CHANGE IN CULTURE

Often times when a coach is fired the new coach who comes in uses the term, ‘we have to change the culture around here’.

Change of uniforms, paint the locker room, 6AM workouts, more discipline, etc.

Eric Lacy of the Detroit News on Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein.  Below, a comment from Wolverine C.J. Lee.

“It’s just a matter of us doing what we’re supposed to do from start to finish,” said Lee in the locker room after the game. “Obviously, you can look at the finish. But there’s a lot of game in a 40-minute game, and you really have to bring it the whole time.”

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“BE EASY TO BE AROUND.  WORK HARD, WITH INTEGRITY. BE KIND AND RESPECTFUL…” 

-Cynthia Greenwalt-Carvajal

RACING TIME

From the sounds of things, Dale Race, men’s assistant basketball coach at Wisconsin-Green-Bay will not like the props I give him here on the blog but I came across an article on him this morning praising a milestone.  Green Bay Press Gazette has the coverage.

“I think he’ll miss it, I really do,” Holquist said. “But in the same breath — this is something I learned from him when I was 17 years old — that you can tell the true character of a man by if he gives more than he’s taken. I think in the profession of college basketball, Dale Race has given far more than he has received.”

You hear that concept often – giving more than you receive.  But how many of us actually live those words?

I’m going to try and reach out more today than ever before to the people who need it.  Sometimes we get in a mode where we want everything to happen to us that improves our current situation instead of looking out for others around us.

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GIVE A LITTLE MORE OF YOURSELF…START TODAY! 

FRIENDS 4 EVER

The special thing about being a coach is the relationships you form along the way. Eight years ago in Pittsburgh at Five-Star basketball camp while working I met a great man.  I was in Dunkin Donuts grabbing some coffee before camp started and on the way out Jerry Wainwright asked me if I needed a lift up the hill to the courts. It was a pretty busy morning at the coffee klatch with many coaches going in and out and wouldn’t you know it but Wainwright was the only coach to offer me a ride which was about a ten minute walk.

Here’s a piece onthe men’s head basketball coach at Depaul University from the Chicago Sun-Times on his high school days as a student.

I was really affected by coaches. Even though at that point I never thought of being a coach, I had a lot of guidance and we had a lot of life lessons taught to us without us knowing it. I think subconsciously we took a lot of things in.

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“FOLLOW YOUR PASSION – LET NOTHING DIM THE LIGHT THAT SHINES FROM WITHIN.”

-MAYA ANGELOU

THE PATH…

There are many ways to enter the coaching profession – some have ideas of advancing as high as they can by starting out in high school, college and then eventually the NBA. You have to pay your dues though – long and tedious hours.  Working hard, driving many miles to watch recruits, watching film and dealing with people. There’s no magic secret – no books or DVD’s to watch. It’s all about working hard and being ambitious.

It’s never easy no matter what level you are on. I always say ‘the higher level you go, the more difficult it becomes’. It’s all about winning – no one really cares if you graduate players, if you’re a good guy, if you helped the community by conducting free basketball camps or if you interact with the faculty.  Not to mention you have given a kid a golden opportunity to be a success in life. (Update: Injuries to key players, losing players to academics and players quitting)

You have to win! And win now…

Steve Lavin talks to a class at Indiana University and tells them about his situation from fired coach to broadcaster via Indiana.edu

Sometimes more is learned when you lose, he said, than when you win. Lavin learned about human nature, integrity and compassion when he was fired and it has influenced him as a sports commentator.

Bo Ryan at Wisconsin via the Daily Cardinal.

For UW’s head man, basketball is a simple game based on hard work and religious adherence to the fundamentals. There’s no secret formula to winning. No complicated defenses, no elaborate mind games of X’s and O’s. Ryan doesn’t have a laminated sheet with his various offensive sets written on it.

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“YOUR THOUGHTS ARE THE PRIMARY CREATIVE FORCES IN YOUR LIFE. YOU CREATE YOUR ENTIRE WORLD BY THE WAY YOU THINK. ALL THE PEOPLE AND SITUATIONS IN YOUR LIFE HAVE ONLY THE MEANING YOU GIVE THEM BY THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT THEM. AND WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR THINKING, YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE, SOMETIMES IN SECONDS…”

-Brian Tracy

SUCCESS

I’m currently reading ‘Masters of Success’ put together by Ivan Misner and Don Morgan.  It’s a compilation of many successful people and their proven techniques for achieving success in all walks of life.  For the next few days I will blog about a few of the words that I have highlighted.

John Gray from his book ‘Get What You Want and Want What You Have’ talks about  ‘Outer Success Magnifies Our Feelings’.

-The secret of getting what you want and wanting what you have is first to learn how to be happy, loving, confident and peaceful regardless of outer conditioning.

-Personal success comes from within.

-To find true and lasting happiness we must make a small but very significant shift in our thinking.  We must make achieving personal success and not material success our number -one priority.  

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I recall reading notes from a coaches clinic and Coach Krzyzewski from Duke talked about not letting other people’s opinion of him determine his success.

So it is with you – determine your success!

“THE MEAUSURE OF SUCCESS IS HOW WELL YOU USE YOUR PRODUCTIVE TIME TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU – NOT HOW YOU STACK UP AND COMPRED TO EVERYBODY ELSE…” 

-Ivan Misner and Don Morgan