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How Do You Sustain Elite Success?
The toughest thing to do in sports is to sustain success at an elite level year after year. It is underrated and overlooked. It's why I don't think things like Kansas' run of 14 straight regular season titles or Gonzaga's string of NCAA Tournament appearances get celebrated enough. We emphasize the tournament, the playoffs, the rings so much that we don't appreciate how hard it is to be consistently great year after year.
I was talking recently with a head coach who just had a great year in his first year as a head coach, and his question for me was a great one - how do you sustain it?
In nine years at Rhode Island College we went to 8 straight NCAA Tournaments, winning 5 regular season titles and 6 league tournament titles. Our regular season finishes were 1st five times, 2nd three times and 3rd once.
I had a special group of players and they bought into something uncommon. I've said it for years that I don't know if I'll ever be a part of a culture that good. It was special. But the conversation made me think hard about it - how do you sustain elite success?
It's not like I had a blueprint for this when I first became a head coach. A lot of these lessons were learned along the way, through success and failure.
Define Who You Are Clearly And Simply
As a head coach you have to have a clear vision of who you want to be as a program. And you have to make this clear and simple for your players.
Define the core values and standards for your program. Your values should define who you are as a team - and you should define them in behavioral terms. Your standards are your benchmarks of our conduct, how you measure and evaluate what you do.
Your culture is the behavior that comes as a result of your shared beliefs. It is not just the beliefs themselves. Think of your culture as action. Define the behaviors for your team. You cannot ever over-communicate your values and standards.
Think of it this way - if I asked everyone of your players to describe your program in one word, what would they say? Would they all say the same thing? Or at least something similar? At RIC our word was "relentless."
You have to clearly define your culture to get your kids to believe in it and to be able to sustain it at a high level.
Alignment
The culture of your program needs to align with who you are, but also with the culture of the institution you work at, as well as the players in your program. It will be very hard to sustain elite success otherwise.
You have to be true to yourself. You also have to be able to recruit talented athletes - and retain them - at your school, and to do that they better feel comfortable there. Your school, your program, your own beliefs and the character of your players should all fall in line for you to truly sustain elite success.
You have to live your culture, every day. Your players do as well. They should be walking billboards for what you believe in. If you don't have alignment, and your culture only matters to them when they are in front of you, success will be hard to sustain.
Put Your Culture First - Always
After my first year at RIC we had some issues in the spring with some guys being late for class. So our rule was we would meet at 7 AM as a team, and after the meeting the guys would run. I'm sure some of the guys were testing me because the season was over to see if I'd still follow through on the rules regarding classes.
I got on the guys pretty good that morning and made it very clear that we weren't going to put up with being late for class. I told them directly that if they didn't like it, they could leave. One of our rising sophomores, Benjy Nichols, who was frustrated because he didn't think he should be there because he wasn't late himself, spoke up and said "Man, this is bullshit." And he walked away.
Benjy was a great kid, and a good player, a rotation guy who would have a chance to start as a junior and senior. I loved having him on the team. When he walked away, I had a pit in my stomach. I was thinking to myself 'what if everyone starts walking away right now?' I was afraid we'd have a mutiny.
I stood firm, just looked at the guys and said "Anyone else?" And no one moved. Benjy would never play for us again, even though he would stay in school and go on to graduate. And he and I have stayed in touch.
I always think of that day as one of the most important in establishing our culture. From that point forward, our guys knew that if they tested me (or what we believed in) that I wouldn't flinch. I learned that day that you have to be willing to lose a good player for your culture. Always put your culture first.
Create Ownership
Your values, your standards, and your overall culture - they need to be things that are worth fighting for. If they are really going to be willing to fight for it, it has to be theirs. It can't just be something you are telling them about every day. It has to be something they own.
Creating ownership is a huge key to advancing your culture to an elite level, and progressively sustaining success. You are the leader, and you certainly have to guide the process. But let your players own it. Ask a lot of questions, and listen as much as you can. Ask them what they think the core values should be, and ask them how they would define them. When something doesn't meet your standards, don't declare that what they did isn't good enough, ask a question - Is that good enough for us? Does that meet our standard?
Don't just get them to buy into what you believe in. Get them to tell you what they believe in. Ask questions, and be willing to listen. Ownership of your culture helps create an environment where you can sustain success.
Talent Matters
Sometimes with all of the talk you hear about culture, it's to forget about the importance of talent. Getting buy-in to the difficult stuff you need to do to win big is certainly easier if it is easier for them to do what you ask of them. Talented players find it a lot easier to do some of the stuff you want them to do - and when they realize they can do it, they'll buy into it quicker.
This is a lesson I learned first-hand when I took over the Maine job. At RIC, I took over the best team in the league. At Maine, I took over the worst. It was certainly easier to get guys to buy-in to our culture given that we saw some success at RIC, and that they found it easier. At Maine, everything I was asking them to do was hard.
It seems obvious that to sustain a high level of success, you need to have talent. But it gets overlooked more than you think. Not every kid you recruit is going to be a foot soldier for your values or a great culture guy. But they might be able to get you 15 and 10 night in and night out.
You can't get too caught up in just recruiting guys that fit your culture. You have to make sure you get the talent you can win with. If your culture is right and your players take ownership of it, you can absorb some guys within that culture that aren't quite as bought-in. The strength of your culture and the leadership of your team will give you a feel for who you can take and how they'll fit in. But you certainly need talent to sustain success, so don't take that for granted.
Be Flexible
One thing I learned about our culture is that it was always fluid. My approach was constantly evolving. Of course there are basic core values that you always believe in, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try new approaches. If you aren't adapting, you aren't getting better. You are likely getting worse.
In my 7th year at RIC the dynamics of our roster had changed. We lost the best point guard in the league who was also the best leader I had ever coached, and he had led us to back-to-back Sweet 16s and four straight NCAA Tournaments. While we still had talent in the program, our two beset players were big guys and my junior point guard was more of a tough, physical player than he was the jet point guard we had been used to.
We were a fast team that liked to play in transition and go off the dribble, but our personnel didn't fit that style anymore. Our 3 best players all were physical players who got their work done inside. So instead of our wide open, dribble-drive attack we went to a flex offense. I was never a big fan of the flex because I didn't like the spacing, and I wanted our guards to have room to create. But it fit our personnel better that year, so in year 7 as a head coach we made a major change. We went on to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament that year, running an offense I really didn't like.
My point is this - don't get stuck doing things the same way, just because you have been successful. Your basketball decisions, the way you advance your culture, everything about your approach should constantly be evolving.
Be Consistent
The reason why your culture has to be clearly defined and explained, and aligned with everything you believe in, is because your players need to see you living it every day. They have to see it in your behavior. When they see that, they'll know how much it really means to you, and it will mean more to them.
You must be consistent. Your culture has to be who you are, and you have to live it on and off the court, in season and out. The Program has a great saying that "whatever you walk past, that is your new standard." So if you walk past the gym and guys are going half-speed, and you don't say anything, that is your new standard. If one of your players comes out of the game bitching and moaning and it isn't addressed, that is your new standard.
Be consistent and live your culture every day. The strength of your culture will give you the chance to sustain an elite level of success.
Kamari Williams
Kamari Williams was the Rookie of the Year in the Little East in 2004 on a team that won 11 games. He was first-team all league as a sophomore in 2005. As a senior he came off the bench, playing 13 minutes per game for a team that won 27 games.
I was Kamari's third coach in three years when I took over Rhode Island College in 2005. Kamari was first-team all league the year before I arrived. While Rhode Island College had never been past the Little East semifinals, I was lucky enough to take over a very talented team. I didn't know it at the time, but I took over the best team in the league that first year.
One of the first decisions I made when practice started was to switch up the backcourt. Kamari had been the point guard and was used to having the ball in his hands, but to me he was more of a natural scorer than a point guard. We had another really talented guard, Kinsey Durgin, who was jet quick and more of a distributor than Kamari. I felt like Kinsey was a better fit at the point, so I made the change. That first year, Kinsey was our point guard and Kamari was our two guard.
We had a pretty good first year, winning 19 games as I tried to figure out what the heck I was doing. Kamari started that year and was a good player, but didn't have an all-league type year. Kinsey Durgin was named first team all-league that year.
I'll never forget my first loss ever as a head coach. It was our second game of the year, and we were playing Wheaton in the finals of their tournament. We had a 7-point lead in the last two minutes, a game we absolutely should have closed out. We blew the lead. And I had Kamari on the bench in those last two minutes, playing Kinsey and another guard who I thought were playing better.
Kyle Smith (a college teammate of mine and now the head coach at Washington State) came to the game while on a recruiting trip in New England. We talked after the game, and we went over the final minutes. I told him we worked on time and score every day. I couldn't believe we blew that lead. He said our guards didn't look comfortable with the ball, and I told him that Kamari had been the point guard the year before, but I had him on the bench. I told him Kamari hadn't been playing great so I wasn't comfortable with him having the ball. And he said, "Yeah, but your team is. They are used to him having the ball. When he's in control, they feel like they are going to win."
When he's in control, they feel like they are going to win. That was one of the first lessons I learned as a head coach. It didn't really matter what I thought, as much as it mattered what the team thought. Kamari made his teammates feel like they were going to win. There was a comfort level within the team when Kamari had the ball. Kamari was a closer. The players knew that. I didn't. Lesson learned.
At the start of Kamari's senior year we knew we had a chance to be really good. We had almost the entire team back from the year before, and we added one big-time newcomer in Bobby Bailey. As we prepared for the start of the season, which would be an exhibition game at Iona College, Kamari got hurt. It was a brutal break for Kamari, as we went down to Iona and won that exhibition game, a huge moment in what would go on to be the greatest season in RIC basketball history. Kamari had to watch from the bench, cheering his teammates on instead of playing.
With Kamari hurt, a sophomore guard from the Bronx, Tirrell Hill, stepped up. He took Kamari's spot in the starting line-up for our first few games, and we got off to a great start. That team was loaded with great guards. Kinsey Durgin was back as our point guard, and he'd go on to be first-team all league for a second year in a row. Kamari had already been first team all-league. Tirrell would go on to be first team all-league as a junior and a senior. Bobby Bailey would be all-league three years in a row, and as a senior he would be the league player of the year. And Cam Stewart would never win an all-league award (probably because there weren't any left), but he would score 950 points in his career. So we had 6 first-team all league seasons, and 8 all-league seasons overall, in one backcourt. Our guards were pretty damn good.
So as the season moved on and we were playing well, Kamari continued to come off the bench. We played a lot of guys and Kamari was still playing a key role, but only for 10-15 minutes per game. Kamari wanted to play more, which was fine with me - all my guys wanted to play more, and I wanted it that way. We had many one on one conversations that year in the office, usually initiated by Kamari - in my second year, I still didn't realize the importance of one on one communication with my players. Kamari always handled himself properly, even if we disagreed. He never complained, we would talk about what he could do better, and talk about what the team needed to win. And he'd always say the same thing before he left. "I'm with you, Coach. You don't have to worry about me. I just want to win."
I knew it hurt him that he wasn't starting and playing a larger role. Of course it was. But he refused to put himself ahead of the team. And it was funny, because the narrative was such that people thought there was an issue between us. Former first-team all league player, now a back-up coming off the bench, not putting up the same numbers - they must not be getting along. I can see how people thought that, but it wasn't the case. And the reason we were cool, and it didn't impact our team, wasn't because of me. It was because of Kamari Williams. He used to come to me. I was still young as a head coach, and I hadn't really learned how much time I needed to spend off the court with my players, to really get to know them and how to coach them. I was just coaching my team, and we were rolling. But Kamari would come to me, and we'd have those conversations. "I'm with you, Coach. I just want to win."
I've always said one thing that made that team so special was that we had six seniors, but only two of them started. And all six of them were good enough to play - probably to start - on almost every team we played. Kinsey Durgin and Tony Pierlioni started most of the year. Brian Stanko, Amde Tegbaru, John Weir and Kamari Williams all came off the bench. Kamari was such a big part of why that team was special. A future hall-of-famer, a first-team all league player, a 1,200 point scorer was willing to sacrifice and come off the bench because it was best for the team. Even though he clearly wanted more, and probably deserved more based on his production and ability. It's pretty easy for everyone else to fall in line behind that.
Kamari was still a big factor for that team despite the fact that I was playing him less. He was a natural scorer, a playmaker with the ball in his hands, and someone who brought a sense of calm to the court. He wasn't perfect, for sure, and I probably focused too much on those things - he wasn't a great defender, and at times he'd pull up from Seekonk. But his teammates knew they could count on him. And what better connection is there to your teammates than that?
I can only imagine what other coaches in the league thought about him coming off the bench as a back-up when he had been first team all-league as a sophomore - like damn, how good is that team? I always tell my teams I don't really care who starts, but I care who finishes. It was pretty rare when our 5 starters were on the floor together to finish a game. And Kamari was a finisher. I'll never forget him draining deep 3s in front of the student section at Amherst in the Elite 8 as we mounted a furious comeback, in what would be his last college game. Our guys wanted Kamari on the floor with the game in the balance. When he's in control, we feel like we are going to win.
Kamari Williams taught me so much about the value of selflessness on any high-performing team. He taught me the about sacrifice, and the willingness to put your teammates first. We use that word, sacrifice, all the time, don't we? But what does it really look like? It looks like Kamari Williams as a senior. He taught me the importance of having people who you enjoy being around, the way his eyes lit up every time he walked into a gym. His approach never changed, his confidence never wavered. He taught me about the one on one time you need to spend with your players to truly get to know what they are all about, so you can coach them the right way. He taught me never to trust the popular narrative, to dig deeper and get to know the truth. He taught me so much about what being fully invested in your teammates really looks like.
I love the fact that Kamari went on to coach high school and AAU ball back in his hometown of Springfield. He was a kid who just wanted to ball, a natural who could light up a gym with his talent and his charisma. He never really came across like he was going to coach. But he belonged in a gym. I'm sure when he got home after he graduated he just walked into a gym somewhere in the fall because it was a part of him. And started making the kids better.
I'd see him at a summer event and we'd talk about some of his frustration with his players, saying "Coach, these kids just don't get it. They don't want to guard anyone, all they want to do is shoot." And I'd look at him funny, and we would just laugh out loud together. He'd talk to me about some of the lessons he learned from our program, and how it took a long time for them to have an impact, even on him. How he was fighting every day to teach his own lessons to the kids he was coaching, to try and get through to them sooner. We'd talk about his journey, and he'd thank me for not giving up on him. And I'd thank him for the exact same thing.
I'm not sure I coached Kamari Williams the right way to be honest. It was my first two years as a head coach, I made some tough decisions, but I don't know that I understood empathy or how to connect with each individual player. But Kamari bought in to what we were trying to do, even though personally he wasn't getting everything he wanted. He bought in because his teammates mattered to him, more than anything else. He believed in me when believing in me wasn't easy. He taught me what sacrifice actually looks like.
Kamari Williams was the Rookie of the Year, and a first-team all-league player in his first two years in college. As a senior, he came off the bench to help his team have the greatest season in school history. How many players could handle that situation, let alone thrive in it? I know Kamari Williams was so much more than a basketball player. But who Kamari Williams was as a person came through so much when you got to see him as a player.
I can only think how lucky those kids he coached from Springfield were to have Kamari in their lives. When he's in control, we feel like we are going to win. I know how lucky I am to have had him in mine.
"Success Demands Accepting The Risk"
"It is impossible to master the countless variables of leadership to guarantee a perfect result. Ultimately, the best you can do is to increase the probability of success. Failure rides alongside, but success demands accepting the risk. I found that being confident of my commitment, but humble about my ability to control the outcome, is the best I can do."
- Stanley MyChrystal, "Leaders"
Fran Dunphy
Was invited to share a call with former Penn and Temple coach Fran Dunphy (thanks Pat Scanlon, Greenwich Country Day) this week. Coach Dunphy isn't just a great coach, but almost universally regarded as one of the best people in the game, always willing to share his time.
Some of the notes I took from his talk -
- One of the challenges when we take over as head coaches is we are generally "a lot more insecure when we are younger," and therefore not as prepared to share responsibility with our staff, or give ownership to our players.
- He noted that he used to take 2 1/2 hours to plan a 2 1/2 practice, before realizing if he shared the responsibility with his assistants his practice planning and practices themselves became more efficient.
- When building a culture - show empathy and vulnerability (hard to do as a young head coach).
- If he could do it all over again, he said he'd "pick 6 guys" who were veteran head coaches and pick their brain and listen to them.
- He also said he would do more scrimmaging in practice.
- He'd probably be less hard on players in front of the team, and do that more 1 on 1.
- Load management is something we are "probably overdoing a bit."
- Against Princeton, his main key was "great ball pressure in the scoring area."
- "The really good guys in our profession hold their teams accountable for everything."
- "I was much more inclined to beat my team up after a win than after a loss."
- "Guys love to watch film when they make good plays. Your job is to get them to appreciate watching a bad play."
- He talked about how his favorite team of all-time was a Penn team that was beating Princeton at halftime 33-9 and ended up losing that game. After the game, he just pulled up a chair and told his team that it was his fault, and mentioned the things he could do better. After that, they went around the room and each player talked about what they could have done better that night. The team went on to win their next 4 league games on the road, won the Ivy Championship and went to the NCAA Tournament.
- "Great teams stay together forever."
The first time I met Coach Dunphy I was an assistant at Providence and he brought his team in to play Brown, and they practiced at our facility. So I set up the gym for them and introduced myself to him. He asked about where I was from, how long I had been at Providence, and started a conversation. I mentioned to him that my brother had graduated from Penn in 1992.
The next time I saw Coach Dunphy was in July when we were on the road recruiting. He sat down next to me to watch a game, and before I could say hello and re-introduce myself, he said "Hey, Walshy, how's that genius brother of yours doing?"
He's absolutely one of the best people in the coaching business.
NCAA Travel
One interesting look from Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer on how the NCAA may have to change to save money: Cutting down on travel.
Will non-revenue sports still be able to fly all over the country for a league game?
Free Leadership Seminars
I've been asked by a few different coaches and organizations to do online clinics and presentations on leadership during this time when most of us are staying home. We are all looking for ways to stay connected and get better when we can't get together in-person.
So I had this idea. I'm happy to do one hour sessions with any staff, team, organization or group on any relevant topic connected to leadership, culture, team-building or the like. I will present and create a dialogue on relevant topics to your organization based on your feedback and needs. We will use Zoom as the platform, and you can include as many people as you want.
All of the seminars I will do will be free - with one catch. After the seminar, I ask that you, your team members or your organization overall decide what the seminar was "worth" to you, and you make a donation to a local charity of your choice.
There are plenty of people who can really use our help right now. Donate to first responders funds, local small businesses, food banks, shelters, even go donate blood - just find a local group in your area that can really use the help right now, and do what you can. It can be $50, $100, five dollars for each participant - whatever you feel like you can give. I really don't care about the amount. Every bit makes a difference and there are a lot of people who can use the help right now.
So it's an opportunity to stay connected to your team and make them better, while also doing a little good for some people on the front line of this pandemic who need support.
Please send me an email at bwalsh23@live.com if you are interested. We can communicate on what type of seminar will most benefit your group, and set up a time where we can make it work.
Be smart, stay safe, stay healthy.
Afraid Of Winning
Ron Shelton wrote and directed Tin Cup as well as Bull Durham and a bunch of other movies. I just read this quote in an interview he did about making Tin Cup.
"I’ve often felt more people are afraid of winning than they are of losing. To win, you then have to own it. You have to wear the crown and you have to defend the crown. That’s much harder than almost making it, and being competitive, and being a hell of a guy."
Interesting. Don't know if I agree or disagree, but it's something worth thinking about.
Body Language
I'm not sure we have the right approach to body language. I just don't know that we should be making a big deal out of it. I get it, it doesn't look good, it's not a positive thing and you don't want to show any sign of frustration or weakness. I just don't know if we should really be making that big of a deal out of it. I've always been more concerned with the response to the negative action that caused the body language, and not the body language itself. I want to coach the behavior, not the response to it.
I've coached some great players who exhibited bad body language. They were great competitors and they got frustrated when things didn't go their way. I'm not saying this is how I wanted them to respond. Sure, I'd love it if everyone was always calm and composed and never showed any sign of frustration. But not everyone has that kind of make-up. If they then respond with a bad play due to frustration, that is what I have a problem with. It's the next action I'm concerned with, and I'm not sure the body language really dictates that. A lot of guys get frustrated when they come out of games and they'll slump on the bench or put their head down for a second. Even though it might not be the response that you want, it's part of caring and competing. We all show some sort of reaction when things don't go our way. If you aren't putting that guy back in because he showed bad body language on the bench, and he can help you win, I think you are making a big mistake.
I also feel there is a hypocritical element to this as coaches. If you filmed the head coach during a close game and examined his body language, I'm pretty sure he'd have the worst body language of anyone in the gym. Most coaches react emotionally to negative things that happen in the games. Would the body language you exhibit during a game be acceptable to you if a player did the same thing? If body language really matters to you and you are going to police it, you have to start with yourself. A lot of coaches hate the "palms up" reaction from their players when something doesn't go their way, but don't the coaches do the exact same thing all the time? If the body language of your players is important to you, your own body language better be important to you as well. If not you are just setting yourself up as a hypocrite.
I've always found the way we deal with body language as coaches to be subjective. I know when I was a young head coach I was a lot more vocal about a young, immature back-up who exhibited bad body language than if one of my best players did it. If one of my best players showed bad body language we would say he's just really competitive, whereas when someone else did it we'd say it was unacceptable. When a great player reacts poorly we tend to make excuses so that the body language doesn't have to be addressed. I guess what I'm saying is I don't think we are that good at evaluating body language, and half the time our response probably has more to do with how we are feeling at that moment than about the outward show of frustration from our player.
Think about Tom Brady. Might be the greatest athlete of our time, certainly in the discussion as the best football player to ever play. He might be the greatest competitor I have ever seen. Forget that he's Tom Brady for a second and just look at his body language. He complains to the officials - verbally and demonstratively - often. He shows outwards signs of frustration with his teammates when they screw up. He gets animated on the sideline, and when he gets frustrated you can see it in his face and his entire body. Is his bad body language a problem? If an average quarterback did the exact same he'd likely get killed for it. When it's Tom Brady we call it leadership.
I've had this conversation with friends about great players in any sport. Tiger Woods sometimes slams his club and curses. He certainly shows outward signs of disgust when he hits a bad shot. Lebron James complains about fouls and is very visible with his displeasure. That might not necessarily how we want them to respond - or how they want to respond themselves. But the point is, these are great players who show outward signs of bad body language pretty regularly.To me, that is part of who they are, part of their personalities. Would they be the same player if their coaches were so focused on toning that body language down? I'm not sure that they would be. And honestly, I'm not sure why their coaches would want to spend their time worrying about it. If it's not having a negative affect on performance, I wouldn't spend a lot of time on it.
There's actually one thing I like about body language. At least I know what I'm dealing with. Body language is a great cue as to what your team needs. Sure, you don't want to see a lot of frustration, but when your kids react negatively you know you've got to bring them back. Just like when your kids get a little too excited and you want to calm them down. I'd prefer the kid who gets a little emotional on the court than the one who is completely flatlined. Sometimes those kids are hard to coach because you aren't sure what they need or how to get them going. It takes me a little longer to learn how to coach the kid who never shows any signs of emotion.
Your team gets scored on, gives up a lay-up. It was way too easy. You are upset. Your guys just kind of turn and run up the floor on offense. Have you ever said - in that scenario - "Hey guys, one of the problems is we just gave up a lay-up, and it doesn't really look like anyone cares. It didn't matter to anyone." I've heard this a lot in dealing with players individually, showing them film, trying to get more out of them. Heck, I've done it myself. But if you say that as a coach, what are you hoping to get out of them? Do you want to see some outward sign of frustration or disappointment that tells you they are upset about it? What would give you an indication that they care? It would likely involve some sort of bad body language.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of bad body language. It's not like I enjoy seeing it. I just think as coaches we make too big of a deal out of it. We try and evaluate it too much, and often we want to use it to fit our own narrative about our players, as opposed to seeing it objectively.
If I a guy shows me a sign that he's frustrated through his body language I may take him out of the game for a few minutes to try and calm him down. I absolutely think you have to know your players, and you have to understand what their verbal cues mean. But I'm much more concerned with the physical and mental response on the next play than I am any outward sign of emotion. I will tell you this - if I look down the bench and see a kid who looks a little frustrated on the bench, I sure as heck am not leaving him there just because I don't like his body language. If we need him in the game, he's going in the game before I have a chance to analyze what a scowl on his face or slumped shoulders might mean.
I'm a big believer that you have to let the kids be themselves to get the most out of them. That doesn't mean they do whatever they want. But if they get a little frustration and show some outward negative emotion, I'm not going to overreact. I think it's a natural part of being a competitor.
If a kid reacts a certain way and needs a little time to shake it off, I'm okay with that, as long as he's ready to go on the next play. If he can't respond correctly on the next play we have to correct that, not his body language.
Coach the behavior, not the reaction.
Coaching A Confident Team
Below is the link to the online coaching clinic that I did on March 30th on Coaching A Confident Team. The presentation is about 50 minutes long all in.
https://summit.coachesclinic.com/talks/coaching-a-confident-team/
Leading In Tough Times
Two keys in tough times - people management and task management. And a third - self management.
"The facts are always friendly."
"One way to keep people focused on positive action is not to slip into the trap of automatic sympathy. While it makes a person in victim mode feel good to hear such things as “that’s terrible, you must feel awful, they should fix it, poor baby”, etc., those are the wrong messages. They imply that the power is out there, with those bad people who are doing you wrong, with that evil competitor or that rotten economy. A more effective way to get and keep the right focus is with statements such as “yes, that’s tough – what are you going to do about it?; I wish it was different, but it’s not – what did you learn from it?; I understand you’re angry – so how will you avoid this in the future?”. These responses imply that the power remains with the individual and that some positive can come from this tough situation. A key to great leadership in tough times is helping people see reality and helping them find appropriate ways to deal with it."
Coach The Behavior, Not The Personality
A big part of being a successful coach is developing strong relationships with our players, and getting to know their personalities. Every kid we coach is different, and a big part of leadership success is to know who we are coaching and what buttons to push. We want to understand the personality of everyone we coach.
But as we get to know our kids really well - and we should - we can easily put them in a box. We get to know the characteristics of our players very well, but when we do we rarely allow for the fact that those characteristics can change. If a kid is lazy, he's always going to be lazy to us. If he is always joking around, we are going to think he doesn't take it seriously enough. And if he's a really hard worker, we are going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Our impression of who our kid are can easily affect the way we coach them. There is such a thing called confirmation bias, which speaks to the way the mind works. When we are evaluating players we think we know really well, we look for behavior that confirms what we already think. And this absolutely comes through in the way we coach our players. As I've grown as a coach I've noticed plenty of scenarios where I was coaching a kid a certain way based on what I thought of him, as opposed to what they actually did.
Say you've got a tough guard who starts for you and is known as your best defender. And his back-up is a kid who is talented, but not very tough and you really don't think he's a great defender. I've noticed myself doing this. When the bad defender goes for a steal and doesn't get it, he gets hammered for being a bad defender. But when the tough defender makes the exact same play - he goes for a steal and doesn't get it - I justify it, saying he was just trying to make a play. The same play was made with the same result, but they were perceived - and coached - differently.
"Coach the behavior, not the personality," is something our athletic director Bob Driscoll said to me in a conversation we had during the season. It's such a great way to put it. Think about the way you've coached different players and different teams over the years. I'll bet the kids you maybe don't like as much, or don't believe have the right work ethic or approach, got a little bit of a different tone than the kids you held in higher regard. That kid who you believe is all-in and competes his ass off every day, he's probably getting the benefit of the doubt.
It's so easy - and almost natural - to coach the personality. That's why I think it's so common, but you have to be willing to look at your own behavior through a clear lens. The kids that get on our nerves a little bit or don't always do things the right way, their mistakes get treated differently. Their behavior isn't looked at in an unbiased fashion, it is looked at as an extension of their personality. The kids we love will always get the benefit of the doubt, and their mistakes won't get as magnified.
To get the most out of your players and your team, you have to get to know them as individuals. But be careful not to let what you think of them as people to affect the way you coach them. Take an unbiased look at what they do on the court, regardless of what you now about who they are. Coach the behavior, not the personality.
Dynamic Leadership Podcast - Chris Holtmann
Some very insightful thoughts on how he established his approach at Ohio State, and dealing with the ups and downs of this past season.
Interestingly he set his team up with a very tough schedule early because he wanted them to face some adversity, but they went out and started 11-1 and were ranked #2 in the country. He was concerned that they might take some knocks after Christmas and he wasn't sure how they would handle it. Very candid stuff.
Genius and Leadership
Reading "Leaders" by Stanly McChrystal, Jeff Eggers and Jason Mangone, which compares some of the great men and women in history and their leadership style.
"Each of us has varying abilities that can into competencies, but a quantum leap above lies the qualitatively different category of genius. Beyond a useful gift, or natural cleverness, are abilities of stunning skill that separate a genius from the rest of us. In their particular field, whether narrow or broad, geniuses do what most of us cannot.
But does that make them leaders?"
They then go on to compare Albert Einstein and Leonard Bernstein, to see if there genius translates into leadership.
It's a great question to ask yourself as a coach. Are you conflating genius and leadership? More often than not we ask our best players to also be our leaders, even though they might not possess the skills or mentality to do so.
Just because they have some level of genius, and we are drawn to their talent, doesn't make them great leaders. Make sure the people you rely on for your leadership are your best leaders, not just your best players.
When Your Player Gets A Technical
I was watching the replay of the Duke/Kentucky Elite 8 game from 1992 - the Christian Laettner game, arguably the greatest game ever played - this weekend. With just over 8 minutes to go Laettner got fouled going to the basket, and then responded by stepping on Aminu Timberlake's chest. Laettner clearly did it on purpose and got T'd up for it, and rightfully so - you could make a strong case he could have been thrown out of the game.
I sent out a tweet watching the game giving Coach K credit for not over-reacting to the technical, and leaving Laettner in the game to help his team win. There was 8 minutes to go in the biggest game of the year, and Duke obviously needed him to win the game. I wasn't giving Coach K credit for trying to win, I was giving him credit for not making an emotional decision.
I got a lot of positive interactions to the tweet, with almost 100 likes and retweets, but some of the negative responses were pretty intense, which I guess I should have seen coming given it was Coach K, Duke and Laettner. It was really interesting to see the difference in the reactions.
My point was this: When a player gets a technical foul, especially in a close game, it's a pretty emotional moment. The easiest thing to do as a coach - and I've done this - is to get upset and pull that kid out of the game, leaving him to think about what he did on the bench. It shows everyone that you are in charge and you aren't going to stand for bad behavior. But what you are doing there is adding your emotion to an already emotional situation - and that's not usually when the best decisions are made.
So I do give Coach K credit for handling that situation with composure. He didn't add negative emotion to the situation and make it worse. He figured out what was best for his team and stayed on that course. Was he trying to win the game? Hell yeah he was. That's a huge part of his job.
Now if you feel like Coach K made the wrong decision, and should have yanked Laettner from the game, I understand how you can feel that way - even if I don't agree with it. One of the toughest decisions you have to make as a head coach is if necessary discipline rises to the level of suspension for a game. If it does, then you have to make the tough call to sit your player. If it doesn't, there are plenty of other ways to discipline a player and get the right message across. I've said many times I don't believe in half-suspensions or minute restrictions, because I don't think they send a clear message (What you did was wrong! But we are going to play you enough to hopefully still win the game...). Now, is there behavior that clearly merits you are done for the game and you shouldn't check back in? Sure there is. Did this rise to that level? I'm not so sure.
And the hard truth for me is this - At the time, in the heat of a close game, when one of your players makes a terrible emotional decision - that isn't the proper time for you to make the right decision. There is so much that goes into any decision on discipline, and it shouldn't be a knee-jerk reaction that's made in a matter of 30 seconds. That's not how you make the right decision, and I firmly believe that. If you can take your time to get it right, you should do that.
I've had that type of reaction as a head coach, and I've learned from it. A kid gets a technical foul in a heated game, and I'm pissed off, so I bench him the rest of the game. But when I go back and watch the tape, I realize the officials made a mistake. He didn't do anything to deserve the technical foul, he was actually trying to help the situation. And the official clearly overreacted. But I sat him down for the rest of the game to send him a message, and I had to apologize to him and the team later. Now, is there a lesson to be learned in not putting yourself in that situation to get a technical? Certainly. But I was reacting to the T, not to the behavior of my player.
I was at a high school game a few years back watching a friend of mine coach, and his best player got a technical foul early in the second quarter after a skirmish. He and a player on the other team got a technical foul. I saw it pretty clearly, and my guys kid really wasn't involved and was trying to walk away. But the ref stuck them both. So the kid sat for the rest of the 2nd quarter (while the opposing player who got T'd up kept playing), and his team went down by 14 points, never to recover.
So I asked the coach about the T's after the game. He said they had a rule, that if you get a technical foul you sit the rest of the quarter. I found that interesting. First of all, the penalty by definition is going to be random. If you get a T with 8 seconds left in the quarter, you only sit 8 seconds. But this kid got stuck early in the quarter and had to sit over 7 minutes. That didn't make sense to me.
I asked my guy if he had ever gotten a technical foul and he said he had, he'd gotten a few. So I asked him if he always sat for the rest of the quarter when he got one and he laughed and said "no, of course not." Um, okay.
If you have a rule about technical fouls and they are unacceptable and you stick to that rule, because it works for you and it fits your personality, I have no problem with it. We all handle them differently. But not all technical fouls are the same, and the actions that lead up to them certainly aren't the same. I'm certainly not arguing against discipline or accountability. But I do think it's important to think about how consistent you are with it, and the manner in which you make those decisions.
You may have a rule about being late for practice as well, but everything is contextual. I've had players late for practice because they overslept or they were flat out lazy. But I've also had players late for practice because they had a young daughter and their mother couldn't get over in time to take care of her, so they had to wait until she arrived. And that made them late for practice. Are those situations going to merit the same response? Technical fouls come in different context as well. The difference with technical fouls is often they happen in the heat of an intense game, where it is even harder to make the right decision.
For the record, my teams have always had a rule on technical fouls which we discussed at the beginning of each year. The team would agree that they were unacceptable, and I would make sure to talk about how you can't put yourself in a position where you might get one, because sometimes the officials will overreact. We would have a team run of "11 in a minute" - 11 lengths of the floor finished in one minute, for everyone on the team, if we got a technical foul. That would give us a chance to discuss the technical and how it came about - but also to finish the game and give our team the best chance to win. I've gotten one technical foul in 13 years as a head coach, and thats' one too many. I ran the 11 in a minute drill myself the next day while the team watched.
If you want to say that Laettner stepping on Timberlake's chest was enough to bench him for the rest of that game, I get it. The truth is if we had replay back then for flagrant fouls like we do now, he probably would have gotten a flagrant 2 and been ejected from the game. Should Coach K have taken that matter into his own hands and benched Laettner immediately? You can make that argument as well. I'm not so sure. Was Coach K thinking about winning? I'm sure he was, and I don't see how you can kill him for that. It's absolutely his job to think about winning, and with 8 minutes to go until the Final Four that is only magnified. Did he put winning ahead of discipline or what was right for the player and his team? I have no idea, and neither do you. I don't know nearly enough about how he handles discipline inside his program. I have no idea if he handled that with Laettner and how he did it. You can certainly have your opinion on it, and reasonable minds can disagree.
But I do firmly believe this - making a reactive, emotional decision in the heat of a game to bench a player because he got a technical foul is not the right way to go. Measured, unemotional decisions to me lead to the best outcomes. And it is simply hard to be measured and unemotional in that moment.
Regardless of what approach works for you, it's important to be consistent. And it's harder for me to be consistent making an emotional decision during an intense game. Don't overreact to the emotion of a technical foul, take the time to make the right decision.
Get Your Defense To Help Your Offense
Watching some film from the season, going through one of our games, when they go inside the huddle. The opposing coach says, "Right now our inability to score has completely taken all the fight out of us on defense." It's a good point, and one that is pretty commonly talked about amongst coaches. When teams aren't scoring, they don't seem to have the same energy on defense. When they score, they tend to guard better. We talk about that dynamic all the time.
It's so common now that it's almost become accepted. If we can't get the ball in the basket, we aren't going to have a lot of energy defensively. But we should be trying to achieve the exact opposite - finding a place where the energy on defense is what makes our offense better, not the other way around.
It's not that easy to do, so it's something you have to really be intentional about. Once you get your guys thinking that way, the evidence is there. You'll always get some easy baskets off of great defense. So if you get stops, it's going to help your offense. A breakaway dunk or a transition 3 can be a great momentum play, and often times those start with your defense.
It's really a shift in mentality that has to come from you. You have to emphasize the defensive end of the floor, and make sure you reward great effort on that side. The kids have to no it matters. Then you have to show them how it translates into offense - how you can get easier shots and score more points. Connect the dots for them, and continue to emphasize and reward the defensive effort. That will go a long way towards flipping your mentality.
If defensive effort is a constant - and non-negotiable - for you, it shouldn't be affected by anything else. Not the previous possession, a missed shot, or a lack of points on the scoreboard. You have to drive that point home, that no matter what happens, we are going to guard. And if it's not something you generally pay close attention to as the head coach (it should be), turn it over to one of your assistants and let him or her be the bad guy. Create that mentality that the way you guard will never change. Make it something you know you can count on.
It's not easy, but winning isn't easy. Everyone of your kids would rather play offense than guard somebody. So be intentional about it. Don't accept the fact that when your offense doesn't click, your defense is going to get worse. Flip it around, and put it on your defense to pick up your offense.
Greg Wright - Hunting Park
Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer with a great story that shows the impact an AAU coach can have on his kids. RIP Greg Wright.
Battlefield Communication
"Battlefield communication is incredibly important for athletes, coaches and members of our armed forces and members of our first-responder communities." - The Program
We are constantly telling our teams to communicate. We all want our teams to communicate more. But where we miss the mark often is that we don't work with them on how to communicate. How often do you talk to your players about the most effective ways to communicate? The longer I've coached and the more I've seen the challenges teams have with communication, the more certain I am of the importance of teaching how to communicate. How many times have you heard a coach say, "I don't get it, off the court these guys won't shut up?" Well, they know exactly how to communicate with each other off the court. It's second nature. But on the court, in the heat of an intense game or practice, it's not that simple.
More from The Program:
"Words can get drowned out and our attention can be snatched by something else more pressing. We further complicate the environment when we do not communicate effectively. Too often, in a fit of frustration, people will yell a general statement to no one in particular. "We have to work harder!" or "Catch the ball!" The impact on the team is no different from the drunk, shirtless, painted fan in the stands yelling "Play defense!" Nobody listens to that guy either.
"Battlefield communication has three components: name, command and volume.
Name: Use your teammates name. Yelling "Let's go guys" has never worked. Direct your message to the person who needs to hear it. We all like to hear our name called and are far more likely to pay attention to the message delivered when our name is used.
Command: Tell your teammates what you need them to do. During the heat of battle, literal or figurative, we don't have time to be unsure and insecure. Using modifiers like "I think" or "maybe" only dilutes the message. Be clear with your command and communication.
Volume: Use the volume appropriate for the location and situation. For a pair of Marine Corps Scout Snipers in a hide site exiting a reconnaissance and surveillance mission, the appropriate volume may be a whisper. On a volleyball court, foot field, pool deck, or trading floor, the appropriate volume is nearly always loud.
Say the person's name, give the command, and use the right volume. Make it a habit."
I think this approach translates very well with basketball teams. It may not always be perfect or easy, but it is a great way to teach communication to your players. First of all, so much of what we all say gets lost in the moment, because we are naturally focused on the next most important thing. I've stood in front of my team at many practices trying to get a stern message across, only to have it fall on deaf ears. Using someone's name directly when you want to deliver a message is a great habit.
The command aspect actually gets muddled a lot more than you think it would. We always stress talking on defense, but I learned early we also had to tell them what to actually say. I've had players who called out a screen like this: "Hey, I see you Cam, here it comes, get over it, get through it..." There is too much communication, and the command actually gets lost. What I want them to say is "Screen right! Screen right!" and that's it. If you listen closely to your team and what they say on defense, I'll bet at least half of what they are saying is just noise, not a message. Well if that's the case, the actual message is going to get lost.
We used to say to our guys "Talk to the ball" on defense, a phrase of I always liked. But I've learned we have to tell them more. We want you to talk to the ball, but here is what we want you to say.
The volume, and the way the message is delivered, probably takes the most work. I don't think there's an easy scale to use to determine how loud the message should be in certain situations. The important thing is to talk to your team about how the message is delivered, and get them to pay attention to how it is received.
If your freshmen center blows a wide open lay-up off a great feed from your point guard, and your point guard screams at him "C'mon Matt! You need to focus!" he's probably going to make him more uncomfortable after missing the lay-up than he is going to get his point across. If he waits until the next whistle and pulls him aside and says "C'mon Matt, focus on that lay-up," the message will likely be a lot more productive.
A lot of the volume and the delivery of the message is going to be trial and error. The situation, the noise around you, the urgency and the receiver all play a role in how to best make the point. But it should be part of your communication process and the way you teach your team to talk.
Name, Command, Volume. Three essential aspects to effective communication, especially in the "heat of battle," or the intensity of a basketball game. Don't just tell your team to communicate. Teach them what to say, and how to do it.