AIN’T THAT THE TRUTH

My guy ‘JW’ and I exchange mailouts on a regular basis.  Yesterday I received a great packet of quotes and one that reached out and smacked me was:

‘Sometimes potential tricks you into thinking that you don’t have to work hard’.

QUALIFIED?

I often wonder what makes someone qualified to coach.

Did you have to play at the highest level? Play in college? High School? Or have some kind of experience?

Have to start at the bottom in coaching?

Maybe just know someone?

Jamie Dixon men’s head basketball at Pitt just received an extension.  At the time Ben Howland left Pitt for UCLA, the Panthers were looking for a coach to replace Howland.  There was an assistant coach a few inches away who was hired, but the powers that be at Pitt didn’t think of him right away.  CBS Sportsline.com has the story.

“Everybody thought I was too young because I was only 37 and I’d be the youngest coach in the conference,” Dixon said by phone Thursday. “But I pointed out to the chancellor that the school had once named a 37-year-old the dean of the law school.”

The Detroit Lions recently fired Matt Millen, former NFL player who was the Lions General Manager for the past seven years and managed to finish with a 31-84 record.

Many Lions fans have been calling for Millen’s job for a long time.

Former Lions head coach Steve Mariucci on Millen via www.jacksonville.com

“Keep in mind, he had never been a coach, never been a scout, and never had any management experience at all. He didn’t have the background or qualifications to jump into personnel nor take the time and interest.”

Tommy Amaker, men’s head basketball coach at Harvard has removed five players.  New York Times reports.

One by one, Amaker called five players into his office before classes began in early September and told them they no longer had spots on the team. The five players included all three sophomores on the team, each of whom started games last season.

ONE-ON-ONE

Sporting News senior writer Mike DeCourcy checks the ball to Davidson men’s head basketball coach Bob McKillop, “BALL OUT!”

Click here for interview.

SPORTING NEWS: Have you noticed a difference in recruiting since the Elite Eight run?

McKillop: We have seen a greater awareness of who we are. The way we play is something that people now recognize. So it’s put us into play with a lot of people that maybe we’d have to fight just to let them know who we are. We’ve been able to skip the introduction, and that’s been a great asset.

BIG-TIME

Has this ever happened to you as a coach?

Say, maybe early in your career you have your circle of coaching friends, guys trying to make it up the ladder to the highest level. You work camps with them in the summer, spend time with them at the Final 4, see them at the State championships, e-mail each other, etc.

All of a sudden, someone makes it big – someone gets a gig at a high level. Or maybe they have some success and all of a sudden…BOOM! You never hear from them?

Has this happened to you?

Why do coaches forget about guys they used to talk with say 10 – 15 years ago?

How come some do not return phone calls like they used to?

I know of a guy who used to call me all the time, asking me about recruiting, strategy, and he even needed help with some job material he was putting together for a possible interview at a school where I knew the head coach, the players, the landscape, etc.

Is that a flaw you have?

Do you ‘not’ return calls to people who you used to be friends with years ago – but now you have become too busy?

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A basketball coach just got fired for using profanity. Ouch! WCTV-TV has the details.

Former SMU women’s basketball player has a lawsuit against school for taking her scholarship away because of her sexual preference? Dallas Morning News.

A high school basketball coach, Russell Otis at Dominguez in Compton has been placed on administrative leave. LA Times checks in.

ANTS MARCHING

If you enjoy music, and who doesn’t? DMB’s live version at Central Park of Ants Marching is a great song to get your day going. This morning I had the whole family juiced as I pumped up the volume…!

Rich Zvosec has written a book on his journey in the coaching profession titled, Birds, Dogs and Kangaroos. Click here to purchase a copy via amazon. Coach Z is one of the good guys in the industry. They don’t come any better. He’s a guy who if you leave a message for, he’ll be sure to call you back, unlike other ‘big-timers‘ who climb the ladder. He’ll talk x’s and o’s, recruiting, Individual workouts, and off course off the court issues.

After doing some work for the Big Ten network last season ‘Z’ is scheduled to do some Men’s basketball games for ESPN this coming season. (The folks in Bristol should look into casting him in some of their outstanding commercials. I love the story about the time he had a recruit on campus while he was an assistant coach at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey. On the visit, outside with the recruit they heard sirens coming from a police car…(Don’t worry, I won’t give it away)

Be sure to visit Z’s website.

Doc Sadler and his staff at the University of Nebraska is holding a clinic. You are seeing more and more of these clinics at this time of year. Click here for details.

Derek Jeter, Kalamazoo’s own has to be talked about when Playing the Right Way is mentioned. Harvey Araton on the New York Yankee shortstop.

“To be out there with him tonight as he spoke to the fans, as he let them know what the Stadium means to him, is something I’ll never forget,” the rookie outfielder Brett Gardner said. “You know, a lot of people say he’s a quiet captain. and maybe he is, but he’s a guy that leads by example, and that’s the kind of guy I want to follow.”