What if I had made a different decision? Experienced regrets of college coaches

Abstract

ABSTRACT Regret is a negative emotion elicited by thoughts that different actions or inactions would have yielded better outcomes. Although experienced feelings of regret can have negative consequences, anticipated regrets may positively impact decision-making. Coaches make numerous decisions daily, yet there is a dearth of information related to coaches and regret. Coaches’ emotions are commonly neglected in sports literature. To fill that gap, the current study explored experienced regrets of college coaches. Coaches were emailed an electronic survey. A total of 125 male and female coaches from a variety of sports responded, and 83.2% admitted having regrets. All regrets were content analysed, revealing three major themes: (a) sport-specific decisions, (b) coach-athlete interactions, and (c) personal. Current findings provide initial insights into college coaches’ regrets, and the researchers provide suggestions for minimising similar regrets among future coaches.