Assistant BU Women’s Soccer coach Amy Thompson (CAS’22, Wheelock’25) during pregame warmups before the September 11, 2025 match-up against Harvard. Photography by Eliza Nuestro

Applied Human Development

The Power of Positive Coaching

By motivating and mentoring, coaches can make a lasting difference for student-athletes

While all coaches face the pressure to win games, good coaches know the importance of taking the time to build trust, develop character, and support student-athlete success. So how does a coach learn best practices for creating a safe, professional environment where they lead with purpose and positively impact student-athletes, both on and off the field?

For this Conversations with the Dean, Dean Penny Bishop is joined by BU Wheelock’s John McCarthy and Rebecca Shangraw. They are faculty members in the Applied Human Development program who focus on positive youth development and sport coaching. McCarthy is also the director of the Institute for Athletic Coach Education. Together, they discuss importance of creating a safe and inclusive environment for student-athletes and how positive coaching can create lasting change for athletes, teams, and communities.

Watch the webinar

Highlights from the Conversation

The power of athlete-centered coaching

The central idea of an athlete-centered approach would be a coach that’s more of an educator or a facilitator of learning and growth, and that’s both individual and for the group. And really good coaches are masterful at figuring out what the young person is capable of doing and contributing to the group—and making it a better group.

John McCarthy

What makes a great coach

The best coaches know that when you take care of your athlete in a holistic sense, not only the physical but the psychological, too, they’re going to get more out of the athlete. And the inverse is very rarely true.

Rebecca Shangraw

Helping athletes reach their potential

There was a wrestling coach here at Boston University . . . and he says, I want my athlete to go out on to the mat and not look back, because they trust themselves. They know what to do. They feel prepared. They believe in themselves. And I think that’s really the essence of what a good coaching is really about—getting the person to reach their potential, whatever that is. Some kids are not going to go far in sport. Some kids could go very far. But for me, it’s sad when we don’t help them at least reach their potential.

John McCarthy

Conversations with the Dean are a series of webinars hosted by Dean Bishop that explore some of the most pressing topics in education and human development. Learn more about Conversations with the Dean.