I won’t mention any names, but I know of a Division I men’s basketball coach who, I believe, has a low sense of self-worth and it shows up in how he interacts with his players. For example (and I’m not a psychiatrist) but it seems like every time he has a star player who is scoring a lot of points and is making headlnes in the local newspaper, he benches him. Why?…no one really knows. But my guess is that because of the way he feels about himself, it irks him when one of his players receives more publicity than he receives. This is the second time this has happened to this particular coach and it’s really sad for the players. A few years ago he had a player who was among the top scoreres in the nation and this coach benched him. That player ended up changing schools, and I wouldn’t be surprised if history repeats itself with this player and he changes schools.

Two other characteristic of coaches with low self-esteem are: They generally have bad eye contact and are often “control freaks” who run up and down the sideline yellng instructions to various players as they bring the ball down the court. What is amazing to me is how a university, after vetting candidates for its coaching staff, can end up with such an incompetent coach.