Analysis of the differences between selected personality traits of successful and unsuccessful coaches in football, wrestling and basketball

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to relate the personality traits of varsity coaches in football, wrestling, and basketball as measured by the Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Inventory to their records as varsity coaches. Subjects were selected randomly from high school varsity coaches in Northern Illinois. Two groups were established within each of the three sports. The successful group in each was composed of coaches who had achieved a sixty percent or higher total of victories as a varsity coach in the specified sport. Those with less than a sixty percent total of victories were placed in the unsuccessful group. The 16 P. F. test was administered to both groups and results were analyzed through the application of the "t" test of significance for difference between means. It was established that the null hypothesis would be accepted--or rejected at the five percent level of confidence. Conclusions made as a result of the analysis were as follows: The unsuccessful basketball coaches were slower to learn and grasp ideas than the successful group. The unsuccessful wrestling coaches were emotionally less stable and more easily upset than the successful group. The successful wrestling coaches were shy, diffident, and more careful of detail than the unsuccessful group. No statistically significant differences existed between successful and unsuccessful football coaches.