Explore an Uncommon
Approach to Leadership!
Okay
"Look around you and look inside you. How many people do you think are settling? I will tell you: a hell of a lot of people. People are settling every day into okay relationships and okay jobs and an okay life. And do you know why? Because okay is comfortable. Okay pays the bills and gives a warm bed at night and allows one to go out with co-workers on a Friday evening to enjoy happy hour. But do you know what okay is not? Okay isn't thrilling, it isn't passion, it isn't the reason you get up every day; it isn't life-changing or unforgettable. Okay is not the reason you go to bed late and wake up early. Okay is not the reason you risk absolutely everything you've got just for the smallest chance that something absolutely amazing could happen." - Lauren Goodger
10 Characteristics of High Performing Teams
Clarity of Purpose - One defined mission
Deep Trust - Allows for vulnerability
Psychological Safety - Fosters competitive excellence
Uncommon Leadership - Everyone is a leader
Take Ownership - The culture is theirs
Direct Communication - Truth-tellers, always
Win Anyway - No excuses
Process - Constant performance improvement
Perspective - Emotional balance
Intrinsically Motivated - Autonomy, mastery, and purpose
Reliable
Perhaps the simplest, most important attribute you can have a player is to be reliable. It sounds pretty basic, but it's true. As a coach I want to know what I'm going to get. Regardless of what level player you are - whether you are a starter and a star or a practice player who hardly gets the horn - I just want to know what I'm going to get. That allows me a comfort level in preparing and coaching the team.
I'm always talking to my teams about being able to "count on you." Can we count on you? If we can't count on you to show up on time, to give a great effort every day - to be reliable - we certainly aren't going to count on you to win tough games on the road. One of the most important things you can do as a teammate is to prove you can be counted on.
The best way to show you are reliable starts with being honest with yourself. Evaluate what you are really good at. Not what you want to be good at or what you are working on. What are you really good at right now that can help your team? Make an honest assessment of yourself. After that it's simple. Take the things you are good at, and do them a lot. If you are a quick guard and a great on the ball defender, hawk the ball for 94 feet and impact the game that way. If you are a strong physical rebounder, go to the glass on both ends every time the ball goes up. If you are a big time shooter, find open space and be ready to catch and shoot.
There are a lot of players out there who lose value (and minutes) by trying to prove they can do things they aren't good at. They shoot quick 3s in transition when they aren't great shooters. They handle the ball in transition when they aren't a great handler. Once you start to do things you aren't good at, you become unreliable. You are doing things that won't help your team.
If you come off the bench as a great defender and rebounder, who provides energy and a spark to the team, do that every day in practice. It's okay to average 6 points and 4 rebounds a game, and you can still be very valuable to your team. But as a coach, I want to know I'm going to get that energy, that level of defense and those 6 points and 4 rebounds every day.
Once you become reliable and I know I can count on you, I know I can win with you.
Alex Caruso
“A big reason guys get stuck in the G League... they don’t realize the position they’re trying out for. It’s like going to a job interview thinking you’re going to be the CFO, and they’re looking for someone to clean the bathrooms.”
Why Did You Take Me Out?
I took you out because it was time to put someone else in. It's really that simple. Making these decisions is a big part of my job, and the goal is to put our team in the best position to win. We have a lot of players who can help us, and it's always a challenge to find the right combinations while keeping everybody fresh.
It doesn't necessarily mean you did something wrong - although if you jogged back on defense, I'm sure you know why you are coming out. It's not that I don't like you, or that I like him better than you. It's not personal, it really never is. I haven't decided that you aren't good enough to play anymore or that you belong on the bench. It was just time to give someone else a chance, and to give you a rest.
Everyone on this team competes at a high level. It's what we do. All of your teammates come to practice every day and lay it on the line, just like you do. They all have the chance to earn the right to play, just like you. Rewarding the guys who compete, produce and are great teammates with playing time is part of what makes our practices so good. And those practices are what give our team a chance to be great.
The thing is, I don't really have time for an individual meeting right now. I don't have time to speak to your parents, or explain to your AAU coach why I just took you out. We are really trying to win this game. I still love you, whether you're playing great or not at your best. But I need to focus on the next play in this game right now. I need to coach our team.
I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll fee this way, so keep this in mind. It's okay to print this out and keep it posted in your locker as a reminder. Everybody wants to play more. Everyone on this team. I want everyone to want to play more. But it's how you handle wanting to play more that tells me what type of teammate you are, and ultimately will define how successful you can be.
Hustle to the bench. Grab a drink. Catch your breath. Cheer on your teammates. Think about what you can do better to help this team when you go back in. Stay fully engaged in the game. That's the best way to get back on the floor, sooner rather than later.
I won't always make the right decision. And I have to make a lot of them. I promise you - every decision I make is with the best interests of our TEAM in mind.
Craig Counsell - New York Times
Is Craig Counsell the Best Manager in Baseball?
His Brewers could win 100 games and his players can’t believe he’s never won the Manager of the Year Award. That he’s doing it at home in Milwaukee is icing on the cake.
By James Wagner
- Sept. 15, 2021, 6:45 a.m. ET
MILWAUKEE — The last time the Milwaukee Brewers reached a World Series, Craig Counsell was 12. His father worked for the team, so Counsell would often tag along, including during that 1982 playoff run.
Usually, Counsell sat in the stands at County Stadium, the Brewers’ former home, to watch his favorite team and favorite player, the Hall of Famer Robin Yount. But when tension built during a game, Counsell would walk to a special place that had proven successful in his mind: the spot where he watched Cecil Cooper drive in the go-ahead runs to win the American League pennant for Milwaukee.
“My lucky spot was at the end of the stadium,” Counsell said recently, pointing to where it would be at American Family Field, the team’s home since 2001. “They had a ramp that sat down the right field line. It was a walkway to get to the upper deck and I would watch the game from my spot. You got to find a lucky spot.”
His vantage point is much different these days. After playing 16 seasons in the majors, Counsell — a Milwaukeean through and through — has been watching his favorite team from the dugout since 2015. All the while, he has established himself as one baseball’s best managers. This season, he has guided the Brewers to multiple milestones the team had not reached since 1982, when Counsell was there to watch them fall to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the World Series.
Through Tuesday, the Brewers, who play in the smallest market in Major League Baseball, were on pace to win a franchise record 99 games. They sat 13 and a half games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central, holding the largest division lead in M.L.B. With a record of 89-56, the Brewers were 33 games over .500 — topping the franchise’s high-water mark from 1982. And should the Brewers reach the playoffs as expected, they will have done so in four consecutive seasons, extending a franchise record for a club that played its first season in 1969.
A common thread on a team that has seen changes to its front office and roster: Counsell.
“The players have to play the game, but it starts from the top down and players feed off the manager,” said Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, who won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2018.
“I don’t think he gets enough credit,” Yelich continued later. “I really don’t. It’s almost a crime that he hasn’t won Manager of the Year the last few years. He’s definitely deserved it and he’s a huge reason for all of our success here.”
Counsell, 51, took over the Brewers after Milwaukee got off to a 7-18 start under Ron Roenicke in 2015. Before that, his coaching was limited to youth leagues with his children. But his experiences as a player prepared him to guide a team, to relate to its players and to earn their respect.
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He went from a walk-on at Notre Dame to becoming the team’s captain. An 11th round draft pick, he was a slender infielder known more for his glove (and quirky batting stance) than his bat. In 1997, when he was 26, he overcame a history of injuries in the minors to earn a regular spot in the majors. He was designated for assignment, released and traded during his career. He won World Series rings with the Florida Marlins in 1997 (scoring the winning run in Game 7 against Cleveland) and the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 (when he was the M.V.P. of the league championship series and part of the team’s winning rally in Game 7 of the World Series against the Yankees).
“He has a really good feel for the ball club,” said Brent Suter, a Brewers left-handed reliever. “When we come home from road trips, he cuts down on work. Or he adds work when its necessary. He has a really good pulse energy wise, like when he needs to talk — speeches to the team — or when he needs to let the club be. That’s somewhat instinctual, but it also comes from playing for 15 whatever years in the big leagues.”
Although Counsell said he wasn’t thinking about it much while playing, the former Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said others often viewed Counsell as a potential manager because of his experience, personality and intelligence.
“You can put all of that down on a list, but the one thing that stood out is the respect that he had of all his teammates,” Melvin said. “Whenever I talked to people in the game, he was always one of the most well respected teammates who would not accept anything less than trying to win every day.”
The thought of managing crossed Counsell’s mind more in 2011, his final season on the field, when he was 41, hitting .178 for the Brewers and, in his estimation, was “a really bad player.” He remained on Milwaukee’s roster partly because Melvin valued Counsell’s impact in the clubhouse.Sign up for the Sports Newsletter Get our most ambitious projects, stories and analysis delivered to your inbox every week. Get it sent to your inbox.
Counsell didn’t know how long it would take for him to become a manager or if it would happen. His goal was to serve in a leadership position for an organization, but his loyalties were with his hometown team.
“I felt that it would be my part to help baseball in Milwaukee moving forward after I was done playing,” he said. “I didn’t know that it was going to be this necessarily. I feel really fortunate it is. I’ve always felt a responsibility for it and enjoy that responsibility.”
Counsell grew up in Whitefish Bay, a community 15 minutes north of the Brewers’ stadium, and still lives there. He is a proud graduate of Whitefish Bay High, where he met his future wife and all four of their children will end up attending. His high school’s field, and the Little League park where he once played, both bear his name. His No. 19 jersey number was retired.
He played for the Brewers for six seasons. After retiring, he returned in 2012 as a special assistant to Melvin in the front office. Three years later, Melvin hired Counsell as manager.
“He knows how important the Brewers are to Milwaukee,” said Jeff Margolis, who grew up with Counsell and was the best man at his wedding. He added later, “For as much as it would mean for anybody to be the manager of the Brewers, it means more to Craig.”
Calling Counsell “a Midwest kid,” Margolis said Counsell still trims his lawn with a riding mower given to him by the Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman, a former teammate. A few years ago, Counsell stopped by his 30th high school reunion after a day game in Milwaukee.
On the field, Counsell has earned praise for both his tactical and his interpersonal skills, the latter of which is more important nowadays as front offices have an increasingly larger role in how games are played. Underscoring the turnover of the demanding position, Counsell is the longest tenured manager in the N.L.
Josh Hader, one of the Brewers’ star relievers, said Counsell “doesn’t try to over-manage.” Corbin Burnes, one of the Brewers’ ace starters and a leading candidate to claim the N.L. Cy Young Award, said he appreciates Counsell’s direct and open manner of communication. Suter said Counsell has great situational awareness and foresight in how to deploy relievers and pinch-hitters throughout a game.
Without his time working in the front office, in which he said Melvin exposed him to every facet, Counsell said he wouldn’t understand the perspectives of David Stearns, the team’s current president of baseball of operations, or Matt Arnold, the team’s general manager.
“One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed working with Craig so much is that he has the ability to question everything that he does and that we do as an organization,” Stearns said. “And through active questioning and discussion, he has naturally grown and altered his opinions on certain aspects of how he goes about it. But the general tenets of what he believes and strives to do is put players in the best position to succeed. That has been constant since day one.”
Case in point: The Brewers of 2021 are dominated by a fairly traditional starting rotation, a sharp contrast from 2018 when the team, carried by a dominant bullpen and Yelich, fell one win short of reaching the World Series.
“In 2018, we had a team and particularly a pitching staff that required very active management pretty much from pitch one, and Craig understood that and tailored his style to that,” Stearns said. “The team we have right now is built more around elite starting pitchers, and Craig has been able to tailor his management style to that and continue to put the pieces on our roster in the right spots.”
Counsell, who has twice been the runner-up for the N.L. Manager of the Year Award and faces stiff competition for it this year from Gabe Kapler of the San Francisco Giants, said he loved managing because it gave him a unique perspective on watching players like Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Burnes and Hader reach the major leagues and develop into stars.
Woodruff, Burnes and Hader were key figures on the 2018 team that was so close to a pennant. Counsell said that squad is remembered fondly in Milwaukee because of the journey it took fans on — something he said baseball excels at in October. That team also provided new memories to a fan base that, from 1983 until Stearns took over in 2015, had seen their favorite team make the playoffs only twice, in 2008 and 2011.
Counsell lamented that the Brewers, one of six franchises never to win a championship, have not returned to the World Series since 1982. He still thinks about that team, too. But one day, he hopes to gives Brewers fans newer memories to hold onto for life.
“The fact that you’ve seen those moments and been a small part of them as a fan,” he said, “it frankly makes you want to provide those moments for other fans because they don’t go away.”
Playing For Each Other
In my third year as a head coach at Rhode Island College we had a young, inexperienced but very talented team. We had just come off a 27-4, Elite 8 run season with a group of six seniors who had all moved on. That RIC team in 2007-08 - the year after the Elite 8 run - was talented enough to win a lot of games, but not nearly as mentally tough as the team had been the year before.
We had made it to the LEC championship game and I remember talking to a couple of former players in the stands as the guys were warming up, and I said "the difference between this year's team and you guys, is these guys want to win today, because if we do they get to keep playing. They love to play. You guys wanted to win because you just refused to let each other down. You wanted to keep playing - together."
We were talented enough to win that game and get back to the NCAA Tournament, where we won our first game before getting beat in the second round. But I always remembered that conversation and the feeling we had with our 2007 Elite 8 team. They refused to let each other down. They were playing for each other.
Since I coached those teams I've always felt like the elite teams do that - they play for one another. The question is, how do you get there?
Off The Court Experiences
Shared experiences off the court create a deeper level of understanding and trust. They also create psychological safety - where you know no matter what you do or say, the guys you are with have your back. This leaves to competitive excellence on the court, where everyone is willing to lay it on the line for one another.
The challenge is these shared experiences often take a lot of time to make a difference, and they are most impactful if they happen naturally. I was fortunate in this area, in that I took over a talented team that had been through a lot with each other. I was their third coach in three years. They had to stick together over the years, not knowing who their coach was going to be, even as they came back to school. They were forced to deal with a lot together, and it showed in the way they refused to let one another down.
You can do your best to try and create shared experiences off the court. Getting your group together outside of the gym is important, and giving them time and space to get to know and trust each other is important. But it's more than just going bowling one night or watching Monday Night Football together. It's how you handle the challenging situations that come your way - on and off the court.
Direct Communication
It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing. Direct communication really helps build trust, but genuine trust really allows for direct communication. But the fact is that elite teams, teams that play for each other, have no problem communicating directly. They don't get caught up in ego and they don't take it personally. They understand that the tone or the message might be a little harsh. That's okay. It's all part of the commitment made to one another.
Establish the fact that you are always going to communicate honestly and directly from the first day. I tell the story in my book, Entitled to Nothing, about my first team meeting each year. The first thing I said to the team was "Today is the day I'm recruiting over you." It might have been a little harsh and unsettling, but it was true. My job was to get better players, and I was going to do that. Their job was to make sure they didn't lose their job to a new player I recruited.
It helped set the tone that I was always going to be honest and direct, and I expected the same from them. To be a great team, we didn't have time to bead around the bush on important topics. We needed to get comfortable with issues being out in the open and discussed directly. Open, honest communication helps teams play for one another.
Strong Character
The make-up of your group has a big impact on their ability to play for one another. You can create an elite environment as a coach, but without the right people in the building, the culture won't work. You need guys who can handle the level of commitment and discipline that it takes on a daily basis. It's not for everyone.
Our Elite 8 team had a core ethos that fit our approach. They were good kids, hungry to be a part of something, fed up with what they had dealt with in the prior years. There was a determination to be great and a perspective and awareness of what was important. Their character allowed them to play for one another as much as anything else.
Set Ego Aside
Bill Russell famously said he had a huge ego, but it was a "Team ego." It was always about what was best for the team. It's okay to have an ego - we all have them. It's okay to strive for personal success - playing time, individual awards - I have no problem with that. But it's important to establish that your team and your teammates matter more than anything you do as an individual.
Our guys had been through so much together, they had pretty much exhausted their individual egos. All they were concerned about was having the best experience they could together and giving everything they had for each other. Our Elite 8 team had 6 seniors on it and only two of them started, although all 6 were good enough to be in the rotation. It didn't matter to them. They wanted what was best for the team, and they were willing to sacrifice for it.
Deep Trust
Our Elite 8 team had a different level of trust, a trust so deep you could actually see it on the floor. The way they communicated to one another, they way they helped each other, and the way they picked each other up. No one ever questioned the effort or motivation of one of their teammates. They knew each other too well for that.
It's hard to get any team to the point where they trust each other unconditionally. It is earned through shared experiences and a willingness to give incredible effort at all times. It involves the ability to immediately own mistakes and handle them. Guys would almost fight over taking the responsibility for a mistake.
Giving full measure at all times leads to a deep level of trust that you don't see on a lot of teams. By the time the second semester comes around there is a trust you can actually see in their actions on the court.
Commitment to an Elite, Uncommon Approach
Plenty of the stuff that we did with that team was seen as a little nuts. The way we practiced, the amount of running we did, the level of accountability we always had to our standards - it was different. A lot of guys weren't used to it. But they were willing to commit to it, without any guarantee of a reward.
Teams that play for one another commit to an uncommon approach. It's in the competitive edge you see in the gym every day. It's understanding that everything they do off the court is just as important. It's taking ownership of the approach and culture, not waiting for someone else to take responsibility or tell them what to do. Playing for one another at a high level is uncommon, as is the commitment it takes every day.
Values or Preferences
"A value isn't a value until it's been tested." - Bob Richey, Furman Basketball
I highly recommend this podcast, hosted by Chris Oliver, with Bob Richey, the head coach at Furman: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-basketball-podcast/id1398261897
Bob Richey makes a great point about your values. He uses the example of ball movement being a core value at Furman. But he makes the point that it isn't a value "until it's been tested." What happens when you get a guy who doesn't really share the ball much, is more of a one on one player, but has the ability to get you 20 on any given night? Do you make sure that guy is going to share the ball the way everyone else does, or do you give him more freedom to play individually and make plays? That is when your value is tested. If you don't coach that player to share the ball the same way you do everyone else, then ball movement really isn't something you value. It's a preference.
We are faced with these situations often as a coach. One of our core values at Rhode Island College was toughness. I've always found myself attracted to tough players, and luckily the ethos of Rhode Island College as a school was a good match for me. We had a lot of tough kids. But early on as a head coach, while I found myself talking about toughness all of the time, and being very clear about the behaviors that exhibited the level of toughness I liked, I wasn't really rewarding it. I was leaning more towards playing the talented guys than the tough guys, who usually filled in for spot minutes off the bench.
Finally I realized I wasn't practicing what I was preaching. If I wasn't going to talk about toughness as a core value, and I was going to hold guys accountable for tough plays, I needed to reward it. I needed to make sure toughness was rewarded with playing time. That was when our core value of toughness got tested. If I wasn't willing to reward it, it wasn't really a value. It was a preference.
I realized I wasn't being true to what I was saying, and I made sure to reward the right level of toughness. We had a bunch of incredibly tough kids who were usually walk-ons who weren't recruited. They didn't have the same level of skill or ability as some of our other players, but if I thought toughness was really that important to our team (I did), they had to play. Almost every year we had at least one, sometimes two, walk-ons in our starting line up who were just tough-as-nails kids who refused to let you beat them. They may have not looked the prettiest or been the most skilled, but they always found ways to help us win. Not only did we start winning games consistently, but our culture developed a rock solid core. Our guys knew that I valued toughness so much that our toughest players were going to start and play a lot.
A value isn't a value until it's been tested. It's one thing to talk about it a lot, but when it comes down to making important decisions if that value doesn't stand up to the test, it's not really a value. It's a preference. And talking about it as a core value will slowly erode your credibility.
Money Talks
High school athletes are three times more likely to play college sports if they come from money.
Why Managers Fear Remote Work
I found this piece in The Atlantic very interesting. It will make you think about your management style as a leader and how you evaluate production.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/work-from-home-benefits/619597/
Empathetic and Demanding
Can you be demanding as a coach while also showing empathy to your players?
It's a great challenge for any head coach. When I was the head coach at Maine I learned to coach with empathy. I took over a program that was in a terrible place, and as I set about changing the culture, I gradually learned that many of the players I was coaching couldn't handle what I was asking of them. They didn't have a bad attitude and they weren't resisting the new approach. What I was asking them to do was very different for them, and many of them simply couldn't do it.
I was always very demanding on my players and I never lowered our standards. I started out very rigid, dead-set on establishing a new culture and making sure the players knew what to expect. But it was harder to get buy-in from everyone right away, not because they didn't believe in what we were trying to do, but because they couldn't do it.
We had a timed sprint that we used to run as a team known as "11 in a minute." The team had 60 seconds to finish 11 lengths of the floor in a dead sprint. It wasn't easy to complete, especially after practice. It took a high level of conditioning and mental toughness to get it done. But most college basketball players who are in decent shape should be able to do it. My teams at Rhode Island College did it. When I was in college at Hamilton, I did it.
When our guys at Maine couldn't do it, I saw it as a form of resistance. I didn't expect them to get it right away, but after time and working on our conditioning we still weren't making the time. I thought they just weren't willing to compete, weren't very mentally tough. But over time I realized some of them just simply couldn't do it. They were slow, they weren't in great shape, and they had never been asked to do anything that hard in their lives. They weren't fighting me on doing stuff that was hard. Many of them were giving their maximum effort. They just couldn't make it.
I learned that coaching with empathy was really important, and not just with a group that was struggling to meet the minimum standards. If you really get to know your players individually you can accurately evaluate what they are capable of and what they are giving you. When you let them know that what you are asking of them is very hard, and that you are proud of their effort, they will continue to give you everything they have. You can push them constantly while staying on their side.
Coaching with empathy does not mean lowering your standards. Most of those guys who couldn't make the time didn't last at Maine, because they just weren't capable. You can coach with empathy and be demanding at the same time. The result in some cases may be a change in personnel, and that is fine. You won't find success with a team of players who can't meet your expectations. But your approach to coaching your team - understanding where they are coming from, evaluating their effort and communicating openly with them about it - goes a long way towards getting the most out of them.
You can be a demanding coach with high expectations and still coach with empathy. When they do meet your standards, celebrate it and make sure you stay aware that what you are asking of them isn't easy. Get to know them, understand where they are coming from, and focus on evaluating the effort and approach.
Your standards can be demanding while you also recognize the challenges your players face. It will go a long way to getting the best out of them.
Empathy - Simon Sinek
Fourteen minute video from Simon Sinek on leading with empathy - worth the time.
"You are not in charge, you are responsible for those in your charge."
20 Commandments for a Head Coach
- It's not going to go the way you think it's going to go. Prepare accordingly.
- You are always on. Everything you do and say has an impact.
- They won't believe in what you do if they don't believe in who you are.
- Never blame your players.
- They will forgive your mistakes. They won't forgive you for being fake.
- Be direct and honest - always. They want to play for a coach who gives it to them straight.
- Give them the space to take ownership. The program isn't yours, it's theirs.
- To get an honest read on your culture, don't ask your seniors. Watch your freshmen.
- If you aren't modeling the behavior that you are preaching, stop preaching it.
- The quicker you get over yourself, the better head coach you will be. Every turnover is not a personal attack.
- It's always okay to say "I don't know." But they will always know when you are unprepared.
- The more questions you ask of your players, the more invested they will be.
- Admit your mistakes and show them who you are. Vulnerability creates a safe environment to lay it all on the line.
- Sometimes the horn goes off in practice. It's not a nuclear missile crisis.
- Saying one thing and doing another is the quickest way to lose them.
- Stay under the two-minute mark for all pre/post practice and post game comments. After that it's just noise to them.
- If they can't execute a play in a game, it's your fault, not theirs.
- It's your life. It's still a game to them.
- Practice time and score every day.
- The greatest reward you will get is a text five years from now saying "Thank you for holding me accountable."
Coaching Players Differently
In one of my last years as the head coach at Rhode Island College we had an interesting balance on our team. We had a group of veteran players who were solid program kids who were used to winning and had continued to carry and live our championship culture. We also had a bunch of newcomers who were very talented but had only been with the program a year or two. We had some freshmen and a few transfers who were older and pretty talented. The transfers were more talented than our veteran players, but obviously didn't have the winning experience within our culture.
Our team got along well, but the dynamic was interesting for me. Our better players were the transfers who hadn't been around as long and weren't used to the way we operated. There really wasn't any jealousy within our team, as our veterans were mature and they understood that playing time was earned. The players who competed, produced and were great teammates would earn their way onto the floor. It was still a dynamic I had to manage, to make sure we were all on the same page.
One of our transfers, a starter who was very talented, was one of the physically toughest kids I've ever coached. He competed his ass off and wanted to win. But some days he had trouble handling his emotions. He'd lose it at times in practice, and I'd just pull him out of the drill and let him cool off. I wouldn't yell at him or make an example of him in front of the team. I didn't think adding my emotion to an already emotional situation was the right thing to do. I'd let him calm down and then I'd go over and talk to him calmly, reminding him he couldn't just lose it emotionally with his teammates, while also making sure he was okay. After a few minutes he'd rejoin practice.
We were talented but pretty inconsistent all year, staying near the top of the league but never really playing to our full potential. We were counting on a bunch of new guys and we were mentally inconsistent. I thought we were the best team in the league, but we'd go on to finish as the #2 seed.
As we got into February the situation with this player became a little harder to manage. It was taking up too much time and energy. Despite his talent (he was our 2nd leading scorer and toughest player), we had to move on. With about two weeks left in the regular season I made the decision to remove him from the team. It was one of the most challenging decisions I've ever made as a head coach, because I genuinely liked him and wanted to make sure he was successful. When I delivered the news to him, he gave me a hug and thanked me for giving him the opportunity to play for our program.
As the #2 seed we had to go on the road for our conference tournament after winning our opening round game against the #7 seed at home. We then had to go to the top seed for the semi-finals. We hadn't been consistent all year so I didn't know what to expect, and our leading scorer for the year was also out with an injury. So we were playing without our two best scorers. We played very well in the semi-finals and controlled the game from the tip. We advanced to the finals pretty easily.
We had to play the championship game against the #1 seed in their gym, and we played great. We dominated the game and were up 19 at one point in the second half. Down the stretch, it never really got close. We won the conference championship and were headed back to the NCAA Tournament.
After the game, I laughed with our guys in the locker room. The vibe was like "Where the heck was that all year???" We put together our best 3-game stretch by far in the conference tournament without our two best scorers.
Talking with my seniors after that game, they had an interesting take on what happened with the team. They said that the way I had handled the one player with his emotional outbursts really had an impact on the team. I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping things cool and not letting them blow up whenever he got upset. But they looked at it differently. They thought he was being given preferential treatment. A few of them told me the talk amongst the team was that if anyone else had acted that way in practice, they'd be thrown out. It wouldn't be put up with. But there was a different set of rules for this one player. I hadn't looked at it that way. But clearly it had a negative impact on the team. When he was moved from the mix, it was like weight was lifted off of their shoulders.
Coaches will give you different opinions on whether or not you should treat players differently. Many accept the fact that your star players or better players have to be given a little more leeway with the rules. I don't believe that for a second. I do think everyone needs to be coached differently based on their personality and how you can connect with them. But if the standards are different for different players, your culture is going to suffer.
I didn't think I was giving this player preferential treatment. But the rest of the team did. And that was more important. So I lost credibility with regards to our culture and what I believed in, because the team thought I was being inconsistent. They weren't really bought in to what we were doing, and it was my fault. It had affected the way we played all year, and when that situation was removed, we were a different team.
I've never believed your team should have different standards for different players. I'm not a fan of treating your star players differently. Anything your team perceives as being inconsistent or unfair will take away from your ability to get the most out of them. Sometimes it's happening when you don't even see it.
Belichick On The Draft
“I would say I’ve never gone into a draft saying, like, well, we got to draft somebody or other at this position or this group of positions or whatever,” Belichick said... "I think you try to acquire good football players and we’ll figure out how to use them.”
Fran Fraschilla - 3 Levels of Pick and Roll
Level I - Create an advantage at the screen
Level II - Find a solution after you use/refuse the screen
Level III - Punish the help by making the right play
"Lie with your eyes, lie with the ball, lie with our body."
Two offensive objectives in a pick and roll:
- Get in the paint as quickly as possible
- Create confusion at the screen
UCLA Recruits Crave the Truth
Good stuff in here about how Mick Cronin is brutally honest in the recruiting process, and how the players love it.
I've always said there are two types of players - those who crave the truth, and those who you are going to struggle to win with. It's hard to be any good if you aren't interested in hearing the truth.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2021-06-09/uclas-basketball-recuiting-honesty-mick-cronin
Recruiting Is An Art, Not A Science
Nick Manson transferred to Rhode Island College from Endicott. He wasn't recruited to play basketball. He walked into my office in the fall and said he wanted to walk on. He seemed like a good kid who played hard, and a couple of his high school teammates had played for me as well. We had room for a couple of walk ons, so he made the team. He used to come into my office all the time and tell me he was ready to play, he'd do whatever it took. I nodded and commended him on his work ethic. He was a solid walk on who could shoot a little bit, a nice practice player for us.
After a year and a half of not playing any meaningful minutes, I put Nick into the starting line up for a league game because I wasn't happy with the mental approach or compete level of our team. Nick played great defense and knocked in a couple of 3s to get us off to a great start. For the next year and a half he never came out of the starting lineup. He was a big time shooter for us and one of the best defenders I've ever coached. We went to back-to-back Sweet 16s with Nick in the staring lineup.
Darius Debnam was a long, 6-4 forward in high school who liked to hang out on the perimeter and shoot 3s. He was very interested in Rhode Island College, but my staff went and saw him play and wasn't very impressed. With the talent we had in the program, they didn't feel like he'd definitely make our team. I had a conversation with Darius where I told him if he wanted to play college basketball, he shouldn't come to Rhode Island College. We probably wouldn't have room for him, and I didn't want to mislead him.
Darius showed up anyway. During the first week of school, one of my assistants came into the office and said "I think I saw Darius Debnam on campus." He would show up at the recreation center when our guys played pick up and shoot by himself on the side court. I figured if he was here, we might as well let him play, so I told my point guard to get him in the pick up games. I asked him how he looked the next day, and he said "He's our best post player."
Darius was a captain and starter for us on those same back to back Sweet 16 teams, after I literally told him not to come to Rhode Island College.
Ethan Gaye was a local Providence kid who showed up at RIC and started to play with our guys in the fall. He had asked us to try out and we said we'd give him a look. Throughout the fall, a few of our returning players would stop in and ask if we were going to take Ethan on the team. They kept bringing him up because of how hard he played and how tough he was. I figured he had to be worth a look, and Ethan made the team as a walk on.
Ethan was far from our most skilled player, but the way he competed changed the level of our practices. He wasn't a great shooter, a great passer, or a great ball-handler. If you asked me what position he played, I'd probably say defensive back. He just changed possessions with the way he guarded and competed. In his last two years, Ethan started 45 of the 48 games he played on two NCAA Tournament teams that went 46-11.
Jacob Page was a quiet kid from Massachusetts who we didn't recruit to RIC, but he showed up and came out for the team. He was an undersized post player, no more than 6-4 wearing heels, who simply did his job well. He could guard multiple positions, and was one of those always-in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time kind of players. He made our defense better. He was a great practice player who earned the respect of his teammates.
Over his last two years at RIC, Jacob Page started 24 games for back-to-back league championship teams, and helped keep our streak of 8 straight NCAA Tournaments alive.
Recruiting is an art, not a science.