Masters Thesis

Building team culture: a first-year varsity baseball coach’s journey

The purpose of the study was to document a first-year head coach’s attempt to create an effective team culture when taking over a losing baseball program. Pre-, mid-, and post-season interviews were conducted with the head coach, while field note observations and journal entries were taken throughout the season. The athletic director was interviewed in the post-season as well to get the perspective of an administrator. The results show that it is possible to set the foundation for team culture in the first year of coaching a new team. The coach’s emphasis on pride, goal setting, and constant growth as a unit was instilled throughout the season in an attempt to create a new team culture. However, there were constant struggles that arose throughout the season, but once these themes were established as the team’s standards and expectations, they became the major contributors to creating a team culture for the baseball program.

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