WHY WE WIN (#9)

In 1998 Billy Packer (along with Roland Lazenby) wrote a book titles "Why We Win." It was a brilliant concept in which Packer came up with a series of questions to ask some of the top coaches in all sports to get their thoughts and views.

If you had two players that we very similar but one had a little more talent while the other had a better attitude, which one would you take? Say maybe one had better physical ability and the other had the lead in mental ability?

Joe Gibbs: For me, it was always the character.

Pat Summitt: You’ve got one player to pick for a championship. I would say the mental...I guess it was Lou Holtz who said, “I’d rather have a slow person in the right spot than a quick person in the wrong spot.”  I think that certainly it’s true in the sport of basketball that execution is as much mental as anything.  And I’d take that smart player.

Tommy Lasorda: I’ll take the guy with lesser talent and the more desire and the execution ability.  I’ll take that guy over the guy with talent.

Joe Paterno: It would depend on the level of how much better is one physically and how much smarter is the other one.  But if they were close, let’s say one guy is six in physical ability and three in intelligence and other guy is seven in intelligence and three in physical ability, I’d go with the intelligence...I asked John Wooden what quality he thought was most important on his basketball team.  He said, well, my basketball teams were always intelligent.

Dan Gable: Whether you have talent or not, that’s a big factor to me.  The higher level you get to in sports performances, you need a little big of everything to be good.  However, I would still take the young person or that athlete that had the attitude over talent.

Mike Krzyzewski:  With intelligence you have a greater chance of making other people better.  Without giving names to those two people, I would lean more toward the intelligence because basketball is all about making your teammates better, and I think you can do that if you’re smart.  Some people are quick or strong, but they use their strength and quickness in going the wrong direction.

Sparky Anderson: Well, when it gets to that, to me, it’s the intelligence and the toughness of a young man.

Lenny Wilkens: The mental (laughing).  Definitely.  I can overcome a lot of physical disadvantages.  I could use your strength against you.  I can do a lot of that, if I know how.  And so, it’s now always how strong you are.  The guy who has mental superiority will find a way.

Bill Walsh: The bulk of your squad must consist of people with functional intelligence for the sport itself, and who have the athletic ability to play their particular position very competitively with the opposition.

WHY WE WIN #8

This is our 8th installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

 

Talk about your philosophy.

 

Bob Knight: I’m not sure that we’re all capable of developing a philosophy of life or a philosophy of leadership or coaching or anything else.  I think that whatever our game is, I think we have to understand how the game can best be played.  And to me, that goes one step further.  How it can best be played by whatever the rules of the game are...you know, Pete Carril made a great statement.  He the older he got, the less tolerant he was.

 

Joe Gibbs: If you don’t have convictions you’re in trouble because, believe me, you’re going to be tested.  You’re going to be tested in the front office.  You’re going to be tested by loses.

 

Joe Paterno: We’ve tried to be selective in the people we recruit based on the fact that we’re looking for character, people who are going to be with us four, five years.  We’re looking for kids that we think have a chance to graduate, and will respond to what we feel Penn State expects of them, and vice versa.

 

Dean Smith: We have a philosophy of how to play.  Now, there’s different ways to go about it, but to play together, to play hard.  I mean you always insist on effort.  And then, to be a smart team.  To be prepared for situations.  With five minutes to go, be prepared for that.  What to do when you’re down and in the catch-up game, or when you’re ahead, what to do to keep the lead.

 

WHEY WE WIN #7

This is our 7th installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

Could you talk about organization and time management?

John Wooden: I had three rules I always used in preparation. 1) You be on time. 2) You never criticize a teammate. That’s my job. 3) You never use profanity. If you vio-lated any of those three rules, then you didn’t get to practice that day.

Ara Parseghian: Every minute that you wasted between the time a game ended and the next game started was wasted time because you only have so much time in there.

Joe Gibbs: The whole time during that season, if I took two hours to do something, I always worried.   Pat Summitt: I think time management and organization are obviously critical in terms of how, as a coach, I manage my time and allow me to prepare and organize for play-ers’ time...A time-out is what, 60 seconds, maybe 90 seconds? I talk to my staff, organ-ization, my players about the need to understand how to position themselves on the bench, how to really listen.

Bill Walsh: If the players feel that you are using every minute on the field to preapre them to win or to compete, then they’re going to be willing to give you every minute of their time. But if there’s wasted, loose, lackadaisical moments there, the players lose their concentration and lose their appreciation for practice.

WHY WE WIN #6

This is our 6th installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

What would be your greatest satisfaction as a coach?

John Wooden: I would say in my earlier years it would have been championships, but as I matured and became more experienced my satisfaction became what’s going to happen to these youngsters after they’re out from under my supervision? What’s going to happen to them after basketball? I like very much to refer to Amos Alonzo Stagg again. After a particularly great season, a reporter said, “Well, is this your greatest sea-son, coach?” And Staff said, “I won’t know for 20 years.”

Pat Summitt: The consistency that we have been able to maintain in this program in the area of graduation rate and national contenders.

Chuck Noll: Having been associated with people with great attitudes. We talked about before what happens when you come together, when you have success and when you’re working together, there’s the bond.

Dan Gable: Bringing people to new levels of excellence.

WHY WE WIN (#5)

This is our third installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

How to you feel about keeping players happy or players needing to like the coach?

Are competitor’s born or can this be developed within them?

John Wooden: I think it can be developed to a great extent. In my pyramid of success, I have competitive greatness as the very top. You’re not going to be a great competitor unless you’re prepared. You’re not going to be prepared it you don’t work hard and aren’t enthusiastic about what you’re doing. You’re not going to be prepared unless you can function quickly. You’re not going to be prepared unless you are considerate of others. You’re not going to be prepared unless you’re in proper condition. You’re not going to have poise unless you have these other things. So all of these things, I think, work up to making you a competitor.

Ara Parseghian: I think you have to set a stage and a climate for it...I learned two things from Paul Brown. He was a great organizer. He didn’t overwork his teams, and he brought them to peak at the right time. You never felt like you were overworked. You always felt like you were underworked, and you always felt like you were very well prepared.

Anson Dorrance: In our experience at UNC, over the course of their four years, people who haven’t been outwardly competitive, by the end of their four years, become so.

Joe Gibbs: You can say things to great competitors and you can motivate them.

Chuck Noll: I think you can’t survive in the game over a period of time if you’re not a competitor. If you don’t have — I’m talking about a real serious competitor, you’re not going to survive.

Mike Krzyzewski: It’s a team process in building a competitor. Certainly a coach — and I find at Duke one of my primary jobs — is to make our kids tougher...There are certain things I have to do to make sure that our kids get tougher. A kid is not going to become really tough unless he has some competitiveness and some toughness in him already.

WHY WE WIN (#4)

This is our third installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

How to you feel about keeping players happy or players needing to like the coach?
 
John Wooden: Adolph Rupp was a great coach, and a reporter said to him one time, “You know your players don’t seem so happy. They don’t seem to like you so much. How come?” Rupp replied, “I’m here to coach them, not coddle them.” You’d like to see them reasonably happy, but that’s not your job. You hope that you have their respect; that’s far more important than having them happy. Having their respect and getting them to accept the roles you designate for them, even though they might disagree, that’s the most important.

Anson Dorrance: No, not at all (laughing). Although invariably, the route to becoming liked is through respect. And I think one of the great mistakes that all the young coaches make as they are entering the profession is the feeling that they have to be liked.

Bob Knight: I think that if you’re an honest person who works hard and deals fairly with players, then the coach will gain the respect of those players.

Mike Krzyzewski: (on developing personal relationships with players) I think if I don’t have that, then I’m missing out on maybe the best part of it.

Sparky Anderson: I have two rules, and I give that to them in spring training. Number one, you guys are lucky, you don’t have to like me. Number two, I’ll give you one that’s even better, you don’t have to respect me. Now, let me explain those two rules to you. The reason you don’t have to like me is that I have to earn that. Number two, the reason you don’t have to respect me, if I don’t earn respect, how in the hell can I ask you to give it to me? I’ll earn that, gentlemen.

Joe Paterno: One of the tings I tell them when we first start in preseason practice — which is where we try to set the tone of how tough we’re going to have to work — I say, you know, you may come back here 25 years from now at a reunion, and you may all sit around and you may say, “Boy, you remember what an SOB that Paterno was? You remember what Sandusky made us do? And you remember that day we practiced out there until we thought we were going to drop? The shouting, and the urging and the cajoling and the nit-picking about all the little things.” You may come back and gripe about that, but you’re never going to come back here and say, “You know, I just wish Joe knew how good we wanted to be; that if he’d just pushed us a little more, we could have gone all the way.” We’re never going to sell you short. We’re going to make you be as good as you can be, and if you’re willing to go along with us, we’re going to have some fun.

WHY WE WIN (#3)

This is our third installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

Could you talk about defeat and/or failure?

Bob Knight: "...to win and to understand how to win, you've got to know how to prevent losing. And that's what's going to cause you to lose are these things: poor ball-handling, bad blockout, shot selection, quickness of execution, or effectiveness of execution."

Joe Gibbs: "I probably remember the defeats, the real bitters ones...they're as vivid as the great victories...there was a fear of failure for me. And I don't think you overcome that. I think if that's in you -- a fear of failure -- I think that motivates you. Even after won our third Super Bowl, the next year I was right back in the same mind-set."

Pat Summitt: "Our emphasis is on execution, not winning. We're talking about how we need to go out and perform today. And if you execute and you're prepared, then that takes care of it...I'm not even going to talk about failure."

Tommy Lasorda: "I think the fear of facing failure has to be there at all times. I think that is what generates your interest. This is what motivates you, is the fear of failing. Abraham Lincoln once said, 'Where there is fear, there is a great deal of courage.'"

Dean Smith: "I think that motivation is greater if you've failed before. When it fails, or loses, I think you'll see a team respond -- the good, the championship teams will really respond the next night out."

Mike Krzyzewski: "It's the coach's responsibility to profit from defeat. We've always tried to take a positive out of a loss. However, you don't want to get in a habit of losing all the time, so that's the only way of taking positives...I'm not afraid to fail, but I don't want to fail. It's a sense of motivation for me."

Sparky Anderson: "I think my whole career, the thing that drove me to try to do things right, was the fear that I would fail, not only myself, but fail a player."

Bill Walsh: "I think the bottom line for the coach and his squad is how they deal with frustration, disappointment and failure -- how they deal failure. And I think that's really the best way to judge and to analyze a coach and a program -- it's how they rebound from frustration and failure."

WHY WE WIN (#2)

This is our second installment from Billy Packer's book "Why We Win" in which he ask coaches of all sports for insight on their philosophy.

Can a coach be a motivator, or is motivation something that is within a person that a coach can bring out.

Red Auebach: Well, both. First of all, the most important thing in coaching in my book, is communication. It's not what you say as much as they they absorb.

Ara Pareghian: I think that the team will reflect the intensity or the passiveness of a coach. I think a coach sets the stage. I think a coach builds the mentality, and not just with a motivational talk before the ball game. He starts on Sunday and Monday, building to a point where the team knows why they're going to the field.

Bob Knight: Left Driesell once told me, "I may not always be right, but the one thing I'm going to do is show my players that I'm always working and that I'm always trying to figure out how we can win. And that they can look at me and say, well, he is really committed to winning." I think peer pressure is important. Calbert Cheaney was always the first kid at practice and the last kid to leave. Having a leader like that means that you can to the other players, "How the hell can you do what you're doing when Calbert does what he's doing, and he's better than you to begin with."

Joe Gibbs: If you're to have motivated guys...I think you've got to be able to lift them up at the right time; you have to be able to know them down at the right time.

Pat Summitt: There can be short-term motivation, but the purest form of motivation is self-motivation. Now while I think I might be able to come in and motivate individuals, I think that unless they have it inside, unless every day they want to step out and compete -- and it's important that you get competitors in your program -- but unless they really want to do it themselves, it's not going to be anything that will be consistent or long range.

Tommy Lasorda: I classify a leader as someone who walks out in front of his men, but he doesn't get too far in front to where he cannot hear their footsteps.

Dan Gable: If your team has a large number of athletes not ready to commit to the work level, then that marginally motivated athlete will make little progress, or he'll even fall back.

WHY WE WIN (#1)

In 1998 Billy Packer (along with Roland Lazenby) wrote a book titles "Why We Win." It was a brilliant concept in which Packer came up with a series of questions to ask some of the top coaches in all sports to get their thoughts and views.

Putting together a team, what's the first thing you're looking for?

Red Auerbach: "The ball. You can't win without the ball. Therefore your first ingredient is to get somebody who can get you the ball...meaning a rebounder."

Pat Summitt: "I want my go-to-player in the paint and I want that point guard that can be the quarterback of our basketball team."