"When You Kick a Tiger in the Ass, You Better Have a Plan for When He Turns Around"

|Peter Boettke|

This is part of the wisdom the great coach Bobby Knight provided to Trine University graduates last month.  Knight certainly isn't a perfect human being, but he never claimed to be.  All he wanted to do was be a great basketball coach.  And he was (is), perhaps the greatest college coach.  

Trine University Commencement Address by Coach Bob Knight from Trine University on Vimeo.

His form of "tough love" coaching is unfortunately dying.  When several years ago I was going through a state required coaching course for HS basketball coaching, Bob Knight was used as the example of 'what not to do'.  REALLY?, is all I could think about while watching the required video of "positive coaching".  But except for a short intervention to the course director that night (an old basketball coach who I knew well) that could only be described as 'snarky in the extreme' I kept my mouth shut and answer the questions asked as the state education board expected me to.

My particular taste in coaching style in tennis and in basketball was more teacher/instructor, than motivator.  My approach to emphasis skill development, and execution.  My mantra in basketball was speed, intensity and execution.  Hard to win if you are slow, sleepy and sloppy.  But in practices my goal was to raise intensity through competition, develop drills that worked skill at game speed, and established expectations of perfection.  In that sense I tried to be more like John Wooden (or at least the mythology around Wooden) than Knight.  I never received a technical (though I came up to the edge a few times) and I expected my players to conduct themselves with composure at all times.  Coach Larranaga at GMU says it is all about attitude, commitment, and class; and he has run his program along those lines with the result that in my mind he not only runs one of the best D1 basketball programs in NCAA, but is perhaps GMU's most valuable public face.  Coach L's program and his points of emphasis in his practices (which I have had the great opportunity to witness multiple times during my years at GMU) had a major influence on me.  Set high expectations, and in turn treat players with respect and as vital contributors to the team.  As one general wisdom says, treat people as if they matter, and they will. 

But like all coaches, I would at times yell and of course hold players accountable for mental errors (physical errors are part of all sports and it is stupid for coaches to complain about them).  But I tried to learn from the great coaches and try to focus on knowledge of how to compete, rather than complaining that my players are not trying hard enough (the ESPN announcer disease -- 'the losing team just didn't want it enough'; really?!).  Competitive athletes want to win every time they step on the court; when that goes away they stop being competitive athletes. But not every competitive athlete works smart to put themselves in a position to win.  This is where coaches by making adjustments can put their team (player) in a better position to win.

Coaches and players have to understand that there is no such thing as luck, what there is, is preparation.  All luck is, is when preparation meets opportunity.  And when it comes to stressing this point, nobody was (is) better than Bob Knight.  As he always stressed, it is not the will to win that matters, but the willingness to prepare to win that matters most.  And Knight, like all the great coaches, knows that his message to his players transcends sport, and emphasizes life lessons.

So his message to the graduates included such important points as:

-- observe; watch and listen to learn and you don't necessarily learn from talking;

-- don't ever be satisfied; satisfaction is the first step toward failure;

-- you win in sport (and life) by eliminating the things that cause you to lose;

-- preparation is the key to victory.

And, just remember, when you kick a tiger in the ass, you better have a plan for when that tiger turns around.

Comments

[K Sralla]

Pete,

I have disagreed with you on the relative role of physical talent vs work ethic for individual althletic success. I do not disagree with anything you said here. You say: "my goal was to raise intensity through competition, develop drills that worked skill at game speed, and established expectations of perfection"

All the great coaches know this. You must train the brain to work under "game speed". If you practice slow, you are training your brain to move the body slowly in live competition. If you jog, you become a good jogger. If you sprint, you become a better sprinter.

I also agree that Bob Knight was one of the greatest basketball coaches ever. He gets a bad rap for his off the court (and sometimes on) antics, but at the core, Knight was an incredible *teacher* of basketball.

[Peter Boettke]

I often stress work ethic over physical talent because to some extent raw physical talent is not a variable, you are born with it. I used to tell my players that you cannot control how tall you are, but you can train to become stronger and faster that you are; you can train to develop better skills; you can work to be a smarter athlete.

Only 1% of the human population or less can attain the attributes to be a college athlete, and a far smaller % to become a professional athlete. Just as you cannot take someone with an IQ of 90, and expect them to become a college professor at Harvard no matter how hard they work at it; and you cannot expect a 5'7" slow and awkward athlete to play point guard in the NBA. Physical talent matters.

But among the physically talented, those who work smart and work hard are the ones who make it. And that was the real point of my posts on work ethic. It is what YOU can control, and it applies not only in sports, but to all walks of life --- music, art, academics, etc. As Knight says, success isn't a function of luck, it is a function of preparation meeting with opportunity.

Thanks for your comments on the blog.

[Peter Boettke]

BTW, at the height of my tennis playing career, I got the chance to play Bob Tannis (an All American from U of Georgia, who was now on the tour) in the second round. We had some close games, but he beat me easily 6-0, 6-0 in about an hour. He went on to win the tournament. The next week he lost in a US Open warm-up event in Hampton, NY to John McEnroe 6-0, 6-0. So I used to say to my friends that through the law of transitivity I am pretty sure I would have lost to John McEnroe 6-0, 6-0. So I know that talent clearly matters.

When I was still playing basketball, I also had the opportunity to play against guys who had major college careers and even a few who made it to the NBA. Again, let me tell you talent matters. One of those players is someone who I played basketball against since 6th grade. About a decade ago someone asked me, "I heard you used to play against X, did you cover him?" I originally said yes, then I rethought it and said, well I didn't really cover him, I sort of watched him blow by me at will. Talent matters and all the work ethic in the world cannot make up for some of the physical gifts that elite athletes are given.

But I also saw several individuals with physical gifts not work hard and at the end not become elite athletes. The one's who succeed and win are those who combine an amazing amount of physical talents with a serious commitment to making the most out of those physical gifts. Thus my Dad, who was an elite athlete himself, always stressed to me --- the most egregious sin is wasted talent. I believe my father's teachings. That is why I stress the work ethic issue and how work ethic in my opinion determines the difference between relatively equally gifted individuals.

[Steve Horwitz]

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" is a proverb/aphorism that is several centuries old, usually attributed to Seneca, the Roman statesman/philosopher/dramatist. There's a reason it's been used by everyone from basketball coaches to econ profs to rock drummers over the course of the last two millenia.

[Greg Ransom]

Why is anyone kicking a tiger in the ass?

[Will Luther]

If you have the tiger by the tail, should you kick it in the ass?

[Peter Boettke]

Steve,

I realize that most of what is said by coach as philosopher was said first by a philosopher. But it is often in the application that we learn the generalizability of the concept.

With respect to Will's question, only if you have a plan of what you are going to do when it turns around! Which is why there IS a public choice problem with the nominal income targeting agenda!!!!

[Otto Maddox]

Just don't ever try to engage the guy in discussion in an airport. What a P***k (extraordinarily unpleasant person).

[Peter Boettke]

Otto,

When I was coaching a 10 year old travel team years ago, one of my players was Clarence Thomas's nephew. Bob Knight and Clarence Thomas are friends. Our team advanced in the playoffs, and Justice Thomas received a letter from Bob Knight congratulating the boys and encouraging them to keep winning.

I think the Dad's of the players were more impressed than the 10 year old boys, but I think this side of Knight is under-appreciated. He may not be the best with fans, but he has given a lot back to the game --- including young coaches and would-be players at camps and clinics. He is a basketball guy, not a celebrity.

Pete

[Oderus Urungus]

So, if I just train hard enough, I can play basketball as well as Kobe Bryant?

[Peter Boettke]

Nope, you cannot. But if you train hard enough, you might be able to read.

[Oderus Urungus]

Thanks for the suggestion; upon following your advice, I see the following:

"But among the physically talented, those who work smart and work hard are the ones who make it. And that was the real point of my posts on work ethic."

So in other words, you are stressing the blindingly obvious, while safely posing as socially acceptable (ie, anti-hereditarian). That's helpful, truly.

[Mark D. White]

ROTFL...

[Mark D. White]

Just to be clear, my ROTFL above was for Pete's comment, not Mr. Urungus' (who commented at the same time I did).

[topills.com review]

"But among the physically talented, those who work smart and work hard are the ones who make it. And that was the real point of my posts on work ethic."

So in other words, you are stressing the blindingly obvious, while safely posing as socially acceptable (ie, anti-hereditarian). That's helpful, truly.

[D. Harris]

Is it intentional that laziness becoming rampant in our society beyond personal vanity (people have all the energy in the world to make themselves pretty) was left out?