John Calipari can coach the X's and O's as well as anyone but in watching him up close for one season, I think the part of the job of a coach that may set him apart from most of his peers is managing people--specifically,  his own players.  He can tear them down when needed but he also builds them up and he tries to connect with them as people.  After last night's rout of Wake Forest, I asked what accounted for the tremendous play we saw in New Orleans, particularly from Darius Miller in the win over Wake.  Cal said he had one-on-one meetings with his players after they returned from the SEC Tournament and he asked them what he could to help them be at their best.  Some, he said, needed less emotion from him in the coaching process.  Others said they would like to stay on the court longer, to have the chance to play through mistakes.  He listened and he attempted to address what was discussed.  There are many different ways to coach a player but whatever the method, if the result is that the player respects the coach and believes he or she truly cares about them as a person, then that player is usually going to give maximum effort.  If Kentucky was a low seed from a mid-major league, it would be the toast of the tournament because of the passion, the unselfishness and the pure joy with which the Cats are playing right now.  

---

Comments

---

Post A Comment

Will UK win the SEC baseball title this weekend?
Yes
No

May 17th, 1975
Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore led the Kentucky Colonels to a 3-0 lead in the A...
Click for more »