Managing Your Team
During the round of 64 of this year's NCAA tournament, one of the best coaches in college basketball was questioned about how he laid into one of his ball players during a timeout. The reason why he did this was because the player was not doing what the coach needed him to do on the floor. Many viewers responded to this so called abhorrent display in disbelief and horror. How can a coach embarrass his player in a situation like that? Wouldn't it be better if he just took him to the side and addressed him in a more civil tone? Doesn't he know that kids won't respond to harsh criticism? Such is the backlash that Tom Izzo received after his on court dress down of Aaron Henry. Was he right or wrong with what he did?
From all reports Tom Izzo is loved by his players and has their ear through the respect and loyalty he has earned from them over the time he has had the privilege of coaching them. Being that this is the case, the dressing down was warranted, in my opinion, assuming that the reason was a missed assignment or simply not getting the effort from this player that he expects. A big part of a coaches job at any level is to push his kids beyond their comfort zone. A coach needs to be a teacher, a motivator, a counselor, and a friend at different points in a season. The good coaches know when to wear each of those hats. In a sense there are times when a coach needs to pat a player on the back and there are other times when he needs to kick him in the ass. All Izzo did was try to wake up a player who wasn't playing up to par in the biggest one and done tournament showcase. If you have any doubts that his methods are effective and approved take a look at the support he received from his current and ex players.
There's no doubt that other coaches would have approached the situation in a different manner, but let's not be naive enough to say that one method is more effective than the other. There are times on the floor where the coach needs to get his players to step up and there isn't a much more effective way to let a player know that he needs to step up his game than raising your voice a bit and making sure they understand the gravity of the situation. With that in mind, you also need to be prepared to be fair with these kids. If your going to come down on them when it is deserved you need to congratulate them when they do good. This way they understand that you are fair and that is all a player can ask for.
From all reports Tom Izzo is loved by his players and has their ear through the respect and loyalty he has earned from them over the time he has had the privilege of coaching them. Being that this is the case, the dressing down was warranted, in my opinion, assuming that the reason was a missed assignment or simply not getting the effort from this player that he expects. A big part of a coaches job at any level is to push his kids beyond their comfort zone. A coach needs to be a teacher, a motivator, a counselor, and a friend at different points in a season. The good coaches know when to wear each of those hats. In a sense there are times when a coach needs to pat a player on the back and there are other times when he needs to kick him in the ass. All Izzo did was try to wake up a player who wasn't playing up to par in the biggest one and done tournament showcase. If you have any doubts that his methods are effective and approved take a look at the support he received from his current and ex players.
There's no doubt that other coaches would have approached the situation in a different manner, but let's not be naive enough to say that one method is more effective than the other. There are times on the floor where the coach needs to get his players to step up and there isn't a much more effective way to let a player know that he needs to step up his game than raising your voice a bit and making sure they understand the gravity of the situation. With that in mind, you also need to be prepared to be fair with these kids. If your going to come down on them when it is deserved you need to congratulate them when they do good. This way they understand that you are fair and that is all a player can ask for.
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