The Indicators of a Transformational Leader
Before the 1995 season, Southwestern Louisiana University needed a new baseball coach to lead their program. A young head coach who had some success leading McNeese State in six years at the helm became their new skipper. Tony Robichaux, a homegrown Louisiana man from Crowley, La. would become a fixture in the Ragin Cajun dugout for the next 25 years.
As the school transitioned in name to Louisiana-Lafayette, the baseball program under Robichaux slowly began to flourish. After a pair of losing seasons in his first two years, Robichaux led the Ragin Cajuns’ to an NCAA Regional tournament berth in year three (1997). Three years later, in the 2000 season, Louisiana-Lafayette, a small NCAA division I program, was heading to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The pinnacle of the college baseball landscape. After a 2-2 record while at the College World Series, Lousiana-Lafayette finished fourth in the national rankings in 2000. An amazing accomplishment from a mid-major program.
Over the next nineteen seasons, Tony Robichaux would lead the Ragin Cajuns’ to eight more NCAA postseason tournaments including two more Super Regional tournaments all while playing in a small conference with far less resources than the traditional national powers. With all of the success and faithfulness with little, Coach Robichaux was sought after for multiple ‘better’ coaching jobs but had no interest. He was a Ragin Cajun to the core. The son of a butcher from Crowley with a Physical Education degree. This program was his. This place was his. He poured his life into the program. But not just for on-field success, but rather long term investment in the lives of his players.
He recorded his 1000th career win with a 6-5 victory on February 28, 2015 against the Alabama Crimson Tide. His 1,173 career wins is the eighth most among NCAA Division I coaches. His 914 wins in a Louisiana-Lafayette uniform are the most in the history of the program for a head coach at the university.
Along the way one of his biggest wins was helping save Coach Matt Deggs from himself. Deggs, a former renowned hitting coach for national powers Arkansas and Texas A&M, fell from grace in the college coaching ranks after extended bouts with alcoholism. Deggs was let go from Texas A&M after an ugly end in Aggieland. No one in the baseball world would touch him as application after application came up empty. One man welcomed him in. Tony Robichaux. Deggs spent three years under his tutelage getting his legs back underneath him. Deggs rekindled his faith thanks to the influence of Robichaux. He regained the trust of his family and eventually became a sought after coach again. After three years in Louisiana with Robichaux, Deggs moved on to become the head coach at Sam Houston State.
Just one of many victories for Coach Robichaux that will never be officially recorded in the win column of his illustrious career.
After 25 seasons leading the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team, Coach Robichaux’s impressive career came to an abrupt, and unforeseen conclusion. In the middle of the summer recruiting season in 2019, Coach Robichaux suffered a sudden heart attack on June 23, 2019. He was rushed to the hospital for urgent care.
On July 3, 2019 Coach Robichaux passed away. Leaving a wife and three grown children behind. The loss was devastating for the Ragin Cajun community and the college athletic world as a true servant leader left this earth. A true builder of men and kingdom coach.
To call Tony Robichaux a successful coach would embarrassingly fall short. He wasn’t just a successful coach - he was a builder of men. A true transformational leader who used the sport he coached and leveraged it for a larger impact beyond the game. He used the game of baseball to teach and build future leaders, husbands, and fathers. He is missed by many. Coach Robichaux wasn’t the head coach for a Power 5 program. He wasn’t mentioned with the big names in athletics. Yet he may be one of the premier examples of a transformational leader the world has ever seen.
What are the best indicators of a transformational leader?
Is it by their wins-losses or financial net worth?
Is it how loud they are or how much they post on social media?
Is it how they are coveted for all the top coaching vacancies in the offseason?
The reality is, none of those things are a great indicator of a transformational leader. Transformational leadership must be rooted in the heart first and foremost. Transformational leadership overflows out of the heart and into the execution of great coaching and leading.
A transformational leader’s roots run deep. They know who they are. They are secure in who they are. They are not grasping for their identity at the eleventh hour of pressure. They have found a way to separate their pursuit from who they are at the core. The language they use has a way of conveying their value system. We’re not talking in terms of profanity but rather in terms of statements that peel the curtain back into the leader’s core values. Statements that clear the air on what a the leader is really about. When a leader’s life and values align - when what they say matches how they live it is truly special. Coach Robichaux was truly special.
Here are 9 quotes from the life of Coach Robichaux that embody transformational leadership.
1.) “They don’t need to let this game. Any failure. Or the game of baseball be their identity. It is a game. Life’s personal and professional challenges are the real game, not baseball. This is a game, but you have a lot of life left after this.”
2.) “I want my players to stand up when it’s time to stand up. I want them to have courage for life. Of course I want them to train and win. We’re ranked #6 in the country right now. I care about baseball. I really do. But I am not going to USE THEM, to win.”
3.) “When the day comes and I stand before God, I don’t think he’s going to care I’m the all-time wins leader at Louisiana-Lafayette. He’s going to ask me “Tony, I sent you over 600 boys. What did you do with them? Did you talk to them about me? Did you help them become servant leaders? Did you teach them what a real man is?”
4.) “A good coach makes a boy a better baseball player. A great coach makes a boy a better man.”
5.) “Being a baseball coach is what I do, not who I am.”
6.) “I don’t think the good Lord is going to be up there with a radar gun, a stopwatch and some plyo boxes..to see what kind of athlete they are. I think he’s going to have some poignant questions for them..What kind of husband were you? What kind of father were you? Did you put your hands on your wife? Did you treat your wife the way a woman should be treated? I think he’s going to want to know, what have you done with your life?”
7.) “We tell them all the time. Work while you wait. Most people even in their personal life, they stop working until the door opens.”
8.) “This is the time to decide whether we’re going to be campers or hikers. Are we going to be people who set up camp and watch people walk by? Or are we going to be people who climb this mountain? Most people in life don’t quit when they start, they quit about half way up.”
9.) “Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.”
Beyond wins-losses, test scores, revenue reports, team rankings, prospect lists - there is a lot left to achieve for a leader. A transactional leader stops at the obvious industry goals. A transformational leader goes beyond the industry norms to influence the lives of those they lead until they pass from this life to the next.
WATCH A TRIBUTE TO COACH ROBICHAUX
Stay The Course,
JB
Book of the week: 15 to 28 by Matt Deggs
Podcast episode of the week: Top Coach Podcast with Tony Robichaux (from 2015)
Article of the week: Remembering Tony Robichaux One Year Later
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