Thoughts from Geno Auriemma

Defensive Priorities
1- Take away transition points
2- Eliminate 3's
3- Don't foul

Defense is about-
1- Being smart
2- Being tough

Keys for individual defenders
1- Guard your man- don't need help all the time
2- Don't allow easy passes- push the receiver back 2-3 feet to force the offense out
3- End possessions- rebound

"UConn players don't foul." 
Two kinds of players commit fouls-
1- Bad players
2- Dumb players
If you foul- which are you?

Looking for in recruits-
1- Unselfish
2- Good passer & willing passer
3- Chance to become a good shooter

Winning Culture: #3 "It Don't Come Easy"

The Beatles classic, “It Don’t Come Easy,” captures an essence of competition. Once players/teams have established their vision and are firm in their commitment, they must realize that it is not going to be easy. Competition is tough.

It is easy for a player and/or a parent to mistakenly feel desire automatically produces success. Just because we want it doesn’t mean it is going to happen. Other teams are just as focused on success, and maybe just as committed. Quite simply, many teams are competing for the same goals- not every team is going to win.

On our own team, many players have the vision of playing regularly or of starting. Obviously if ten players have a vision of being a starter, not all of the ten will reach their goal. It is competitive- it is tough.

Winning Culture: #2 Commitment

The first step of developing team culture is about developing vision. But for the vision to be reached, a player needs commitment. All of us have heard the phrase, “talk is cheap.” Vision can be the “talk part”, while commitment is the “action part.” Coaches often say, “Don’t tell me, show me.”

The first season I was coaching girls basketball, in the fall I chaperoned a fan bus to Danville. We stopped in Champaign (where the girls tourney was at that time) to eat. One of the future players said to me, “We’re going to be playing in Champaign this year.” Obviously the player had a vision, but I had no confidence in the vision because they really had not at that point had an off-season commitment.

Stephen Covey in his book “First Things First,” deals with this idea. His message is:

1-   Determine your priorities.

2-   Let your priorities determine your actions.

3-   Your actions should be showing your priorities.

Winning Culture: #1 Vision

Motivational experts talk about the importance of goals. There are various versions of “you have to see it to achieve it.”

To be successful, players and teams must have a “vision” of what they want to be, and what they want to become. Often our vision is inspired by a role model or the excitement of an event we witness. It is kind of like, “We want to be like Mike.”

Team Culture- Pyramid

The most famous pyramid in basketball was John Wooden's Pyramid of Success. For many it is easier to grasp something when we see it in a picture vs just a paragraph. The major concept of Wooden's pyramid was that you need to do some basic things first- their is a foundation on which everything else rests.

One season, I tried my hand at making our own pyramid. While Wooden called it a pyramid of success, I would say it is also a pyramid for building a winning culture. The team formulated their beliefs of what would make for a successful season. I took their words and put them into the following drawing:

 

                                                                       

Team Culture- Words

Jon Gordon has had several very good motivational books. In one of his books, he talks about the power of words. He encourages people to pick out one word which will be the person's focus for a day, a week, or a year. People should pick out a word which captures what a person wants to be about. The concept is that the mind needs our focus to be simplified. Everyone can remember key words which will be their focus.

We ask our teams to formulate goals for the season. One season, we asked them to do two things in putting their goals together:

1- Make their goals focused on the process not the outcomes. In other words, don't put down the wins or championships you wish to attain. List what you need to do, or what you need to be-  to be successful.

2- Try to keep it simple. Pick out 8 words, which capture what you want to be as a team.

Team Culture- Building Winning Culture

Earlier this week I was listening to former college football coach, Rick Neuheisel. His conversation was about new coaches taking over programs this year in college football. He commented the most important job of a first year coach is not X/O's or strategy. The most important job is to "reshape the culture" of their program. His feeling was if a program is going to have long term success, it will be a result of a strong culture.

The other point he made was culture does not just happen, culture is built. And for a culture to be successfully built into a winning culture, it is a process. Just like you build skills in a sport with purposeful daily commitment, you build culture with a purposeful daily commitment. It doesn't just happen!

Here is an example of a foundation of values to build a culture:

Core Values

Every organization needs to have a set of core values that is at the foundation of their program. We

think of this as being something common with successful sports teams. This past winter, I had an opportunity to go to Fort Collins, Colorado. We went out for breakfast at popular and famous breakfast spot. When we arrived it was packed- it was obviously popular. Our breakfast was great. We had great service, and the food was great!! When I went to the restroom, I made a wrong turn and ended up in part of the servers area.

On the wall, their was a poster headed- "Core Values." Their core values were:
1- Respect
2- Empowerment
3- Honor
4- Optimism
5- Care
6- Dependable

8 Principles to Build Unity & Passion

You can infuse your team with passion by the acting out the following eight principles in your daily activities:

1. Keep Your Fire Burning. Fill your energy tank frequently. Your teammates feed off your fire. Avoid burn-out by regularly relaxing and refreshing your mindset.

2. Take Charge of Your Moods. Recognize your present mental and emotional state and take time to reflect on how your attitudes impact and influence your teammates.

Steele Gym- A Community Treasure

The old Galesburg HS, located downtown.

Galesburg High School once was located downtown, where the present Public Safety Building is located. On one block stood GHS, Churchill JH, and Steele Gym.

Steele Gym was considered the second most impressive high school gym in western Illinois during its era. Only Moline’s Wharton Fieldhouse was bigger than Steele Gym. Alleman played in the gym they still used today. Rocky Fieldhouse was not built so they played in the smaller gym used by the girls’ team today. East Moline actually played on a stage at their high school on the hill.

Richwoods’ gym was not built until 1959, so there was nothing like Steele Gym in the Peoria area.

The Extra Champions Have

The other day, I was driving and listening to ESPNU on the radio. They were having a discussion about what college coaches look for in athletes. The obvious was that it starts with physical characteristics- size, strength, speed. The consensus of most of the coaches was that while many athletes share impressive physical characteristics, champions have a different set of psychological or personal qualities. Listening to this discussion, it became obvious to me that high school, college, and pro coaches all are looking for some very important intangibles in their athletes.

Passion- This past winter, Loyola’s Porter Mosher talked about his experience working as an assistant for the legendary coach, Rick Majerus. Mosher described coming back from a recruiting trip, and describing players he had observed. He would describe how they moved, their athleticism, and how they could shoot. According to Mosher, Majerus would at some point interrupt and ask, “Yes, but does he love the game?” Majerus view was that to become a champion you had to invest incredible time and sweat. And you could not put the time and sweat needed unless you loved what you were doing.

The point of Majerus, to become a champion, basketball must be a priority. To become great, it has to be something you WANT to do.