Daniel Brown's The Boys In The Boat

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What kind of coach would be better, a harsh and strict one, or a lenient and nice one? Al Ulbrickson was a rowing coach, and he was one who brought his team to win the Olympics. According to those who knew him, he was harsh and strict. However, his methods of coaching are actually strategic, as they were a way to make sure that his varsity team would be the best it could possibly be. This is supported by the storytelling in the novel The Boys In The Boat by Daniel Brown. The novel tells a story that includes Ulbrickson's thoughts and ideas on his teams and how he trained them to become something almost magical.

For starters, some may claim that Al Ulbrickson wasn't a great coach because he was harsh. This could be supported due to the fact that the novel mentions how mean he was, as well as how much he put the boys through strenuous work. He would even straight up write about them being "horrible," and replace the varsity team with the junior team for certain races. However, while these actions may seem bad, they aren't just for the purpose of being mean. The novel lets you know that Ulbrickson did these actions to judge the boys on their rowing abilities, being …show more content…
Al Ulbrickson would mix and match the boys around, experimenting and finding out who in what position would be good enough for the Olympic team. As this happened, Ulbrickson wrote individual reports on how the boys were rowing, and taking mental notes of who had what qualities. Sometimes he'd take people out, put people in, or move them around. The author emphasized how the boys were going to have to learn to get along with each other, no matter who was in the boat. Some struggled with this, but it was an important thing to learn if they were going to make it to the Olympics. Eventually, Ulbrickson found what he was looking for, a team that worked together perfectly. If it weren't for him being experimental, he may have never found the perfect
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