4-letter words. We’ve all heard them. If we’re honest, we’ve all said them.

The question is this: when it comes to coaching, is there a place for swearing?

I’m not talking about uncontrolled, Dan Hurley-type swearing. And I’m not talking about at the youth level. There is clearly no place for those types of communication.

Specifically, I’m talking about high school coaches who use a swear word every so often...

Let’s look at the arguments:

Swear By It - Why The Occasional Cuss Word Works

• It gets players’ attention - let’s face it, players' ears perk up when they hear their coaches swear (especially if they don’t do it very often).

  For that reason, swearing can be an effective way to grab your players' attention. It shouldn’t and wouldn’t be the first way you’d try to capture their focus.

  However, if you’ve coached long enough, you know that sometimes it feels like your players are just out to lunch. In those scenarios, a well-timed curse word can be an effective tool to bring them back to reality.

• It speaks their language - like it or not, most high school kids use profanity. Thus, using a swear word from time to time could make you feel more relevant to them.

  Of course, if using curse words is the basis of your connection with players, that’s a huge problem.

  On the other hand, if it’s a small part of your connection, it might be harmless.

• It doesn’t have to be negative - when people think of coaches’ swearing, they almost always think of it being done to communicate anger or displeasure.

  It doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve seen and been in locker rooms where a well-placed curse word adds emphasis to a positive.

  I’ve also seen it used effectively to add levity to a situation.

  In those scenarios, the positive feelings created by the use of the word may outweigh the risks.

Swear It Off - Why Profanity Should Be Benched

• It sets a bad example - there are a couple of elements to this. First, if you are swearing out of a lack of self-control, that’s a major problem.

  That said, let’s focus on calculated usage. Even in those scenarios, there are 2 risks:

  1. Your players don’t understand it’s calculated - they are watching you. When they see you use profanity, it sends a message that it’s okay for them to do the same. Are you okay with that?

  2. You are answerable to their parents - many parents don’t care about an occasional swear word. But some do. Not only do you open yourself up to criticism by swearing, but you may be violating your role as a leader of young men and women. 

• It’s just bad communication - in college, I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X. There’s a story from his time in prison that stuck with me. He was talking to another inmate about swearing and why he had given it up. He told the other inmate that swearing was a sign of low intelligence. He said that people who swear aren’t smart enough to come up with a more effective and appropriate word.

  You may agree or disagree with that statement. But it’s great food for thought. . .

• Your message gets lost - I remember hearing a story about one of Bobby Knight’s players complaining to an assistant coach. He told the coach that he couldn’t deal with the swearing and personal nature of Knight’s coaching feedback.

  The assistant told him to ignore the language but focus on the basketball content.

  While that was probably sound advice, it’s much easier said than done! Our goal as coaches should be to make our feedback easy for our players to receive. Swearing can do the opposite.

What Do You Think?

On some of these topics, I’ve been conflicted. On this one, I feel pretty strongly that swearing is NOT an effective communication tool, even when done rarely.

Over my last 7-8 years of coaching, I really tried to remove swear words from my coaching vocabulary. I wasn’t perfect, but I did pretty well.

My teams even implemented a fun way to police ourselves - a “Swear Jar.” Any time a player swore during practice or a game, they had to put $0.25 in the jar. Coaches had to put $1. At the end of the year, the money went to whoever won our March Madness pool.

It became a fun way to reward self-control.

But that’s just me!

What do you say?

Please reply to this email with your thoughts - is there a place for the occasional swear word in coaching?

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