I figured that since my old coach is getting nothing but bad pub from Jeff Goodman, I would share what I wrote on Varsity a couple days ago. At first, I didn't share this everyone because I felt that Goodman would let this go away, but since it has become such a big ordeal, I figured I would give you the other side of the story.
The side that gives a first hand look at what Goodman is talking about, instead of siting unnamed sources. If you agree, great, if you disagree, that's okay too. But I felt as if this can give more insight into anything Jeff Goodman can say.
On making everyone in the gym that is at the shoot around the night before practice participate in layup lines...
I can't believe that the article tried to turn this into a negative. I wanted to start with this topic because this is a long reaction and people wont read the end of what I have written. Here's the scenario: The night before games, especially on the road, we start the shoot around with layup lines to get the blood flowing. It's not just the players in the layup lines, but the assistant coaches, the managers, the bus driver, the radio personalities and whoever is in our party join in the warm up. It is a fun, easy-going, get every one involved type of feel. It is pretty relaxing because it gets the players warmed up, but we are all laughing at the people who don't even know how to do a layup and forget about the pressure of the game the next day for two minutes. If you miss a layup, you have to run bleachers and that goes for everyone, no matter if you're a coach, manager, radio guy or booster that was along for the ride.
I had a former manager tell me tonight that he couldn't believe they made that out to be a bad thing, because that is what they looked forward to most, even more than the game. It gave them a chance to be involved and relate to the players and have a good time. I even had one manager tell me he missed some layups on purpose because he wanted to see what it was like to get yelled at and it let him know that BCG was treating him like everyone else.
On the argument of Wanna Bail leaving...
If a kid leaves before he even has an official practice, that means he made a mistake in the recruiting process. He didn't evaluate his options and the relationship that he thought was there, obviously wasn't. Kids these days listen to too many outside influences and the AAU circuit has too many "handlers" that want 'to get theirs' on the side. When I transferred from Hawaii, the first thing Coach Gillispie told me was, " Are you sure you can handle this? I'm going to work you harder than anyone has worked you and you will have to prove everything to me. Nothing will be handed to you and you may not survive. Are you sure you want to come here?" And I know for a fact that he tells every kid that he recruits something to that effect. He doesn't want kids that are going to quit at the first signs of adversity, so he lets them know that it is going to be tough.
If Wanna Bail couldn't handle it, that's his fault. A guy by the name of Acie Law thought he couldn't handle it and almost gave up, but he stayed and turned out to be the best point guard in the nation his senior year, getting drafted as a lottery pick, and making millions of dollars playing the sport he loves. All of that with the help of BCG. A hard-nosed, tough as nails, kid from Dallas named Donald Sloan will give Gillispie a hug and praise him for everything he did while he was at A&M; and Sloan now plays for the Cleveland Cavs. He didn't think the workouts were too hard or coach was too mean. Joseph Jones and Dominique Kirk, two players that could have started for any Texas Tech team in the last 20 years, two players that have played and are still playing professionally overseas, made it through G's toughest workouts without a single complaint. All they said was 'yes sir' in response to anything Coach said on or off the court. And I think they did pretty well for themselves during their A&M careers.
On the secretary, assistant coaches, trainer, video coordinator, graduate assistants, student managers, academic advisors, strength coach and director of basketball operations staff leaving...
Are you kidding me? When a head coach leaves a program, the entire staff gets released as well. Turgeon left A&M and only two people stayed on board, Stephen Gentry and his wife Leah. Did the article really list the fact that a student manager left the program, along with a graduate assistant and a secretary? If anyone knows the business side of basketball, when the head coach gets fired or takes another job, the entire support staff, from the first assistant coach to the last student manager is in danger of having to find a new job. In this case, Knight Jr. did such a horrendous job of recruiting and coaching at Tech, that there was absolutely no reason to even think about keeping everyone. Why would you?
Coach was released from Kentucky at 2pm, and I was literally fired 15 minutes after the University had informed BCG. Not only was I released, but every graduate assistant, every coach, every support staff and every manager that was from Texas was fired as well at that time. I can guarantee you that Calipari wasn't scrutinized for my departure from the program.
On the stories of Tom Coverdale, Matt Eisele, Renard Phillips and Jeff Kidder's job situations...
Tom Coverdale should have known the rules and he tried to play the game and lost. No coach should ever try to better his career by forcing one of his players to attend a school just so he can obtain a better job. That's your fault. And Coverdale told multiple people that he was going to be the Director of Basketball Operations for Texas Tech in exchange for his two players at TJC. Well, the rules state that if you are associated with a player, the only way you can accept a position is if you are hired as a legit coach that can go on the road and travel. A DOB can't do that, so there was obviously a brain fart on his part for even thinking he could get hired as a DOB.
I'm not sure about Matt Eisele's situation, so I won't comment on that, but as for Renard Phillips... If you are at a location for three months and don't know what you are supposed to be doing or what your responsibilities are, you need to be fired any way. If you can't create a niche for yourself and find a way to help the team in three months, then it's time for you to pack and find something else.
And finally, Jeff Kidder. Yes, he took a high school job back in kentucky which is closer to home and family. He found out how hard it is to work for G and how time consuming it is and he realized that he wanted to spend more time with his family than he wanted to spend in the office preparing for basketball. Not to mention the fact that he didn't land a single recruit that could play for BCG. It's a bad sign when you're known as a junior college coach and you can' get any juco players to come to your school.
On the players talking about practice times and NCAA rules...
First of all, when you only win one conference game in the previous year, you should be begging the NCAA to allow you to practice seven days a week for at least 10 hours a day, because that's the only way you will win more than eight games in conference the next season.
Second, the fact that the article stated that Gillispie practiced the guys for eight hours in one day wasn't even quoted. There was no one that went on record saying that they practiced for eight hours in one day.
Third, the article quoted numerous players that had already transferred and upset with how they're career played out at Texas Tech.
Fourth, the article never mentioned when they practiced all these long hours. NCAA rules state that when school is NOT in session (ie. Christmas break, Spring break, etc) there are no time limits on how many hours you can practice. I remember numerous days - during the holidays - where we would practice in the morning for a few hours and then come back at night and practice for a few hours. There was no school and no one was on campus and we didn't have anything to do except for get better and become more of a team.
And finally, just because someone says they didn't leave until 9pm doesn't show me anything. There were some days where we didn't start practice until 6pm because coach had to go recruit and that's the earliest he could get back. I know we practiced until 9pm on those nights.
On stress fractures and playing hurt...
Stress fractures hurt and I won't deny that. Do you want to play on a stress fracture? No. But no said anything about Gary Blair when he played Sydney Carter on her stress fractures. No one said anything and no one went to the media when my wife, Katy (Pounds), had to play with stress fractures. And look at the level the women's basketball program has reached. Sometimes you have to play through pain.
Someone on the boards said it best when they said Bear Bryant was considered tough, but because of the way things are now, BCG is just considered nuts. I agree. Kids are pampered and spoiled and catered to in the AAU circuit and when they actually get some hard-nosed, tough coaching, it translates to mistreatment. Now don't get me wrong, if Tolbert had a cut on his hand and he made him dunk it every time he touched the ball, that is excessive. But once again, everyone has seen a lot worse from coaches in the past (not excusing it or justifying it, just saying).
And really, crying during practice. I would have loved to see someone cry during our practice. Many of us wanted to cry during practice, but the only reason we didn't, wasn't because of coach, it was because we didn't want to show weakness to our teammates. We weren't allowed to bend over and touch our knees when we were out of breathe because that shows the opponent weakness and it shows that you are tired and we were never going to let the other team know we were tired. It has to do with pride. If you grab your shorts, you're allowing yourself to believe your tired and the battle is lost. That's how we thought and although every one of us wanted to grab our shorts and rest on our knees, we didn't (for the most part).
If the trainer didn't think a player was ready to play and he let them play any way, then that trainer should lose his job. As a trainer, it is your sole purpose to take the best care of your student-athletes and if s/he didn't do that, then he needs to find a new profession. How dare you, as a trainer, allow a kid to play if you think he isn't ready. There is a difference between hurt and injured and if you think the kid can't play and you let him go out there any way, that's on you as a trainer.
On telling players if they leave they're done...
Well, bye. How much more blatant to do you have to be in order to let someone know that they are wanted. Was that the right way in handling the situation? No, not at all. Was that Gillispie's way of handling it? Unfortunately, yes.
I'm not saying that any of this is right or any of this is wrong, but what I am saying is that this is how coach operates. If you are in the program, you learn how things are handled. Every one that has worked for G, played for G, or been in an athletic department with G understands it. And if you don;t understand it, you're already two steps behind and most likely on the quick path to being fired. The crazy thing about the entire situation of people being fired and let go and leaving is this: while at A&M, how many coaches did BCG fire? The answer, zero. He had a coach leave to take the head coaching job at UNO, but he didn't fire him. While at Kentucky, how many coaches did BCG fire? The answer, zero. In fact, while he was at A&M and Kentucky combined, I would venture to say that he really only had three or four players leave the program.
With all of that being said, I do think that you have to change with the times and relate to your players. The relationships you build with your team, including the coaches, players, managers, athletic directors, etc is one of the most important aspects of coaching. You can't always go one speed. Sometimes you have to change it up and if that means not being so tough at times, then so be it. As the leader of the program, you have to understand your personnel and you have to know who can take what and how tough each individual is. Every player is different and each player has to be coached in a certain manner.
At A&M, there was a good balance of coach breaking us down and then building us back up. But the important part of that situation was building us back up. I can't speak on every situation that has happened at Texas Tech, but I did share my thoughts on what I know to be true or false or misguided information in the article.
I wish nothing but the best for Coach and hope he figures it all out. I am praying for him and his family that he is recovering from whatever led to his hospitalization and may God be with him in this time of need. I thank Coach for helping bring back Aggie basketball and for starting my short but very interesting coaching career. May he have the support the system that he needs and hopefully gets back to where I know he go - the top.
The side that gives a first hand look at what Goodman is talking about, instead of siting unnamed sources. If you agree, great, if you disagree, that's okay too. But I felt as if this can give more insight into anything Jeff Goodman can say.
On making everyone in the gym that is at the shoot around the night before practice participate in layup lines...
I can't believe that the article tried to turn this into a negative. I wanted to start with this topic because this is a long reaction and people wont read the end of what I have written. Here's the scenario: The night before games, especially on the road, we start the shoot around with layup lines to get the blood flowing. It's not just the players in the layup lines, but the assistant coaches, the managers, the bus driver, the radio personalities and whoever is in our party join in the warm up. It is a fun, easy-going, get every one involved type of feel. It is pretty relaxing because it gets the players warmed up, but we are all laughing at the people who don't even know how to do a layup and forget about the pressure of the game the next day for two minutes. If you miss a layup, you have to run bleachers and that goes for everyone, no matter if you're a coach, manager, radio guy or booster that was along for the ride.
I had a former manager tell me tonight that he couldn't believe they made that out to be a bad thing, because that is what they looked forward to most, even more than the game. It gave them a chance to be involved and relate to the players and have a good time. I even had one manager tell me he missed some layups on purpose because he wanted to see what it was like to get yelled at and it let him know that BCG was treating him like everyone else.
On the argument of Wanna Bail leaving...
If a kid leaves before he even has an official practice, that means he made a mistake in the recruiting process. He didn't evaluate his options and the relationship that he thought was there, obviously wasn't. Kids these days listen to too many outside influences and the AAU circuit has too many "handlers" that want 'to get theirs' on the side. When I transferred from Hawaii, the first thing Coach Gillispie told me was, " Are you sure you can handle this? I'm going to work you harder than anyone has worked you and you will have to prove everything to me. Nothing will be handed to you and you may not survive. Are you sure you want to come here?" And I know for a fact that he tells every kid that he recruits something to that effect. He doesn't want kids that are going to quit at the first signs of adversity, so he lets them know that it is going to be tough.
If Wanna Bail couldn't handle it, that's his fault. A guy by the name of Acie Law thought he couldn't handle it and almost gave up, but he stayed and turned out to be the best point guard in the nation his senior year, getting drafted as a lottery pick, and making millions of dollars playing the sport he loves. All of that with the help of BCG. A hard-nosed, tough as nails, kid from Dallas named Donald Sloan will give Gillispie a hug and praise him for everything he did while he was at A&M; and Sloan now plays for the Cleveland Cavs. He didn't think the workouts were too hard or coach was too mean. Joseph Jones and Dominique Kirk, two players that could have started for any Texas Tech team in the last 20 years, two players that have played and are still playing professionally overseas, made it through G's toughest workouts without a single complaint. All they said was 'yes sir' in response to anything Coach said on or off the court. And I think they did pretty well for themselves during their A&M careers.
On the secretary, assistant coaches, trainer, video coordinator, graduate assistants, student managers, academic advisors, strength coach and director of basketball operations staff leaving...
Are you kidding me? When a head coach leaves a program, the entire staff gets released as well. Turgeon left A&M and only two people stayed on board, Stephen Gentry and his wife Leah. Did the article really list the fact that a student manager left the program, along with a graduate assistant and a secretary? If anyone knows the business side of basketball, when the head coach gets fired or takes another job, the entire support staff, from the first assistant coach to the last student manager is in danger of having to find a new job. In this case, Knight Jr. did such a horrendous job of recruiting and coaching at Tech, that there was absolutely no reason to even think about keeping everyone. Why would you?
Coach was released from Kentucky at 2pm, and I was literally fired 15 minutes after the University had informed BCG. Not only was I released, but every graduate assistant, every coach, every support staff and every manager that was from Texas was fired as well at that time. I can guarantee you that Calipari wasn't scrutinized for my departure from the program.
On the stories of Tom Coverdale, Matt Eisele, Renard Phillips and Jeff Kidder's job situations...
Tom Coverdale should have known the rules and he tried to play the game and lost. No coach should ever try to better his career by forcing one of his players to attend a school just so he can obtain a better job. That's your fault. And Coverdale told multiple people that he was going to be the Director of Basketball Operations for Texas Tech in exchange for his two players at TJC. Well, the rules state that if you are associated with a player, the only way you can accept a position is if you are hired as a legit coach that can go on the road and travel. A DOB can't do that, so there was obviously a brain fart on his part for even thinking he could get hired as a DOB.
I'm not sure about Matt Eisele's situation, so I won't comment on that, but as for Renard Phillips... If you are at a location for three months and don't know what you are supposed to be doing or what your responsibilities are, you need to be fired any way. If you can't create a niche for yourself and find a way to help the team in three months, then it's time for you to pack and find something else.
And finally, Jeff Kidder. Yes, he took a high school job back in kentucky which is closer to home and family. He found out how hard it is to work for G and how time consuming it is and he realized that he wanted to spend more time with his family than he wanted to spend in the office preparing for basketball. Not to mention the fact that he didn't land a single recruit that could play for BCG. It's a bad sign when you're known as a junior college coach and you can' get any juco players to come to your school.
On the players talking about practice times and NCAA rules...
First of all, when you only win one conference game in the previous year, you should be begging the NCAA to allow you to practice seven days a week for at least 10 hours a day, because that's the only way you will win more than eight games in conference the next season.
Second, the fact that the article stated that Gillispie practiced the guys for eight hours in one day wasn't even quoted. There was no one that went on record saying that they practiced for eight hours in one day.
Third, the article quoted numerous players that had already transferred and upset with how they're career played out at Texas Tech.
Fourth, the article never mentioned when they practiced all these long hours. NCAA rules state that when school is NOT in session (ie. Christmas break, Spring break, etc) there are no time limits on how many hours you can practice. I remember numerous days - during the holidays - where we would practice in the morning for a few hours and then come back at night and practice for a few hours. There was no school and no one was on campus and we didn't have anything to do except for get better and become more of a team.
And finally, just because someone says they didn't leave until 9pm doesn't show me anything. There were some days where we didn't start practice until 6pm because coach had to go recruit and that's the earliest he could get back. I know we practiced until 9pm on those nights.
On stress fractures and playing hurt...
Stress fractures hurt and I won't deny that. Do you want to play on a stress fracture? No. But no said anything about Gary Blair when he played Sydney Carter on her stress fractures. No one said anything and no one went to the media when my wife, Katy (Pounds), had to play with stress fractures. And look at the level the women's basketball program has reached. Sometimes you have to play through pain.
Someone on the boards said it best when they said Bear Bryant was considered tough, but because of the way things are now, BCG is just considered nuts. I agree. Kids are pampered and spoiled and catered to in the AAU circuit and when they actually get some hard-nosed, tough coaching, it translates to mistreatment. Now don't get me wrong, if Tolbert had a cut on his hand and he made him dunk it every time he touched the ball, that is excessive. But once again, everyone has seen a lot worse from coaches in the past (not excusing it or justifying it, just saying).
And really, crying during practice. I would have loved to see someone cry during our practice. Many of us wanted to cry during practice, but the only reason we didn't, wasn't because of coach, it was because we didn't want to show weakness to our teammates. We weren't allowed to bend over and touch our knees when we were out of breathe because that shows the opponent weakness and it shows that you are tired and we were never going to let the other team know we were tired. It has to do with pride. If you grab your shorts, you're allowing yourself to believe your tired and the battle is lost. That's how we thought and although every one of us wanted to grab our shorts and rest on our knees, we didn't (for the most part).
If the trainer didn't think a player was ready to play and he let them play any way, then that trainer should lose his job. As a trainer, it is your sole purpose to take the best care of your student-athletes and if s/he didn't do that, then he needs to find a new profession. How dare you, as a trainer, allow a kid to play if you think he isn't ready. There is a difference between hurt and injured and if you think the kid can't play and you let him go out there any way, that's on you as a trainer.
On telling players if they leave they're done...
Well, bye. How much more blatant to do you have to be in order to let someone know that they are wanted. Was that the right way in handling the situation? No, not at all. Was that Gillispie's way of handling it? Unfortunately, yes.
I'm not saying that any of this is right or any of this is wrong, but what I am saying is that this is how coach operates. If you are in the program, you learn how things are handled. Every one that has worked for G, played for G, or been in an athletic department with G understands it. And if you don;t understand it, you're already two steps behind and most likely on the quick path to being fired. The crazy thing about the entire situation of people being fired and let go and leaving is this: while at A&M, how many coaches did BCG fire? The answer, zero. He had a coach leave to take the head coaching job at UNO, but he didn't fire him. While at Kentucky, how many coaches did BCG fire? The answer, zero. In fact, while he was at A&M and Kentucky combined, I would venture to say that he really only had three or four players leave the program.
With all of that being said, I do think that you have to change with the times and relate to your players. The relationships you build with your team, including the coaches, players, managers, athletic directors, etc is one of the most important aspects of coaching. You can't always go one speed. Sometimes you have to change it up and if that means not being so tough at times, then so be it. As the leader of the program, you have to understand your personnel and you have to know who can take what and how tough each individual is. Every player is different and each player has to be coached in a certain manner.
At A&M, there was a good balance of coach breaking us down and then building us back up. But the important part of that situation was building us back up. I can't speak on every situation that has happened at Texas Tech, but I did share my thoughts on what I know to be true or false or misguided information in the article.
I wish nothing but the best for Coach and hope he figures it all out. I am praying for him and his family that he is recovering from whatever led to his hospitalization and may God be with him in this time of need. I thank Coach for helping bring back Aggie basketball and for starting my short but very interesting coaching career. May he have the support the system that he needs and hopefully gets back to where I know he go - the top.
