Every individual finds a benchmark for themselves to reach in their profession, and often that comes in the form of a person to emulate. Athletes strive to be like certain athletes, coaches strive to be like certain coaches. Success has been bred by countless styles. There’s the military, dictatorship of Bobby Knight, the calm intensity of John Wooden, the business man/car salesmen approach of John Calipari, and the leadership building, leading with the heart mentality of Coach K. All successful. All champions. All worthy of emulation in their own right. My basketball library is littered with many different coaches, and I’ve been influenced in many facets by coaches of all backgrounds while trying to enhance my own skills. Even as much as I despise his arrogance, I’m looking forward to spending time this summer learning about Calipari and his businessman approach to the game. And yet while I have learned from all of these coaches I have found a distant kinship to two coaches that are often overlooked in today’s age as far as teachers of the game. One was recently the great underdog in the Final Four, the other hasn’t seen a college job in years. Both were the wiz kids of their era, the kid genius’ of the game; highly touted from the start. Rick Riley wrote an article before the Final Four matchup between Louisville and Kentucky entitled “Pitino’s New Perspective” (http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7740206/pitino-new-perspective). In it he describes the rise and fall of Pitino’s career and the resurrection not only as a coach, but as a man. Riley opens his article by saying: Rick Pitino is not walking through that door. Not the Rick Pitino you knew. Not the bug-eyed screamer, the arrogant New York know-it-all. He has swallowed too much heartache to be that man anymore.
No, the 59-year-old Rick Pitino who walks through that door at this Final Four, the one who leads these Louisville Harry Potters into their fight with the Kentucky Voldemorts this Saturday, this Pitino is changed. He's grayer and softer and happier. He laughs. He indulges. He forgives.
These are days of acceptance for Pitino. Acceptance that you're Louisville, not Kentucky. That life is cruel, and then it's sweet. That basketball is part of life, not life itself.
To be honest basketball has been life for me for a very long time. I’ve often joked with people that I don’t know anything but basketball, and in reality it’s always been more truth than jest. I’ve catered my life to be successful in basketball ever since the summer before my 8th grade year when I decided I was tired of being a jv kid. That dream manifested itself into winning a state championship, then into being a college basketball player, and then coaching a state championship, and finally becoming a college head coach and winning a national championship (I've only accomplished one of the things on that list). But as I reflect on the things I’ve learned through my girls, especially those at Rye, through fellow coaches and mentors who care deeply about me, and through a select number of friends and family members I’ve learned that there is more to life than winning. That it’s about relationships and about building people. I know it's cliché for every coach in America, and a line that is spouted in every interview, press conference, and newspaper article when a coach is asked why he or she coaches, but there is a hard line between being a coach who truly believes that and one that is bent on winning.
Pitino said something vulnerable the other night, at the very end. He said, "My biggest disappointment isn't that I didn't put somebody on the passer in that [1992 Duke] game. It's that I didn't live humbly all those years. I try to now."
Acceptance. Living humbly. Forgiving yourself and others. Coaching for the love of the game and the love of people. The other coach that I’ve felt a kindred spirit with is Quinn Snyder. If you don’t follow college basketball with much diligence then you probably have no idea who Quinn Snyder is. Today he sits on the bench as an assistant for the Los Angeles Lakers, but in 1999 at 32 years old when he got hired by the University of Missouri he was a prodigy. In an article in the Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley wrote of Snyder's time at Missouri. "[He was] College basketball’s next big thing. Telegenic, charismatic, he was a natural. He was a tireless worker, with a Duke pedigree, and hiring him to his first head-coaching job at Missouri, passing on Bill Self and John Calipari, seemed like a bold and brilliant move. Snyder was smart and slick in a good way. He had a law degree, an MBA. He knew how to work a room. And Snyder wore his passion on his sweats. He believed in basketball. He was most comfortable in the gym. He loved coaching. He loved counseling. He loved winning. And, on some level, he even enjoyed the agony of defeat” (http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/jul/03/former-missouri-basketball-coach-quin-snyder-finds/). Those words resonated with me. Snyder though, in the midst of 126 wins and 7 post season appearances was fired after 17 NCAA violations as well as poor off the court decisions that he couldn’t keep out of the spotlight. After spending 16 months practically underground Snyder reemerged with an NBA D-league team and eventually as an assistant with the 76ers before coming to LA. Whether Snyder has found the same acceptance and forgiveness of himself as Pitino has we don’t know; humility is a hard lesson to learn.
It’s difficult to keep from considering the things that drive a person. Everyone must decide what risks, if any, are too great to take in an attempt to achieve ones dreams. Lines are often drawn in the sand defining what our convictions won’t allow us to cross, but it only takes one storm to wipe them away and push us to places we never thought we’d let ourselves go. So how then do we control our success and how do we control ourselves from risking everything to achieve it and maintain it? I suppose that’s for each individual to decide, but it seems to me it’s all a matter of who you surround yourself with; who is keeping you accountable and who is pushing you in the right direction. In an article on espn.com by Ivan Maisel regarding Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy and his non-traditional coaching strategies, Gundy talks briefly about his hiring process for assistants:
Gundy tried hiring assistant coaches in the
conventional manner. Needed a recruiter? He hired a guy known for recruiting.
Needed a position coach? He hired a guy for that position. “But they weren't
great hires for me,” Gundy said. Gundy decided to focus on intelligence and
loyalty. He figured the rest would work itself out. When he needed an offensive
coordinator after last season to replace Dana Holgorsen, who went to West
Virginia, Gundy hired Jacksonville Jaguars wide receivers coach Todd Monken, a
former Oklahoma State assistant who had never been a coordinator. The Cowboys
averaged 49 points and 557 yards per game this season. When Gundy needed a
running backs coach this year, he hired Air Force assistant Jemal Singleton.
Air Force? It runs the option. Oklahoma State runs a spread. "Because he's
smart," Gundy explained. "He's got a good demeanor. ... He had to
understand loyalty, structure and discipline, because you don't graduate from
the Academy without all those things. He's been tremendous for us." Gundy
is through with Coaching 101. He swears he will err toward character over
talent in recruiting” (http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls11/story/_/id/7394688/oklahoma-state-cowboys-coach-mike-gundy-learns-mistakes).
Err towards character? Where has that been in our society? Where has that been in our businesses, schools, coaching staffs, government? Where has that been in our day to day interaction with people? I know I haven’t always erred towards character in my personal decisions, but like Pitino, it’s time for acceptance and forgiveness of yourself.
Till Next Time,
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Coach Kyle
