3 Lessons About Courageous Leadership from John Wooden, King of the Final Four

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12:21

By Dennis Rainey

Most of you don’t know that I was a decent basketball player and set a record at my high school for points in a game—44 points! (And this was before the 3-point bucket—although I really wasn’t known for long shots.) I know, I know … you can’t believe it. Well, neither can my kids! Believe it! I think that record still stands.

My basketball hero during those years was Coach John Wooden, who between 1964-75 took his UCLA team to 11 Final Fours and won 10 national championships. So you can imagine how excited I was years later when we arranged an interview with Coach Wooden for FamilyLife Today.

In more than 27 years of interviewing over 1,000 guests for FamilyLife Today, Coach  Wooden was one of my top five favorites. He was a spry, articulate communicator and my oldest guest at the age of 91.

You can listen to highlights from this interview on a new podcast for Inspiring Courageous Faith.

His daughter, who was 66 at the time and watched the interview, said “I’ve seen Daddy interviewed hundreds of times, but this was one of my favorites because you didn’t just interview him about basketball.” She was right. The interview focused on his faith, his marriage, his family, and his philosophy as a coach.

Coach Wooden was renowned for his rock-solid character. Here are three life lessons we can learn from Coach’s life:

1. Courageous leadership has convictions … it does the right thing.

In our interview I neglected to ask Coach one of my favorite questions, which is, “What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?” But he did tell a story that, to me, represents courage in its purest form.

Early in his coaching career, Wooden made a decision that many believed would be a “career limiting move.” In 1947 his Indiana State team had won the conference championship and received an invitation to play in a national tournament in Kansas City. But he refused the invitation, citing the tournament’s policy that banned Black players. One of his players was a young Black athlete from East Chicago. Wooden disagreed with the policy and both he and his team stayed home.

Think with me for a moment: Here was Coach John Wooden, only 36 years old, standing up against the policy of one of the leading athletic associations. Alone. No other coach stood with him. He exemplified courage, which is doing your duty in the face of fear.

The next season his team had a stellar year and received another invitation to attend the tournament in Kansas City. This time the NAIA changed the policy. Coach took his team to the championship game but lost. But his principled leadership and character had won something far more significant.

2. Courageous leadership has integrity … it keeps its word.

Coach Wooden repeatedly modeled what it looked like to make a commitment and follow through on it. He was a man of his word.

In 1948 both UCLA and the University of Minnesota tried to hire him as head coach. In the midst of the negotiations UCLA made an offer and Minnesota planned to call Coach on the same day with its offer. A massive snowstorm hit the upper Midwest, shutting down all communications. Coach assumed that Minnesota had lost interest in him, so he accepted the offer from UCLA.

The next day, Minnesota heard that Coach had accepted the UCLA offer and called him with an offer that was much better. He declined the offer, saying that he had already given UCLA his word. We desperately need more coaches, business leaders, and politicians like him … above reproach!

3. Courageous leadership develops people … it challenges people to become the best they can be.

As a sophomore, Bill Walton led UCLA to the national title, and in the fall he showed up for the season’s opening practice sporting a beard. But Coach Wooden had a strict rule forbidding facial hair. When Wooden reminded him of the rule, Bill pushed back and said that Coach didn’t have the right to tell him how to wear his hair.

Wooden replied, “You’re right, Bill, but I do have the right to say who’s going to play for me ...  and we’re going to miss you!” He gave Walton 15 minutes to get his hair cut, and the player dashed off on his bicycle to find a barber!

Wooden understood that young men may need to press the boundaries, but at some point a line had to be drawn and they had to learn to submit to those boundaries.

My bold request for Coach

My cohost Bob Lepine and I hit it off with Coach during our interviews, and I think he really enjoyed our questions. So at the very end of our interview, when he gave me one of his books, I asked him for a favor. “Coach, I didn’t share with you that I was a pretty fair basketball player around the time you were starting your run of 10 NCAA national championships. I used to watch your teams and think I would have loved to have played on one of your teams.” Holding out the book he’d just given me I asked him to sign it, “To Dennis. You could have played for me at UCLA.”

I’d seen his sly grin before in the interviews and it wrinkled its way across his face again as he took the book, wrote something, and signed it. He said, “Dennis, remember we were just talking about integrity!”

I opened the book and read on the inside cover: “Thank you, Dennis, for your interest. Since I never initiated contact for an out of state player, why didn’t you contact me? John Wooden.”

John Wooden died in 2010, just four months short of his 100th birthday.

Enjoy the Final Four and be sure to listen to highlights from our interview with Coach Wooden on our new audio podcast for Inspiring Courageous Faith.

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