Simplicity & Execution

SIMPLICITY & EXECUTION

Pete Newell described two groups of coaches: those who believe in simplicity and execution and those who believe in surprise and change. Obviously, he and I are part of the simplicity and execution group.
--Bob Knight

Simplicity and execution: the one strikes at the heart of how something is most effectively done, the other at the repetition required to get it done.

Simplicity says , “Less is more.” It allow athletes to have a sense that there are specific techniques and strategies that are basic for their success—the success of the team. They gain confidence because of their familiarity and consistency of purpose.

Simplicity demands execution.

The coach who uses complex strategies and trickery cannot expect his athletes to execute them with any consistency, because, by nature of definition, they are not easy or familiar. The opponents may be initially fooled by the deception but relieved to see that the surprise was wrapped in poor execution.

Simplicity says, “I will eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary can be perfectly expressed.”

The greatest truths are the simplest.

The desire to be clever sometimes overwhelms the understanding of how to be effective. Ralph Waldo Emerson had it right. “To be simple, is to be great.”