When you move from assistant to head coach, the job changes overnight. The meetings, calls, and decisions pile up faster than any game plan. For Dan Wodicka, head coach at Johns Hopkins University, that transition came with a powerful lesson that reshaped how he leads — and how other coaches can, too.
At the center of his philosophy lies the 90/10 rule coaching mindset: control what you can, focus on what matters, and don’t waste energy on the noise. It’s a principle that defines his approach to coaching leadership balance and sustainable success.
1. Apply the 90/10 Rule to Protect Your Mental Energy
Wodicka’s father, a longtime department head at Purdue University, gave him advice that stuck:
“Ten percent of the people you deal with are going to be constant headaches. Don’t spend 90 percent of your thoughts on that ten percent.”
That perspective changed how Wodicka runs his day. Instead of chasing every small issue, he filters decisions through three core principles:
- Are we giving our players the best student-athlete experience possible?
- Are we maintaining academic excellence?
- Are we doing what it takes to win football games?
If an issue doesn’t touch one of those areas, it doesn’t get top priority.
This focus-based decision-making is the heart of the 90/10 rule coaching approach, helping him conserve mental energy and lead with clarity.
Takeaway: Define your own core principles, and make every decision pass through them. It prevents emotional exhaustion and keeps you centered on what matters most.
2. Delegate to Develop Future Leaders
When Wodicka first became head coach, he tried to handle everything himself — logistics, operations, travel, and communication. It didn’t take long to realize that wasn’t sustainable.
“As much as you want to do it all yourself, you can’t,” he said. “Delegating isn’t just about survival — it helps your assistants grow.”
Now, his assistants manage more than position groups. They oversee travel, recruiting coordination, and administrative tasks — building the skill set they’ll need when they run their own programs.
This mindset reflects another key part of 90/10 rule coaching: knowing when to step back so others can step up.
Takeaway: Assign real responsibility. Delegation for coaches strengthens your staff, empowers your future leaders, and frees you to focus on the vision instead of daily chaos.
3. Prioritize What’s Important Now
Wodicka uses a simple time management philosophy — focus on What’s Important Now (W.I.N.).
Each day brings new requests, but not every one deserves equal attention. He starts each morning by identifying:
- What must be handled today?
- What can wait until next week?
- What can wait until the offseason?
That discipline keeps his schedule from controlling him. By applying the 90/10 rule coaching principle, he maintains focus on the most impactful tasks and avoids distractions.
Takeaway: Treat your time like game management — decide what plays matter most, and let the rest go. Effective time management for football coaches is what separates busy leaders from productive ones.
4. Balance Makes You a Better Leader
Early in his tenure, Wodicka admits he worked too much and enjoyed it too little. The birth of his daughter, Winnie, changed that.
“When I get home and have an hour and a half with her, that’s better than answering emails for an hour and a half,” he said. “You come back the next day refreshed and ready to lead.”
That shift reflects another truth of coaching leadership balance: personal fulfillment drives professional performance. By applying the 90/10 rule coaching mindset to his life, Wodicka learned that rest and family time are essential parts of sustainable success.
Takeaway: Rest and family time aren’t signs of weakness. Balance makes great coaching sustainable — it sharpens your focus and renews your energy.
5. Remember Why You Started
After learning to focus, delegate, and balance, Wodicka rediscovered something vital — the joy of coaching. He reminds himself often of a lesson passed down from legendary Johns Hopkins coach Jim Margraf:
“Pressure is for surgeons and soldiers, not college football players.”
That simple truth reframed everything. Coaching is demanding, but it should also be fulfilling. Staying grounded in the 90/10 rule coaching perspective keeps Wodicka — and his staff — connected to their purpose.
Takeaway: When you keep perspective, you lead with authenticity and passion — and your players feel it.
Final Thought
Dan Wodicka’s 90/10 rule coaching philosophy isn’t just a leadership trick; it’s a survival guide for long-term success.
Focus on what matters, empower your people, and protect your peace — because the best leaders in football coaching guide their programs with both clarity and joy.
Schedule a meeting to learn more about Tully today!
Schedule a meeting to learn more about Tully today!
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Transcript
John Snell (00:02.009)
Hi, Dan, congratulations on another big win. You obviously have had some great wins this past season, and we’re excited to have you on. Want to give you an opportunity to give some props to your coaching staff, so feel free to do that before we get things started.
Dan Wodicka (00:22.574)
Absolutely. Well, I first off appreciate you all having me on. yeah, I can’t say enough about our coaching staff here, to be honest with you. And then something that I was really excited about going into this season and really proud that we were able to keep our full-time coaching staff from last season. And I think that really, really shows how dedicated these guys are and really knew not only this season, but going forward.
how special this program is. And they helped me out and you know, in the division three world, it’s not just coaching, know, X’s and O’s, they helped me out with absolutely everything when it comes to running the program. But specifically, you know, Coach Revot, it’s on the offense side of the ball. You know, the results have spoken for themselves this year of just, you know, really, really high powered offense. And I’m really proud of him.
going through last year with having some injuries at some key positions and finding ways to win games and has really grown a lot in his time here and then going on to the defense side of the ball, Coach Hill.
I joke, but I don’t joke all the time. I was the old defensive coordinator here and thank goodness I fired myself when I became the head coach. Because we had statistically one of the best defenses in the country last year and have a great group this year, led by some great senior leadership on the defense as well. And I can talk for a while about all the coaches, but I’ll also add specifically Coach Rio Bird.
our recruiting coordinator. We all know, you know, to run a successful program, hey, you got to get guys that fit our, here, you know, fit our academic profile or, you know, a culture fit and also great football players. It’s really, really tough to do. So, so really, we’re really proud of him and, and doing a great job in terms of keeping the program at the level that we think we can run it here. So, but we’re really, we’re really proud of all my guys and they, they’re doing a great job and hopefully we can keep this thing rolling.
John Snell (02:26.063)
Well, again, congratulations. And you you took over the job at Johns Hopkins, a place that has had great success in history and some great coaches. And I’m sure you’ve taken some things from these guys that you worked for. And as we know, you’ve been winning at a high level. part of the format, Dan, as you know, we like our
coaches to give a little coaching, share something that you know they’ve maybe learned or taken along. You had mentioned something about time management and where to allocate your mental resources. So how about you share a little bit of that with our listeners?
Dan Wodicka (03:09.244)
Yeah, absolutely. think, you know, talking from a head coach’s perspective, you know, it’s funny, right? You get into the coaching profession. know, most of us, right, because we love the game of football, love working with these young men. But, you know, it starts out very, very technical, right, at the position level or GA, whatever it may be. And then as you grow and move up, you get away from the actual football side of things pretty quickly.
and especially when you become the head coach. in terms of my transition, it’s definitely a lock gets thrown at you right away. Even if you think you’re prepared for it, you’re never fully prepared about just how many different entities you’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis, whether that’s administration and the athletic department that’s across campus, alumni, parents, you know.
You’re in charge of now, you know, 100 guys on the team and the coaching staff. And so it’s just, can get pulled in a lot of different directions. And that was definitely a struggle for me at first in terms of, hey, how do I, you know, I feel like I’m drinking out of a fire hose just constantly. And I’ve, you know, received such great, such great advice from, from all the coaches, you know, like playing and coaching for coach Margraf learned so much obviously under him.
and the coaches that I’ve been able to coach for, just getting pieces of knowledge. But something that has actually really, really stuck with me, it was actually my dad, my pops gave me some advice, and he’s an engineering professor at Purdue University, and he was the biomedical engineering department head for 25 years there. manages, managed a lot of people throughout his time, and he told me something a few months into becoming head coach. He said, there’s gonna be,
The people that you deal with, there’s going to be 10 % of them that are going to be constant headaches. All right. It’s just the truth of it. Make sure you’re not spending 90 % of your thoughts on those 10 % of people. And that’s really stuck with me in terms of just, again, like you mentioned, allocating, my mental resources and our staff’s mental resources. And it’s not just like you can’t just funnel it. Hey, hey, this one group or this one department, is that 10 %?
Dan Wodicka (05:30.52)
We know in all of life, like even if you have a great group, like, hey, we have some great players here. There’s always a few that, hey, take a little bit more, a little bit more to buy in, whether it’s culture or schemes or whatever it may be. We have the best alumni and best parents in the world, but there’s always a few that aren’t always happy about things or whatever it may be. So I’ve really tried to narrow it down into, hey, like,
what are our core principles? What am I trying to achieve with this program? What are we trying to achieve as a program? And if something, hey, affects those principles, and those are, hey, like we’re giving our student athletes the best student athlete experience possible. We’re making sure, hey, academically, they’re getting to where we want to get to. On top of it, winning football games, you know, of course. If it affects those three things, hey, it’s going to be something that’s going to be, you know, at the top of my list to get done.
Then also, you know, as the head coach, you have to think about, make sure you’re keeping those three things for two, three, 10 years down the road as well. So if it affects those, okay, this is going to be on my top of the list that day and make sure I’m getting those things done or getting back to these people or having this conversation with this player or whatever it may be.
But also just giving yourself some grace like you can’t get back to everyone over in the course of a day. And especially you go in, like say I go into the day of, these are the 25 things I’m hoping to get done. Actually, Chris Merritt, who’s the head coach at Bryant, he told me right when I became head coach, he said, your to-do list as a head coach, no matter how much you do, it’s never gonna change in length.
It’s just the truth you can come in saying hey I’m gonna do these 25 things and maybe you do 25 things But it was 25 things that popped up or throughout the course of the get-day that you weren’t expecting And so you really just have to allocate. Okay, what’s what’s really important right now? What what can wait, you know a week what can wait a month and getting back to people, you know saying hey I see this but but right now I just can’t you know, don’t have the time to work on this Can we can we follow up, know in a month from now or whatever it may be so
Dan Wodicka (07:38.372)
That has helped me a lot. also just, you know, I would say being able to balance personal life as well is something that I struggled with, you know, in my first year coaching. Because again, yeah, as I mentioned, your list never goes away. And so you feel like you can work 20 hours a day and there’s always something to do. But
but you eventually run yourself ragged and then you’re not bringing your best self into the office or into conversations with players or mentoring guys, whatever it may be. I’ve, and thankfully we, me and my wife were blessed to bring a little baby girl into the world just over four months ago. So that, and I realize now, that definitely changes life priorities pretty quickly. so having that life balance as well of knowing, like,
John Snell (08:17.189)
You
John Snell (08:23.203)
Yeah.
Dan Wodicka (08:27.676)
You know, when I get home in the evening and I have an hour and a half to hang out with little Winnie, like just hanging out with her for an hour and a half and then coming in refreshed, you know, ready to work the next day. That that’s better than me responding to emails for an hour and a half that night sometimes. So, so, so I think just from a mental side of things, you, you, you, it’s going to be a lot no matter how much you plan. But I think if you, if you go in, just giving yourself some grace and, and having a general plan on, what is really the most
important things that need to get done. And also just having, as I mentioned before, a fantastic assistant coaching staff and knowing that, hey, I think going in through my first year, I wanted to let the assistant coaching staff focus on football. That is it. Focus on the players, focus on schemes, Xs and Os, and I’ll handle the rest.
And you can’t do it on your own as hard as you try. You really can’t. And so being able to find those things to delegate to those assistant coaches, and it’s not only helping you and the program in that minute, but also helping them grow. And then them grow professionally and them getting a, and Coach Camara who I worked for, who’s the previous head coach here, he was great at that with me of seeing, hey, this is how you book travel, right? Like, know.
I go back to when we flew out to DePaul for the playoffs last year. We have this big win against Grove City. Everyone’s excited and half hour after the game, I’m getting a call from our business manager saying, hey, you need to get a flight manifest together in the next few hours. It’s just like, whoa, okay, like here we go. And so as much as you can let the assistant coaches help you out with that, so when it is time for them to be in those roles, hey, they at least feel comfortable. Hey, I’ve done this before at previous places.
John Snell (09:45.957)
Thank you.
John Snell (10:00.955)
Yeah.
Dan Wodicka (10:15.662)
So that’s my philosophy on things and I’ll be the first one to tell you I do not have it all figured out yet and I probably never will. But I’ve definitely learned a lot in this last year and a half of just how to at least keep my sanity throughout this whole process. And I think most importantly, was early on, I got away from it being fun, to be honest with you. It truly felt like, it was a stressful day every day just trying to.
hey, win football games, but also give these guys great experiences. And now going into this year, it’s wow. Like this is, yeah, this is college football. This is supposed to be fun. Coach Mark Raff would say, hey, pressure is for surgeons and soldiers, not college football players. So I’m reminding myself of that a lot more as well. And that’s where you’re your best self. You’re a true authentic self going out. And that’s why we do what we do, because at end of the day, man, this is a ton of fun. This is a ton of fun, being able to be around these amazing young men, play the best game in the world.
just be a part of their lives. it’s been a joy so far this season.
John Snell (11:19.995)
Well, I’m sure Coach Mark Graf had a lot of good things to relay to you. But it sounds, Dan, like you’ve adopted, which is called the win philosophy, which is what is important now? What’s important now? And I think if you adopt that and really focus or hone in on, yeah, this has to be dealt with now, this can be dealt with later, this can be dealt with down the road, I think that helps you in terms of
Dan Wodicka (11:25.662)
Absolutely.
Dan Wodicka (11:33.788)
Yep, exactly.
John Snell (11:49.531)
knowing where to spend your time. And as you said, that’s critical because a lot of things can come into your office and bombard you and you feel overwhelmed with, God, how do I handle this? But if you go back to that philosophy of what’s important now that can help you discern where to spend your time. And I think that’s really good. And the better you learn that or recognize that or live that, the easier your life is gonna be as a head coach.
Dan Wodicka (11:59.89)
Mm-hmm.
Dan Wodicka (12:19.302)
You nailed it. You nailed it. Exactly right.
John Snell (12:22.127)
So again, we can’t express enough congratulations to you. You’ve had some great wins. We wish you the best as you continue on. So good luck the rest of the way. And thanks again for your time and congrats on this great recognition.
Dan Wodicka (12:39.1)
Awesome, I really appreciate it guys. Seriously, thank you so much. It means a lot to myself and the coaching staff and thank you for everything that you do, promoting Division III football. It’s been a really, not just for us, but it’s been a really fun season, I think around the country and just feel like more so than ever, so many big games that have already happened throughout this year. So I’m excited to see that continue on for the next couple months here.
John Snell (13:03.471)
Hopefully we’ll see at some point down the road.
Dan Wodicka (13:05.682)
That’s the hope. Thank you.