Gunner Kiel "Commits"...again

Gunner Kiel committed to play quarterback at LSU today.  For those of you that don't know who Gunner Kiel is, then here is a snapshot (plus it is really all I know of him since I have never met him, seen him play or befriended him on facebook).  He is a senior quarterback at Columbus East High School in Indiana (40 miles from Indiana University).  He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Indiana.  He threw for about a million and a half yards with only a handful of interceptions--and he can run, as well.  His team made it to the state semi-finals.  Oh yeah, and he committed to Indiana University and new coach Kevin Wilson (former Offensive Coordinator at Oklahoma) this past summer.  Two months ago, he evidently decided to help re-write a section of Webster's dictionary. The word commitment must no longer mean to promise or pledge something because Gunner "decommitted" from Indiana University and reopened his recruitment..  Gunner is not the first, nor will he be the last athlete to be confused as to what a commitment actually is.

Leadership Lessons from the Christmas Story

This article was written by Dan Foster on December 22, 2010 for his website (www.CoachDanFoster.com).  With permission, it was edited for “The Encouraging Leader”.  The entire article is worth reading at:  http://www.coachdanfoster.com/2010/12/leadership-lessons-from-the-christmas-story/

As a leader, I’m always looking for leadership lessons in the lives of other leaders, books, articles, and my own life experiences. With us approaching Christmas, I recently read the different biblical accounts of the arrival of Jesus’ on earth. While reading these Christmas stories, a few leadership lessons jumped out at me that I thought were worth sharing.

"My Pleasure"

Endless roads.  Hour after hour we drove.  A college women's basketball team and myself.

"Are we there yet"? 

"How much longer"? 

The questions are endless. 

Then the big-one ... The question to end all questions ... The grand-daddy of them all ...

"COACH, WHERE ARE WE EATING?"

What am I gonna do?  What do I say?  All of my years of experience and training now must come into play.  I try to remember what they like and don't like.  Where did we eat last time?  Yikes.  My head is spinning.  Then I see it.  The girls see it.  The day has been saved.  A billboard with cows.  Chick-fil-A is at the next exit!  Good food, a playground and service with a smile.  More importantly, they love it as much as their coach.

ULeadership website launched

My business and vision of Hoops Plus, LLC has taken another step in having an impact on people's lives and helping others to reach their potential and become successful.  The leadership component of Hoops Plus, LLC has evolved into what I have termed ULeadership.  It will become the leadership training & development division of Hoops Plus, LLC.  The purpose of ULeadership is to help individuals achieve more success in any and all endeavors of life while assisting them in furthering their leadership qualities. ULeadership utilizes various methods to give individuals the opportunity to experience greater success in life, as well as positively impacting those around them.  We believe that everyone can demonstrate leadership qualities and that...

"Leadership begins with U" 

If you can become a better leader then you can also begin to influence the world around you.  ULeadership will be assisting teams, companies and individuals to develop their leadership potential.  I am extremely excited about this because leadership is a passion of mine.  I will continue to develop the Hoops Plus, LLC brand, but I wanted something that addressed the leadership side of Hoops Plus, LLC but without limiting it to just basketball people.  I hope that you enjoy and gain valuable insight from this new leadership website.

Are You Prepared?

The Penn State University scandal is a situation that we all must pay attention to and learn from.  I will not be writing an Op-Ed piece, nor passing judgment in this brief column.  Rather, I encourage all coaches, administrators, teachers...anyone that is reading this to take heed and examine how you would handle this kind of situation.  More importantly, how would you handle other situations that may be once in a lifetime situations.  Joe Paterno, Penn State's football coach and the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history was unprepared for a situation that arose under his leadership.  Did he ever think something like this would happen?  Should a coach have to deal with the stuff he had to deal with?  Is an error of omission worth losing your job over?  No matter what your opinion, the facts remain that he was unprepared.