This is not a book to help you change the way you coach. It is a book about influencing the way you think about coaching. When this happens, you will be equipped to make your own decision about the direction you want your coaching to take. This book provides an oasis in a desert of coaching challenges. I heard a comment that is relevant to being a great leader: “Extraordinary coaching is fierce love.” Iconic coach John Wooden, when asked why he was so successful (10 NCAA basketball championships), answered: “Guys, that’s easy...I had a lot of love in my coaching.” He wasn’t talking about the Kumbaya, “touchy-feely” kind of love that was popular in the culture of the 1960s. He was talking about the powerful catalyst that builds relationships, winning teams, and success in sports and all of life. It is about leading by connecting, caring, and loving, by learning to be more humane and realize that we coach people not a game, that the people matter more than outcomes and results. It is a love that is the source of motivation and inspiration for positive action and unlocking ultimate human potential. It is the eagerness to encourage, empower, and inspire your athletes. By building a foundation of love, you can be demanding and ask those you lead to perform the work that will make them be successful. In this safe environment, athletes feel they belong, feel important, valued, relevant, and respected. This requires that you develop a set of competencies in addition to being able to strategize a game plan with a thorough knowledge of the X’s and O’s. Rest assured that all of these competencies will be unpacked within the pages of this book, guiding you to LEAD WITH LOVE. In LEAD WITH LOVE , Jerry has put together another amazing piece of work that contributes to and captures perfectly the coaching revolution that is blossoming in the sports world today. Here is an extraordinary guide to help coaches at all levels understand how to build relationships and winning teams and to achieve success through an intentional, connective, caring, compassionate, inspirational, joyful, and loving approach. —Steve Kerr, Head Coach, NBA Warriors What incredible work from one of the best in the business of sports leadership and performance. The timeless lessons about the importance of LOVE in sports that you will learn from this master teacher are the same that Jerry used to help with my coaching and guidance throughout most of my career, including leading my Maryland women’s lacrosse team to seven consecutive national championships. Our world needs Jerry’s message now more than ever. Brilliant stuff!!! —Cindy Timchal, 8X National Champion, Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach, University of Maryland This special book comes at a time when unifying the human spirit around deeply grounded values such as love is so relevant and compelling for all of us. Jerry’s storytelling gives a richness to his work, demonstrating much insight and humility. His extraordinary message in LEAD WITH LOVE will strongly impact your coaching and personal life, as it has mine. —Bob Hansen, 8X NCAA National Champion, Head Men’s Tennis Coach, Middlebury College Jerry is a gifted teacher, coach, and author whose message of love continues to inspire all of us. His work with us has helped us reach the pinnacle of our sport. —Nancy Stevens, 3X National Champion, Head Women’s Field Hockey Coach, UCONN Coach Jerry Lynch is a wise and trusted friend who happens to be one of the nation’s top authorities on leadership, performance, and team building. His influence has had an enormous effect on me and other coaches at the University of North Carolina to create and sustain championship team cultures. His message about love in coaching resonates with all of our successful programs. —Anson Dorrance, 22X National Champion, Head Women’s Soccer Coach, UNC It takes a number of critical factors to win an NBA championship...talent, creativity, intelligence, toughness, and luck. But if a team doesn’t have the most important ingredient—LOVE—none of those factors matter. I count Jerry as a friend who has made a big difference in my coaching, helping me to lead, coach, inspire, and empower my athletes to reach their potential, using his powerful message of leading with connection, caring, and love. This is a good time, given the world of sports, for this book. —Phil Jackson, 11X NBA World Champion Coach of Bulls and Lakers Jerry Lynch transforms the world of athletics into a sacred space in which to absorb practical life lessons and ageless wisdom for inspiration and success in sports and life. —Michael Murphy, athlete and author of Golf in the Kingdom