Basketball: Constantly Work on Your Skills and Brand

Improve your brand, how others perceive your program and you. Here are exemplars from valued brands.

Set your Standard of Performance high and work to live up to it every day. Be accountable to setting your standards high. Encourage that standard to everyone in the organization. Bill Walsh's The Score Takes Care of Itself belongs on your desk.

"Make it. Sell it. Build brand awareness." - Sara Blakely   CEO and owner of Spanx, Blakely turned an undergarment idea into a five billion dollar empire. On an 'Outward Bound' type retreat she had to jump, wearing a bungee cord, to a 'catcher' suspended by a crane. She made it successfully, unlike taller, more athletic types. She jumped to a spot 'three feet above' the catcher. Her advice, "aim high." 

"Do one thing every day for your craft and one for your business." - David Mamet, playwright, author, and director.  Improve your skills, athleticism, and brand. 

"The director's job is to advance the story." - Ron Howard, actor and director   Become your own life coach. Advance your narrative using the tools acquired from mentors, study, and experience. 

"Bring the best version of yourself to work every day." - Samuel L. Jackson  This echoes the fourth agreement in The Four Agreements. 

Your program and fans may value winning most, but our players care about how we treat them and the value we add. A regular dialogue helps unearth their needs and concerns. It's never perfect but the relationships developed can mean so much for both parties. 

Lagniappe. You can win a game with a key cut. Who doesn't remember Princeton beating UCLA? 

Every coach needs to have a Backdoor play in their back pocket

Kansas | 1-4 - Backdoor pic.twitter.com/cEFhhPzSuQ

— Buckets Basketball (@BucketsBBALL1) March 7, 2025

Lagniappe 2. Happiness won't always be the product. 

PLAYERS: A coach's job is not to make you happy. A coach's job is to make you better. Take advantage of the opportunities you have to improve yourself and the team.

— Jamy Bechler (@CoachBechler) March 6, 2025

Lagniappe 3. From Boston Sports Journal, John Karalis

Tatum said. “I tell Baylor (Schierman) and Jordan (Walsh), all those guys, when you get out here, make a play. Both ends of the floor. If you're open, shoot the ball. If you have a closeout, attack it. Make the right read. Just don't be a robot. Be a basketball player. Do what got you here."