Worst to First: Turnaround Leadership Through the Lens of Successful High School Football Coaches

Turnaround leadership is a topic of particular interest within sports, as newly hired coaches are often expected to transform struggling teams into “winners.” The present study qualitatively examined American high school football coaches (N = 11) who led a dramatic turnaround within their school’s football program. After being hired, these participants experienced relatively quick success, as they achieved a winning record (M = 1.73 years) and reached the state playoffs within a short period of time (M = 1.82 years). Steps of the turnaround process included assembling a staff of quality assistants, creating a vision for program success, formulating a strong plan that supported the vision, generating buy-in from players and key members of the program, creating and celebrating early achievements, sustaining success through the establishment of new goals and benchmarks, and fighting the urge to become complacent once new levels of success were reached (i.e., making change stick). As a part of their coaching turnarounds, all of the participants talked about the importance of incorporating a quality strength and conditioning program into their team’s training regimen. Meanwhile, the majority of the participants identified “educational athletics” as the core of their coaching philosophy, in which they viewed their jobs as coaches as an extension of the classroom. Moreover, most participants implemented character education into their programs and used football as a platform for teaching life lessons to their players. Yet, the most recurrent theme of the process, and the most recommended approach for achieving a coaching turnaround, was establishing positive coach–athlete relationships.

Turnaround leaders’ shifting gears in chronos and kairos time

Purpose In empirical research and practitioner guides, turnaround processes tend to be described in terms of discrete stages and strategies. Though necessary, this characterization belies the twists and turns of turnaround leadership. The purpose of this paper is to expand the assumptions of how turnaround proceeds in linear chronos time with the sensibilities of kairos time or the “right” time for turnaround leadership moves. Design/methodology/approach This study is an exploratory qualitative multi-case study with principals and their key supports (assistant principals, district leaders, teacher leaders) in four public turnaround schools. The grounded theory analysis conceptualizes the experiences of turnaround principals in flexible, complex ways. Findings The findings begin with a metaphor and definition of “shifting gears” at chronos and kairos times that emphasizes how turnaround principals make adaptive, agentic adjustments when moving forward through changing terrain. The second half of findings describes each principal’s experiences and reflections on their discernment of the right times for change within a chronological trajectory of turnaround. In addition, the leaders described shifting gears as strategic and responsive to contexts, sometimes taking a psychological toll. Originality/value Expanding notions of time in turnaround re-centers turnaround leaders as engaging in intellectually and emotionally demanding work. Such recognition challenges future research to address experiences and emotions in dynamic contexts. Hence, with this study, preparation programs and state and local systems may adjust holistic supports and leadership pipelines to sustain turnaround leaders.

Understanding turnaround leadership research: Continuity and change (2009–2016)

This review paper describes the development of turnaround leadership research in educational settings to understand its trends and future directions. The review uses an established research process to make sense of the turnaround leadership literature. It identifies the continuities and discontinuities in this research area, which have strong implications for researchers in different fields. This study contributes to the research on school turnaround and provides practical guidance.

Triggering Change: An Investigation of the Logics of Turnaround Leadership

Principals are positioned at the center of school improvement. In the United States, current turnaround reforms target the principalship as a key lever for change. This article uses institutional theory to explore the logics of turnaround leadership that steer principals and their work. Specifically, we draw on qualitative interview data from a phenomenological study of a cohort of aspiring turnaround principals in a northeastern state to explain how educators invoked and enacted four logics of turnaround leadership. We found that, in addition to engaging with the previously identified logics of instructional, managerial, and social justice leadership, participants invoked a new logic that we name “triggering change.” This logic focused squarely on building capacity via positive relationships and shaping culture as mechanisms for whole school improvement. By depicting aspiring principals’ conceptions and negotiations of these four logics, we contribute to the literature on turnaround policy and leadership with implications for turnaround leader development.

Preparing turnaround leaders for high needs urban schools

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the program structure and design considerations of a 25-day, full-time apprenticeship in a university-based principal preparation program. Design/methodology/approach The study used a qualitative case study design that drew upon interviews and focus groups with program participants as well as program-related documents. Qualitative data analysis was completed using ATLAS.ti. Findings The analysis suggests that the apprenticeship had three specific design features that were intended to support the apprentice’s development for turnaround leadership. These included locating the apprenticeship experience in a turnaround school setting; focusing the apprenticeship on district structures and procedures; and situating the apprentice’s work within the district’s approved improvement process. Research limitations/implications The study was limited in that recurring, on-site observations of apprenticeship activities were not possible. The study has implications for principal preparation programs related to the design of fieldwork experiences, as well as for educational scholars seeking to study the impact of fieldwork on principal efficacy. Originality/value The study contributes to the broader discussion of effective fieldwork experiences for aspiring school leaders, particularly when specific conceptions of leadership are infused within program designs.