I recently invited US Olympic Swim Coach, Jack Bauerle, to share his insights and experiences on coaching with one of my classes at the University of Georgia. In addition to coaching our US Womens Swim team at the Beijing Olympics, as the head swim coach here at Georgia Jack’s teams have won 4 NCAA National Championships and a host of other honors and championships. In his 30 years of coaching elite athletes, he has not only amassed an amazing record of success, but has also built a wealth of knowledge, skill and experience in coaching.

As Jack spoke, several themes permeated his message. The first and one that resonated with our research on experts was his conclusion when describing an athlete’s accomplishment. He would, for example, detail the training regiment and personal struggles a particular athlete overcame to claim an Olympic medal. And regardless of the athlete or the accomplishment, concluded the same: “No one worked harder.” He never said “No one was more talented” or “No one was luckier.” He said: “No one worked harder.” It reminded me of one of my former students, Thomas Jefferson, “T.J.” We called him ‘lunch bucket’ because his strong, blue-collar-like work ethic. He always came to work. After he had won a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, T.J. came by my office to say hi. I couldn’t help but ask “Ok T.J., what was it that got you that medal?” Without hesitation he said “There are a lot of people with more talent than I have, but there is no one who works harder than I do.” Jack sees the same thing in the uber-successful athletes he coaches. Former Dallas Cowboys star, Roger Staubach, put it another way: “There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.”

The athletes Jack coached early in his career did not wear Olympic medals or national championship rings. Jack told the class of his first season as the Georgia coach. They won one meet. They defeated a local college that enrolls about 3,000 students compared to Georgia’s 33,000. But that victorious Georgia team celebrated that victory with vigor. They celebrated because they worked hard and long for that win. I think Jack is as proud of that victory and that team – Olympics included. Here is why: Jack is as enthusiastic and focused on his coaching when he walks into our building for a pre-season practice in early summer as he is eight months later as he prepares his teams for the National Championships. Jack knows that every practice counts—from the first to the last. As a coach, it is all about preparing your athletes, and then letting them do what they do best. In Beijing Jack did not directly witness a single one of his athletes win a medal. And his athletes won more medals than any other Women’s Olympic Swim Team in the history of the Games. Why? Because while each swimmer was in the water fighting their way to victory, Jack was in another part of the venue preparing the next athlete for their competition. It reminded me of what I tell one of the PGA Tour pros I coach, Richard S. Johnson: “Richard, once you strike the ball you can’t control where it is going to go. What you can control is everything leading up to when you strike the ball. So let’s concentrate all our attention being as prepared as we can be to hit the best golf shot we can hit.” The second theme I heard in Jack’s remarks was we can only expect great results when we have given our best efforts to being as prepared as we can be to succeed.

As we closed the lecture, I asked Jack if he had any advice for these students who were in the early stages in shaping a career. This is where the third and final theme became clear. He told the students to “follow your passion, not a paycheck.” The famed football coach, Joe Gibbs, said “People who enjoy doing what they do invariably do it well.” Jack loves what he does, and does it unquestionably well. But more importantly, people who follow their passion are happy in what they do. And at the end of the day, isn’t happy where we all want to be? Thanks Jack.