March 8, 2002

Contact: Craig Jonas, KU doctoral student, (303) 229-7433.

KU doctoral student surveys college coaches on conflict management

LAWRENCE -- Craig Jonas hopes his dissertation research will teach coaches the secret to succeeding during March Madness.

Jonas, a doctoral student in health, sport and exercise science at the University of Kansas, has developed a comprehensive study, "Coaching and Conflict: Comparing Perceived Conflict Management Behaviors of College Basketball Coaches." He plans to use the study to demonstrate that college coaches who know how to deal with team conflicts tend to have successful programs.

Through a 53-question online survey, Jonas, who currently lives in Denver, will monitor the way college basketball coaches -- from men's and women's teams at major, mid-level and small colleges -- deal with team conflicts.

"My biggest hope is that this gives coaches the chance to understand that conflict management is an important coaching skill," he said.

As a former college basketball coach for both men's and women's teams, Jonas knows firsthand that team conflicts are inevitable. However, he said he hopes the study will shed light on the importance of turning potentially bad situations into positive experiences.

"If coaches can become educated about the ability to use conflict as a positive force, they can improve their chances of being successful," he said.

Between now and April 16th, coaches from schools across the nation will complete the online survey. Jonas will issue the results in a written report that will be made available to coaches on several coach-related Web sites, including the National Association of Basketball Coaches site, www.nabc.com.

"One of the ways coaches can improve upon their success is to anticipate potential team conflicts and use them to help the team grow together," said Reggie Minton, associate executive director of the NABC. "This NABC-approved research project begins to evaluate how coaches can go about this process more effectively, and it will be interesting to see the results."

Wayne Osness, chair of the health, sport and exercise sciences department at KU and chair of Jonas' dissertation committee, said Jonas' study was especially timely, given the current climate in college basketball.

"Conflict is a part of basketball coaching in the real world today," Osness said. "In the past we have ignored it, but today it is of the proportion that it must be addressed. This study will begin the process by identifying the factors involved at the different levels of coaching."

Although it will be a while before the results are published, Jonas said he is confident the study will prove there is a direct correlation between successful conflict management and a winning college basketball program.

"We are expecting to see some interesting comparisons and relationships to on-court success, and I think it will provide a nice point of departure for coaches as they begin to consider how they can use conflict as a constructive instead of destructive force," Jonas said.