John Wooden made a name as a coach but also a life as a mentor.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Coach Wooden, when he speaks, you listen. I've taken a lot of things from him and his little blue book because to him, it's not just about basketball, it's about life as well.
I feel like I've been very blessed to have some great mentors through the years, starting with Don James, who was my college coach, who really inspired me to want to be a coach, which is not something that I really had in mind.
Coaches who have been players in the league, they get so attuned to playing how they were successful and who their coaches were.
I wound up through a wild set of circumstances getting into coaching. I went in and volunteered with Don Coryell, who was a big part of my past, great coach. A lot of people say he was one of the greatest coaches ever. He was very good in high school, college and pro. Another guy on that staff was named John Madden.
Name one experienced coach anywhere in the world that would hand over their playbook to the other team. Unless it's a fake playbook, it just doesn't happen.
My high school coach was Ray O'Conner. He has coached a lot of players that have signed professional contracts, and many of those have gone on to play in the major leagues.
Teaching players during practices was what coaching was all about to me.
Oh yeah, I know Johnnie Bassett. We were part of that whole thing.
Who is the ally of the coach? Who's going to write, 'Man, that was a well-coached game.' Players win, coaches lose.
I worked under Francis Schmidt, and he was the biggest influence on my coaching career.