Wooden On Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization

John Wooden (1910-2010) grew up in Martinsville, Indiana. He excelled at basketball because of his natural quickness and was a three-time Indiana High School All-State selection. At Purdue University, he played for future Hall of Fame coach Piggy Lambert and earned consensus All-America honors each season, 1930-1932. After college, he played professionally in the National Basketball League while also working as a high school teacher and coach. In 1942, Wooden joined the Navy and served for two years during World War II. Following the war, he became the head basketball coach at Indiana State Teachers’ College (now Indiana State University), compiling a 44-15 record in two seasons. In 1948, Wooden accepted the head coaching position at UCLA, where his teams would win a total of 15 conference titles and 10 national championships in 27 seasons.

Wooden built the UCLA program into one of most dominant in the history of any collegiate sport. He is now widely regarded as the greatest basketball coach of all time. In addition to his 10 national titles, including seven consecutive, Wooden’s UCLA teams reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament 12 total times, won an NCAA record of 88 consecutive games, won an NCAA Tournament record of 38 consecutive games, was recognized as the National Coach of the Year seven times, and produced a player recognized as the National Player of the Year eight times.