Making investments in the lives of the players you coach

Nancy Gay has a good column in my local paper today about Mike Singletary who "insists he will not coach by intimidation. He will not lead his players with an iron hand. He is now their father figure. The players will be his flock."

As Gay writes, "Singletary and his coaching staff - who have a reputation as teaching, caring individuals - aim to turn the 2009 roster into a bonded family unit."

"We want to really get to the root of the matter, and that is to make sure we're making investments into the lives of those young men, so that when they leave that team, they can say, 'Wow - I didn't know I was just learning how to be a better football player; I was also learning how to be a better man.

I spend a lot of time with kids. I have seven kids myself. So, no, I don't think they have any clue," Singletary said. "I think they'll sit there and tell you, 'Yes, I know what I want to do and I know what I want to be.' But once you turn the fire on and it starts getting hot, it's 'Well, wait, I'm not sure I really want to do it that way or that much.'

I want my players to go away and be successful in business; they can be successful fathers.

I always say that when I study great coaches, whether it be Tom Landry or Vince Lombardi, George Halas, Bill Walsh - they are the coaches who looked at their players five or 10 years later and wondered: What are they doing now? If the bulk of those players are successful, then they are great coaches."

Good coaches make adjustments based on the needs of the team

Another great story from Winning Hoops, this one about Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, won won "four Division III national championships at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, including a
mind-boggling 5-season stretch where his teams went 138-8."

Now in his eighth season with the Badgers, Coach Ryan has guided UW to the NCAA tourney seven times, reaching the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite 8 once.

In his three head coaching stops, Coach Ryan focuses initially on two goals:

"Our first issue is to make sure that the players understand what it’s going to take to achieve our goals and how much work it’s going to take to get there. I need the players on board with everything I’m going to implement."

"Meanwhile, while I’m explaining the commitment end of things to our players, I make sure the locker rooms, the facilities, the weight room and everything else that’s a part of the program is upgraded. The players need to know that there’s alwayssomething being done that has their best interest at heart. If they’re making a commitment to us, we’re making one to them."

According to the article, "many coaches will initially think that bigger-picture things such as
facility upgrades aren’t in their control and that they don’t have the resources at their disposal that a Big 10 program has."

"The first things we did, for example, when I took over the programs at both UW-Platteville and UWMilwaukee was to build a new locker room,” he says. “Now, I didn’t stroll into those schools and demand that they be rebuilt for me. We took it upon ourselves as a staff to hustle it and get it done. We worked hard to get people to donate time, money and materials at both schools. It shows the players that if they’re out there working hard for the ‘new coach,’ they’re going to be treated with respect and the fact that things will get better.

The more they work, they better they’ll become as players on the court and the more we work as a basketball-program collectively, everything else around it will be better. Mortar and brick only goes so far — but it does send a message to the players that there’s a commitment to them.

I have no sense of entitlement ever. That’s not the way I was raised. I don’t except other people to do things for me. But I do expect other people to help if we’re all making a commitment."

As for practices, Coach Ryan recommends focusing on "drills that emphasize what we deem as the most-critical skills to have in order to execute as a team. The important thing is to make sure that you get your teaching points across."

“Build versatility into your practices. It’s a progressive thing. You can’t just say, ‘Well, on October 20th we’re going to do 15 minutes on transition defense, 10 minutes on fade and backdoor cuts, 18 minutes on baseline inbounds plays,’ and so forth.

Groups of players change each year. Some groups of players are older, more experienced and know the fundamentals, while others are younger, inexperienced and have less discipline. You can’t expect 18 year-olds and 22-year-olds to get to the same place, at the same level and in the same timeframe.

Good coaches make adjustments based on the needs of the team. You need to be regimented and go over everything, but with built-in flexibility.”

When it comes to discipline, it's more important to be right than consistent

Brad Adler's book "Coaching Matters" has a good passage with Bill Parcells and his approach to consistency as it relates to discipline.

It describes Coach Parcells' instense "desire for and commitment to consistency."

According to the author, "he required it in every aspect of the game. You had to practice consistently, play consistently, even rehab consistently. Indeed, as coach of the team, Parcells believed that even he had to be consistent, at least with most aspects of his leadership routine."

"The only thing you don't have to be consistent in is your discipline," Coach Parcells said of his coaching methods. "I know that sounds crazy, but what's important with discipline is to be right. I don't want to be consistent there, I want to be right."

It reminds me of a story a coaching friend told me recently about a high school coach who'd led his team to the state title game.

The night before the game, a group of his players had gone to dinner. On their way back to the team's hotel, one player -- the team's star player and a good kid who'd never had any problems -- realized that he'd left his wallet on the table, and had to run back to the restaurant to get it. He made it back to the hotel a few minutes later, but missed curfew.

According to the coach's rules, any player who missed curfew couldn't play in the next game. So, feeling like he had to be consistent with his discipline, the coach benched him. At the next day's championship game, with his best player in street clothes, they lost the game.

I've searched far and wide for this story online and haven't been able to find it. Regardless, even as a parable, it supports Coach Parcells' point about how when it comes to discipline, it's better to be right than consistent.

Work is not a variable; it's an attitude

In his book "The Smart Take From the Strong," the great Pete Carril writes that "defense is the heart of our game. Good defense is recognizable even when you're losing."

"Defense is not a variable. It's a constant. Shooting is a variable. Contesting a shot is not a variable. Skill is a variable. Work is not a variable, not a skill; it's an attitude. Defense has to be deeply embedded in your attitude."

Working hard is a message DAL coach Rick Carlisle is preaching to his team:

"Hard play is the biggest key to winning in this league, other than having enough talent. I love the talent on our team, but we don't have the kind of talent to win on talent alone. That's a fact. And most teams in the league are in the same position. We got to fight every night for wins. It's never easy."

[I just finished typing up notes from Coach Carril's book and will post later today. Even better, you can order the book on Amazon today. It's outstanding.]

A signed commitment to core beliefs

At Virginia Tech this week, coach Seth Greenberg had his players sign a contract asking "his players to commit to his 'core beliefs.'"

According to this article, "the move came in the wake of Sunday's 69-44 loss at Duke -- a defeat in which the Hokies mustered just 13 second-half points. Tech forward Jeff Allen has said that Duke played harder than the Hokies in the second half, and that his team 'gave up.'"

Greenberg said Thursday he didn't like the team's "competitive spirit" in the second half at Duke. He said the contract reminds the players "of the essence of the culture of the program" and makes sure they don't "compromise" that culture. Players said this year's version of the contract covers everything from playing hard and playing up to one's potential in games to not talking back to coaches in practice to not using cellphones during team dinners.

In Coach Greenberg's words, "I've done a contract almost every single year I've been here at different times. I'm taking measures to help us get better."

Says one player: "It's just stuff on and off the court, the stuff that we [were] kind of letting go, and it was kind of affecting the team. [Coach Greenberg] won't tolerate some of the small stuff he was tolerating. A lot of the contract is ... [about] effort in practice."

Points aren't the answer to whether a team's successful or not

Had a post earlier this week about the importance of commitment.

But as longtime Maryland coach Gary Williams points out in this article from the Washington Post today, for a team, there has to be a consistent level of commitment across the board:

"To be a good team... it's just a matter of if everybody makes the same commitment; there's always going to be one guy that's better than the others. But the team's got to get over that. You're doing everything you can to help us win. In other words, for us to win, that guy's got to get those points. Everybody's got to have their role and accept the fact that points aren't the answer to whether a team's successful or not."

A half-hearted commitment is worse than no commitment at all

Another worthwhile passage from Lou Holtz's autobiography:

Every athlete who has ever played for me has heard me preach against the pitfalls of entering anything halfway. In my mind, a half-hearted commitment is worse than no commitment at all.

If you decide to take a class, you should give the professor and yourself the full benefit of your undivided attention. If you don't, you're wasting your time and taking up a valuable seat in the classroom.

If you're on a team, you owe your coaches and your teammates your total commitment. If you don't -- if you're unhappy because the coach doesn't start you, or because you aren't getting as many touches as you think you should -- you are hurting yourself and the entire organization. You and the team would be better off if you played somewhere else.

Commitment is the most critical component in any relationship. In sports, it's become axiomatic: Commitment beats talent every time.

Commitment is not a guarantee of anything, but it's a requirement of everything

Good article today about Red Wings coach Mike Babcock's high level of commitment, something that the writer contends all good coaches have:

Some make it to the pinnacle of their sport - the NHL, the NFL, a top-tier college basketball program - while others never quite reach the big time. And so, while that commitment is not a guarantee of anything, it is a requirement of everything.

Says Coach Babcock:

''That commitment is one of those things you've just got to have. I think of it as passion. You've got to have that passion to do a job like this, but then if you've got that passion, it's not a job.''

Commitment is knowing how you can affect the team in a positive way

Recently, CHI coach Vinny Del Negro clearly defined for his team the meaning of "commitment."

"Commitment is coming in with energy every day, with focus, trying to get better, lifting weights, being on time, paying attention in meetings, being ready to play, knowing what your role is, who you're guarding, what their strengths and weaknesses are, how you can affect the team in a positive way. Commitment is being a professional, working every day to get better individually. As that happens, the team gets better. If guys commit to the team, they'll get a chance."

A lack of commitment deprives you of team membership

In today's LA Times, UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel talks about commitment to the team, saying:

"I want to make sure that every player on the team understands that any lack of commitment . . . does deprive you of team membership."

It reminded me of a great quote from the mountaineer W.H. Murray:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

The manifestation of emotional investment

David Ivey, an assistant at Alabama-Huntsville, was nice enough to pass along a link to the University of Florida's press conference -- featuring QB Tim Tebow -- following the Gators' loss to Ole Miss back in September.

Whether you're a Tebow (or UF) fan or not, it's a unique "peek behind the curtain" of a player who is emotionally vested in his team's success.

It's also an indicator of how a team can bounce back after a seemingly devastating loss as evidenced by UF's win over UGA this past weekend.