Basketball and Coach Dale

Coach Norman Dale embodied a number of personal characteristics which enabled him to be the quality leader he was in the movie Hoosiers. His toughness, optimism, motivation, farsightedness, and self confidence assisted Coach Dale in gaining the loyalty of the team and the attention of the town. They also helped him to change the losing ways of the early team into the state champion team they ended up to be. Additionally, a number of environmental factors played a role in his success. The almost religious fervor of basketball in Indiana, the quasi-anarchist environment of the town's men, and the fact that Hickory was a small town all played vital roles in Coach Dale's success. The first personal traits that Coach Dale was forced to exhibit were his toughness and his assertiveness. On his first night in Hickory he met the men of town in the barbershop who were all willing to provide their experience and insight on the team and how to coach. Coach Dale had enough self confidence to know that none of these "insights" were going to help the Hickory team win basketball games and let them know they weren't welcome by turning his back and walking out. Additionally, he was forced to demonstrate his toughness twice more on the first day of practice by telling the temporary coach, "Secondly, your days of coaching are over," and then by standing up to the group of men after he dismissed Buddy from the team. These actions made no friends of the men; however, they started to show the players who was boss. When faced with consistent losing early in the basketball season, Coach Dale was able to remain optimistic in what he and the team were doing. He continued to tell the players and the people of Hickory that the team was getting there. He believed that if they continued to work, if they would believe in him, and his philosophy, and Jimmy would come back then they could be a winner. This optimism motivated the players and created an atmosphere of never wanting to