One of the biggest reasons that an NHL coach gets fired is because his players are not playing to their fullest potential. Unfortunately, because it is much easier to fire one coach, rather than 20 players, coaches often get the majority of the blame, deserved or not. However, one thing that coaches can and do control, is their players’ motivation levels.
Within psychology, there are two types of motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic is when someone wants to partake in an activity because of internal reasons (e.g. they want to learn more about it, they want to beat personal accomplishments, or simply because of the enjoyment). Extrinsic is when someone partakes in an activity because of external reasons (e.g. parents want them to, feel guilty not participating, etc.). As you can guess, intrinsic motivation is the most desired type of motivation for any athlete, specifically one playing in the professional ranks.
But something a coach on the hot seat might be doing, without even realizing it, is lowering the intrinsic motivation of his players. This creates a depressing and inappropriate mood in the locker room, one that can ultimately cause a team of Wayne Gretzkys to perform like a team of Alexander Daigles. In fact, recent psychological research has shown six ways in which coaches of all sports undermine their teams’ intrinsic motivation, thus causing an extraordinary drop in performance:
1. Tangible Rewards – Although this does not occur often at the professional level (other than the infamous Ron Wilson bounty back in January 2011), many youth and junior coaches will attempt to bribe their players with food, easier practices, or even money, in an attempt to raise performance.
2. Controlling Feedback – Coaches are not supposed to be rah-rah guys who praise players all the time. But they certainly cannot be completely authoritative, with regards to yelling at players and giving negative feedback with no constructive aspect. This simply degrades players and offers them no room for improvement.
3. Excessive Personal Control – Similar to the previous strategy, a coach that acts like an authoritative figure, as opposed to a teacher, will simply make players feel like children rebelling against a controlling parent. Neither will help improve a player or increase performance.
4. Intimidation Behaviors – Every coach has, at some point, threatened poor-performing players with a potential bag skate or something similar. However, coaches that utilize this strategy too often run the risk of players being motivated to perform simply to avoid the potential punishment, rather than performing out of their desire to do so.
5. Promoting Ego-Involvement – constructive criticism and player evaluations should never be done in front of the team. This simply embarrasses players, in addition to angering them, neither of which increases motivation or improves performance.
6. Conditional Regard – Often we hear stories of a team “winning one for the gipper” or working hard because they see their coach working hard. Although this works to an extent, there is a fine line between helpfulness and threatening an athlete’s motivation. As previously mentioned, performance should occur because of an internal desire to do so, not to try and make the coach proud.
It is impossible to avoiding all of these strategies at all times, but minimizing the extent to which these strategies are exhibited often causes players to experience more internal control over their careers and each night’s performance. In turn, this causes their intrinsic motivation to increase, which has been strongly correlated with an increase in on-ice performance. By avoiding these six strategies a majority of the time, a coach might not guarantee his job perpetually remains, but he sure can extend his time at the helm just a bit longer.
Alan Bass, a former writer for The Hockey News and THN.com, is the author of "The Great Expansion: The Ultimate Risk That Changed The NHL Forever." You can contact him at [email protected], or on Twitter at @NHL_AlanBass. 
Blogger •"The Psychology of Hockey" • 
Join the Discussion:
»