John Wooden's lessons get local treatment

Bradenton-based IMG Academies heads straight to the top for its latest leadership development initiative: John Wooden.

The sports training academy recently announced its newest program, which focuses on college coaches, is based on leadership teachings of John Wooden, the famed UCLA basketball coach who died in 2010. The 2.5-day program, which starts this fall and will be offered monthly, includes a star-studded list of coaches from several sports who will travel to Bradenton for guest instructor positions.

Those coaches include New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin; Villanova University men's basketball head coach Jay Wright; University of California men's basketball head coach Mike Montgomery; Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator Cam Cameron; and former NFL head coach Dennis Green.

“I call John Wooden a great philosopher because I find his teachings to be timeless,” says two-time Super Bowl champion Coughlin in a release. “Coach Wooden taught that we should 'learn as if we were going to live forever and live as if we were going to die tomorrow.' He did not speak to his teams about 'winning,' but instead preached effort — total effort — to be the best you were capable of, and the value of being a successful team member.”

The program is an alliance between the Wooden family and IMG. “I believe Coach Wooden's core coaching philosophy has long been at the crux of what we deliver day in and day out,” IMG Academies' Performance Director Trevor Moawad says in the release. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the Wooden family in our efforts to create the ultimate leadership program.”