GOATnotes

John McDonnell: The Most Successful Coach in NCAA History

By Andrew Maloney and John McDonnell ∙ University of Arkansas Press © 2013 ∙ 458 pages

Welcome to GOATnotes. Where we read the best books written by athletes and coaches and provide our version of a hat trick. First, we have some fun alongside our GOAT with a random tidbit we found interesting or amusing from the book. Second, we feature an idea from the text to provide a nugget of mindset wisdom straight from the GOAT’s mouth. Third, is the mindset challenge where we double dog dare you to apply the featured idea to your mindset, starting today.

This is our very first GOATnote and we are covering the book John McDonnell, The Most Successful Coach in NCAA History, written by Andrew Maloney and John McDonnell.

Let’s get things started with an introduction to John McDonnell and summary of the book from the inside flap of the front cover.

When John McDonnell began his coaching career at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville—choosing it over Norman, Oklahoma, because Fayetteville reminded him of his native Ireland—he could hardly have imagined that he would become the most successful coach in the history of American collegiate athletics. But, in thirty-six years at the university, he amassed a staggering résumé of accomplishments, including forty national championships (eleven cross country, nineteen indoor track, and ten outdoor track), the most by any coach in any sport in NCAA history. His teams at Arkansas won the triple crown (a championship in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track in a single school year) a record five times.

The Razorbacks also won eighty-three conference championships (thirty-eight in the Southwest Conference and forty-six in the Southeastern Conference), including thirty-four consecutive conference championships in cross country from 1974 to 2008. McDonnell coached 185 All-Americans, fifty-four individual national champions, and twenty-three Olympians. And from 1984 to 1995, his Razorback teams won twelve consecutive NCAA Indoor Track Championships, the longest streak of national titles by any school in any sport in NCAA history.

This biography tells the story of the McDonnell’s life and legacy, from his childhood growing up on a farm in 1940s County Mayo, Ireland, to his own running career, to the beginnings of his life as a coach, to all the great athletes he mentored along the way.

We selected this book as Ripkik’s first official GOATnote because John McDonnell was a man whose entire career epitomizes the very definition of Ripkik as he utilized an optimal mindset to push through limits and expand the edge of his potential as a coach creating an unrivaled and legendary sports program in the process. John and the book hold a special place in Ripkik’s heart as founder Todd Tressler’s mental game was dramatically influenced by Coach McDonnell.

“In the fall of 1996, John welcomed me to the University of Arkansas to finish my last year of eligibility while completing a Master’s Degree in Economics. I was a part of two national championship teams (indoor and outdoor track) and earned All-American honors with a 14:02 indoor 5000m. All of which pale in comparison to the physical and mental training and the lessons learned on and off the track that John instilled in me. Concepts that can be found throughout Ripkik and are part of its DNA.” – Todd Tressler

In pure GOATnotes fashion, it is time to have some fun alongside the GOAT. We love to use our obscure eye to find a random tidbit from the book that is interesting or amusing about our beloved GOAT. For John McDonnell, we really enjoyed learning about his infamous drawer. He would have athletes who got into trouble write a letter about their misbehavior and sign it. McDonnell kept all the letters filed away in a drawer. We can only imagine the humorous, scandalous, and bizarre stories compiled over the years. Here is a quote from Chapter 6: “John McDonnell on Physiological and Psychological Preparation” where McDonnell discusses this random tidbit:

I was a hands-on type of person, maybe too much, but I knew what was going on at all times, or at least I think I did. Of course there were things later that kids told me that I’m glad I didn’t know, but you have to be hands-on and develop a personal relationship with each kid. That kid shouldn’t be afraid to come into your office. If he is afraid, then he probably did something wrong. Sometimes they did do something wrong. When that happened, I would have them write a letter (describing their misbehavior) and sign it and put it in my drawer, and I’d say you have one more time. You always had guys on the team that were instigators, and that letter worked pretty well with them. When I retired I opened up that file, and I remembered all of the characters we had on the team. They turned out to be great people but were hell-raisers in their youth and were into anything and everything that was wrong.

After spending some time with this book, we decided the one idea we wanted to feature is John McDonnell’s relentless pursuit to help his athletes realize their full potential. We selected this as the featured idea because it was a recurring theme that captured our attention as both McDonnell and his athletes discussed the concept in detail. Again, the featured idea is John McDonnell’s relentless pursuit to help his athletes realize their full potential. McDonnell’s ability to draw out the best in his athletes, especially when it counted most, was a cornerstone to the success of his athletes, his success as a coach, and the success of the Arkansas cross country and track programs.

Let’s take a look at two paragraphs from the book that summarize the featured idea.  The first is from Chapter 17: “Retirement” where co-author Andrew Maloney really breaks it down:

For McDonnell, winning was an important and worthwhile goal. While some coaches are content to settle for mediocrity and convince themselves they are focused on giving their athletes a worthwhile experience, McDonnell believed the truly valuable experience came through seeking excellence and maximizing one’s talents to the utmost both in the classroom and on the track. He never stopped emphasizing that an education came first, running came second, and an active social life was a distant third. It was never losing that disappointed him most but rather the failure of individual student athletes to reach their potential in the sport and in life. While there were some who did lose their way in spite of his best efforts to steer them on the straight road, those were far outnumbered by the others touched by the man who taught them the simplest and most important lessons in life.

The second is from Chapter 8: ” Fayettenam (1986 – 1988)” where co-author Andrew Maloney states:

For someone who won as often as he did, John could accept losing. Although he always prepared to win, the victory or defeat in itself was not as meaningful as the achievement of one’s potential. It’s what gratified him when it was met and what infuriated him most when it was not.

Now let’s review two quotes about the featured idea from the GOAT himself.  The first quote is from Chapter 6: “John McDonnell on Physiological and Psychological Preparation” where McDonnell tells us:

Sometimes guys would wonder why I wasn’t happy after a win. I remember one kid said to me, “Jesus, you’re never happy.” So I said back to him, “Oh, I’m happy. What scares me is you’re happy, and you shouldn’t be because you are better than that.” And they think, “I am?” I’d say, “You’re happy with that? That’s a crumb, baby. I want the whole loaf.” So I was always trying to get guys to realize their potential, and you can also turn it around and try to build up their ego. I’d tell a guy, even if he won, that you made enough mistakes to get beat—you got away, but don’t think that’s going to happen again. Some of the guys thought I was hard. I think it’s good to be that way because later in life they respect you because that’s true in life in general. You get lucky once in a while.

And the second quote is from chapter 14: “John McDonnell on Leadership” where McDonnell explains:

I do believe in holding people accountable—even when what they have done is great—if it is less than what they are capable of achieving. Some of the athletes would say to me, “You’re never happy.” I said, “You’re not in the final. I don’t care about personal bests. You should be in the final.” They’d usually prance off, and the next night I’d go around to their room and say, “Look, it’s great what you did, but you’re selling yourself short. You’re way better than you think you are.” Boy, everybody likes to hear that. I would tell them, “If you are not performing up to your absolute personal potential, I’m going to get on your ass. I’m not letting you away with it. If you want mediocrity, tell me. I just want to let you know you’re way better than that.”

It is now storytime so we can bring the featured idea to life. Let’s set the stage.  It is the very beginning of the 1986 indoor track and field season. On January 17^th during the first meet of the year, Doug Consiglio set a facility, school, and collegiate record in the 1000m with a time of 2:19.64. The next weekend, the focus would turn to the mile with a stacked field toeing the line. Now let’s turn to a section from Chapter 7: “On Top of the World (1984 – 1986)” to tell the rest of the story:

Frank O’Mara was intent on breaking Eamonn Coghlan’s indoor-mile world record of 3:49.78 and was going to bring as many current Razorbacks with him as possible. The fact that the attempt was being made on the flat 200-meter track in Fayetteville did not faze any of them.

“It was a metal building, colder than hell with heaters hanging on the ceilings and only two bathrooms that would freeze up because they had no heaters,” remembered Swain. “There were bleachers on the back stretch looking at the home stretch and when you were running down the back stretch it was like you were running down a damn tunnel, which was kind of cool because you had people on the bleachers hanging over shouting at you. We loved it and there were some quick performances in there.”

With Joe Falcon and Gary Taylor rabbiting, Frank went through 800 meters on world-record pace.

“We went out really hard,” said Consiglio. “I was at 1:55 for 800 meters and in dead last. Frank went through the 1,200 meters in 2:53 and was still within world-record range somewhat before we all started dying.”

O’Mara closed in 3:52.3, followed by Consiglio in 3:55.91 and Donovan in 3:56.39. Even short of a world record, it was a spectacular performance that left the 2,560 spectators who crammed into the tiny track facility in a state of frenzied exhilaration.

“We gave the crowd a good show,” McDonnell told the media. “They gave us some good support and it really helped. I’m sure there are a lot of people who haven’t seen a mile run that fast. We’re going to put Arkansas track on the map.”¹⁴

As much attention as was paid to O’Mara’s performance in the Irish media, Doug Consiglio was also attracting attention north of the border as the new Canadian record holder in the mile. After the meet was completed, John told Doug to come to his office on Monday. If Consiglio expected high fives and congratulations that morning, he was to be sorely disappointed.

“He only gave me one day to think I was good,” said Consiglio. “When I got there he said, ‘You’re good kid, you’re world class, you broke 4:00 for the mile, but let’s see who else has broken 4:00 for the mile,’ and he names off about forty people. Then he says, ‘Frank beat the crap out of you. At 800 meters, he was pulling away from you. If you wanted to call him at the finish line it would have been a long-distance call. I don’t want to take anything away from you. You’re sub-4:00, but that’s nothing, kid. You have the wheels, we’ll get you strong, and you can run even faster.’ So suddenly my perspective on things changed. On Saturday I run a sub-4:00, and everyone in Canada is saying you’re so fast, and Monday you leave John’s office, and you’re just dying to train to get better. That’s where John was a real good motivator.”

It was a psychological technique John used throughout his career.

“That was something I always did,” admitted John. “I’d say, ‘That’s great, Doug. You got your ass beat. Why should Frank beat you? Frank O’Mara is good, but he’s not unbeatable. You’ve got talent and can beat him.’ I’d always try and reassure guys that I thought they were better than they thought they were. I always wanted to make them think, ‘You’re only as good as that? Just that? You’re way better than that!’ And they’d think to themselves, ‘He’s right. Next time I run against that sucker I’m going to go for him.’”

As customary with every GOATnote, it is time for your mindset challenge. From a mindset perspective, what is one thing you can do to realize your full potential? Take a moment to think about it. Again, what is one thing you can do to realize your full potential? Got it….great! Now let’s get started on that….TODAY! 

This concludes the GOATnote on John McDonnell: The Most Successful Coach in NCAA History. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

P.S. Let’s get to work on realizing your full potential…starting TODAY!