Last One Holding The Chalk...Usually Wins!

(January 2003)

Assortment of plays, drills and ideas to help your program improve.

An Interview with probably the greatest coach of all time...John Wooden (Part one of a three part series)

We've seen how hard it has been for Larry Brown and Allen Iverson to get along. How did you handle coaching players, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, who shared your approach to the game but whose lifestyles and moral choices were different than yours?

Wooden: Well, I never tried to determine the religion or the politics of an individual. I wanted to always stay open-minded -- and I wanted them to have something in which they believed. The two players you mentioned were extremely unselfish individuals, such team players, that there was never any problem.

Do you believe athletes have a responsibility to get involved in social issues?

Wooden: To a certain degree. They have to not be afraid to let their own actual feelings be known, if they really believe in them. Back in the time that Walton was playing for me, he was antiestablishment, but he had every right to be. As long as you do not deny others of their rights, I think it's fine. If everybody agreed on everything, it would be a very dull, monotonous world.

If you were a young man going into coaching now, would you coach the way you always did, or would you want to -- or have to -- adjust your approach?

Wooden: You have to adjust as time goes by. I certainly know that I adjusted as time went by. But my basic philosophy of the game would not change at all. I never taught under the shot clock. I never taught under the 3-point goal. Those things would make me make changes in my style of play, but my basic philosophy would not change one bit.

What kinds of adjustments did you have to make over the years?

Wooden: At one time, I required players to wear slacks and a sport coat while traveling. But then our university president at UCLA, and the professors, too, started wearing turtlenecks and jeans, so I changed my expectations. I only required that they be clean and neat. I never relaxed my feeling about beards or goatees, but I did relax a little bit about the hair. I never wanted it too long, but as time went by I let them wear it a little longer than I had before.

Is is true you used to instruct your players on how to put on their shoes and socks before each game or practice?

Wooden: Absolutely. I picked that up when I was teaching in high school. We had a lot of blisters, and I found out that a lot of the players didn't smooth out all the wrinkles around their heels and around their little toes, places where the blisters are apt to occur. Then I found out that they didn't lace their shoes properly and oftentimes they wore shoes that were a size too large. With all the quick-stop turning, changes of direction, changes of pace on a hard floor you have in basketball, this would cause blisters. So, I thought it was very important that I'd check their shoe size and how they put their socks on. I hoped they would take a few extra seconds to smooth out the wrinkles around the heel and the toes and hold the sock up while they put their shoe on. I think it was important. And I know from the time I started in high school that we greatly reduced the number of blisters that we'd have, so I continued that throughout my coaching. I know a number of players laughed about it. They probably still laugh about it now. But I stuck to it. I think in some degree it helped team unity. I believed in that and I insisted on it.

BIG TEN SET PLAYS (FINAL PART III)

WISCONSIN

PENN STATE

MINNESOTA

Some Zone Offense Ideas (compliments of Michael Wells)