The Sports Playbook: Building Teams That Outperform Year After Year
By Joshua Gordon, Gary Furlong, and Ken Pendleton
Published by Routledge (2018)
Transform Your Team’s Culture from Destructive Conflict to Championship Performance
Success in sports isn’t about talent alone—it’s about culture, character, and clarity. Drawing from decades of experience with NCAA Division I programs, professional leagues, and Olympic organizations, The Sports Playbook reveals why some teams consistently outperform while others struggle despite superior talent.
This isn’t another motivational sports book. It’s a systematic, evidence-based approach to building championship cultures that prevent the destructive conflicts costing sports organizations millions each year. From hazing scandals to team chemistry breakdowns, from coaching conflicts to performance collapses—these aren’t isolated incidents. They’re symptoms of systemic culture problems that The Sports Playbook solves.
The Four-Step Playbook for Sustained Excellence
Stop treating symptoms. Start building systems.
Step 1: Establish Team Culture
Define your non-negotiables. Create clear behavioral expectations that align with your mission. Most teams fail here—operating on assumptions rather than explicit cultural blueprints.
Step 2: Create Individual-Team Alignment
Leverage tools like DISC Behavioral Assessments to understand how individual personalities and motivations fit within your team framework. Misalignment here costs more games than lack of talent ever will.
Step 3: Restore Alignment Through Effective Issue Resolution
Conflicts are inevitable. Champions have systems to address them before they metastasize. Learn the early warning signs and intervention strategies that prevent million-dollar crises.
Step 4: Sustain Success Through Continuous Improvement
Build reflection and adaptation into your team’s DNA. Turn every season—win or lose—into data for your next championship run.
Used by Olympic Teams Worldwide, Professional Sports Organizations, and Top Intercollegiate programs along with competive teams at all levels
Endorsed by Championship Leaders
“Old-school sports executives like to sell the idea that running a team comes with alchemy, pressures and bad breaks unlike any other business, and that us mortals could never understand. The Sports Playbook upends all that with these marvelously subversive fighting words: ‘Bad apples come from bad apple factories. Good apples come from good apple factories.’ It’s an electric idea.“
— Henry Abbott
Founder, TrueHoop
“Organizational culture must be a strategic initiative that is reinforced daily. The Sports Playbook provides the roadmap to creating the culture you desire.“
— Rob Mullens
Athletic Director, University of Oregon
“When your culture leads to your best player being your hardest worker then you truly have something special. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because you follow the process outlined in this book!“
— Maurice “Mo” Kelly
VP of Player Engagement, Seattle Seahawks (NFL)
“As a multiple Olympic Medalist, Coach and someone who works in elite sport, I highly recommend this book to any coach who wants to gain a competitive advantage which cannot be copied by their competitors. We are aspiring to not just strike success once, but to create sustained high performance despite changes in personnel and in conditions which are never the same.”
— Olympic Medalist & Elite Sport Coach
“Every leader – whether in sports, business or at home – strives for consistent success. With The Sports Playbook, Gordon, Furlong, and Pendleton have taken the lessons learned from the most successful teams and leaders, and created an easy-to-follow blueprint. I wish this book had been written years ago.”
— Frances Traisman
Vice President of Sales, Seattle Mariners (MLB)
“What can the business world learn from some of the most successful sports teams in history? This Playbook gives leaders in all walks of life the tools necessary to create a championship culture within their own teams.“
— Jason Belzer
President, GAME, Inc.
Who Should Read The Sports Playbook
Coaches at Every Level
From youth sports to professional leagues, learn how to build cultures where talent thrives, conflicts resolve constructively, and success becomes sustainable—not accidental.
Athletic Directors & Administrators
Prevent the million-dollar crises that destroy programs. Implement proactive systems that protect your institution’s reputation while building championship-caliber departments.
Team Captains & Leaders
Understand the hidden dynamics that make or break team chemistry. Learn to bridge the gap between coaches and players while fostering accountability.
Sport Management Professionals
Master the frameworks that turn dysfunctional organizations into high-performing systems. Perfect for consultants, mental performance coaches, and organizational development specialists.
Business Leaders
The principles that build championship sports teams apply directly to corporate success. Learn from the high-stakes laboratory of sport where results are immediate and public.
If you’re tired of treating symptoms instead of building systems, this book is for you.
What’s Inside The Sports Playbook
Foreword by Henry Abbott, Founder of TrueHoop
Part I: Understanding the Problem
- Introduction: Sports Success is Rare and Fleeting
- Chapter 1: The Cost of Failure in Sports — Why Conflict Costs Millions
- Chapter 2: The Sports Performance Playbook — A Systems Approach to Excellence
Part II: The Four-Step Solution
- Chapter 3: Step One: Establishing Team Culture — Building Your Foundation
- Chapter 4: Step Two: Creating Alignment Between Individual and Team
- Chapter 5: Step Three: Restoring Alignment Through Effective Issue Resolution
- Chapter 6: Step Four: Sustaining Success — Improving Into the Future
Part III: Implementation Tools
- Chapter 7: The Sports Playbook in Summary — Your 90-Day Implementation Plan
- Appendix A: The Team Culture Assessment Tool (Downloadable)
- Appendix B: Resources, Templates, and Worksheets
- Index: Real-World Case Studies and Stories
280 Pages of Evidence-Based Strategies | 50+ Real Sports Case Studies | Ready-to-Use Assessment Tools
Beyond the Book: Implementation Support
The Sports Playbook AI Assistant
Get immediate, personalized guidance based on the book’s proven methodologies. Our AI tool helps you:
- Diagnose team culture issues in real-time
- Generate customized team charters and accountability systems
- Access situation-specific conflict resolution strategies
- Create alignment exercises tailored to your team’s DISC profiles
Team Culture Assessment & DISC Profiling
SCI offers comprehensive assessment services using the tools featured in the book:
- Sport-specific DISC Behavioral Assessments (AthleteDISC, CoachDISC)
- Team Culture diagnostic evaluations
- Confidential conflict assessments
- 360-degree leadership reviews
Workshops & Team Consulting
Bring The Sports Playbook methodology directly to your organization:
- Half-day and full-day team workshops
- Season-long culture transformation programs
- Leadership team alignment sessions
- Conflict prevention system design
Get Your Copy of The Sports Playbook
Join thousands of coaches, athletic directors, and team leaders who are building championship cultures that last.
Available in: Hardcover | Paperback | eBook | Audiobook
About the Authors
Joshua Gordon is a Faculty Athletics Representative at the University of Oregon, international arbitrator for CAS, USOPC, FIFA, and MLB, and founder of the Sports Conflict Institute. Gary Furlong is an internationally recognized negotiation expert and author of The Conflict Resolution Toolbox. Ken Pendleton is a scholar in sports history and culture with deep expertise in organizational dynamics.
Publisher: Routledge | ISBN: 978-1138300651 | Publication: March 2018 | Pages: 280