Higher Education Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE To determine whether transformational leadership of head coaches and athletic directors in NCAA Division III institutions was related to success (win-loss records).
METHODOLOGY The sample consisted of all athletic directors and head coaches with at least three years in their position from two independent midwest conferences. Athletic directors (N=11) completed the LPI-Self, while the LPI-Observer (N=65) was completed by the head coaches reporting to the athletic director, as well as the latter's immediate supervisor (N=6). Head football coaches (N=11) completed the LPI-Self, while their LPIObservers were the assistant football coaches (N=20), their athletic director (10), and five senior football players (N=55). For all other male head coaches (N=16) the LPI-Observer (N=100) was completed by five senior student-athletes from their team, as was true for the female head coaches (N=18) and senior student-athletes from their team (N=79). All individual responses were voluntary and confidential.
KEY FINDINGS Institutional athletic team success was not significantly correlated with the leadership practices of athletic directors, as reported by their head coaches. Modeling the way was viewed by the athletic director's supervisor as significantly related to success. Team success was unrelated to the leadership practices of head football coaches, as reported by their supervisors (athletic directors), by themselves, their assistant coaches and student-athletes.
Head coaches of other men's sports do not consider their leadership practices related to success, although players (student-athletes) do consider modeling related to success. Effective leadership on the part of women's sports correlates highly with a winning record. Women's sports coaches perceive success related to modeling, and their players perceive a relationship between success and their coaches leadership (challenging, enabling, and modeling).
"Findings of the study," the author concludes: "Indicate that there is a relatively low development of transformational leadership with athletic directors and head coaches partly due to lack of exposure to the transformational model" (145-46).