This was very simple, yet very profound.

ENJOY!

PRINTABLE COPY OF UNC COACH ROY WILLIAMS ON LEADERSHIP

National Championship Coach UNC Roy Williams on Leadership

As part of the cutting edge Carolina Leadership Academy, UNC national champion men’s basketball coach Roy Williams recently shared his insights on leadership and team building as well as some behind the scenes stories during Carolina’s run to the 2005 National Championship.

Photo courtsey of NY Daily News Lecka/Getty

Here are some of the highlights from Coach Williams talk with the Tar Heels captains and coaches:

1. Trust is the foundation of leadership.

Coach William’s first goal when he made the transition from Kansas to Carolina was to establish a sense of trust with the UNC players. “You’ve got to get your players to believe in you.” Coach Williams immediately scheduled individual meetings with each of the players to begin the trust-building process. Because first impressions are so important, especially when taking over a different program, Coach Williams wanted to start off on the right foot with each of the players.

2. We’ll have a chance to win it all next year…

Coach Williams told the UNC players that if they did exactly what he and his staff asked them to do, they would make the NCAA tournament in the first year and have a chance to win it all in the second year. This inspiring vision gave the players an exciting goal to shoot for as well as a realistic time line to accomplish it. It set the program’s expectations from the onset and gave them a motivating reason for the daily work they would need to do.

3. Coaching is about adjustments.

Your game plan is only good for the first six minutes – the rest is all about adjustments. According to Coach Williams, coaching (and playing for that matter) is all about adjustments. You can and should formulate a game plan going in, but much of your team’s success depends on your ability to make efficient and effective adjustments. As a coach you must be able make the strategically adjustments, but just as important, you must help your team make the mental adjustments that need to be made to manage the momentum of competition.

4. You can push them but you can’t go personal.

Many thought former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty was excused because the Tar Heel players thought he was too tough on them. Interestingly, most Carolina insiders note that Coach Williams is much more demanding of his players than was Coach Doherty. The primary difference lies in how Coach Williams is tough on them. Coach Williams insists that you can and must push your players – but you can’t make it personal. Much like effective parenting, coaches should criticize the behavior, not the person.

5. Regardless of how hard you work, I will be working harder.

It all starts at the top. Coach Williams talked about how his passion, commitment, and work ethic must set the tone for everyone in the program. He has to continually demonstrate in his actions the standard necessary to achieve success. The players see how much he invests in them and the program and are naturally inspired to give a high level of commitment back to him.

6. I’ll take a person who is a little short on ability and academics, but I will not take anyone who is short on character.

For Coach Williams, character in recruiting is a non-negotiable factor. He flat out refuses to sign anyone who is not a person of character. “You can’t consistently win that way, and it certainly is not as much fun.” This bedrock principle was especially satisfying to hear in light of today’s Terrell Owens-type athletes.

7. Be on the lookout for the little things in recruiting.

While he is a very personable guy, Coach Williams directly tells people not to chit-chat with him over the summer when he is recruiting. From the time he walks into the gym before games start to the end of the day, he is on a mission. Coach Williams meticulously watches EVERYTHING a potential Carolina recruit does. He especially watches how kids act before and after games, how they interact with coaches, teammates, parents, and officials. He even watches water breaks closely.

He related a story about current Atlanta Hawk and last season’s ACC Freshman of the Year Marvin Williams: Marvin fouled out near the end of a close AAU game. His coach called a time out to talk with the rest of the players. Marvin ran to the end of the bench and filled cups of water for each of his teammates who were still in the game as a way to contribute even though he was on the bench with five fouls. “I don’t want the kids who are too cool. I want guys who are focused on how they can help the team. I absolutely love it when the best player on the team is also the best leader.”

8. Winning TEAMS get the individual awards and rewards.

Coach Williams continuously stressed to his players that the end of the year individual awards and rewards go to the teams that win the most games. Player of the Year and All-Conference Awards almost always go to players on the teams that win the most. Thus, Coach Williams team approach would yield the collective rewards of a championship season as well as the individuals awards.

This is no exception.  Follow Coach Starkey, if you don’t already.

The Ultimate Coaches Clinic

The Ultimate Coaches’ Clinic:  Jeff Van Gundy

Jeff Van Gundy

In 2008, Pat Williams, the GM of the Orlando Magic and a tremendous motivational speaker put out a book, “The Ultimate Coaches’ Clinic.” It is a fascinating book because of the style Pat utilized. He surveyed over 1000 coaches and administrators for insights to what is important to successfully do their job. From time to time I will share a few but it is a great book to own and I highly recommend it. Here are some thoughts from Jeff Van Gundy:

• The players don’t care if you are short or tall, black or white, a former player or not, all they care about is whether you can help them.
• When I was 29 and an assistant with the Knicks, Pat Rileytold me I could be a head coach in the NBA. Then Pat said, “Remember these four things, and you can lead anyone:”
……Competence—know your stuff.
……Sincerity
……Reliability
……Trustworthiness
• John Wooden and Dean Smith were right. Focus on the process and not the result. That is how you get better. The more you talk about winning, the less winning you do.
• Don’t accept in victory what you won’t accept in defeat. You can’t overlook mistakes when you win a game, because they will come back to haunt you later.

Interesting… The Sporting News (Digital Edition) released today all the Men’s Division I basketball attendance figures for the 2009 – 10 season.  There is both the Top 100 individual schools as well as the conference by conference breakdown.

The page is linked below.

Division I Men’s 2009-10 Attendance

Good updates, stories and links

NCAA Women’s Tournament at a GLANCE

University of Georgia PREVIEW

Saturday’s 4-Game Preview (ESPN)

ESPN NCAA Tournament Central

CBSSports.com NCAA Tournament Central

UPDATED Bracket

Tournament at a GLANCE

RECAP 1

RECAP 2

WBI UPDATED Bracket

WNIT

WNIT at a GLANCE

The UPDATED Bracket

Tournament at a GLANCE

NIT Update

CollegeInsider.com, CBI and NIT at a GLANCE

Truck Bryant – Broken Foot

The Updated Bracket:  BRACKET

Dayton Feature:  DAYTON FLYERS:  BREAKING GROUND

Kentucky Feature:  KENTUCKY WILDCATS

St. John’s Feature:  ST. JOHN’S ‘FAMILY AFFAIR’

Tournament Results at a Glance:  TOURNAMENT GLANCE SCHEDULE

WBI Results:  WBI BRACKET WBI LIVE STATS

Beth Mowins & Debbie Antonelli’s “Shootaround with Beth & Debbie” has become a mainstay in my listening library!

Their weekly podcast throughout the Women’s NCAA Basketball season is a fantastic source of all the inside scoop, analysis and insight into women’s college basketball.

Debbie Antonelli & Beth Mowins on the set for "Shootaround with Beth & Debbie"

This Shootaround Selection Show is the WBCA’s first VIDEO podcast of Shootaround with Beth & Debbie.  The show includes a breakdown of the NCAA DI Bracket, NotreDamus Predictions, Coach Interviews, and the Shooter of the Year finalists.

If you want all the insight into the Women’s NCAA Tournament don’t miss this opportunity to see the Shootaround Show in living color on your computer!

You can also subscribe to the weekly podcast by clicking HERE.

Download the Selection Show VIDEO podcast HERE:

]]> http://www.allbasketballreview.com/shootaround-with-beth-debbie-video-style/feed 0 http://www.allbasketballreview.com/womens-ncaa-teams-grad-numbers-outperform-men http://www.allbasketballreview.com/womens-ncaa-teams-grad-numbers-outperform-men#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:23:43 +0000 Jeff http://www.allbasketballreview.com/?p=2713 Continue reading →]]> From Associated Press

Players on teams headed to the NCAA women’s tournament are graduating at a higher rate than those in the men’s field, a study released Tuesday showed.

An annual report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida also found that the graduation gap between white and black players is smaller among women than men.

There were 19 women’s teams that had a 100 percent graduation rate compared to six men’s teams. And 51 women’s teams graduated at least 70 percent of their players compared to 29 men’s teams.

Richard Lapchick, director of the institute, said overall graduation rates for men and women have continued to increase at a similar pace, so the disparity is not that alarming.

“For me, it’s not as worrying as the gap between black and white,” Lapchick said. “The gap between black and white, for me, is a continuation of a historical pattern that dates back to segregation when everybody was not afforded the same opportunities. In this case, women have turned the tables on past inequality and are getting recognized.”

NCAA spokesman Chuck Wynne said the collegiate sports governing body was “extremely proud” of the increasing graduation rates for women but did not address specifics about the gender or racial gaps.

“From baseline to baseline, our game continues to get better even as our student-athletes continue to excel academically,” Wynne said in a statement. “It’s a tribute to our student-athletes and coaches who work so hard to make it happen.”

Looking at just the women’s tournament, the report found that 50 teams graduated at least 70 percent of their white players, but only 40 teams graduated that same percentage of African American players. That makes for a 14 percent gap; the men had a 48 percent disparity in the same category.

Lapchick said the pull of the NBA and international men’s basketball leagues have put the emphasis on playing professionally and have taken the focus away from education.

“There’s that belief that so many men have had since they were boys that they would play in the NBA, Europe or somewhere else professionally,” he said. “There is a culture in men’s sports that focuses on playing professionally. The women’s game has historically had more emphasis on education” because going pro was less of an option.

Jarrod Chin, director of violence prevention and diversity at Northeastern University’s Sport in Society, said the gender gap is a social issue that goes beyond athletics.

“The educational gender gap has been increasing not only in sports, but overall,” Chin said. “We tend to think of women as more book smart, so we value education more with them. Men, unfortunately, we value athleticism more. So we don’t place as much emphasis on education.”

The report measures six-year graduation rates for the freshman classes that entered college from the 1999-2000 through the 2002-03 school years. The report relies on information provided by the NCAA and not federal graduation rates, which don’t account for transfer students.

Unlike the NCAA Women’s Tournament, the WNIT has more trouble with TV coverage. Therefore, local channels are likely to broadcast the games.

View the first round schedule.

Try watching the WNIT online with a satellite tv program on your computer. Using free websites are ok, but they are slow, sluggish and not exactly worth the time.

For March Madness you can get discounts, there’s a $20/off the normal price of $49.99 offered now. You can not only watch the WNIT but also, NIT, NCAA Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournament Online

You Can Download the Software by Clicking Right Here