Gordie Gillespie’s coaching prowess stands alone: While coaching three sports - baseball, football, and basketball - his teams won 2,410 games, four national collegiate baseball titles, and five Illinois State High School football championships, he was inducted into 18 halls of fame, including the College Baseball Hall of Fame, won four NAIA national baseball coach of the year awards, named the NAIA Baseball Coach of the Century in 2000, and his 1,888 wins in collegiate baseball made him the highest winning collegiate baseball coach of all time. It almost seems surreal. How did he do it? More importantly, what can we learn from Gordie? What lessons can we learn from him? 

Gordie also was honored with the Lefty Gomez Award given annually by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) to one person who has most notably shown “dedication, service, and contributions to the game of baseball.” It was his most cherished award because, he said, “when you look at the marvelous people who have won it before and after me – well, it’s humbling.” 

More important to Gordie than these numbers and awards, however, were the athletes that he coached, which is over 2,400. Many remained good friends through the years. Gordie would frequently lament that the championships got much of the press, but one of Gordie’s constant mantras to coaches is that it should not be the championships that count most. Gordie’s talks centered on this perspective of coaching: Every season can be a “championship” season for the players on your team, even if you finish in last place, if you do it right. Gordie's viewpoint was that championships are merely a reflection of teams that had loads of talent and who worked their keisters off to become as accomplished as possible, and the cards fell in fortunate ways. 

His most famous and admired talk was as principal speaker at the ABCA. He presented his Ten Commandments of coaching. He was petrified before the talk - would the 6000 coaches present accept such a philosophical perspective of their cherished vocation? He wanted to tell them why he loved to coach and the superlative benefits they would receive if they “did it right”. He needn’t had worried: For the first and only time at an ABCA national meeting, the keynote speaker received a five-minute standing ovation. 

Gordie’s key message in the talk was: Why should you love this career? Because of the kids. I love my kids. I want to be around them all the time. I want to see them grow and become someone special. I firmly believe that the lesson they learn on the ball field or on the court will help them forever. When they come back several years after graduation and realize this and sit down to share what they’ve done – and say thanks for the memories – that’s the greatest award a coach can get. So it’s not about the wins. It’s not about the championships. The number one measure of a coach’s season should be: How many of my players will come back to me in 10 years and say "Thanks, coach, for the life-long lessons you taught me"? That’s why the ball field is the greatest classroom there is. 

Sprinkled throughout the book are lessons on how Gordie applied his Ten Commandments of Coaching: 

1. Love your kids. 
2. Discipline 
3. Overcome fear of failure. 
4. Pride in team 
5. Organization 
6. Preparation 
7. Enthusiasm 
8. Patience 
9. Persistence 
10. Never give up. 

As you will see, these precepts are not indigenous to coaches. They also appear in the essentials lists of valued leaders, successful individuals, and groups outside of sports. Gordie hoped that something in this book will help you in your life, your profession, even your next game. Yet it is much more than just a coaching book. It is about how to become a loving, caring, enthusiastic leader.