Published on 04-03-2025
When Gene Hackman, the man who brought to life the fictional Coach Norman Dale in the movie Hoosiers, died, it felt to me like the coach himself died. Coach Dale of the Hickory Huskers has been an inspiration of mine since youth.
I grew up in the small town of Paoli, Indiana — “The Heart of Hoosier Hospitality” — where high school sports meant a lot to the people. How the local kids performed on the court was a reflection of the communities’ determination and grit. Winning signaled to those outside Paoli that we could hold our own, regardless of our resources, or lack thereof, because of how we were raised and played.
As a clinical/teaching faculty member in the Purdue Daniels School of Business the past nine years, I have coached others, just not on a basketball court. I served as the Academic Director for the MS in Business Analytics and Information Management (BAIM) program from 2018 to 2024. That was the first time in my career I was called to lead, and the best leaders coach, each with a unique style.
I had many wonderful bosses and mentors over the years, and I learned unique and very useful qualities from each of them. However, it was Coach Dale’s leadership style that I could most identify with and that naturally stuck with me. With him, it never seemed to be about his personal success, but more so, how could he help those around him succeed? How would he define what a winning team would be, and how could he make people better than he was?
When I coached the MSBAIM students, I was firm but showed grace. I pushed hard, but often joined them for the late-night ride. Sometimes, I made people angry, but cried together when they landed their dream job. Nearly every year the program earned 100% placement. We achieved the highest average starting salaries among all our business school master's programs in 2022 – even beating the MBA program. We presented posters and papers of our work at national analytics conferences, and students had resumes full of professional certifications that made employers wonder how they had time to even study, having accomplished so much in just one year. In 2023, the program earned the UPS George D. Smith Award for top program in the world at preparing students to be effective analytics practitioners. For me, the journey felt like riding on the Hickory bus town to town, winning sectionals, then regionals, all the way to the state championship.
The movie Hoosiers dramatizes the amazing state championship season that Milan High School achieved in 1954. At the climax, the movie shows Jimmy Chitwood, their star player, hitting the game-winning shot at the buzzer to win the state championship. The movie culminates in Hickory’s empty cracker box-sized gym, where the camera zooms into the team’s championship photo hanging on the wall, where you can hear the echoes of Coach Dale mentoring the team.
As we remember Hackman’s iconic portrayal, we might ask ourselves, what do we do next after the big run is over? The movie Hoosiers doesn’t show us what happened next. Would Coach Dale stop coaching? Was that it? I believe Coach Dale would tell us, “Forget about the crowds. The size of the competition. Their fancy uniforms. And remember what got you here. Focus on the fundamentals we have gone over time and time again. And most importantly, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game. If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game — in my book, we are going to be winners!”
Matthew Lanham is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Daniels School of Business’ Quantitative Methods area and leader of the National Data 4 Good case competition, and the State of Indiana’s Crossroads Classic Analytics Challenge. He is the former academic director (2018-2024) for the award-winning and nationally recognized master’s program in Business Analytics & Information Management and 2024 recipient of the Daniels School’s Salgo-Noren Outstanding Master’s Teaching Award.
