An educational leader’s job isn’t to win.
That is true for the marching band director, the choir teacher, and, yes, the football coach. Their job is so much more complex and important than winning (whatever winning looks like in their activity.)
An educational leader’s job is to create a sense of belonging, because learning happens when youth feel like they belong in their school. We create all of these activities because different humans seek belonging in different activities. (My high school has more than 40 varsity sports, and countless other clubs and activities ranging from Winter Guard to eSports to theater to competitive TV Production.)
When we sacrifice creating a sense of belonging with the purpose of winning more, we are actively undermining the real goal. We are alienating students from their chosen activity, and thus creating a gap to overcome to feel connected to the activity, and more broadly the entire school environment.
We can be competitive. We can pursue success and even define it by our W-L record. It feels reductive to me, but that’s ok. But we must never sacrifice our students sense of belonging in that pursuit.