THOUGHT-BASED APPROACH

As a coach, I am a firm believer in teaching the Fundamentals of the game. I work hard every
day to stress the little things that eliminate a lot of self-imposed errors. I want my players to be
diligent every day in drills to improve their dribbling, passing, and shooting. I demand that they
communicate on defense and that they be in the proper stance while executing the correct
defensive movement and position. I break down the skill or strategy to be taught and teach it in
the “part method” then practice it in the “whole method.” Then, through repetition, the players
work on the Fundamentals every day until those fundamentals become second nature to them.

My teams have been Fundamentally sound. Fundamentals are Fundamentals: in sports, in
industry, in business. What leaders stress is what the members of the team learn and apply.
And the ultimate proof of the success of a coach is his ability to create a “team-first” approach,
even though that is a very challenging goal. Teams that play as a unit have the most fun and
are the most fun to teach and to watch. The focus is on getting players to think of “We and Us”
instead of on “I or Me.” That is what I have always striven for in coaching. I focus on team
building, and I believe in treating each player with fairness and honesty, as I learned from
Coach Wooden.

I strive to promote team chemistry and efficient performance; that is what
makes for a stronger team. Nowadays, the ESPN world of “Top Ten” highlights has
unfortunately made team play all the more difficult to embrace. But it is vital. In any group,
team work is the cornerstone of making each member of the team a valued and connected
contributor. Successful athletic teams, successful businesses, and successful organizations are
all populated by skilled, committed, and passionate individuals who have been molded by
engaging leadership into a vibrant team.

I have worked diligently to develop these characteristics in every team that I have been
privileged to coach over my 44 years in the coaching profession. I believe that effective
utilization of these characteristics will always bring about positive results on the Basketball
Court, as well as in the business office and on the sales team. I believe in this philosophy of
building a program and leading a team.

I truly believe that the proper mindset is necessary for any skillset to be effectively used. My
mission in working with an organization is to instill in the members of that organization the
following mindset and skillset:

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• To instill the total belief that the strength of the entire group is greater than the sum of the

individuals. Using my experience with some of the most celebrated athletes in the history of
the game of basketball, I will present empirical and anecdotal evidence of why this is
undeniable.

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•  To instill the total belief that who gets the credit for an achieved goal is less important than

the fact that the goal is achieved. I will share with the members of the organization the true
stories of successful athletic teams of which I have been a part and how the members of

those teams cared little for the personal highlight moment but cared deeply for the trophy-
raising ceremony.

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• To instill the total belief in the importance of having complete trust in a teammate or in a

report person. Our successful teams at UCLA totally believed in each other and in our
coaches. That was key to our not second-guessing each other at key moments in a game
or in a season.

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• To instill the total belief in the importance of fundamentals. Coach Wooden was obsessed

with fundamentals, even to the point of teaching all of us how to correctly put on our
socks!!!!

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•  To help members of the organization develop the skill of being productive with an

employee’s report person and how that report person can be productive with his or her
team members. Coach Wooden was the ultimate fair-minded person, but not everyone was
treated the same. And many of us players were high school All-Americans, but we knew
who our report person was: Coach Wooden. We all had different personalities but only one
goal: A National Championship year after year!!

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•  To instill the skill of formulating both short-term and long-term goals, using the model of

successful basketball player recruitment and the implementation of offensive and defensive
strategies based on the composite of individual players’ strengths.

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•  To instill the skill of successful communication and how it affects team morale and

performance. Coach Wooden was ALWAYS demanding but was NEVER demeaning.
Members of our teams were ALWAYS passionate about winning but NEVER personal in
their expression of intensity. Members