·
I still make demands on players. I make more demands than I ever have—and
tougher ones. But I’m not asking for me.
My personal gain is off the table, a nonfactor.
·
The art of coaching at this level is about
convincing great athletes to change. First we have to get them to accept what
they’re not good at. My assistant coaches and I use the word “surrender.”
Surrender to our instruction. Surrender to physical conditioning. If you’re
delusional and see yourself one way while the rest of the world sees something
else, let it go. Believe what we’re telling you.
·
Improvement is not just about working harder.
·
Practice is where we work on our players’
weaknesses; games are where we show their strengths.
·
One important lesson that I took from the pros
and carried back into college coaching is the concept of giving ownership over
players.
·
I want our practice environment, and the whole
competitive climate of our team, to be like those blast furnaces inside the
steel mills where I grew up in western Pennsylvania. Hot and uncomfortable. Out
of all that fire and sweat, we’ll forge something strong.
·
My players have to get through fifteen
conditioning drills and meet certain benchmarks before we start practice in the
middle of October.
·
“He teaches fast, and if you don’t’ get it you
get left behind” is how DeMarcus Cousins puts it
