of them must get to know every other player on the team, bringing to him a write up about each player as they move on to the next. Unless they do so and until they do so with each player, they will have to do ôthree-a-days or even four-a-daysö practice Boone tells them.
In essence, Coach Boone is the perfect text-book path-goal model leader as Greenberg (2002) defines one:
Subordinates will react favorably to leaders who are perceived as helping make them progress toward various goals by clarifying the paths to such rewards...the theory contends that the things a leader does to help clarify the nature of the tasks and reduce or eliminate obstacles will increase subordinatesÆ perceptions that working hard will lead to good performance and that good performance, in turn, will be recognized and rewarded (292).
At the end of the film we see that the players recognize this and remain extremely motivated. During half-time of the state championship game, one of the players speaks about Coach Boone. He informs the coach he knows he demanded perfection and that he, personally, will never be perfect. However, he points to the undefeated season of the Titans and says that the team is perfect. If it is alright with Coach Boone, he says, they would like to finish the current game that way. Such motivation and high goal achievement is the direct result of Coach BooneÆs effective use of a combination of the instrumental and achievement-oriented leadership style that enables him to accomplish the team goal û perfection.
Coach Yost traditionally leads his teams to winning seasons. However, he takes more of a supportive approach as his main leadership style. He favors coddling the players on the team much more than Coach Boone would ever do. At one point he undermines BooneÆs authority by putting an offensive player Boone pulled from the game onto the defense. While the player responds well to this type of leadership, in ...