Hard Lessons To New York | Being Able o Communicate Your Vision

In the 4th chapter of his book, Win Forever, Pete Carroll talks about the lessons he learned as the head coach of the New York Jets.  He was promoted from a defensive coordinator to head coach, and he talked about how he wanted his players to perceive him in his new role.  Concerning that, he wrote:

I wanted to show them that they were going to get the same coach they had had the past four seasons - someone who was positive, focused, and extremely competitive.  I believed that the only way we were going to win was as a single, united team.

His philosophy was forming, but it was still undeveloped.  He know what he wanted to do, but he was still figuring out how to make it happen.  Here he talks about the vision he had for the Jets organization:

The vision I wanted the team and staff to share wasn't about 'not failing' but about really searching within yourself and developing positive approach to wining.  I wanted every member of the team to think of himself as a piece of our success.  As I described how I saw our new competitive philosophy, the players and coaches began to buy in and seemed willing to at least give it a try.

In the end, he realized that he did not do a good enough job of getting his management to buy into his vision.  He also said that he didn't understand his vision enough to explain it in a convincing way.

In the long run, I have to admit that I probably contributed to my firing by the Jets because I didn't do everything I could have done to make sure the owner understood my vision.  Looking back, I didn't understand the scope of my approach well enough to explain it to him in a convincing way.  I mistakenly though that having the team's attention was enough.  I still had some work to do when itt came tot defining and articulating my philosophy.

What mattered was that we did everything in our power to focus the players on our priority and have them buy into it without worrying whether it was silly or not.  - Pete Carroll

Create shared experiences. - Pete Carroll

Playing With A Quieted Mind

In Chapter 3 of Pete Carroll's book, Win Forever, Coach Carroll talks a lot about the importance of athletes achieving a 'peak performance' in competition by playing with a 'quieted mind.'  A quieted mind is when a player is completely absorbed by the task, free of distractions, and the game is moving in slow motion.

I once had a 'peak performance' in an interview.  I was approached to apply for a position as an assistant principal in my district.  It was a position that I probably was not completely ready for, as I was still a young teacher, but the administration in my district thought that I would be good for the position and that I should go for it.  I was fully prepared to answer any and everything that they threw out at me, and I did a good enough job to earn the position because of my performance.  

I remember being in a zone in while they were firing questions at me, and the biggest reason for that was the way that my principal at the time helped me prepare.  He told me that it would be important to know my strengths, my weaknesses, and my philosophy of education and to be able to communicate those effectively.  He said that it was important for me to know who I was and that if I ever struggled with a question, I could always draw back to who I am at my core to answer the questions.  He also told me to slow down when they asked me questions, think about my experiences and answers before speaking, and to answer confidently.  Basically, he told me to focus in the interview; focus on the questions, focus on my experiences, and focus on how I would handle myself in familiar situations from the viewpoint as a leader, not simply as a teacher.  I had experience in every aspect of the job, I just had to be able to communicate that to them clearly and effectively.

I was able to achieve a peak performance by being confident.  I was confident in myself because of two things:

1 - I was prepared for what they threw at me and I also had a plan for the unexpected (contingency plans)

2 - I was completely aware of who I was as a professional and where I was at as an educator.

In the interview, I was focused, listening and thinking about each question as I had been advised, and with each response, I grew more and more confident in myself and fell deeper into the zone.

We can all find 'peak performances' at any time.  We just have to have supreme confidence in ourselves and our preparation, and we must have total focus in the task at hand.

The following are notes that I have taken from the chapter.  (After the jump)

Create Situations Where Player's Are FREE To Perform

In chapter 2 of his book, Win Forever, Pete Carroll talks about how his academic learning helped influence his approach to coaching.  

Abraham Maslow and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs made a lasting impression on how he approached getting the most out of his players.  Here is an excerpt on how Maslow influenced Carroll's viewpoints on player performance:

"What I learned about Maslow's insights challenged me to start asking: What if my job as a coach isn't so much to force or coerce performance as it is to create situations where players develop the confidence to set their talents free and pursue their potential to its full extent?  What if my job as a coach is really to prove to these kids how good they already are, how good they could possibly become, and that they are truly capable of high level performance?

What if players were able to perform exactly how they envisioned themselves performing?"

I think as coaches, we have to identify our player's strengths and weaknesses and we have to put them in position and situations that will allow them to perform up to their strengths and allow them to 'do what they do best.'  Its important to grow the player as a whole and teach him how to master all aspects of his game or sport, but its also important in competition to make sure we are putting them in position to be successful by allowing them to play to their strengths in situations where they are completely comfortable.

Here are a few more quotes from chapter 2 that I really liked:

I had to discover the power of communicating with and listening to those you hope to help.  If I was going to do something special and help players find their potential, I was going to have to build relationships and follow my instincts.

The first step to doing great things was affirming the belief that great things are possible.

The simple act of making thoughtful, affirmative statements about who we are and what we want to achieve can be an incredibly powerful tool for getting the best possible performance out of ourselves.

In order to be successful, you must have a consistent philosophy.  If you change who you are from year to year, you're never going to be great at anything.

How Nike Signed Michael Jordan

Cool story on how Sonny Vaccaro helped Nike sign Michael Jordan out of college.  Imagine a world where Adidas made Air Jordan's.  Crazy how Nike giving him his own shoe (and Adidas supposed reluctance to sign and feature a non-7 footer) helped Nike become what they are today.

Staying Sharp On Your White Board and Special Situations

So many games are won and loss by how we as coaches handle late game timeouts and special situations.  Many times its the last 5 or 6 plays of the game and the adjustments you make as a coach in those situations that separates the winners and losers, and it is important to stay sharp in this area in the off-season.  

To keep myself and my coaching staff sharp in our ability to recall plays quickly and efficiently, we have a little activity that we use.  We have identified certain situations that we need to be ready for, and we have written them down on small pieces of paper.  We put them in a bowl and several times a week we pull on one and quickly draw out a play that fits the situation.  We also like to talk about how we would guard that particular action so that we are always thinking about how to put our guys in position defensively to have success against anything somebody might throw at us.

These are the situations we have written down to choose from

-  Set play for your best player
-  Set play against man for a big man
-  Set play against man for a wing
-  Set play against man for your pg
-  BLOB against man (3 sec or less)
-  BLOB against 2-3 (3 sec or less)
-  BLOB against man (5 sec or less)
-  BLOB against 2-3 (5 sec or less)
-  SLOB against man (3 sec or less)
-  SLOB against 2-3 (3 sec or less)
-  SLOB against man (5 sec or less)
-  SLOB against 2-3 (5 sec or less)
-  Set against 2-3
-  Set against 2-3 for a 3
-  Set against 3-2
-  Set against 3-2 for a 3
-  Set against 1-3-1
-  Set against 1-3-1 for a 3
-  Getting the ball in in the back-court against full-court pressure
-  Getting the ball in in the half-court against full-court pressure

It is important to have poise and confidence in timeouts, and proper preparation gives you the confidence you need to draw something up in a late-game timeout that will put your guys in position to make a play and to give your guys a chance to be successful.  Any lack of confidence is noticeable by your players, and if you can't have confidence in your ability to put them in position to be successful, they will also lack the confidence in you.  

In the video below, the guys at NBA Open Court on NBA TV talk about what its like being in an important timeout with a coach you trust and believe in verses a coach with whom you might tune out.

Steve Smith talks about the importance of giving everybody purpose and a role in the plays you draw up.  You don't want guys to feel like they don't have an important role in any play.  If nothing else, drawing up how they can relocate on penetration in case the play breaks down can keep them engaged and ready to answer the bell if they need to make a play.  He also talks about how great coaches, can draw up defensively what you are going to do to take away your 1st and 2nd options.

Isaiah Thomas talks about some of the give and take that comes with drawing up late game situations with your best players.  He spoke about how the coaches that he played for would always ask him where he wanted the ball, and draw up the play accordingly.  

Dennis Scott then talked about the importance of the coach coming into the huddle with confidence in himself and the play that he is about to draw up and the assurance that the confidence gives to the players in the coach and the plan.  

Stay sharp in the off-season and stay prepared; your preparation now will pay dividends in the middle of the season.

The Importance Of Teaching The Fundamentals Of The Game

This is a video that I like to show my guys, especially in the off-season where we don't have the excitement or purpose of preparing for competition.  In the off-season, our guys can sometimes get bored with the skills and drills that we do to improve their fundamentals, so a little perspective and added motivation is always great to get them going and to provide importance and relevance to what we do.

Here, the guys at NBA Open Court are talking about the importance of teaching and learning the fundamentals of the game and how mastering the fundamentals is a difference maker between being good and being great.  They use Tracy McGrady, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird as examples.  As good a player that Tracy McGrady was, and for as much talent as he had, he was much maligned for never being able to get out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

The guys mentioned that college, and more importantly mastering the fundamentals of the game, is something that might have held him back.  The guys gave a lot of the credit of Michael Jordan's success to the fundamentals and the great teaching of Dean Smith and Phil Jackson in Jordan's game.  Kenny Smith said that Jordan was the most fundamentally gifted athlete there ever was in the league, and that him being so fundamentally sound helped separate him from other great athletes at his position, like Clyde Drexler.

Isaiah Thomas talked about how Bird's flawless fundamental setup gave him more time when he got the ball in his hands.  That fundamental know-how allows them to slow the game down and allowed them to get more out of their natural talent.

As coaches at all levels, we have to teach to mastery the fundamentals of the game.  It will help accentuate the natural talents of our athletes, raising the ceiling of their potential immensely.  

Instead of just letting guys go play, teach them how to play.

Steven A. Smith: What It Takes To Be Great

 

The following notes are from a speech that Steven A. Smith gave at the University of Rhode Island.  They are gathered from an article I found at The Good 5 Cent Cigar is the University of Rhode Island’s student news organization.  It is written by Jeremy Dawson, and you can find the complete article here.

“How bad do you want it?” This was the sentiment that resonated throughout a motivational speech from one of ESPN’s leading faces who spoke at the University of Rhode Island.

“No matter what your gifts are or how much talent you have you can’t pull it off by yourself,” said Smith. “So many of people’s problems today are based on their inability to come together.”

To prove this, Smith used the New England Patriots, San Antonio Spurs and Floyd Mayweather’s successes. In regards to Mayweather, who Smith predicted to knock out Manny Pacquiao in the 11th round of their bout that will take place on May 2nd, he said, “It ain’t just because he gets up and runs 7 miles at the drop of a hat. It’s not because he spars all the time. It is because of his trainers, his dad, his nutritionists, his masseuse, it’s because of a team.”

Smith was held back in the third and fourth grade. Smith said that he had people in his life that would say he never amount to anything in life.

“I remember the name of every one of those bastards that were laughing at me,” said Smith. “I said, ‘You can book it, no one will ever laugh at me again. They went from calling me a dummy to saying I’m too damn smart.”

Smith went on to discuss how he is very well paid and at the top of his field, which is due to his knowledge that someone else out there is gunning for his spot. Smith said, “I put in the work. This isn’t some overnight sensation.”

“In order to be excellent you have to be better than someone else,” said Smith. “In order to be the best you have to love competition… Bring it.”

Even Coach K Evolves and Adapts With The Times

Coach K is coming off of his 5th National Championship, and if he hasn't done so already, he is really starting to create and even larger gap between his legacy and those of even his most successful peers, and he's done so in large part because of his willingness to buy-into adapting to his players and the changes in the sport in general

Bucky Gleason at Buckyandsully.buffalonews.com wrote a great article on Coach K's ability to adapt, and even recived some words from two of college basketball's all-time greats, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley to comment on just how much Coach K has evolved.

I have listed some key takeaways that I have found useful below.  You can read the full article here.

Christian Laettner On Coach K Evolution
Over the past quarter-century, Laettner has realized that Coach K didn’t compromise his ideals when it came to Hurley. Krzyzewski was evolving into the greatest coach in the past 40 years. Laettner came away with even more respect for Krzyzewski because he was willing to change with the times. 


“I saw an interview that he did the other day where he said that he, himself, is still learning and still adjusting and still evolving,” Laettner said Thursday by telephone. “He’s learning how to coach these kids. He’s coaching them differently today than he did me 23 years ago. Coach K is still learning.

“They say, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’ He’s breaking that cliché. He’s an old dog for sure, but he looks young on the sideline. He has a lot of passion and intensity, but he’s not so rigid that he doesn’t evolve and change with the way kids are today and the way the game is played today.”

“I’m sure he’s still stubborn about some deep-rooted, hard-core philosophies that he has,” Laettner said. “I’m sure he delivers those messages to the kids very strictly and very stubbornly. In other ways, he has to be willing to change, be willing to give in and relent, and relate with these young players today.”

On Changes In Recruiting
In another era, Krzyzewski turned away from recruits who considered playing for a year or two in college before jumping to the NBA. He wanted them to stay for all four years and grow with the program. Although Corey Maggette left after one season in 1998-99 and Luol Deng split after one season five years later, most stayed at Duke. 

Krzyzewski made a philosophical U-turn after a rule was implemented in 2006 that called for NBA players to be 19 years old. Rather than resist a national trend, he kept an open mind. He embraced players who helped his program even if they stayed for one season. He realized it would encourage top recruits to choose Duke.
Bobby Hurley On Coach K's Evolution
“He has adapted in more ways than this,” Hurley said. “His style of play year-to-year is based on his personnel and the players he has in the program. He’s always done that whether it’s tweaking his style of coaching or now, with this.”

Coach Calipari: Become The Best Version Of Ourselves

At the Final Four press conference, Coach Cal talked about the importance of being the best version of ourselves in performance.  his conversations with his team leading up to their game against Wisconsin.  He said that their sole concern was themselves and that he preached to them that they have one job individually, and that is to get themselves prepared physically and mentally to be the best versions of themselves.

He also said that if he could count on them for effort, they could count on him for adjustments.  We can argue back and forth whether or not the Kentucky players just didn't make plays down the stretch,  we can argue whether or not the coaching staff put them in the best position to be successful, and we can argue about the significance of them not having watched film on Wisconsin.  But, we can't argue with the fact that one of our main purposes as coaches is to get our guys to grow into become the best versions of themselves and to play at that level.

Longtime Ravenna basketball coach Beranek steps down

POSTED: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 10:32 PM |UPDATED: 10:35 PM, TUE MAR 24, 2015.

By CONNOR O’GARA / Hub Sports Writer

RAVENNA — After 448 wins, four state titles and 25 years at the helm, Ravenna boys basketball coach Paul Beranek is finally hanging up his clipboard.

The Bluejays’ general announced on Tuesday that he’ll be retiring after 31 years of coaching.

“It’s a hard a decision to make because — I’m not about an identity — but you lose your identity a coach,” Beranek said. “I had to sit down with my family and talk about it with them first and they were all very supportive. Connor (Beranek) even called me and told me it’d be fun to have me watch his games his senior year.”

Getting to watch his youngest son, Connor, lead the University of Nebraska at Kearney basketball team was one of several reasons Beranek decided to retire. He’ll still teach art at Ravenna High School and become a spectator.

That’s a role he didn’t get to take when coaching sons Connor, Drake and Riley. Five state championships in an eight-year stretch — with his sons leading the Bluejays atop the podium in Lincoln — highlighted Beranek’s historic career at Ravenna.

“I look at my cell phone background and I got to hang three state championship medals around my own sons,” Beranek said. “That’s kind of a selfish statement because all of my players were my sons.”

In the beginning of that golden era, Beranek’s future at Ravenna was in doubt. More importantly, his life was in doubt.

After he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, Beranek was told he had six months to live. He didn’t think he was going to see Connor graduate or be around long enough to become a grandfather.

Seven-plus years later, Beranek is alive and well. Cancer didn’t end his coaching career, either.

“Iron sharpens iron,” Beranek said. “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Known for his passion, Beranek’s fiery demeanor only increased after he battled through cancer.

“I wasn’t going allow kids to be walking through the motions and being happy status quo. We wanted to perform at a tough level,” he said. “That’s one of the things we brought to Ravenna as a coaching staff and as players. I’m hard on them for the one simple fact that when you’re playing in front of 4,500 fans, that doesn’t bother you because Coach Beranek has been in your ear all week.”

The night Ravenna played in front of 4,500 fans was different than any of the five state championship games Beranek led the Bluejays to. A rare Class C2 vs. Class A showdown brought in a capacity crowd to Bellevue West. The eventual-Class A runner-ups came away with the 67-63 victory that night, but Beranek’s squad got an experience they wouldn’t soon forget.

“You get to go toe-to-toe with one of the premier Class A schools in the state just with Ravenna-born kids — farmers’ kids, janitors’ kids, teachers kids, cheese plant kids — and we won with kids that were blue collar that would do anything for the program,” Beranek said. “That part is what you miss also.”

Beranek elected not to walk away after Connor’s 2012 class won the C2 title. Instead, he coached until the 2015 class of Michael Bauer, Chance Bock, Blake Chramosta, Kobe Schirmer and Brady Standage played their final game.

Replacing Beranek and the five senior starters, the Bluejay basketball program will experience a facelift in 2015-16. Beranek said he wanted to make sure the program was in the right position when he left it. With assistants Randy Basnett, Wayne Bock, Brian Duncan and Tony Schirmer still in the fold, he feels confident it will be.

“It’s going to be in good hands,” Beranek said. “There are Ravenna players that know what it takes to be successful. The basketball program is going to be in good hands because of the people that are going to be involved with it.

“As a chicken, I wanted to step aside and not make that decision. I’ve got too many former players that invested a lot of love into and I don’t know if I could decide who will be the head coach here. That’s what administrators get paid big bucks for. They can do my dirty work, I guess.”

http://www.neprepzone.com/basketball/longtime-ravenna-basketball-coach-beranek-steps-down/article_8e220e52-d29f-11e4-9482-436d7f4ddfce.html