way for development of basketball skills,
classroom skills, and life skills alike. The opportunity Coach Carter took lead to the advancement
of these athletes to be true student-athletes, investing in their future academically and
athletically.
Coach Carter made several decisions throughout the course of the movie that while not
always liked made positive impacts on both the individual players and on the team alike.
Decisions to create and enforce team rules, to initiate the lock out, and to invest in these young
men beyond the basketball court did not guarantee positive results. Nevertheless, when weighing
his options, Coach Carter chose to make several unprogrammed decisions, decisions that
involved some risk (Mosley et. al, 2011). Coach Carter also helped his players learn how to make
decisions. He presents his players with the consequences to decisions they will be faced with; if
they are late, they will run, whereas if they give attitude, they will do push-ups. Coach Carter
allows his players to make choices, but most importantly, the follows through by issuing their
consequences.
Coach Carter is effective in organizing his team upon initial acquisition. He immediately
sets his expectations for his team and their code of conduct in his initial meeting with players. He
is also successful in one of the most challenging aspects of organizing, the process of
downsizing. Downsizing is the process of eliminating unnecessary people or distractions
(Mosley et al., 2011). In presenting the team with his expectations, those who are unable to
accept his conditions make a conscious choice to leave the team. Coach Carter welcomes their

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departure from the team. Unnecessary distractions are particularly hazardous for any team
situation, sports included.
Coach Carter displays effective use of empowerment in this film in more than one
occasion. One of his most successful uses of empowerment is as it relates to giving the players
control of their destiny. In multiple scenes throughout the film, he reminds his players what the
outcome has been for those who have come before them, in most cases it is jail or death. He
empowers these athletes to take hold of their lives to create a better future for themselves. He
empowers these athletes by letting them know that college is a viable option. He lets the players
know that he will walk beside them through this transition and that he will not let them fail.
One of the most powerful relationships within this movie is that of Coach Ken Carter and
player Timo Cruz. Cruz is a bit of a loose cannon throughout the film, a player with a lot of pent
up frustration, confusion, and anxiety as it relates to life outside of school. He finds himself
caught up between his desire to play basketball and be a part of the team versus his desire to
fulfill the requests of his cousin, a prominent drug dealer. When team rules seem a little too
strict, Cruz makes the conscious decision to quit on himself and the team. When he asks to rejoin
the team, Coach Carter gives him an almost impossible task of completing 2500 pushups and
1000 suicides within a week. Coach is seen telling Cruz the task is impossible and that he should
just give up. What looks like a demeaning act is actually empowering Cruz to attempt to prove
Coach Carter wrong. When he falls short of the task, the rest of the team is empowered by Cruzs
commitment and drive to help him finish.
Throughout the interactions of troubled Cruz and powerful Coach Carter, Coach asks him
several times, What is your deepest fear? While Cruz has no initial response, he continues to
struggle with the battles of life on and off the court. As the team gains success at their sport, their

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egos take over, while their grades continue to fall. After several tough lessons including the lock
out and forfeit of games until team grading policies are met, media and parent backlash
surrounding the lockout, and the murder of Cruzs drug dealer cousin, the team and Cruz in
particular have a break through. It is as though they finally understand the purpose of the trials,
tribulations, and lessons Coach Carter has stood and helped these men through, not only to win
basketball games, but also to empower these athletes to a better future. When the players
voluntarily choose to continue Coachs effort, Cruz, in what I believe is one of the most powerful
scenes in all sports movies, finally understands his deepest fear. In the reciting of a Marianne
Williamson quote, also used by Nelson Mandela, Cruz, to show his thank you to Coach Carter,
says,
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing
small does not serve world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people wont feel insecure around you. We were all meant to shine, as children do. It is
not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our
own fear, our presence automatically liberates others (Carter, Gale, Morales, Robbins,
Scanlon, Sumpter, Toffer, Tollin & Carter, 2005).
Based on learning from this course and others taken toward a Masters in Organizational
Leadership at Fort Hays State University, I have deduced that Coach Ken Carter displays the
characteristics of transformational leadership. Northouse (2013) says, Transformational
leadership is a process that changes and transforms people (p. 185). It is clear from the
outcomes of the Richmond Oilers season, Coach Carter not only supervised and managed these

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athletes, but he also changed and transformed them into new men. Bell, Powell, and Sykes
(2015) suggest that, transformation leaders promote followers personal development,
encourage them to examine problems to find new solutions and enable them to try new things
without fear of failure. Empowering leaders therefore increase workers abilities and self-belief
(p. 32). Beyond using empowerment, transformational leaders use charisma and vision to
motivate their subordinates to accomplish more that even they themselves felt possible
(Northouse). From the previous discussion, it is clear that empowerment and vision were core to
Coach Carters coaching and leadership style and its impacts were what lead to the great
outcomes. Transformational leadership, while not always the goal, is one of the most impactful
forms of leadership. When paired with a player/coach experience, transformation leadership can
produce outcomes beyond expectation.
In conclusion, the 2005 film Coach Carter, while it has always been one of my favorites,
I know see it also provides support of the research on concepts of effective leadership,
management, and supervision. The experiences of Coach Ken Carter and the Richmond Oilers
give many reasons to believe coaching correlates with leadership, management, and supervision
in so many ways. By use of effective decision making, organizing, and empowerment, Coach
Carter led his team through a transformation. These once ego-laden, barely passing, mediocre
basketball athletes transformed into storied athletes, successful students, and respectable men
with future plans that include post-secondary education and collegiate basketball careers. As the
wife of a high school basketball coach, this film holds a special place in my heart as I watch my
husband tirelessly lead a group of young men through life lessons that transpire on and off the
court. It is one of his roles that makes me most proud.
References

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10

Bell, N., Powell, C., & Sykes, P. (2015). TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP. The Safety
& Health Practitioner, 33(4), 30-32. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1678624879?accountid=27424
Carter, T., Gale, D., Morales, N., Robbins, B., Scanlon, C., Sumpter, S., Toffler, V., & Tollin, M.
(Producers) & Carter, T. (Director). (2005). Coach Carter [Motion picture]. United
States: Paramount Pictures.
Marshall DiBenedetto, L. & Albrecht, R. (2015). MARIANNE WILLIAMSON. Retrieved from
http://marianne.com/.
Mosley, D. C., Mosley, D. C, Pietri, P. H. (2011). Supervisory Management: The Art of
Inspiring, Empowering, and Developing People. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage
Learning.
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications, Inc.