Knowledge AND Wisdom — You Actually Need Both
There's a quote from Einstein that does the rounds on social media every so often: knowledge is knowing the street is one way, but wisdom is looking both directions anyway.
It's a good one. And the more time I spend in this coaching world, the more I think it describes exactly where most coaches get stuck.
The knowledge trap
Knowledge, in our world, is the formal stuff. Licenses. Courses. Conventions. Symposiums. The pathway from Grassroots to D to C to B to A. And that pathway matters — if you want to coach at a certain level, you need certain credentials. That's not going anywhere and I'm not here to argue against it.
But here's what I've seen over and over. Coaches go through a license, perform to the standards of that course, and then drive away and go back to doing exactly what they were doing before. Just like passing your driving test and then immediately rolling the window down and doing 90. The course is done, the box is ticked, and the learning stops.
Collecting licenses without applying them is just paperwork.
The wisdom trap
On the other side, you've got the coach who says "I've been coaching for 20 years" like it's the answer to every question.
And honestly? There is real value there. Twenty years on the grass builds something you can't get in a classroom. You develop instincts. You read players. You know when to push and when to put an arm around someone. You recognize the moments in a session that need to change, and you feel it before you can even explain it. That's genuinely valuable wisdom.
But when that coach hasn't engaged with any new methodology, hasn't collaborated with other coaches, hasn't challenged their own thinking in years — that wisdom starts to calcify. You're not building, you're just repeating.
Neither one alone is enough. You need both.
What we're doing at the Vikings
At SF Vikings, we've set a standard that every coach is expected to move to the next license level every two years. But here's the piece that makes it actually work: our Director of Coaching doesn't coach any teams. His entire role is to support coach development — observing sessions, mentoring coaches, helping them connect what they learned in their last course to what they're doing on the field every week.
That second part is what most clubs skip. They get coaches through the license and then leave them to figure it out. Our DoC is there to bridge the gap between the knowledge from the course and the wisdom coaches are developing in real time.
We also built a common language across the club — five keywords that every coach uses, every player understands, and every family has been told about. Because you can ask families to stay quiet on the sideline and they won't. They want to support. So instead we give them the language. Here's how you support — use these five words. Now the whole environment is speaking the same language, from the training field to the car ride home.
The Internal A License
Here's the framing I use with my coaches: regardless of what your official license says, the goal is to become an internal A license coach. Not the official one — the internal one.
An internal A license coach speaks the same language as everyone else in the club. They uphold the communication standards we've set. They plan their sessions. They connect with families. They show up early, ready to coach. They are the best coach for their players, their team, and the culture we're building — and that's what actually matters.
We pay our coaches for 30 minutes before every session. That sounds small, but it changes everything. It means we can legitimately expect session plans, early arrivals, and weekly family communication. You can't ask for accountability without resourcing it.
And here's the perspective I always come back to: when you step on the field, you're delivering the final 25% of that session. The other 75% — the game analysis, the planning, the preparation, the thinking about your players — all happened before you got there. Pay coaches for that work and watch what happens to the quality of your sessions.
Knowledge tells you what to do. Wisdom tells you how and when. Build both, deliberately, and everything else gets better.
Heads and Volleys Podcast, Episode 89
@LeeDunneSoccer