The Inspiring Conversations Series featured a discussion about team-building and female leadership with guest speaker Muffet McGraw, the former head women’s basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame. This virtual event was led by Chris Stevens, the co-founding director of the Inspired Leadership Initiative. Through this discussion, McGraw demonstrated ways in which leaders can effectively lead their teams, foster a culture of confidence, and better support women in leadership roles.
At the beginning of the discussion, McGraw described her childhood and her growing love for basketball. Growing up in the 1960s, there were not many choices for women in regards to sports; basketball was a sport that she was allowed to play. Living in a family with seven brothers, the sport became a staple in her life. She played for St. Joseph’s University and professionally for the California Dreams. Later, when deciding a career, McGraw knew that she wanted to continue with a job having to do with basketball. As a result, McGraw looked to coaching.
McGraw then touched on her career as a women’s basketball coach. She took a high school coaching job; she loved coaching that age group filled with enthusiastic and energetic young women. Then, she worked as an assistant coach at both St. Joseph’s University and later, as the head coach of Lehigh University. Later, a job position opened for the University of Notre Dame. Although she was reluctant to send in her resume, with encouragement from her husband, she applied to become the head coach at the University of Notre Dame.
When asked about how her leadership style at ND has adapted over the years, McGraw explained that she has changed tremendously as a leader over time. Before coming to ND, her style of leadership was described as “a dictatorship, basically.” As the number of good players joining her team grew, McGraw began to recognize that her leadership style needed to change. Instead of focusing on every mistake and every error made in games or practices, she began to let things go and spend time getting to know every one of her players. By watching her players and her colleagues, her leadership style made the dramatic shift from authoritarian to collaborator. She started to notice that, as her players began to voice their thoughts and opinions on plays (as they started to feel heard and seen), they played at their highest potential.
She described that, at their first Final Four appearance, her team and she were simply in awe of being there, taking so many pictures and relishing the moment. Finally, McGraw gleefully spoke of winning the championship in 2018. She explained that it was an honor just arriving at the championship after what her team went through, for they “lost more players than they lost games,” with the team having four ACL injuries and three losses. When ND ultimately won, it was truly a moment suspended in time.
In the next topic of conversation, McGraw delved upon women in leadership as well as the several transitions she has made throughout her life. After making the decision to retire from being a coach on the basketball court, she decided that her new path was to become a “coach in the classroom”, teaching a sports leadership class at the Mendoza School of Business. McGraw explained that, as a teacher, she still places great significance in bringing awareness to female leadership. She voiced her disappointment in the fact that society continues to have to hear “First Female” in front of several high positions and headlines; this reluctance is rooted in the upbringing of children. McGraw explained that, if you teach your daughter at an early age of her strength and potential, women in leadership roles will finally gain a sense of normalcy. However, McGraw’s influence does not stop there. In the next topic of the discussion, she touches on her work in “Meals with Muffets,” where she continually runs food drives in her neighborhood. In partnership with the Alumni Association, she founded this organization that encourages all to make a contribution in their own neighborhoods.
In the Q&A portion of the virtual event, McGraw answered a wide range of questions, touching on the importance of team culture and her role models. In her team, she made sure to foster a healthy environment, focusing on fostering a culture of accountability, unselfishness, honesty, and commitment to excellence, inspired by several influential leaders throughout her life, including Jim Foster and RBG. Now, as a teacher and a volunteer worker, she continues to exhibit these aspects in all parts of her life.
Visit the event page for more.
