I think one of the most underrated things that the best coaches teach, in any sport on any level, is that of educating their players how to think on their own. Few were better than Coach Newell.
“I wanted players with initiative, guys who could control a difficult situation on their own. People may not realize that years ago, you couldn’t bring a player over to the sideline to talk to him. Players had to stand out in the middle of the court during your timeout. They changed that rule during my second year in coaching (1947) and I was madder than hell. I felt my team could always interpret what I was teaching; we didn’t need all these damn meetings. I didn’t want my players depending on me. I figured I’d teach ‘em during the week, and when the game comes along, it’s up to them. That’s one reason I didn’t like to call timeouts. I didn’t want the players thinking that every time they got in a little jam, I’d bail them out. I wanted to make them figure it out.”
-Pete Newell
From: "A Good Man - The Pete Newell Story" by Bruce Jenkins
