The always entertaining E.J. McGuire spoke again this year at the Roger Neilson Coaching Clinic. In his presentation, he gave his top 5 tips/observations for coaches based on his 30+ years of coaching and watching coaches. They are:
- Humility – Don’t overcoach your players
- Read, Read, Read – E.J.’s contention is that you can never read enough. His suggestions include books such as Patriot Reign, Moneyball, and any type of Leadership book.
- Observe – Teams, coaches, etc. You can learn alot just by watching others.
- Steal, Steal, Steal – If you see something that somebody else is doing, don’t be afraid to use it. This goes on all the time at the NHL level
- The players really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
For point #1, E.J. used as an example a coach pulling his goaltender in the final minute of a game for the extra attacker. Almost always, the goalie is waiting for the coach’s signal to come to the bench. E.J.’s point was that there is no one who has a better view of the play in front of him than the goalie, so why not let him be the one to decide when to come to the bench. I thought it was a very good point.
Seeing The Ice 