Master Motivator – Brett Steuerwald has used effective communication and motivational techniques to become one of America’s most successful coaches.

Texas, Florida, California and other Sunbelt states are almost universally recognized as the premier regions for high school football. But, if you look beyond the states that seem to get all of the national attention, you can find coaches that have established dominant programs over many years, have had major impact in their communities and have had a positive influence over thousands of young athletes.       

       Brent Steuerwald is such a coach.

    Over six decades, Steuerwald has presided over the Shenendehowa High School football program in Clifton Park, New York from a start-up venture into one of the elite and most respected programs in the Northeast. Along with winning three New York State Public High School Athletic Association titles, Steuerwald’s teams have won 25 league titles and 10 sectional championships during his remarkable, 43-year tenure as head coach. 

    Steuerwald holds a career mark of 307-87-4 and is one of just 88 coaches nationwide to have reached the 300-win milestone, ranking 5th among all active coaches. His list of accolades is impressive. He has been honored 19 times as the area or league Coach of the Year, selected as the New York State Coach of the Year 10 times, named as the Region One Coach of the Year five times, and selected as the National Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Coaches’ Association in 1995. This January, he was awarded the prestigious Power of Influence Award by the AFCA, which recognizes a high school coach for his impact on his team and players, as well as the legacy he leaves with the school and community.

    A Notre Dame graduate, Steuerwald hasn’t just been the football coach at Shenendehowa for the past 43 years. He is also credited with building virtually every sports program on the “Shen” campus, as he has also served as athletic director for more than 30 years. His success, not only on the gridiron, but also in mentoring more than 15 sports and 60 teams and managing one of the largest athletic departments in New York’s Capital Region, can largely be attributed to his skills as a master communicator and motivator.

    “The success of any coach, at perhaps every level of competition, is predicated on their ability to effectively communicate with their athletes in a positive, productive and mutually supported manner,” Steuerwald said. “Coaches may be knowledgeable, personally inspired and highly organized, but without open communication, these attributes may never be reflected in the performance of their athletes.”

    Steuerwald is more than willing to share his knowledge and principals. He is a sought-after clinic presenter and speaker throughout the country and has taken his ideas worldwide through the National Football Foundation/National Football League Coaching Academy Program. The NFF/NFL C.A.P. program has taken him to England, Germany and Japan to share his insights about America’s game.

    When asked how he has been able to successfully communicate his expectations to his Shenendehowa Plainsmen players and motivate them to succeed, Steuerwald defined eight key principles that have guided him through the years.
 
1.  Define Roles
 
    Steuerwald believes a coach should instill a sense of hope in every football player who steps onto the field - a sense of hope that they can improve their status through continuous hard work and commitment.

    “Each athlete needs to have a sense of how he fits into the big picture,” Steuerwald said. “By providing overt recognition of subordinate roles, coaches can give an athlete a sense of worth and achievement even when that athlete has minimal playing opportunities.”

2.  Set Realistic Goals

    By empowering players with the ability to set goals, Steuerwald teaches a life skill that motivates them in the present and provides something that they can continue to use in the future.

    “Coaches need to communicate with their athletes how to set realistic goals and about the methods available for achieving their objectives,” Steuerwald said. “Coaches should discuss the differences between individual and team goals and the need to sometimes sacrifice personal goals for team goals.”
 
3.  Establish Mutual Trust

    No player improves when they are made to feel worse about themselves. Coaches need to continually demonstrate their respect and trust of their athletes by empowering them whenever possible.

    “Positive relationships are built on mutual respect and trust,” Steuerwald said. “Athletes must know that they can trust and depend on their coach to be fair and positive, even in intense competition. A key is for coaches to criticize the performance of an athlete as long as they leave personality out of it. Criticism must be constructive, positive, consistent and oriented around improving performance.”
 
4.  Empower Your Athletes

    The responsibility of the athlete must go hand-in-hand with the athlete’s authority in football and in life. Coaches should charge their athletes to execute their own individual part of the team by making adjustments on the run and then communicate problems with the coaches. 

    “While staying within the context of a disciplined and structured environment, coaches should empower their athletes to make decisions and control various aspects of a contest or a competition,” Steuerwald said. “Coaches should continually teach the concepts of whole-part learning with each athlete, understanding their individual part as it relates to the whole.”
 
5.  Develop a Plan
 
    Coaches should always solicit input from athletes, be willing to accept and evaluate dissent when appropriate and be willing to change with the times. Steuerwald holds an end-of-season interview with all returning athletes. He utilizes a 20-point questionnaire with athletes, making it a more social and informative session, allowing the athlete to feel more at ease. 

    “Very little positive change occurs for athletes by accident,” Steuerwald said. “Coaches must plan for communication opportunities just as they plan for offensive and defensive structure. Opportunities for communication can be as simple as searching out an athlete in the locker room after a difficult practice and make sure they understand the reasons why they were criticized. Athletes can only apply the coaching guidance they have received if they understand what it is that the coach desires of them.”
 
6.  Project a Consistent Demeanor

    Steuerwald has always had the utmost respect from his players, based on his success as the founder and only coach of the Shenendehowa program, but also his fairness. He recommends that coaches show their true personality all the time; if you are an intense individual, vocal, stern or aggressive, be that way all the time.

    “Coaches need to recognize that athletes are exceptionally adaptive to different adult personalities and methods of coaching,” Steuerwald said. “Most athletes would like to understand the rules up front and know that those rules be fairly enforced for all players. Coaches can expect that athletes are able to adjust to their personality. It is more difficult for an athlete to adjust when a coach is friendly and relaxed one day, then aggressive the next. With young athletes, this is not fair; coaches must also appear to be fair.”

7.  Be Caring and Approving

    “When an athlete knows you truly care about them as individuals, even when they make errors, their sense of confidence in your support will allow them to grow as athletes and as people,” Steuerwald said. “Coaches must avoid coaching a fear of failure into their methods of communication and encourage risk taking as an integral part of athletic competition.
    “Coaches must consistently remind athletes that caring isn’t conditional, approval is,” Steuerwald said. “Just as a parent may scold a child, they also assure them of their love.”

8.  Stay the Course

    “Coaches must set the example for their athletes to emulate and stress the need to hang tough when circumstances are most challenging” said Steuerwald. The great coaches instill in their athletes the confidence to share any personal adversity or challenges they may face.