Predicting Performance in College Basketball in Puerto Rico through Coaches' Emotional Intelligence and Team Cohesion. Mondriguez, Luis A. Northcentral University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2017. 10257198.

Emotional intelligence (EI) and team cohesion have been identified as relevant factors that may contribute to performance in sports. At the college level, optimum performance in sports may benefit an institution in different ways. High performance of a basketball team, at the college level, appears to yield positive effects on revenue, tuition increases, and institutional image. Thus, athletic directors are engaged to recruit the best available coaching staff for their institutions due to the positive relationship between the quality of coaches and performance in sports. The problem addressed in this study is the inability of athletic directors to generate appropriate revenues to efficiently operate athletic programs. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to examine the extent to which basketball coaches’ levels of emotional intelligence (EI) and team cohesion predict team performance at the college level in Puerto Rico. Participants included 71 college basketball players and nine basketball coaches who belong to the Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria (Inter University Athletic League) in Puerto Rico. Five men and five women basketball teams participated in the study. The Modified Version of the Emotional Intelligence Scale (MVSEIS) was administered to basketball coaches to measure their EI. The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) was administered to basketball players to measure team cohesion. Team performance was measured by considering the win percentage record, over a period of two regular seasons, of each team that participated in the study. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship ( p < .001) between coaches’ EI and team performance. The findings also indicated a statistically significant relationship ( p < .001) between coaches’ EI, team cohesion, and team performance. There was not a statistically significant relationship between team cohesion and team performance. The results of this study have practical applications that can be applied through the recruitment process of coaches in sports. Measuring the level of EI might be considered as one criterion when recruiting coaches at the college level or at other levels of competition.