John Wooden Coaching Career-A Dream Career for Every Coach

Every person that has every enjoyed sports enough to become a coach knows something about the John Wooden coaching career. John Wooden is a retired American basketball coach, who is also regarded as the greatest college coach in history. John Wooden is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a coach and a player. Wooden won 10 NCAA National Championships while he was at UCLA. This record has yet to be matched.

The John Wooden coaching career started in John's early life when he got his first start in sports in high school. He was not a coach, yet, but his knowledge and skill of the game began there. John Wooden played basketball for Martinsville High School in Indiana, where his skills let the team to the state championships for three consecutive years. After high school, John went to Purdue University, where he was once again very successful, being All-American guard three times, and named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern. He was given the nickname "The Indiana Rubber Man" for his daring dives on the court. After he graduated from Purdue, he went to Indiana State Teacher's College, earned his Master's Degree and stayed on as athletic director and basketball coach. It is here that the John Wooden coaching career began.

John coached high school teams in Dayton High School in Kentucky for two years. He had a losing record his first year there-a first and only time in the John Wooden coaching career. He then went to South Bend Central High School and coached basketball with a winning record. After college, Wooden played professional sport with the Indianapolis Kautskys, taught, and coached at high schools for a few years before joining the Navy.

Upon return from the Navy, John coached at Indiana State University and acted as athletic director. His team won and was invited to the NAIB National Tournament in Kansas City, an invite John declined because of their policy banning African American players. The next year the rule was changed and John took his team there and went to the finals. John became, that year, the first African-American to play in a post-season intercollegiate basketball tournament. A true measure of success in the John Wooden coaching career came on February 3, 1984 when John Wooden was inducted into the Indiana University Athletic Hall of Fame.

When John was at UCLA, his team had a record for winning more national championships than any other team. John won many awards for his great work at UCLA such as Henry Iba Award USBWA College Basketball Coach of the Year, Sport's Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award to name a few. Since 1977, a John R. Wooden Award has been given to one of the four basketball player of the year awards. Any athlete's dream come true would be to have a John Wooden coaching career.