Explore an Uncommon
Approach to Leadership!
Shaheen Holloway and St. Peter's
Edert, whose cool play under pressure and ‘70s porn-star mustache landed him a sponsorship with Buffalo Wild Wings, jumped on the press table and pumped his fist. When asked at the postgame press conference about that moment of pure joy, Edert began to answer when Holloway interrupted him. The exchange that followed was perfect.
Holloway: You hopped on the table?
Edert: Well, I found a little opening and was so excited ...
Holloway: (Disapproving glare)
Edert: Next question.
Ask Questions To Create Alignment
An excerpt below from my book Entitled to Nothing. Asking your players questions gives them ownership of your culture, and creates alignment between your team and staff. The way we played pick-up in the off-season was a huge part of our championship culture.
Questions Create Alignment
Like most aspects of our culture, the first key with our pickup games was the kids. We had kids who loved to play, kids who played hard, and kids who were tough. Giving them ownership was pretty easy. I wanted to provide the structure they needed but still make it theirs. I started to discover the value of asking questions.
After talking with KP, I asked the players in an informal meeting about the pickup games. Did they think they were good enough? Should they be better? Did we need to do something different? There was a consensus – some days the games were good, some days they were bad. They weren’t consistent, and they definitely needed to be better. I asked them if they thought the games were important, and they all said yes. They were playing four days a week for almost two hours at a time. If we were going to invest that much time in it, should we make sure we do it the right way? They all agreed. They wanted to change the way we played pickup.
I learned that asking questions of my players really helped my devel‐ opment as a leader. It started us down the road of developing real trust. Asking questions creates alignment, and alignment creates a safe space for change and growth. When you come across the inevitable difficult times, you can circle back to your questions and reinforce your alignment. This strengthens the trust within your team when you need it the most. You can never ask too many questions.
The players felt like I valued their opinion, and it allowed them to take more ownership. There’s an old adage that applies to leadership “If I say it, you doubt it. If you say it, it’s true.” By asking them questions about the pickup games I was giving them freedom to establish what needed to change. And perhaps more importantly, I wasn’t coming in and laying down the law. Lao Tzu said ,“To lead people, walk beside them,” and that’s what I was doing. I didn’t want to be the new coach who had all of the answers and blamed any lack of success on them. Asking questions created alignment, ownership, and trust, while showing them a pathway towards meaningful change.
The whole team agreed that the pickup games were important and that they needed to change. My next question was “What can we do about it?” Again, I allowed them to take some responsibility and give feedback. Then I was able to give some suggestions. “How about if we brought some structure to it? How about if we made all of the games more competitive? Do you think you guys can handle that?”
We talked it out and came up with a structure:
Each week we’d pick three teams, and everyone stayed on the same team for the week.
The players would count the wins and losses each day, and the team at the end of the week with the most losses would get up and run a timed mile on Monday morning. This made the games very competitive. No one wanted to run on Monday, and guys took great pride in never being on the team that had to run.
Games were straight to seven, with no three pointers. Everything was a point. We didn’t want the games to run too long and get lazy, and we wanted to avoid arguments about a shot being a two or three. I also wanted to encourage guys to get to the rim.
On the seventh point, the scorer had to make a free throw to win the game. If you missed the free throw the bucket didn’t count and you played the rebound live. The game continued.
If the offense scored a basket and all five offensive players hadn’t crossed half court, the basket didn’t count, the ball was turned over to the defense. If the offense scored a basket and all five defensive players hadn’t crossed half court, the bucket counted, and the offense got the ball back. This forced players to run hard and play every possession.
The offense was not allowed to call fouls. All fouls were called by the defense. There’s no stopping after a contested shot so people would just assume you got fouled. If the defense fouls somebody, they call it. If there is no foul called, keep playing. This is perhaps the most important and most challenging rule. You certainly need buy-in from your leaders, but it goes a long way to developing trust. You might think there were a lot of arguments over fouls with this process, but the opposite was the case. Everyone knew they couldn’t stop and assume a foul would be called. You had to play through it.
The more we talked about our pickup games, the more excited the guys got about them. It may seem like a lot of structure, but it was theirs, even though I had provided some suggestions. They owned it, and when they played, they knew I wouldn’t be there. They had to execute the plan.
St. Peter's
A good story about St. Peter's big win over Kentucky with some insight on how Shaheen Holloway built the program.
I love his thoughts on playing a lot of guys. "You can't have one or two guys hold you hostage."
Coach K On Rules
He went into the locker room with his first USA team and said, look guys, you’re not college players so I’m not gonna tell you the rules. Freshmen come into Duke, here’s the rules. But we do need a set of rules, so you guys tell me. So he pulled out a whiteboard and said, “OK, who’s got a rule?” And one of them, Jason Kidd, said, “I think it should be defense first.” And Mike said, “Does everybody agree?” Because he said, “Let’s agree on what the rules are. So, everybody agree? OK, defense first.” And then he asked somebody else.
He’s looking at LeBron, I think it was, and he says, “LeBron, you’re not saying anything. Don’t you have a rule?” And LeBron stood up and he says, “I say, no F-ing excuses!” And he looked at everybody and said, “Everybody agree with that?” Yes. So he (flipped) the whole board over, and then in big writing put NO F-ING EXCUSES. But he just realized that with a group of professional all-stars, they have to be the ones to say, “This is how we’re going to manage ourselves.”
Things I Believe - Time And Score
- You should practice it every day.
- You can't control the chess pieces late in a game - train them to make plays.
- Great teams get to the rim.
- Everyone is attracted to the ball when the clock is running down.
- Someone else is open.
- If the guy who starts with it isn't the guy who shoots it, you'll get a better look.
- Have a sub at the table to set up your press.
- Your team should always know who has the possession arrow.
- And how many timeouts you have left.
- Don't go over the back on the offensive end in a tie game.
- It's harder than you think to foul someone on purpose - practice it.
- Go for the ball, get into his body, then show the official your hands.
- It's harder than you think to miss a free throw on purpose.
- You should think about fouling in a tie game, or even when you are up one.
- Calling time out gives an advantage to the defense.
- Don't use your last foul to give on purpose - save it and play aggressive defense.
- One second = one dribble, one pass, or a pump fake - but save a second to shoot.
- Train them in practice to know the shot clock, time and score before the play.
- Tell the ref before the play what you are trying to do.
- 94 feet, 3/4 court, sideline out, baseline out, deep corner - have something for each spot.
- If you are up 1 with under :03 to play, miss the free throw. If you are up 2 make it.
- Have a set where your best player is a screener.
- Guard your own man defensively. We need a stop. Not a hero.
- Have a set to get a 3 for your second best 3-point shooter.
- Train your kids to run to you as soon as someone gets their 5th foul.
- Your 5 man might not be that valuable in time and score possessions - think about that.
- If the other team needs to miss on purpose, violate the lane - but make sure you have the arrow.
- If you need to miss a free throw, shoot it quick so your rebounders can get in the lane first.
- Point to the clock and ask them to check it if you are out of time outs.
- Foul up 3 late under 10 seconds - the gap between 3-6 seconds is too tight.
- Think about fouling when you are up 6 with 10-15 seconds left.
- Play THROUGH the horn.
- Finish with the ball.
- Coach your best player to be a willing passer.
- If they have a terrible free throw shooter, think about fouling him in the first half to get in his head.
- Prepare your team to foul a bad free throw shooter immediately when he gets the rebound.
- When you show the ref your hands he won't think you were fouling on purpose.
- Decide what you are going to run late in games in your office, not in the huddle.
- There is usually time for an extra pass
- First thought when a time out is called - Do we have the right people in the game?
- Practice it every day.
Coach K Hired
On the day Krzyzewski was hired, newspapers ran a parenthetical pronunciation guide for his last name. “Duke dipped deep into the well of obscure college basketball coaches to find its new coach,’’ the Chapel Hill News wrote of its rival’s decision.
Coach K On Ego
Some enlightening insight from Mike D'Antoni on how Mike Krzyzewski handled the egos with the Team USA.
He wanted each player, each superstar in their own right, to bring that ego into the team. He didn’t want the Kobe, LeBron, whoever they were, version from USA Basketball; he wanted the version of them playing with their respective teams. He preached that a lot: Bring your ego, don’t be submissive to anybody — and he would take that and mold it all together.
Coach K and Dean Smith
Great article about how their relationship evolved through a fierce rivalry.
His career. The building he was standing in. The peace and friendship he found with Smith toward the end of his life. There was a significance that Krzyzewski’s final home game would come against North Carolina, beyond the routine familiarity that every other regular season ends that way, with a home game against the Tar Heels.
“There’s a level of security there,” he said, “because you’re in this penthouse of excellence. But you don’t get all of it. You’ve got to fight like hell for some of it. And then you respect how the others have fought like hell for it.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/article258916333.html
March
Everyone who coaches is searching for the right answer. How do I get my team to play the best in March, come tournament time? I love having these conversations with other coaches. Every team has a different personality, and every coach has a different approach. There isn't one simple answer.
When I started as a head coach at Rhode Island College in 2005, I took over the best team. Our group was a post season team to begin with. We had a chance to be good right away, and we were able to sustain our success. We played in the conference championship game 8 years in a row, winning 6 of them. We were 21-3 in the Little East Tournament over 9 years, and I learned a lot about what worked and what didn't when it came to success in March.
Count On Your Culture
The first truth I learned about post-season success is that it is so much more about what you do in September and October than what you do in March. You aren't going to change things and try different strategies to find success in March. You count on what you do every day with your team, starting with the summer or early fall when you first get together. The habits you develop and the belief you have in your system are going to have a bigger impact on your success than any one strategic decision you may or may not make.
Inevitably, in the post-season, you are going to come across situations you cannot control (just like you will during most games you coach). You can't constantly move the chess pieces around to make everything work. You won't be able to call a play or draw something up every time you need a basket. Your kids are going to have to play, and they are going to have to play under pressure with a lot on the line. The way you've prepared them to do that throughout the year will show up. You have to prepare them, and you have to trust them. The pressure will be greater, the stakes are higher and the competition is better. You will have less control as a coach.
Prepare your team the right way, and remind them constantly that they are up for the challenge - not because they want to win that day, because of the way they have prepared every day. Dig deep into your culture and your core values - who you really are - to find success in March.
Scared Goes Home
Tight teams get beat. You see it all the time in March. Teams that have had charmed regular seasons and won a ton of games, all of the sudden get into a close game and it feels different. They get out of character, start to press, and things get even worse. The pressure of a one-and-done game can get to any of us.
The challenge here is to stay disconnected from the result. Teams that think about losing play with fear. Focus on the process - the way you play - as opposed to the result - what it says on the scoreboard. It's not always easy to do, but it's the best way to find continued success. Refer to your standards for how hard you play, the way you compete, communicate, execute - all of the stuff you know that leads to success. The team that looks up with at the 5-minute mark when they are down 4 and feels "Oh, no, we might lose," is the team that is in trouble.
I used to remind my team all of the time that "scared goes home" in the post-season. I would tell them to go out and make the first mistake of the game. Make the most mistakes. That's fine. That tells me you aren't scared, you are ready to play. Separate your teams approach from the result to get them to play their best.
Talk About Losing
It might sound counterintuitive, but I think you need to be willing to talk about losing.
In 2009 we had a great team at RIC, maybe the most talented, experienced team I've coached. We had a legitimate chance to go on a Final Four run. We had run through our league and went into the post-season at 22-3. We lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, at home, in overtime, to MIT.
We got tight. As the game wore on and the lead went back and forth, losing became a possibility. And the biggest mistake I made was never addressing it. I kept trying to loosen my guys up in timeouts and get them to be themselves, but I never addressed the elephant in the room. We were thinking "Oh my God, what if we lose this game?"
I should have talked about losing. I should have counted on our culture, and gone back to what we did every day. We were totally process-based, and winning was never the goal. It was about how hard we played, always. I should have said "You know what guys, we might lose this game today. MIT is a good team. But I'll be damned if we are going to lose because we are scared or tight. If we compete the way we do every day - for each other - and they are better than us, I can live with that. We all can. But I can't live with the fact that we are afraid of a result, and it's affecting the way we compete."
I didn't want to mention losing, to even bring up the possibility. Yet we all had that sinking feeling that it might be happening, and I didn't address it. I should have talked about losing.
Playmakers Win
I always told my teams "I want to see playmakers out there. Take a chance. Take a risk. Make plays." That's the attitude I wanted in the post-season. I wanted them to feel like it was in their hands, that I wasn't in control once the ball went up. They were. They had to be ready to respond to whatever happened on the court, and make the right plays.
I wanted them to have the confidence and belief that they could make the plays - and decisions - to win. I had coached them all year long. They knew how to compete, how to play, how to win. The post-season isn't a time to play chess and try and move the pieces around - it's a time to turn them loose.
Play Your Bench
When I got tight in the post-season, I would shorten my rotation. We always played a lot of guys, and when we struggled early in games I'd leave my starters on the floor, when I should have done the opposite. I know it's popular (in the NBA) to tighten the rotation in the post-season, but I don't like it. I think it shows your team you are doing something different, and they wonder why.
Your team may need a change that can bring some energy, just like in the regular season. It's a 40 minute game and an 8-point deficit with 30 minutes left to play shouldn't get you away from who you are. Your bench tends to play with less pressure than your starters do in general, and that can be very valuable in high-pressure post season games. Don't be afraid to sub in the post-season.
Play For Each Other
The best teams, the elite teams, play for one another. They don't play because the coach tells them what to do. They don't play just because they want to win. They don't play just for fun. They don't play for titles. The best teams play for their teammates. They refuse to let one another down.
The pre-season conditioning sessions. The early morning weights. The countless hours in the gym. Running sprints after practice in October. What gets you through all of that and keeps you competing at a high level is your teammates. Remind your team of this constantly in the post-season.
Full measure is the gift that teams sports gives us. The willingness to give everything you have, leave it all out on the floor, regardless of the result, for your teammates. There's nothing like it. Teams that play for each other are very hard to beat in the post-season.
Celebrate What You Are Good At
Constructive criticism is a big part of our job. We have to evaluate what we see in front of us and figure out what needs to improve. It's natural to focus on the negative - what we have to work on. The stuff we are doing well - yes, great job, well done, but if we don't rebound the ball better we aren't going anywhere. We don't have to teach or coach as much with the stuff we are doing well. The stuff we have to improve on, that's where coaching comes in. We are naturally focused on where we need to get better.
The challenge is this can lead us down a negative path that is not very productive. We focus so much of our attention on what we aren't good at, and we forget to appreciate what we are doing well. We were great defensively when I was coaching at Rhode Island College, the main reason why we were consistently at a championship level. We coached it hard and our kids bought in to a defensive mindset. We held them accountable on that end in ways they probably weren't used to.
As our success continued, I came to expect it. And I stopped appreciating it. When we had a great defensive possession, someone took a charge or made a great hustle play, we didn't celebrate it. That's what we are supposed to do. But you better believe our guys heard about it when we missed an assignment. The result was a negative tone at our practices, and in an odd way it grew the more success we had. The more we won, the more I focused on what wasn't right, and the more they heard about it. I stopped appreciating and celebrating what we were good at.
Over time I started feeling a lot of pressure on myself, almost as if everything had to be perfect. It didn't feel right. I started grinding my team in a way that wasn't productive and the environment in our gym wasn't very fun. I would watch film and see our guys making these big time defensive plays and realize I wasn't appreciating their effort. At one point, one of my captains talked to the team after a game about the tone at practice, and how he needed to do a better job to create a more positive tone. I realized he was talking to me.
I am a much better coach when I appreciate what we are good at instead of focusing so much on what we need to get better at. Celebrating the positive didn't always come naturally to me. I felt that we worked at it, drilled it, and we should be good at it. I wanted to expect success, which we did. But that doesn't mean we couldn't celebrate it.
My players have always responded a lot better when the good things they did - no matter how small or routine - were celebrated. Don't forget to celebrate what you are good at, no matter how much success you are having. It will make you a better coach.
John U. Bacon on Michigan
Some interesting leadership points in here - his take on what Michigan should do with the Juwan Howard situation, before Michigan and the Big 10 handed down any penalties.
https://johnubacon.com/2022/02/what-juwan-howard-did-and-what-michigan-should-do-about-it/
Urgency vs. Anxiety
When we are coaching we feel like a sense of urgency is a good thing. We are always drilling our guys on the importance of what's right in front of them - the next play, and how to do their job. In practice, with scouting, anything we are doing to prepare we want a sense of urgency. We certainly want them playing with urgency. What we are doing is important, and if this matters to you it should reflect in your approach. We want to instill a sense of urgency into our teams.
There is a difference between anxiety and urgency, but the line is a fine one. When you are trying to instill urgency, you can create a level a pressure that causes anxiety. Anxiety shows up when players really start to press. They are trying too hard, moving too fast, trying to make things happen too quickly. Anxiety becomes more about the result. Urgency is about the process.
When your players feel anxious, they get out of character. It's a mentality of "I have to make this 3" versus the focus to have your hands and feet ready when you know you might get a shot. Being aggressive and locked in on offense so that you are prepared when the ball comes your way comes from the right level of urgency. Forcing plays and trying too hard to create offense for yourself is a sign of anxiety. Urgent teams put the proper weight on the moment with the composure to handle it. Anxious teams are uncomfortable and looking for a quick solution. Anxious teams rarely play well.
You see it a lot when a player comes back from an injury. He's been out for a few weeks and he knows he can't get that time back. He's probably coming off the bench instead of starting, and he knows he's not going to play as many minutes as he works his way back. He wants to get it all back at once. He's anxious to see the result, so the process happens too fast for him. Everyone keeps telling him to relax, but it's not that simple. He wants to get back to his best level quickly, he doesn't have time to relax. He needs to know what urgent looks like, versus what it means to be anxious.
Emphasizing urgency is important, but if you feel like your team is anxious you may have to dial it back. If they are moving too fast, reacting emotionally to everything that happens and unable to focus on what's important, they are probably too anxious. And they won't be productive.
Take a step back and evaluate how you are feeling. If you feel jumpy, edgy and uncomfortable, your team is probably getting their anxiety from you. If you notice it in them, you may have to change your approach to get them back to center. It happens a lot in big games or high pressure situations - at least I know it does with me. I have to take a deep breath and make sure I'm thinking about how they are feeling, not how I am feeling.
Urgency is a good thing, but anxiety is not going to help you. If you see it in your team, it's likely they are seeing it in you. Urgency is about approaching the process the right way, and not about the result.
Let Them Lead
Taken from an interview in the New York Times with John Bacon, who wrote the book "Let Them Lead" about coaching one of the worst hockey teams in America. A key part of his leadership approach is giving up control and letting his players take ownership.
Was handing over control of the team to the players themselves what turned things around?
Bad teams, nobody leads. Good teams, coaches lead. Great teams, everybody leads. It works. It works at ice hockey. It works in newsrooms. It works during Stanley Cup runs. It can work in any company. But it’s scary, and it takes courage.
How does it work?
You identify what is essential, what is negotiable, and what is a deal breaker. A lack of trust is a deal breaker. In the work world, once trust is broken, you’re not going to get it back.
At first, I only trusted them to stretch and count simultaneously, and they couldn’t do it. It was that bad. But as time went on, they assumed responsibility for themselves as a group. We just kept doing it. My belief was, over time we’re going to learn this thing. The cool part was by the end of the summer, we were out in the field stretching and if a parent or the athletic director came up to me, I could say, “Seniors, you run it,” and they would.
Be patient with results. Don’t be patient with behaviors. If the behaviors are right, you’ll get there. By the end of the third year, one night I said, “OK, seniors, you are going to coach the entire game.” And they went out and smoked the other team.
Changing Organizational Culture
Very interesting thought on one way to change the culture of an organization - in this case, speaking of Major League Baseball clubs.
What if your goal was to get your people the most opportunities to interview elsewhere? How would that impact your staff? Or your roster? Many of us at all levels are impacted by players looking to go elsewhere - what if it was your stated goal to help them get there?
It may sound counterintuitive, and it may seem nuts when it comes to your roster, but this is a very interesting way to look at organizational culture.
Chris Beard - 4:1 and a 2x4
When Chris Beard was coaching at Texas Tech he used to repeat a quote from Bobby Knight to his team. "The mental is to the physical as 4 is to 1." It became a big part of the mentality of his program, with "4:1" signs popping up, and some fans even getting tattoos.
He also used to carry a 2x4 piece of wood with him on every road trip. His point was that if he put that 2x4 down on the ground and asked a player to walk over it, they would have no problem doing it. But if he took the same 2x4 and brought it to to the top level of the arena and laid it across two beams at the top of the building, it would be much harder for anyone to walk across it. Even though it was the same 2x4 and the same ask, to simply walk across it. Nothing had changed, except the environment around you and the 2x4.
It's a great way to illustrate the challenge of playing on the road. Nothing is different, expect the environment around you. Are you going to let that affect the way you play?
Scrum Buckets
Alex Cruz was a 6-3 wing forward who played for me at Rhode Island College. He was one of those guys who didn't really have a natural position. He wasn't a great shooter or a gifted ball-handler. He wasn't a post player and didn't have great size or strength. He didn't really have any plus skills. He had a great feel for the game, great instincts and really knew how to play. He was a definitive "good things happen when he's in the game" player. We were just better when he was on the floor.
It wasn't that he was just a glue guy who did the little things. He produced. He scored, he rebounded and he made plays for others. When you looked at the box score after the game he'd have 5 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 14 minutes. You just didn't quite know how he did it. He was also a terrific defender who could guard just about every position. He was a talented basketball player.
The problem with Alex Cruz - well, it was actually a problem with me more than with Alex Cruz - was that he was hard to define. He was a guy who got and created scrum buckets. He'd find his way into an offensive rebound and a put back. He'd get a deflection defensively that would lead to an easy basket. He'd get into the teeth of the defense and find an open teammate for a 3. We used to joke that he'd go out on the floor and start "bumping into stuff" and good things would happen. We considered him a part of our checking line.
I had to learn how to coach players like Alex Cruz. Because he was hard to define, I wasn't really sure how to use him. It wasn't just that he didn't have a natural position. He didn't have a natural position or a specific skill or type of game. He just played. And he produced. But it was hard to insert him into your game plan and say "here's how we are going to use him to beat Keene State." He wasn't a guy you ran plays for. He wasn't a guy you stuck in the corner to space out your offense and drill an open 3. I learned, after time, that he was a guy you could just stick in the middle of your zone offense and use him as a creator when he had some space. But that took a while. As good as he was, it was hard to see how he was specifically going to help us win a game going into it.
Most players are easy to define, and that makes it easier for us as coaches. They can really shoot it, or they are a point guard, or a post player. They are quick, great ball-handlers, or big bangers. We know what to expect and how to deploy them. But this also makes it easy for us to put them in a box. We have a definition for who they are and what they do, and when we need that we go to them. We as coaches can limit our ability to get the most out of our players by defining them to specifically.
We also have to learn how to coach the scrum bucket guys. They guys who don't have that defined skill that is above average in any one area, and don't blow you away in an individual workout. They are guys that you can't really call plays for or put in a specific spot to get you a bucket. But they are going to produce and help your team win. And when you look at the box score at the end of the game, you'll see what you want to see. You just might not be able to explain how it all got there.
It's Hard To Guard Unselfish
This is a great example of a time and score truth that I steadfastly believe in - if the guy who starts with the ball in a late clock situation isn't the guy who shoots it, you will get a better look. Unselfish is very hard to guard, especially in late clock situations when everyone is so attracted to the ball.
Al Durham shows great composure and unselfishness, and Jared Bynum gets a clean look to win the game.
You can never practice time and score enough. Teaching your players to understand the clock and to be unselfish in these situations can get you better looks.
"Help Them Help Themselves"
"No matter what level, front runners have a shelf life. There is going to be adversity. I don’t think any coach solves the problem by himself. He is not going to take a mentally weak player or team and strengthen them. Rather, he has to help them help themselves. They have to be active participants in their own rescue. Great players want to be helped, they want to be coached, they want to be corrected. YOU have to help them in those critical areas to have more poise and more resolve"
- Jeff Van Gundy