What we need in a coach, president and AD

[Wood Hall]

Pat Casey won three NCAA titles and advanced to the College World Series six times in his final 14 seasons as Oregon State (where I live) baseball coach. The Beavers are the only cold-weather program to win a national title in the past 55+ seasons. This was his approach:

"I feel you are doing an injustice if you coach a sport where they determine a winner and a loser ... and you aren't willing to compete to be the team that wins. Some people show up to play the game, other people show up to win the game.

"I don't need someone to tell me, 'hey you've got great kids' and 'hey you guys really took care of the hotel' and 'hey you were very courteous on the plane,' but you lost all three games. I think you can be very courteous on the plane and take care of the hotel and be very nice and kick someone's ass.

"(It) would not be very truthful to make them work as hard as you make them work and tell them that winning and losing doesn't matter."

THAT'S what we need in a basketball coach, and in a university president, and in an athletic director. .

 

[SpiderRick]

Awesome and relevant

 

[spider23]

Good stuff Wood Hall. Mooney has been praised for so long for doing the bare minimum and not trashing hotel rooms. Agree with this coach, why the hell not do everything to win when score is being kept. Somewhere we went from getting in the dance and advancing to just playing, competing.

 

[RichmondNative]

Pat Casey won three NCAA titles and advanced to the College World Series six times in his final 14 seasons as Oregon State (where I live) baseball coach. The Beavers are the only cold-weather program to win a national title in the past 55+ seasons. This was his approach:

" ... and you aren't willing to compete to be the team that wins. Some people show up to play the game, other people show up to win the game.”

Very solid find @Wood Hall. Unfortunately, the recent choice has been limited to “willing to compete” (ie just playing the game). I don’t think this always has been true, but is definitely true now for the super seniors. There is no doubt that competing in college athletics is hard and takes significant time and effort. The super seniors went through very trying times for two years and then had their best year in year three. However, they were never able to get back to that level of effort. They are maxed out. We all saw it last year and are seeing it again this year. Add on top of that a coach that has shown no ability to adapt and no outward signs of enthusiasm on the court and the result is a middle of the conference finish.

The big question is whether simply competing has now become the credo or whether the administration and AD’s goal is truly winning championships. Spider fans will know at the conclusion of the year.

 

[Eight Legger]

“Compete” is one of the worst words in the English language, or at least Mooney has made it seem that way. Either do or do not, as Yoda would say, there is no “try.”

 

[spider23]

I do hear some top hoops coaches use compete, but I think more like in the sense of trying to win the game, not show up and complete a 40 minute game type of compete.

 

[SpiderK]

Have you ever heard the winner of any game say “we competed”?

 

[8legs]

Again, "The enemy of "Great" is "Good Enough""!