The Strength of a symbol

This was passed along by Coach Scott Allen at Paul VI High School (Fairfax, VA).  It is from Andy Katz at ESPN.com.  It’s a great story, one I had not yet heard.  One thing I really respect about Scott is that he always teaches more than basketball… Thank you for sharing.

As conference, NCAA and NIT/WNIT tournaments get started… this little gem helps us keep it all in perspective.

The Strength of a symbol

When Ross Deutsch read the advertisement, it seemed too good to be true.

For a fee, he could go to Las Vegas with some friends and attend Michael Jordan’s Flight School, essentially a summer camp for basketball-crazed adults. It was a place to live out one’s hardwood fantasies for a few days and receive instruction from NBA and college coaches, Hall of Famers among them.

Mike Krzyzewski and Ross Deutsch first met in 1997 at a basketball camp in Las Vegas.

It was 1997, and Deutsch was working in the financial world in Chicago. He was 36; he had the money and an interested friend; and his wife, Mindy, had no objection. He was certainly passionate about basketball and, as a Chicago native, had a love for all things Michael Jordan. He had three young sons — Rory was the oldest at 6; Robbie and Rickey were younger — but it was for only a few days, and besides, what kid wouldn’t get a kick out of his dad playing hoops for a few days as though he were a star?

A few days later, Ross and his friend David Duckler found themselves in Las Vegas on a Bally’s court. They had just finished a few drills and were attending a makeshift draft where they were to be divided into their teams, selected by the coaches in attendance. Across the court, Duke coach and fellow native Chicagoan Mike Krzyzewski, already a two-time national champion, evaluated Deutsch and Duckler and decided to go local, selecting the two friends for his team.

Neither Deutsch nor Krzyzewski knew at the time that those fortuitous circumstances would mark the beginning of a lifelong friendship, that the two would bond in a way that few men do in adulthood. They were new acquaintances then, player and coach for a few days, but Krzyzewski would soon be supporting Deutsch through something no parent can ever imagine after looking into the eyes of a healthy child at birth.

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Division I Men’s & Women’s Basketball Coaching Changes

As we recently looked at the number one skill needed for new leaders, we referenced the annual College Coaches Coaching Carousel.

Unfortunately, it’s that time of year.

There’s huge excitement with conference and NCAA tournament action, but it also marks the “other” end of the coaching spectrum.  Firings.  Non-Renewals.  If you have been in the coaching profession long enough – you’ve been there.  The shelf life of an NCAA Division I college basketball coach is under 6 years at the same school.  The days of 25+ year careers at the same place are over.  Even 10 years at the same place is rare.

The “Job Boards” are already flowing and everyone hears the “rumors.”  Who’s going – Who’s in – Who might want in – Who’s staying “one step ahead of the posse’.”

This is the part of the profession that is the most difficult.  The one that writers forget exists for coaches and their families.  Coaches are chastised for their exorbitant contracts, country club memberships, courtesy cars, annuities and the like at the highest levels.  Truth is, that very same coach who got the new job,  signed the new contract for the next great opportunity… needed to relocate their family and then could be out of a job in 3 years.  That’s the highest levels.  What about the mid-levels?  The assistant staff?  The contracts and fringes aren’t as large and plentiful, but the risks and results are just the same.

For some coaches in that position, it is their own un-doing.  Bad recruiting.  Bad results.  Other problems.  OK.  But, for many, many others, they worked their tail off, did it the right way, followed rules, graduated players, provided a disciplined and safe environment and simply did not win enough.  How many bank managers, school teachers, CEO’s, you name the profession – can say that.  There is a trade off.

Yesterday, I left my home around 10:00 AM, drove to Ohio for a game.  490 miles each way, 7 hours 35 minutes without stops according to Google Maps… there were 4 stops in all – 9 hours total.  Each way.  Two stops for speeding tickets – $400.00.  Just an added bonus.  I arrived for game at 6 pm, watched the game, talked to coaches – jumped back in the car – hit the Wendy’s drive-thru and drove through a snow storm in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia back home…. parked the car in my garage at 5:30 AM.  19 1/2 hours.  Why?… there was practice at 11:00 AM this morning, had to be back.

All coaches and their families well know… that is the norm, it’s what we do.  The people who aren’t willing to work hard – won’t win.  Every coach out there has a similar story, with a different town, different game – but same story.  Coaches don’t worry about this, they don’t flaunt it, they just do it.  How many bank managers, school teachers, CEO’s have to do that.  There is a trade off.

I’m not saying that other professions don’t work hard.  They do.  Those people who are successful at anything, work hard.  Just… There is a trade off.

Before you chastise the coaches contract, the jumping ship from one school to the next, the perks or anything else… understand the professional hazards and the trade off  - life style – of a college basketball coach.

You won’t find speculation on jobs on this site.  This profession is too difficult to act like an ambulance chaser with my colleagues.  There are plenty of sites out there that will track the comings and goings of coaches.  Those sites are readily available almost as much as tracking the games all the way up to the Final Four.

25 – 30 New staffs will be hired around the country in both Men’s and Women’s Division I Basketball in the next 60 or so days.  That has been the average the last few years.  2009 was a “Down” hiring year in college basketball on both the Men’s and Women’s side – the total number of new coaches in the Women’s game was under 20.  In the Men’s game – 28.  Already for 2010 there are 5 Men’s and 1 Women’s position open at the Division I level.  Everyone sited the turn in the economy in ‘09 for fewer coaches losing jobs and less professional movement.  The economy hasn’t really improved.  Also, the fact that less and less schools are likely to “pay someone to go away” and also pay the new coach, rather than just wait out the end of the current coaches contract.  This is especially true on the Women’s side.

As a side note:

No one really knows what goes on at any given school, behind the scenes, except those staff’s… BUT, unless something illegal, immoral or both occurs within a program – firing any college basketball coach DURING the season makes NO sense in the college game.

University’s scream about the “Mission” of their basketball program is about “graduating student-athletes,” “doing things the right way,” ” following conference and NCAA rules,” “helping young men or women grow and develop on and off the court,” “the total student-athlete experience.”

I agree, absolutely.

Then, schools turn around and fire the coach IN SEASON?   How does the message that the firing sends mimic that of the Mission, or reinforce the Mission, or makes the Mission better at that point in time?

An in-season firing says, WIN.  Period.

In the end, you can do everything the right way, you can ensure a fantastic student-athlete experience, you can graduate players, you can follow all the rules… if you don’t WIN, you are gone.  Always.  I’ve never read a release or listened to an interview of an athletic director or university president and heard, “our basketball program continues to lose at a high rate but our student-athletes are graduating, they are healthy and the program is in good order and the coaches follow all the rules.  So we’re extending the contract of Coach X three more years.”  Doesn’t happen.  Ever.

With an in-season firing, an administration doesn’t gain a “head start” on hiring a new coach.  Not any more so than they would by quietly researching potential candidates behind the scenes.  We know that happens, it’s happening right now – search firms are the norm in the hiring of coaches  in both the Men’s and the Women’s game.

A university does not save money with an in-season firing, salaries are still paid, teams still travel and play.  It usually doesn’t help with the chemistry or continuity of the team or staff to make a significant difference in wins.  So, if there isn’t a illegal or immoral reason, why do it?

I wish I knew the answer.

Popularity: 14%

Bracketology – Charlie Creme

Here’s Charlie’s latest projection through games as of Feb. 21.  Scroll over a team name for more analysis. Records reflect Division I competition only.

Automatic bids are in CAPS.

This is the absolute best time of the year for talking basketball with everyone.

Bids by Conference is going to make some people edgy…

• Big 12 (8)
• ACC (7)
• Big East (7)
• SEC (6)
• Big Ten (3)
• Atlantic 10 (3)
• Pac-10 (3)
• America East (2)
• Sun Belt (2)
• Colonial (2)

I love the ACC, was part of it for 4 years.  It is arguably one of the Top 2 Conferences in the country year after year… but, 7 bids is high!  I say 5.  UNC and Maryland are all questions and NC State is on the cusp.  Each of those teams are currently 5-7 or 6-6 in the ACC.  If you allow all of them in, how then do you say no to Wake Forest and maybe Boston College?  Both are either 5-7 or 6-6 and Wake Forest is a head of UNC and Maryland in the ACC standings.  don’t go to the RPI and Strength of Schedule… it’s all comparable.

Why not give the Atlantic 10, Colonial or Mountain West a 4th, 3rd or 2nd team in, respectively.   Maybe give one or two of the MAAC, MAC, America East or Missouri Valley and 2nd team in.

Everyone screams for more parity in Women’s Basketball.  You can’t have parity if the Top 5 Conferences hold 31 of the 64 spots in the NCAA tournament every year.  Those coaches will never be able to consistently convince (recruit) top prospects to play in conferences where only one team goes to the NCAA’s year in and year out.

We’ll see…

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Jim Jabir – University of Dayton

Jim Jabir was my RA in college, Nazareth College of Rochester, in the early 80’s.  I have known him since I was 17 years old.  Jim truly cares for those around him more than he does himself.  He is the epitome of “selflessness.”  His ability to communicate with those around him, to get in touch with who they are and to connect with them is better than anyone I have been around.  He is caring; he understands the total student-athlete experience and makes it a priority.  He is genuine and real.

Graham Hays does an exceptional job of capturing “who” Jim is and what his relationship is with his players.  As you read this one thing jumps off the page… the article is being written about him and all he talks about is his players, the university and how fortunate he is to be part of their existence.  Humility.  This isn’t just because Jim had a brush with death, it is who he has been since I met him in 1983.

There is no question that if Jim had stayed at Marquette they would be the “UConn” of the Big East as well.  Jim has the plan and the process and Dayton is his vehicle.  Enjoy this.

Jabir making most of second chance

Five seasons after dealing with cardiac issues, coach has Dayton on brink of NCAAs

By Graham Hays ESPN.com

HANOVER, N.H. — Kendel Ross embodies just about everything Jim Jabir believed Dayton women’s basketball could be when the school gave the veteran coach a second chance seven years ago. But for any of those plans to come to fruition, Jabir first needed to receive a second chance at something far more substantial than a profession.

Tim G. Zechar/Icon SMI Jim Jabir hasn't taken a team to the NCAA tournament since 1995 (Marquette), but his Flyers are 17-5 overall and 5-2 in the A-10.

Dayton’s coach admits he’s harder on Ross, now a senior, than just about any player on a Flyers team that remains in control of its postseason fate despite a loss last weekend at Atlantic 10 leader Xavier. Coming out of Canada four seasons ago, Ross was, in Jabir’s words, “the first kid we shouldn’t have got that we got.” He expects excellence out of her, and her mistakes pain him more.

For lack of a more accessible comparison, she is Dayton’s Shane Battier. She does everything that shows up in the box score and half a dozen things that don’t. For better and occasionally worse when stubborn will meets stubborn will, she has a motor and a competitive streak that will not shut off. Tell her you need 15 rebounds in a game and the result is predictable.

“She’s gonna get you 15,” Jabir said. “It’s like clockwork; she’s going to do what you ask her to do. Or she’ll die trying. So it’s this great intensity, it’s this intangible — this will is tremendous. I mean, she’s got this will — and sometimes it works against her, but for the most part it’s been beneficial to us. And I tell her this all the time, too, I love her and I hate her. I mean, she’s so stubborn, you know what I mean? I literally love her and I hate her. There are days I want to kill her and days I can’t get enough of her.”

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The “Truck”

We’re not talking about Leonard “Truck” Robinson, or even Darryyl “Truck” Bryant here…. I mean THE Truck, as in what we all see behind the arena on game days for our TV games.  Obscure, unknown.  Just sitting there minding it’s own business.  Few know what really goes on behind the quiet presence of the outside walls of that vehicle.  I had no idea.

Lyon Video Production Truck for ESPN2

Maybe it’s just me, but I had never seen the inside of a TV production truck.  I’ve done some TV, a studio show “This Week in the NBDL” with Mike Crispino a few years ago, but that was a studio gig.  That is NOTHING like THE Truck, LIVE – on site production.  In the studio (at least the one I was in) there were a few people, it was quiet.  Everything seemed pretty low key, simple.

I was able to get an invite to “observe” an ESPN basketball game from THE Truck.  Did not know what to expect, what I was in for.  Amazing.

First off, let’s talk about set up… you’ve seen THE Truck, it’s not that large.  There are 16+ people inside THE Truck at all times.  People are coming in and out of it all the time, through out the entire production.

I arrived at 5:20 pm for a 7:30 pm game.  The action was already well into the flow.  The anonymous, diligent professionals going about preparing the countless graphics, statistics, intros, video clips, screen shots for the live game presentation.  I say anonymous because we as coaches as well as the fans never get to see these people or understand how hard they are working to make the game look so good.  This is the scouting report and walk-thru phase for us basketball coaches.  One of the amazing parts… much of the stuff that they seem to spend hours preparing before the live game… doesn’t even get used.  As the game unfolds, there is constant re-doing, adding to and adjusting what was done before.

ESPN2's Production Crew for Maryland @ Virginia

There is so much going on, constantly… everyone talking on headsets at the same time, clacking away on computers, countless monitors full of video or different camera views and recorded material.  All the while, no one seemed the least bit confused with all the action or ticked off that you everyone was talking over everyone else.  The build up… the final meeting and rehearsal.  Running like a well oiled machine.

As we’re getting close to game time, I soon realized that part is NOTHING compared to once the game starts.  I felt a shot of adrenaline as the countdown started to being on the air.  You could feel excitement rise in THE Truck.  Game Time!

Tip off.  Talk about precision chaos!  The prep time was nothing compared to this!… Jeff, the producer, barking out commands – Scott doing the same, all coordinated, all in sync.  Amazingly enough, there is very little stress coming from any of  their voices… just instructions: which camera, when to zoom in, go wide, fade to another, bring in a stat or replay.  Even a little bit of humor.  Amazing.

ESPN2's Producers

They work in the live four-minute chunks coordinated with the scorers table and always wanting to steal a few extra seconds to make the presentation of our game more enhanced for the viewers.  They are having fun.  There are no time-outs, no real breaks in the action for this crew.  The live game action is also cluttered with preparing for the next dead ball, media timeout or stoppage when they figure out what is needed to be placed into the presentation.  The announcers (Carolyn Peck, Bob Wischusen and Rebecca Lobo) become extensions of the people in THE Truck, but honestly – very few in here listen to what they are saying.  They realize this.  It is all part of the show.  I could hardly concentrate on what the announcers were saying about the game with all the action in side THE Truck.

All of this made me think of our role as coaches on the sidelines.  Seeing nearly two dozen games over the last two months, I’ve seen screaming, teaching, ranting, raving, the calm, the studious – all of it.  The calm, humorous, deliberate and directive manner in which this crew went about their business was re-affirming that is the best way to go.

After seeing all this action in THE Truck, I’ll stick to coaching… it’s WAY easier to manage than the presentation and production of a live basketball game!

A special thank you, again, to everyone involved and to those unseen who make live basketball games just amazing events to watch.

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