Coach Gail Goestenkor - An all too Common Story about Employment Burn-out
If stress feels never-ending and comes with feelings of emptiness, apathy, and hopelessness, it may indicate burnout. I know many coaches at Texas who have quit due to burn-out, but, to my knowledge, none have admitted it publicly except Coach Goestenkor.
Based on Coach Goestenkor'ss performance as the women's basketball Head Coach at Duke, she was the right choice for Texas. Duke countered Texas's financial offer. Still, she told Duke," it was not about the money" it was about the challenge." It was about a new opportunity." "It was about an adventure."
Five years later, in 2012, the "adventure" was over. Coach Goestenkor resigned because, as she said, I was physically and mentally "tired."
She was unaware that 20 years of coaching the USA international basketball teams, the Olympic team, and acting as full-time head coach at Duke had sapped her of the mental and physical energy she would need to maintain/rebuild the Texas women's basketball program.
Goal-oriented coaches can only strive for "perfection" for so long before uncontrollable realities set in that can lead to burn-out. Gail Goestenkor is a casualty of coaching 12 months a year and working 12 hours a day.
Being tired is not a flaw in someone's character. The opposite is true. Being tired is human, but it is how we handle fatigue that defines us.
In the end, a rallying cry she preached to all her student-athletes for decades knocked on her door, and she listened. Coach Goestenkor chose "TEAM MORE THAN ME!" and resigned, understanding that her state of mind would hurt the Longhorn basketball program.
Horns-up 🤘 to Gail for the 25 years of her greatness as a Head coach and the examples she set for all the young women who were fortunate to have her guidance.
