7 Leadership Lessons From The Winningest Coach You've Never Heard Of

Read Time: 4 minutes.

Anson Dorrance was the head coach for the University of North Carolina's women's Soccer Team from 1979 until retiring last summer.

In that time...

• They won 22/44 NCAA titles

• They won 89% of their games

• They played in the title game 20 straight years

• They went unbeaten for 110 games (> 3 seasons)

And he led the US Women's National Team to its 1st title.

To put this in context, Sir Alex Ferguson, regarded by many as the greatest football coach of all time, won 63% of his games.

Or Pep Guardiola, who has led 3 different teams in 3 different leagues to multiple championships, including Manchester City, who won the English Premier League 5 of the last 6 seasons, his winning percentage is only 73%.

Anson Dorrance's team won 18 out of every 20 times they stepped on the pitch. And he did this while navigating every manager's nightmare:

Turning over 100% of his team every four years.

How'd he do it? And what lessons can we apply to our teams?

1. Create Your Competitive Cauldron

Dorrance's philosophy was simple: "Steel sharpens steel."

Every practice was ranked. Every drill was measured. At the end of each day, all 30 players were ranked from top to bottom using practice performance data. He called it "The Competitive Cauldron.”

Your Business Application:

Stop hiding performance data from your team. Create transparency around who's winning and who's not.

Here's how:

• Weekly Called Shots: Have each team member commit to 3-5 specific outcomes every Monday. Friday: report hit or miss with brief explanations.

• Peer Rankings: Quarterly, have team members anonymously rank each other on core competencies. Share the finalized list publicly.

• Practice Scores: Track leading indicators, not just results. Calls made, proposals sent, problems solved. Make the scoreboard visible.

The goal isn't to create competition for competition's sake. It's to make excellence visible and mediocrity uncomfortable.

2. Make Performance Transparent

Dorrance didn't just collect data. He shared it.

Every player knew exactly where they stood, every single day.

"It's me and the players against the numbers," he said. "I think you're better than this. Of course they agree. Now they're open to what they need to do."

Your Business Application:

Hidden performance creates hidden problems. Transparency creates urgency.

Most managers collect performance data but keep it private. They're afraid of hurting feelings or creating conflict. This is backwards thinking.

The transparency framework:

• Individual dashboards: Every team member should know their key metrics in as close to real-time as possible.

• Team rankings: Share the full rankings, but share with people before they start that you operate this transparently. It won’t be welcomed by everyone. And it’s better to figure that out before they start.

• Progress tracking: Nudge reflection by having them share weekly updates, including if they’re trending up or trending down. Don’t expect perfection, just consistent progress.

When someone's underperforming and everyone knows it (including them), the conversation shifts from "Am I doing well?" to "What do I need to do differently?"

3. Get to Truth Faster

Dorrance's biggest challenge wasn't teaching soccer skills. It was breaking through the personal narratives and egos that protected players from accountability.

"Most players' personal narratives aren't true," he observed. "They're shaped by parents and youth coaches who protected them from pain. My job is getting their personal narrative to the truth as fast as possible."

Your Business Application:

Your team members have stories they tell themselves about their performance. Most of these stories are designed to protect their ego, not improve their results.

The “trust in truth” process:

• Data-driven feedback: Use objective metrics to challenge subjective self-assessments.

• Peer input: Others see our blind spots more clearly than we do, so regularly seek Keep/Stop/Start feedback from them.

• Regular recalibration: Monthly one-on-ones focused on gap analysis between self-perception and reality should feed into their development plans.

Ask this question in every performance conversation: "What story are you telling yourself about this situation that might not be completely accurate?"

The truth isn't cruel. Seeing the truth and withholding it is.

4. Catch Them Winning

While Dorrance was relentless about standards, he was equally focused on recognizing excellence.

"You motivate faster growth toward full potential when you signal what they're getting right."

Your Business Application:

Most managers are excellent at spotting problems. Few are excellent at spotting progress.

The recognition framework:

• Immediate acknowledgment: When you see the behavior you want, call it out in the moment.

• Specific praise: Don't just say "good job." Say "The way you handled that client objection showed real strategic thinking."

• Public celebration: Share wins in team meetings, not just problems. You end up teaching the team by celebrating the individual.

Here's the key:

Catch people winning at the behaviors that drive results, not just the results themselves.

Results lag. Behaviors lead.

5. Teach to Compete, Not Just to Play

Dorrance distinguished between training to play and teaching to compete. Playing is about executing skills. Competing is about executing skills under pressure while someone's trying to stop you.

"Make it understood that the goal is to win, not just play. That requires preparation at the same intensity in practice as in the game."

Your Business Application:

Most teams practice in comfort zones. They rehearse presentations to friendly audiences. They role-play sales calls with colleagues who want them to succeed.

Competitive preparation:

• Pressure testing: Simulate real-world conditions in practice sessions. Mock interviews. Role play. Simulations with AI.

• Devil's advocate: Assign someone to poke holes in every proposal. Setup “Red Teams” to find vulnerabilities.

• Stress scenarios: Practice your pitch when everything goes wrong. No technology. Someone no-shows.

The goal isn't to create stress for stress's sake. It's to make the real performance feel easier than practice.

6. Make Your Values Memorable

Dorrance attached a memorable quote to every core value. Players had to memorize them all.

For "no whining," every freshman memorized this George Bernard Shaw quote: "Be a force of fortune, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

Your Business Application:

Most company values are forgettable corporate speak. "Integrity." "Excellence." "Innovation." They mean nothing because they could mean anything.

The memorable values framework:

• Specific language: Instead of "integrity," try "we operate on the far side of fair."

• Story attachment: Connect each value to a specific example that helps creates your team’s mythology.

• Regular reinforcement: Reference values in real situations, not just on posters. Most importantly, embody them yourself.

Values aren't wall decorations. They're decision-making tools. If your team can't remember them, they can't use them.

7. Cut Your Bottom Performers

This was Dorrance's most controversial principle: "I've learned that some people just don't want to be in my culture. If they're below the line, I try to get them to transfer or quit."

Your Business Application:

This isn't about being heartless. It's about being honest.

Every team has a performance line. People above it make everyone better. People below it make everyone worse.

The performance line framework:

• Clear standards: Define what "above the line" looks like in specific, measurable terms and ensure people are aligned.

• Development investment: Give people the tools and support to get above the line.

• Timeline clarity: Set clear expectations for improvement timelines.

• Decisive action: When development efforts fail, make the change.

Keeping underperformers doesn't help anyone. The team suffers and questions what they standard really is. And the person wastes their that could be unlocked elsewhere.

Your Integration Challenge

Dorrance didn't use these principles in isolation. He integrated them into a system where:

• Competition drove improvement

• Transparency created urgency

• Truth accelerated development

• Recognition reinforced the right behaviors

• Pressure prepared people for performance

• Values guided decisions

• Standards protected culture

Your next move: Pick one principle. Master it. Then add the next.

Because building a championship culture isn't about implementing seven different programs. It's about creating one integrated system where excellence becomes inevitable.

The question isn't whether your team can perform at this level.

The question is whether you're willing to create the conditions that make it possible.

What You Missed This Week

Our Sunday AM posts:

📌 13 Hidden Laws of High-Performing Teams (Dave on LI)
📌 5 Common Misjudgments That Break Teams (Mar on LI)
📌 5 Questions to Stop Managing and Start Leading (Dave on X)

And here are our most popular posts last week:

🔥 Is Your Leadership Quietly Toxic? 7 Must-Answer Questions (Dave on LI)
🔥 3 Silent Career Killers (Dave on X)
🔥 9 Signs Your Team Might Be Toxic (Mar on LI)

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Thank you for reading. Appreciate you!

Dave