Memphis Downtowner March 2010 : Page 24
MY 2 CENTS 2 continued from page 22 I manage to keepmy cool on the court by being spiritually connected. Before every game, I try to get a workout in — running. After Calipari left, I told the team… I was very honest with the guys. I said, “Hey, you guys inherited me. I didn’t come here to become the head coach, and you didn’t sign here to play for Josh Pastner. I respect that. But guys, bottom line, we can either sulk and complain or we can decide to do this together, have fun, and have a great year.” Football or baseball? Football! When I disagree with a call, I tell the ref in a gentleman’sway. Sometimes I don’t always do a good job of that, but I don’t use any profanity. They are human beings, too. Refereeing is not an exact science, and they try to do the best job they can. What I like least about the coaching world are the egos involved. There are many, many egos throughout this profession. The trick to recruiting talent is hard work and honesty. There’s no secret to it. My cell phone minutes average off the charts! I’m talking world records, here! In my basketball world, my wife supports me. I can always tell when she’s been talking to fans when she tells me things like, “You need to be playing zone more,” or “You should get onto the refs more.” (laughs) She enjoys the game. My favorite thing to do after a game is go home and hang with the family. Whether I win or lose, I do the same thing: I go home. During a game, I get angriest when we don’t play with all-out effort. I’ll call a timeout and try to jumpstart them, or if that doesn’t work, I’ll sub them. Then you have their attention. As a teenager, I wrote scouting reports and traveled with my father’s summer basketball team. By age 16, I was the head coach and organizer of AAU’s Houston Hoops. From my father, I got my positive attitude, good discipline, and being good to people. Mymom — she was a stay-at-home mom and strict on me, as well — was very truthful with me. She told me like it was. When I needed a good pick-me-up, I went to my dad, because if I didn’t play well in a game, my mom flat-out told me! There was no sugar-coating it. And I am glad of that. I have never had a sip of alcohol. During a game timeout everyone is extremely focused. People don’t always understand the energy. You’ve got 17,000 people in there. There’s high energy. That’s why it’s so important for the team to have what I call laser-like focus. When we lose that, that’s when bad things happen. The biggest reward in a coaching career is making a positive difference in these young men’s lives. If I could meet one person… Pat Tillman. The sacrifice that he made was just amazing. Here’s a guy who was a millionaire and professional football player, and he gave it all up to fight for his country. The most valuable lesson I was taught is that there is no greater feeling than going to sleep at night having peace of mind. Best feeling you can have. Priceless. I achieve peace of mind by always being honest. No secrets. Most people don’t know that I have never had a sip of carbonation. My parents never gave it to me when I was young, so I never grew up with it. I thought, what a neat fact to say I’ve never had soda! I’ve never tasted Sprite, Coca-Cola — and I’m not really curious about it. My biggest vice is I’ve got a sweet tooth. M&Ms. Plain. The biggest misperception many people have about coaching is that it’s just coaching. It’s not. A lot of it is dealing with personalities, speaking engagements, recruiting, community appearances and activities — it’s not as much “coaching” as people think. When a student tells me he wants to coach, I say, “If you justwant to coach, the professional level might be a better fit. In college, there are so many other things you have to do other than just coach a team.” There’s a lot of involvement. As a college coach, you’re there 24/7/365. If a player gets into trouble off the court, the university and the coach are responsible. I try to cover the do’s and don’ts with my guys every day. I’m always mistrustful of unprincipled decisions. I decide which suit to wear to a game by picking whatever strikes me five minutes before I leave my house to go to the arena. One of my biggest concerns is making sure people know that we’re trying to build a program. And just like with Coach Cal, Coach Finch, Coach Bartow, Coach Kirk — none of those guys succeeded overnight. It’s going to take time to build a team, and as much as I wish I could, I can’t wave a magic wand to make it happen right away. I pay a personal price when I start projecting the future and don’t stay in a center-state, present state of mind. When I stray from that, I start getting stressed because life starts becoming fear based. I’m not easily rushed. I don’t make impulsive decisions. I need to sleep on things. My final 2 cents … I am so fortunate to be a part of this community. I’ve said it many times: The Tigers are the city’s team. I’m just a gatekeeper to make sure everyone remains proud of their basketball program. This program really revolves around the city. It’s about the city, and the city is so emotionally invested in the program. People love Tiger basketball, and they’re passionate about it. And that’s just so unusual, so unique. This program was good way before I came onto the scene — way before I was even born! — and the program is going to be really good when I’m long gone. This is about the Memphis name, and that’s what I think is pretty powerful. 24 MEMPHIS DOWNTOWNER MARCH 2010 MEMPHISDOWNTOWNER.COM
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