On Motivating Players

THEORETICALLY I always believed praise to be more effective than criticism. I was such a perfectionist I'm afraid I seldom doled out as much praise as I should have. ... As a general rule a coach needs to be the most demanding when his team is doing well, because there's a human tendency to ease up when you're winning. When things are going poorly, especially when the effort is there, that's when a team needs encouragement and affirmation more than it needs more pressure from the coach.