There
are so many coaches who I admire for the insights and strategies that they
bring to the game. Many are the usual
suspects like John Wooden and the way he created a winning culture through
character building and the Pyramid of Success; Phil Jackson for his calm,
Zen-like approach to the game and his unwavering belief in the Triangle
Offense. I’m a big admirer of Don
Nelson, who I saw as the wacky professor willing to bring creative and counter
intuitive strategies to the game; Jerry Sloan and the simplicity and basketball
purity of the old Utah Jazz offense, Pat Riley of the NY Knick era and the
tough, defensive principles he preached; Jim Boeheim for his conviction and
belief in the 2-3 Zone. The list goes on
and on.
But
there is one coach who I find most inspiring when it comes to creating my team's identity – John
Chaney. I admire Coach Chaney because I always
felt a kindred spirit with him. His teams
were made up of tough, Philly kids while my early teams consisted of tough,
inner city kids from New York City. I always admired
the way he was able to get his teams to play smart, disciplined
basketball. He held them
accountable. It is what I strive to do
with my teams. There was toughness
imbedded in his teams.
Though I no longer coach players from the gritty, urban environment of
Brooklyn and the Bronx, and now coach those who emerge from the more idyllic,
pristine landscape of Bermuda, one thing remains the same: I still believe
toughness…being tough-minded…is the cornerstone of building a successful team.
It
is through the writing of John Chaney that I draw inspiration when building a
team identity. I’ve used his writing in
the classroom as well…from Grade 2 to Grade 5.
It is an excerpt from Winning is
an Attitude – A Season in the Life of John Chaney and the Temple Owls. For those of you who are not acquainted with this piece, I hope you will enjoy it.
WINNING
IS AN ATTITUDE
By
John Chaney
Former
Head basketball Coach, Temple University
I
begin every year with “The Speech”. My
players hear it four straight years and could probably come in and recite
it. It goes like this.
We’re
charged as a coaching staff to teach you something: that you’re in college to
learn about life. If we can’t convince
you of that, you have no reason to be here.
You have a responsibility to recognize that you have something
here. You have to look at the fact this
is a four-year investment in yourself that will last a lifetime. College is the fountain of life. You have to drink from it. You can’t sit around for a whole semester and
hope something will happen. You have to
work at it.
The
greatest assurance of success is that each and every one of you must agree that
you are in a family setting. There are
different rules that exist when you try to live together as a family. You can do certain things as an individual
and get away with it because you only have responsibility for yourself. But, when, you’re on a team, when you’re in a
family, you have to always think about if what you’re doing is going to create
a problem for someone else. This might
be the only time in your life that you will be part of something so strong and
a part of something so meaningful. You
can’t be successful, no matter how talented you think you are, if you decide to
go in another direction than the one we agree on today.
This
basketball bounces a certain way every time it hits the floor. It’s not like a football. A football bounces a different way every
time. Your behavior must be like
bouncing a basketball. I have to be able
to predict success based on your behavior, and your behavior must be the same
every time I call on you.
If
you don’t go to class, if you don’t function in the classroom, we can’t
function as a team. They are one in the
same. They’re no different. They’re equal. When you fail in the classroom, you fail out
here on the basketball court. You just
don’t die in one place and live in another.
If you’re having a problem with one of your classes, you must let us
know. We’ll get somebody to help you –
not somebody to do your work, but someone to help engage your mind. I don’t care how good a player you are; if
you are not balanced, I have to cut you off.
It’s that simple.
What
I am selling, you must buy. You have to
buy it. If you don’t buy it, we can’t
live together. The contract says you go
to class and function in the class, and then you can play basketball. One hand watches the other. It’s very difficult to talk to somebody about
life on the basketball court when he’s not functioning in the classroom. The team can’t be successful with players that
don’t think well or don’t respond.
I
want to put good human beings out on the floor.
People who are playing sports for the right reasons. Sports are a vehicle. It’s a car that takes you from one point to
another. You use sports to get your
degree. That’s the main reason you’re
here. Always remember the value and
importance of your education.
One
of the things we can’t involve ourselves with is someone with a weak mind who
can be swayed in a negative direction. I
don’t care how poor economically you are, you cannot be the kind of person that
will lean toward another value system.
Just because you see someone walk around in expensive clothes and have
gold chains around their neck and money in their pockets doesn’t mean you can
be swayed and forced to move in a direction that will mean loss of our
structure as a family. If you’re going
to let yourself down, you’re going to let all of us down.
You
have to put things in the right priority.
You have a lot of long days ahead of you, consisting of practice,
classes and study hall.
Character
is very important for us. Make sure I
understand what you are and whom you are.
I want gentleman. I don’t want
people who are heathens….You’ve got to make the right decisions. It’s very simple. If I’m walking down the street and there’s a
dark alley and I see twenty-five or thirty guys walking out of the alley with
baseball bats, I know they are not going to a baseball game. I get out of there as quickly as I can. I don’t go up and say, “Hey fellas, what’s up? How you doing?” You have to make a good decision. You have to clearly read what’s right and
wrong. If something or someone will drag
you down, stay away. You may have to
elevate yourself from the people that you used to hang with. If you want to remain in the same spot the
rest of your life, there’s something wrong.
Having
a good attitude, a responsible attitude, is the only way that you can be
successful…If you’re looking for a shortcut, an excuse to lose, you’ll always
be able to find one.
The
people who are successful are the people who think well and make the right decisions. When you’re on the basketball court and
looking at the opposition, you have to take into consideration what is
there. Do I shoot? Do I pass?
That kind of reading is important, and that is the same kind of reading
you must have through out life.
If
I‘m yelling at you on the basketball court because you’re not functioning and
you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing – after we have taught you
and worked with you – you must realize it’s not you I’m yelling at, it’s your
behavior. You have to be able to
separate the two.
I
don’t want a team that escapes from reality and escapes from the truth. I don’t want people who always have a story
and are always conniving. People like
that will not face trouble when it comes.
They become immersed in failure.
They learn how to fail. They get
good at being bad. Nobody wants to take
the last shot in a game. No one wants to
try because there is comfort zone in failure.
I don’t want a team that can’t negate life, that won’t take a chance at
life. I don’t want a team that avoids
responsibility.
