Pat Summitt on Commitment

"I expect our teams to work just like I do. They know I’m here early and I stay late. I watch film with them. Whatever it takes. If they want to shoot extra, I’m here."

Commitment

From my experience, every team is unique. They have their own identity. And they have their own level of commitment. In the off-season, as a coach, you can quickly identify athletes who are "committed" and "loyal" to each other and to the program. And athletes who are not committed and do not feel an obligation to thier teammates, they don't quite ever get the "team" thing.

Art Fish- My Experiences with Art

Art Fish Tennis Court will be dedicated on Saturday morning at 8:30am. Art was quite a man. He brought incredible energy and humor to his job as a PE teacher and as a coach. During his tenure I don't think there was a sport that he did not coach.

When I was a young cross country coach, Art told me his experiences coaching cross country and football at the same time. He told that he used to load the runners up and take them out by Lake Bracken, dump them off, and have them run back while he went back and had football practice. He began to find the runners were getting back earlier and earlier each time So typical Art, one day he dumped them off, headed back back but pulled over to the side of the road in a blind spot. He waited, and sure enough here came the runners. They were all in the back of a farmer's pick up truck, riding into town. They had found a farmer who came to town each day at the same time.

"My Motivation"- Bonny Apsey

No doubt in my mind that
Bonny's work habits set the
foundation for our later success.

Bonny Apsey was one of our all-time best players at GHS. I am not sure she planned to be a "leader" when she started playing at GHS, but she certainly became a leader. I am not sure we have had any player who set more of a tone for other players than Bonny did. She was one of our most driven players. She was a tall player who could have been good by just showing up in November and being tall. But somewhere along the line she developed a vision of what she thought she could become as a player. Bonny became one of the best offensive players we have had. 


She had a special routine she did every single day after practice. She didn't do this "sometimes" or "often", she did her workout every single day. If our practice got done at 8:00pm, my wife knew when Bonny was playing that I would not be home until probably 9:00pm. 

Trusting Yourself in the Big Game

The day after the Bulls game #2 vs. Indiana, I listened to an interview with Joakim Noah. He commented on the number of turnovers the Bulls had in game #2, and especially the number of turnovers they had at the beginning of the game. His comment was something along the lines that, "They had tried to make too many great passes and tried to make too many great plays." That seems to be so common in any "big game."

"My Motivation"- Jaque (Howard) Gohlinghorst

#2 in the series "My Motivation" is our varsity assistant coach, Jaque Gohlinghorst. Jaque lettered on the varsity all four years. She was starting point guard on the soph team as a freshmen, and then the starting point guard on the varsity her soph, junior, and senior years. While Jaque was on the varsity, we finished 4th in State, Elite 8, 2nd in State, and 4th in State. So you think about it- for Jaque her worst season in high school was losing in the Elite- pretty good career. During the four year career, the varsity record was 127-13- not bad. Jaque is our all-time assists leader at GHS with 592 assists. And she was our career leader in three point shooting until the other Howard girl broke that.

Retirement

At the end of our banquet this year, someone came up to me and asked,"Are you going to be coaching next year?" I am never sure when someone asks if they are hoping I am retiring or if they are hoping I am continuing to coach.

Our present teaching contract encourages teachers to give a 4 year notice of their retirement from teaching. This allows the school to more effectively plan. I submitted a letter to the school board indicating my intent to retire as a social studies teacher and chairperson of the social studies dept, effective at the end of the 2014-15 school year. I did not include my coaching position in that letter.

"My Motivation" Shanell Lightfoot (Jackson)

When Shanell Lightfoot (Jackson) came to GHS, she was a great athlete and an average shooter at best. When Shanell was a senior, she was a great athlete and a great shooter. Her senior year she was 42 for 97 for 43% from threes, and 56 for 70 from the line for 80%. Shanell was a great, great shooter.

As I look at our teams that have made a run in the state series, there always seems to be one or maybe two players who take their game to another level. In 2001 that was the case with Shanell. I am not sure what her shooting percentage from threes was during the tourney but she could not miss. We lost to Sterling early in the year and then played them for the Sectional title. The Sectional game was not a contest- and one of the main reasons was that Shanell hit three point shot after three point shot. Her team went on to take 4th in State.

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