How Many Standards Does Your Team Have?

We hear it constantly. Create a uniform standard within our organization that applies to everyone, regardless of title, experience or expertise.

But at UCLA during the 1970s, it seemed that Coach John Wooden was holding certain players to particular expectations while lettings others slide — a subject reporters pressed him on.

“He looked at them with that English teacher look,” UCLA legend Bill Walton recently told The Daily Coach.

“Coach Wooden, the master of delivery and pace, calmly peered back at the media guys and, after a deliberate pause, said, ‘I don’t have a double standard. I have 12 different standards, one for each member of the team. And those standards are earned.’”

To some players, like Bruins reserve guard Andy Hill, that was a maddening response.

“I didn’t understand that,” Hill told The Daily Coach. “Why do these guys who are All-Americans get to do stuff I don’t get to do? I came up with a strictly-adhered to rule for myself which is, ‘Never break a rule without an All-American.’”

Coach Wooden was fully aware, though, that his players had different personalities and abilities — and was masterful in catering his expectations to each, Walton and Hill said.

Ultimately, their roles were different, their statuses somewhat as well, but the cause was the same.

“He created a culture, an identity and a style that included a collective sense of effort and purpose, and a determination that we’re going to get this done,” Walton said.

“If you’re not interested, that’s fine. There’s somebody else who will be.”

Hill said it wasn’t until decades later when he was running a TV studio — and fired one disgruntled employee while retaining another for similar infractions — that he came to truly appreciate his former coach’s methods.

“When you’re managing a team,” Hill said, “if you think you can treat everybody the same way, you’re a fool.”