EFFECTIVENESS & PERCEPTION OF COLLEGIATE COACHING STYLES

Abstract

Leadership and leadership styles in the United States have major impacts on the success of their subordinates. In addition, these styles of leadership are more visible now than ever before, due to the many different forms of media. This study sought to identify the most effective leadership style in terms of win/loss percentage, personal satisfaction, and team cohesion. A survey distributed to students investigated the perceived leadership styles of their athletic coach, the effect that this leadership style was perceived to have, and other questions that helped to show biases in results. Regressions were run in order to find the probability of a particular leadership style affecting multiple outcomes. Ten in-depth interviews were also conducted and analyzed in order to find nuanced information that survey data could not provide. The findings show that particular leadership styles do affect student-athletes in various ways. These findings emphasize the need for more discussions about leadership styles in all domains.