Demanding Leadership of a Collegiate Basketball Team: Courting Goals-Plans-Action (GPA) Theory

Sample

As we were finalizing this case concerning Head Coach Baker’s efforts to influence leadership emergence among the players on his Division I college varsity men’s basketball team, we were in midst of “March Madness” – the popular name for a tournament of games played annually in March that lead to the NCAA Men’s Division I National Basketball Championship. We found this timing ironic but fitting since participation in the NCAA tournament, described next, is the gold standard against which Division I coaches tend to judge the success of their team’s season. It certainly was a large part of what drove Coach Baker’s persuasive messages “demanding leadership” of his Cardinals players. He knew his team had great promise, and he was under pressure from the Athletic Director, boosters, and fans to transform that promise into success. A clear measure of a successful season would be for his team to be among the 20% of Division I teams invited to this prestigious national tournament at season’s end.