Geno Auriemma | Part I — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Recruiting
2. 0:03enthusiastic kids
3. 0:06is harder than it's ever been.
4. 0:10Because every kid watches TV
5. 0:13and they watch
6. 0:15the NBA or they watch Major League
7. 0:16Baseball or they watch the NFL, whatever
8. 0:18sport they watch.
9. 0:20WNBA, it doesn't matter.
10. 0:22And what they see
11. 0:25is people just being really cool.
12. 0:28So they think that's how they're going
13. 0:30to act.
14. 0:32And they haven't
15. 0:34they haven't even figured out which foot
16. 0:35to use as a pivot foot and they're going
17. 0:37to act like they're really good players.
18. 0:39You see it all the time.
19. 0:40See it every AAU tournament, you see it
20. 0:42every high school game.
21. 0:44So recruiting kids that are like really
22. 0:47upbeat and loving life and love the game
23. 0:49and
24. 0:51have this tremendous appreciation for
25. 0:54when their teammates do something well,
26. 0:56that's hard that's hard it's really
27. 0:59hard. So on our team
28. 1:01we
29. 1:02we me, my coaching staff
30. 1:06we put a huge premium on body language.
31. 1:10And if your body language is bad, you
32. 1:12will never get in the game.
33. 1:14Ever.
34. 1:17I don't I don't care how good you are.
35. 1:20If somebody says, well, you know, you
36. 1:22just benched Stewie for, you know, 35
37. 1:24minutes in the Memphis game a couple
38. 1:26years ago. Yeah, I did. Oh, well, that
39. 1:28was to
40. 1:29motivate her for the South Carolina game
41. 1:31following Monday. No, it wasn't.
42. 1:33Stewie was acting like a 12-year-old.
43. 1:35So I put her on the bench and said, sit
44. 1:37there.
45. 1:38It don't matter on our team.
46. 1:40Now other coaches might say, well, you
47. 1:42can do that cuz you got three other
48. 1:44you know, all-Americans. I get that. I
49. 1:45understand that.
50. 1:47But I'd rather lose than watch kids play
51. 1:49the way some kids play.
52. 1:51I'd rather lose.
53. 1:53And they're allowed to get away with
54. 1:55just whatever.
55. 1:57And they're always thinking about
56. 1:58themselves.
57. 1:59Me, me, me, me, me. I didn't score, so
58. 2:01why should I be happy?
59. 2:03I'm not getting enough minutes, why
60. 2:04should I be happy?
61. 2:06That's the world that we live in today,
62. 2:08unfortunately.
63. 2:10And kids
64. 2:11check the scoreboard sometimes because
65. 2:13they're going to get yelled at by their
66. 2:14parents if they don't score enough
67. 2:15points.
68. 2:18It's It's
69. 2:19Don't get me started. So, when I
70. 2:22when I look at my team,
71. 2:25they know this. When I watch game film,
72. 2:28I'm checking what's going on on the
73. 2:29bench. And if somebody's asleep over
74. 2:30there, somebody doesn't care,
75. 2:33somebody's not engaged in the game, they
76. 2:35will never get in the game.
77. 2:37Ever.
78. 2:38And they know that. They know I'm not
79. 2:39kidding.
80. 2:40Welcome to the stage, Geno Auriemma.
81. 2:52Welcome.
82. 2:53Oh, great to be here.
83. 2:55What an entrance.
84. 2:56I I guess so.
85. 2:58Feel like we're doing
86. 3:00selling Apple phones or something. It's
87. 3:01like I
88. 3:02We are not selling Apple phones.
89. 3:03bunch of cult cult figures out there and
90. 3:05you're Steve Jobs, man, coming back from
91. 3:07the
92. 3:08coming back from the dead.
93. 3:09No.
94. 3:11Well, hey, I given the the intro, I
95. 3:13think maybe a good jumping off point
96. 3:15would be
97. 3:16just starting off with what you think
98. 3:18the biggest issue in youth sports are
99. 3:20today.
100. 3:21What's the biggest problem in youth
101. 3:23sports?
102. 3:25Um
103. 3:28They have really lousy parents.
104. 3:36I mean, I wish there was an easier way
105. 3:37to say it, but
106. 3:38I tell my players all the time, you
107. 3:40know, we'll we'll get together sometimes
108. 3:42and you know, right in the middle of
109. 3:43practice, I just feel compelled to say
110. 3:45it. I walk up to them and say, "Come on,
111. 3:47everybody." So, look, it's not even your
112. 3:49fault that you guys are so
113. 3:52so like this.
114. 3:54So,
115. 3:54I said, "So, I'm not blame I'm not
116. 3:56blaming you. I'm not accusing you. I'm
117. 3:58not criticizing you. I'm just telling
118. 4:01you
119. 4:02I understand. It's not your fault why
120. 4:04you're the way you are.
121. 4:06You've been brought up like this. You've
122. 4:08been allowed to do things a certain way
123. 4:10all your life.
124. 4:12And you've been told all your life that
125. 4:13what you're doing is okay.
126. 4:16And you know what? You got away with
127. 4:19Now, don't get me wrong. I don't want to
128. 4:20be one of these people that back in my
129. 4:22day because when I was their age
130. 4:25my coach
131. 4:27spoke like that to me.
132. 4:29And there's quotes that you can read
133. 4:31like this generation is going to take
134. 4:33you know, us down the drain.
135. 4:35It's the worst generation of all time.
136. 4:37And then you look at the bottom, who
137. 4:38said that? Plato.
138. 4:42Okay? So, this has been going on since
139. 4:44the beginning of time.
140. 4:46But, the world that we live in now with
141. 4:48the information that's available to kids
142. 4:51and parents and the whole social
143. 4:53network thing and the modern technology
144. 4:56and the media part of it it's really
145. 4:59screwed parents up.
146. 5:01Why do you think kids don't like the
147. 5:02ride home?
148. 5:05Uh
149. 5:07well,
150. 5:09uh you heard me there. I had a kid one
151. 5:11time
152. 5:12uh who's a great player for us and I
153. 5:14remember saying, "Hey, your father
154. 5:15drives 5 hours to come up and watch you
155. 5:17every game." She goes, "Yeah."
156. 5:20So, what's he think of how we play and
157. 5:22you and your situation? He goes, "I
158. 5:23don't know. We don't talk about
159. 5:25basketball."
160. 5:26I said, "Get out of here."
161. 5:28She says, "No.
162. 5:29My father and I never talk about the
163. 5:31game because
164. 5:32that's not what he's coming up here for
165. 5:34to see whether we're going to win or
166. 5:36lose or if I'm going to score 30 or 10.
167. 5:39He just
168. 5:40comes up to watch his daughter."
169. 5:42I said, "Man, oh man, they ought to
170. 5:44clone that guy."
171. 5:46So, I've had that.
172. 5:48And I've had kids who, like I said, are
173. 5:51checking the scoreboard cuz they know
174. 5:52they're going to get yelled at if they
175. 5:54don't score enough points.
176. 5:56And you know, you can tell that parent,
177. 5:58"Yo, dude, we won 110 games in a row." I
178. 6:00don't give a
179. 6:01They they're more concerned about how's
180. 6:03their kid doing and are they getting
181. 6:05enough attention.
182. 6:06And I think that starts at an early age
183. 6:08and after a while,
184. 6:10kids don't want to hear it anymore.
185. 6:12Well, from a college coach's
186. 6:13perspective, how can you tell if a
187. 6:15parent is over-involved?
188. 6:19How can you tell?
189. 6:21Well, if you take your eyes off what's
190. 6:22going on on the court and just look up
191. 6:24in the stands, the guys that are going
192. 6:25crazy.
193. 6:27And you go, "Whose father's that?"
194. 6:29And now it's also, "Whose mother's
195. 6:31that?"
196. 6:32And
197. 6:33everybody in the
198. 6:35there'd be 400 coaches watching, you
199. 6:37know, and they you go, everybody will
200. 6:38go, "That's that kid's parents." And
201. 6:40everybody knows and you feel bad for the
202. 6:42kid. So, that's an obvious way that
203. 6:45they're nuts in the stands.
204. 6:47The other obvious way is the way the kid
205. 6:49responds to what happens on the floor.
206. 6:52Every bad call, every time the kid's
207. 6:54taken out, every time something doesn't
208. 6:57go their way,
209. 6:58they make a big production out of it.
210. 7:00They pout, they make faces, they yell at
211. 7:03the refs, they you know, kid on their
212. 7:05team misses a pass and they and
213. 7:07moan, you know, they they get taken out
214. 7:09of the game, they go to the end of the
215. 7:10bench, they get a towel, put it on their
216. 7:12head, like
217. 7:14unless they're playing and scoring, they
218. 7:15don't care. And then you look up in the
219. 7:17stands a lot of times and the team will
220. 7:21be winning by 20
221. 7:22and the parent of that kid
222. 7:25will be sitting there more miserable
223. 7:27than their kid
224. 7:29because doesn't matter if the team is
225. 7:30winning. My kid isn't getting what I
226. 7:33think they deserve.
227. 7:35And if you recruit a kid like that, and
228. 7:37now don't get me wrong,
229. 7:38I I have the luxury of being able to do
230. 7:40that now. So, you think, well, you can
231. 7:42do that now cuz
232. 7:44every kid you recruit is an
233. 7:45All-American. So, if you don't get three
234. 7:46All-Americans, you only get two one
235. 7:47year, I feel sorry for you. I get that.
236. 7:50But, I did this in 1985 when I first got
237. 7:52the job at Connecticut, and I haven't
238. 7:54changed.
239. 7:56Cuz when I got the job at Connecticut, I
240. 7:57said, "I'm going to run this program
241. 7:59like a Catholic school program."
242. 8:01Cuz that's the only thing I knew.
243. 8:03That's where I went to school. That's
244. 8:04where I coached. I coached girls in high
245. 8:06school,
246. 8:07Catholic high school, I coached boys.
247. 8:09And we could do that. We could say, "If
248. 8:11you don't do this, you're not playing."
249. 8:13It was easy, and they listened, and you
250. 8:15didn't get any calls from parents cuz
251. 8:17they knew.
252. 8:18So, I said, "That's how I'm going to do
253. 8:19it." And I haven't changed in 32 years.
254. 8:22Well, and just that's the evolution,
255. 8:24right? And so, my question to you is as
256. 8:26a parent, your son played competitively.
257. 8:30Um
258. 8:30And all he did was about the
259. 8:31coaches.
260. 8:32Yeah.
261. 8:33So, how how do you manage
262. 8:34you. He would come home and go, "Oh,
263. 8:36you're not going to believe this." I
264. 8:37said, "Dude, you're talking to me?
265. 8:40You're giving me this story?"
266. 8:41So, it's it's it's universal, man.
267. 8:44Well, and what what do you know now that
268. 8:47maybe when you were dropping him off for
269. 8:48his first practice, you would tell
270. 8:50yourself then?
271. 8:53Uh I think a big thing is
272. 8:56your kid is probably never as good as
273. 8:59you think they are.
274. 9:02Like, I remember years ago, some of my
275. 9:04college friends that coached guys
276. 9:06would say, "Yeah, it used to be the kids
277. 9:08Every kid thought they were as good as
278. 9:10Michael Jordan."
279. 9:11Now, every Now, every parent thinks,
280. 9:13"Nah, he's better than that."
281. 9:19Like, the poor kid in California plays
282. 9:21for UCLA, right? I mean, everybody's
283. 9:23been reading about his dad.
284. 9:25God bless him. The guy's doing what he's
285. 9:27doing, making He's making a lot of money
286. 9:29for himself, for his kid, whatever he's
287. 9:30doing.
288. 9:31But, he's just one example cuz he's a
289. 9:34loud example. There's a lot of those
290. 9:36guys. So, luckily, his son is good
291. 9:38enough to pull it off.
292. 9:40So, all of our kids are normal kids,
293. 9:43let's say. And they just want to play.
294. 9:46And if they're really good, you never
295. 9:48have to say it. Everybody's always
296. 9:49coming up to you and say, "Hey, you
297. 9:51know, your son's pretty good."
298. 9:53And that happened when my son was young,
299. 9:55and it happened in high school. So, you
300. 9:57never had to go, "Hey, by the way, you
301. 9:58know, my kid can really play." Everybody
302. 10:00knew that.
303. 10:01And they would tell you that, so you
304. 10:03don't have to say anything.
305. 10:05It's when the kid gets to college or
306. 10:06when the kid's a little not as good as
307. 10:09as you think they should be, you have to
308. 10:10feel like you have to go around telling
309. 10:12everybody how good your your son or your
310. 10:13daughter is. And that's when it gets
311. 10:15crazy, cuz you're trying to convince
312. 10:17people that what's evident
313. 10:19that the kid's not that good as good as
314. 10:21you think they are.
315. 10:22Well, maybe switching gears a little bit
316. 10:24to the youth coach. How can you tell if
317. 10:27a youth coach is more focused on winning
318. 10:29than maybe development?
319. 10:37I I have a hard time watching
320. 10:40um
321. 10:42high school kids play or younger kids
322. 10:44play because they're more talented than
323. 10:47ever, they're better athletes than ever,
324. 10:50they can do more things than kids 10
325. 10:53years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago.
326. 10:55But, they're not better basketball
327. 10:58players.
328. 10:59Because
329. 11:01this coach or that coach or that system
330. 11:05has them playing six games on Saturday,
331. 11:09and they practice once that week.
332. 11:12It's totally opposite of what they do in
333. 11:14Europe,
334. 11:15where you will practice six days, and
335. 11:17you will play once.
336. 11:19So, you wonder why all these kids coming
337. 11:21from Europe, they say, "Well, why are
338. 11:22they so fundamentally sound?
339. 11:24Why do can they all dribble? They can
340. 11:25all pass. They can all shoot." Doesn't
341. 11:27matter whether they're 5'10" or 6'10".
342. 11:29Cuz they practice, they don't play
343. 11:31games. Here, it's all about how many
344. 11:33games are we going to play?
345. 11:35And then are we going to practice this
346. 11:36week? Like I coached a boys AAU team,
347. 11:38okay? My son was on it. We had five
348. 11:40Division I players on it. We had three
349. 11:42kids that went pro.
350. 11:43So, we went down and played in Orlando
351. 11:46in a tournament that all the college
352. 11:47coaches go to.
353. 11:48And we had a chance that if we won one
354. 11:50more game, we would finish 11th.
355. 11:53Now, that's pretty damn good.
356. 11:54Cuz I coached them like a college team,
357. 11:56you know? Like we had pre-game meal. I
358. 11:59knew where they were all the time, you
359. 12:00know? I So, I treat them like college
360. 12:02kids.
361. 12:03And they liked it to a point. And then
362. 12:06um we had them all coming back the
363. 12:08following year.
364. 12:10And then
365. 12:11two of the kids said, "I'm not playing."
366. 12:14I said, "Why not?"
367. 12:15Said, "Well, I'm playing on another
368. 12:17team."
369. 12:18Why?
370. 12:19Well, turns out we practice every
371. 12:21Tuesday and Thursday like clockwork.
372. 12:24Well, the other coach told him, "You
373. 12:25don't have to practice. Just show up for
374. 12:26games."
375. 12:28So, that was that.
376. 12:30So, those kids who
377. 12:32most kids are going to go, "Oh, yeah, I
378. 12:34don't have to come to practice? No, just
379. 12:35show up for games."
380. 12:37So,
381. 12:39coaches are feeding into this because
382. 12:42guess what? A lot, I'm not saying all of
383. 12:44them, but so many of the coaches that
384. 12:46coach
385. 12:48don't have any
386. 12:50idea how to be a good coach. It's not
387. 12:51even their fault.
388. 12:53Like you don't find that in soccer.
389. 12:55Like we're trying to do this with USA
390. 12:57basketball, but you know, in basketball
391. 13:00or any more or any sport really other
392. 13:02than soccer. Anybody that has a kid
393. 13:04that's playing could be a coach.
394. 13:06One soccer, you can't do that. You have
395. 13:08to be certified, right? So, if you want
396. 13:09to coach 15-year-olds, you have to be
397. 13:11certified to coach 15-year-olds. That
398. 13:13guy can't coach 18-year-olds until he
399. 13:15gets certified or she gets certified.
400. 13:17So, they don't even know how to coach
401. 13:18the kids. They don't know how to develop
402. 13:20skill development.
403. 13:21So, then what happens?
404. 13:23Major problem number two. Every kid
405. 13:26hires a trainer.
406. 13:28And the parents pay these ridiculous
407. 13:30amounts of money
408. 13:31to hire this trainer to work with these
409. 13:33kids.
410. 13:34Like 2 or 3 hours a week, and they're
411. 13:36paying money. Then the kid comes to you
412. 13:38guys. The kid don't even know whether
413. 13:40they should put their shoe on their
414. 13:42right foot or left foot.
415. 13:44And they have all these drills though.
416. 13:45They can do that.
417. 13:47And they can do all these great things
418. 13:48with the ball one-on-one. The minute you
419. 13:50put four other players out there and
420. 13:51somebody playing defense,
421. 13:54they look like they just saw a ghost,
422. 13:55right?
423. 13:57And well, and you're you're in that
424. 13:58space. So, when you're evaluating it,
425. 14:01what are you looking for to to figure
426. 14:03out if they'll align with what
427. 14:04I I could almost care less about what
428. 14:06they can do
429. 14:08like from a skill standpoint. Cuz if I'm
430. 14:10if I'm watching them play, I already
431. 14:11know
432. 14:12that they're really good. So, I'm not
433. 14:14watching like, "Okay, let me see this
434. 14:16kid's crossover." Or do they know how
435. 14:18to, you know, do an inside pivot or any
436. 14:20Like I don't I could care less.
437. 14:23What I'm watching is the things that I'm
438. 14:24talking about. Like I want to recruit
439. 14:26good teammates.
440. 14:28I want to recruit the kid that will pass
441. 14:29up an open shot for a great shot.
442. 14:32I want to recruit the kid that'll sprint
443. 14:34down the floor
444. 14:35to get back on defense.
445. 14:37That kid.
446. 14:38I'm going to recruit the kid that, you
447. 14:40know,
448. 14:41jumps up and down when one of their
449. 14:42teammates makes a great play.
450. 14:44I want to recruit that kid because if
451. 14:46you're going to come on my team and we
452. 14:48got 10 high school All-Americans
453. 14:50and you're selfish, what do you think's
454. 14:52going to happen?