Remember The Titans

Remember the Titans

There is no doubt that Remember the Titans is chalked full of moments of triumph and despair. Coach Boone is constantly a source of leadership for his players and eventually the entire community. There are many times when power come into play both on and off the field. Some examples of this power that is demonstrated in the movie are referent power, coercive power, need for power (both personalized and socialized), legitimate power and reward power. These leadership concepts are constant through the movie as well as in specific clips.

Referent power is crucial for Coach Boone to run his team in an effective and winning manner. Referent power refers to the potential influence one has due to the strength of the relationship between the leader and the followers (114). This is best demonstrated in the “Who’s your daddy scene”. Bertier comes up to coach and basically states how the team is going to be run because he is the All-American on the team. Coach Boone uses his referent power to totally flip the situation into the fact that he is now Bertier’s daddy. This is a tough pill for Bertier to swallow but since Boone effectively used his referent power, he was able to get the followers to fall into line. This is the best scene in the movie in my opinion.

Coercive power is also an effective means of motivation for Coach Boone not to lose a game. Coercive power is the potential to influence others through the administration of negative sanctions or the removal of positive events (119). This is demonstrated in the movie when the school administrator informs Coach Boone that if he loses one game that he will be losing his spot as coach. This provides Boone the strength and determination to will his team to victory. Coercive power provides enough inspiration to succeed that it drives Boone to excel in his job, and in turn, the team as well.