Charles A. Coonradt - The Better People Leader

As the head football coach of the University of Florida Gators, I experienced the honor of heading a team that was led to greatness by twenty-two seniors. I was hired by the University of Florida in 2004 to lead the football program to its expected high level of excellence. After two years at Florida, I found and helped cultivate the team leaders that would inspire the team to the 2006 BCS National Championship.

So I know what it means to lead teams to even greater performance levels or championship caliber. Early on in my coaching career, I had the honor and privilege of working for some "better people leaders," amazing coaches who I came to regard as my personal mentors. These men didn't just do the minimum. They didn't just get by. No, they wholeheartedly invested themselves in the success of the team and of each individual player and staff member. They showed me what it meant to go much furtherand as a result, I learned what I had to do in order to win: develop leaders.

I started my coaching career as a graduate assistant for Coach Earle Bruce at Ohio State University. Coach Bruce knew everything about everyone on the team and staff and nothing escaped his eye. His attention to detail was astounding and he was always prepared for anything that happened to arise. He demanded that his players attend class and work hard academically and on the practice field. If a coach did not coach to his standards, he coached that person as well as the players. Coach Bruce invited me to join him at Colorado State University as the receivers' coach and the program quickly started to improve under his guidance. After the first season, CSU was invited to the Freedom Bowl and defeated Oregon. It was CSU's first bowl appearance in almost fifty years.

When Coach Sonny Lubick took over the helm at CSU, I was invited to remain as the receivers' coach. Success continued under Coach Lubick. While their styles were different, Coach Bruce and Coach Lubick were extraordinarily similar in meticulous preparation, hard work, and knowledge of every player in the program.

At the University of Notre Dame, I was the receivers' coach under head coach Lou Holtz. In addition to learning more about preparation and hard work, I was able to learn from an outstanding motivator who knew exactly what to say and when to say certain things to drive and inspire his teams.

What I learned from all three of these mentors was that peopleboth the players and the coaching staffare a coach's most important resource. I learned that the more you invest in your people and the more you do to develop their leadership skills, the more you gain from them. For me that means investing the time and effort to recruit the best. It means getting to know each and every player on the team, including each person's strengths and weaknesses, so that I can make sure his talents are being used to the full potential. It means knowing what best motivates my players and what needs they have that must be met in order to get the best effort out of them. Most importantly, getting to know your team members shows them that you truly care about them, about their success, and about the success of the team. And the more you care, the more your players care about doing the best they can for you and leading others to do likewise.

In this powerful, insightful leadership book, Chuck Coonradt teaches you the fundamental lesson that every leader needs to knowthat every leader has the power to lead a team that was just getting by to extraordinary accomplishments. This book will show you exactly what it takes to do that. It's not easyit takes lots of commitment and hard work. But it's far from impossible. On the contrary, it's extremely possible for anyone who is willing to invest the time and effort to understand and apply the principles that Chuck outlines so well in this book.

Here is a book that finally articulates the secret to the success of the world's better people leaders: the fact that in order to experience success, you have to first create an environment for success to happen in. It's something I do every day as the coach of national champions, and if you do it too, you will lead your team to greatness.

Urban Meyer

Head Football Coach, University of Florida