There are two sayings that I have heard hundreds of times in my life. One is “You can’t tell a book by its cover,” and the other is an advertising statement that assures us “It’s what’s up front that counts.” I would like to take a little liberty with those two statements and apply them to the world of sports. I think that anyone who has played baseball can attest to the fact that “You can’t tell a baseball by its cover” and “It’s what’s inside that counts.”

Go to your local sporting goods store and you can buy a baseball for about $3.00 or you can pay almost $10.00 for a baseball. On the outside, both of those baseballs will look very much alike—both will have “official” marked on their cover, and both may even have exactly the same number of stitches. But baseball coaches and players know that the core of these baseballs and the material used in winding the inside of each of these baseballs will be very different. You won’t be able to tell by looking on the outside or at the cover, but once you look inside the ball, the truth will be made clear.

What is true for a baseball is true for a coach. The true test of a coach isn’t what he or she looks like, but what is inside. Those intangibles often separate the great coaches from the average ones. As a coach, you can make an impression with how you look. But over a season, and particularly when the going gets tough, the truth of what you are made of will come out.