December 2016 – Zak Boisvert Thibodeau, Wolves Playing The Long Game (Sports Illustrated) -“He is probably the most hands-on coach that I have ever seen,” says Towns. “Writing little things on the board. Drills, he wants to be part of them. Detailing strategic work. He is a part of it. It’s almost like he has assistant coaches but he doesn’t need them.” -“Analytics can measure a lot of things, but it’s very difficult to measure drive." -The four pillars of coaching: leadership, teaching, communication, and motivation. All require the same thing: the investment of time. -“I think that sometimes the thing that makes them great that initially gets them here is they’re chasing excellence, and you do that by making the commitment to put everything you have into something. And if you get lost along the way and start chasing other things, the commitment doesn’t remain the same, so the result won’t remain the same.”

Grgurich has behind-the-scenes impact for Bucks (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) -“You talk about needing balance in your life; I don’t think he has any balance,” said Bucks forward Steve Novak. “I think he is 24-7 and I think he loves it. -“We respect him because he’s a guy that’s in the gym so much. When I was in Dallas he pulled me aside and set up some drills for me specifically and our offense.”

Bad news for rest of NBA: Giannis keeps improving (New York Times) -No kidding. If he were to add a reliable 3-point shot? Well, this is where things actually get tricky. The Bucks would prefer that he remember his obvious strengths. Consider the case made by Steve Novak, a veteran teammate who has made his career as a 3-point specialist. There is no question, Novak said, that Antetokounmpo’s outside shooting is improving. “But I think a lot of times our weaknesses are our weaknesses for a reason,” Novak said. “I’m a great shooter because I realized early on that I couldn’t drive by guys. I had to shoot the basketball. In Giannis’s case, shooting is settling. And for the next 10 years, it will be settling for him. So I think he needs to develop it as a weapon, but he’s at his best scoring in the paint and getting fouled and getting by his man. That’s always going to be his go-to.”

Rule delivers on promise to Temple (247 Sports) -The Owls staff is also looking for more “Temple guys” to win more hardware. Beginning Sunday, Rhule said his staff will immediately go on the road and recruit. Toughness is the No. 1 trait they’re looking for. “We don’t pay attention to who else is recruiting somebody,” Rhule said adding he’s looking for some that wants to come to Temple and “trust the process.” -“We have a bunch of Temple kids out there right now and we’ll continue to find them,” Rhule said.

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert Temple coach Rhule a rising star (247 Sports) -“I’m involved in all of the evaluation process,” Rhule said. “I think I have to be involved in every step in terms of the evaluation of prospects. I want every kid that comes to Temple to know from the on down we view him as a first round draft pick. -“We don’t worry about position,” Rhule said. “Once they get here our guys will find the right place for them. We want guys that play with intensity and like to play the game. We feel like positions are going to work itself out. That’s why on defense I think you see a lot of playmakers and guys that run around and hit.” -“I think as a coach you have to take a chance on really good kids that love playing football and have the tools, and we as football coaches have to develop them." -“For me it starts with my college coach, Coach (Joe) Paterno, seeing the emphasis we had at Penn State in developing players, I want to recruit and develop much like we did at Penn State,” Rhule said. -“Coach (Tom) Coughlin, no coach I’ve been around has been better at putting players in position to succeed. He’s a tough coach, a demanding coach, but he has great relationships with his players." -“Then Coach Addazio taught me recruiting is not about trying to be perfect, but finding guys you think can be successful and going out and recruiting them. I also learned how to be great recruiters as a staff.”

Mike Martin, Brown -Refuse as many ball screens as you use.

Florida sowing signs of life in post-Donovan era (SBNation) -"I credit our guys with the culture they've created with this team right now," White said after the Miami win. "It's a very healthy culture ... in that when five guys get taken out of a game, there is no drama. You're not dealing with any drama right now."

Jon Coffman, IPFW -I don't coach shot selection, I just judge the process preceding the shot. If we have gotten a paint touch, you have a green light. -The only shots I don't like if we've gotten a paint touch is shooting a bobbled catch, a pass that you caught not ready to shoot or shooting in crowds. -Draw a crowd and kick it -Goal: 80% of total shots come in the paint or after a paint touch (doesn't include transition 3's or shots from a set) -Over the last 3 years, we've shot 60% on shots after a paint touch, 35% on the others.

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert Chris Caputo, Miami -Use stats to explain a point to players - you don't even necessarily need to fully believe in the stat, but if it drives home a point to a player, use it.

How Bob Huggins tracks his press (WVSports.com) -“What I want to know is where they’re (the opponent) entering the ball at and where it’s going from there,” Huggins said. Huggins has his coaching staff note the point of entry pass and the pass after that. The staff tracks this by splitting the court into eight different sections. Horizontally, the court is cut into simply, a left and right side, while vertically, the court is divided by four. Huggins separates the four sections from baseline to foul line, foul line to midcourt, midcourt to the opposite foul line and then the opposite foul line to the opposite baseline. -West Virginia wants its opponents to inbound the ball in front of the immediate foul line. “We chart whether it comes in the short side or the long side or, if they’re throwing it over our heads into different areas, so at halftime, I can look at a chart to see where the balls are being entered and more importantly, where it’s going after the inbounds,” Huggins said. “Are they throwing the second pass diagonally or backwards?” -West Virginia aims for 60 deflections per game. According to Huggins, West Virginia had a season-high of 80 deflections against San Diego State and a season-low, 47 against Virginia.

A shift in philosophy led Bob Huggins to 'Press Virginia' (NBCSports.com) -“I thought we needed to change the style that we played,” Huggins said. “I spent time with Kevin Mackey, who I thought did the best job of anybody at the college level with pressure defense. I thought our guys embraced it, and that was probably as key as anything. They really did embrace that style of play.” -"In my own opinion Bob’s a hall of fame coach, he’s a great defensive coach. He had the fundamentals down cold 35 years ago, and it was a matter of his adjusting his thinking to go to the full-court (pressure) all the time.” -“Their offense is designed with the missed shot in mind. In other words, they’re not worried about making or missing jump shots,” Fraschilla continued. “If they go in, great; if guys heat up, great. But they’re also very cognizant of the fact that a missed shot [can be] a pass to Jonathan Holton or Devin Williams or Elijah Macon. That’s how they look at it. You can analyze [the shooting] until the cows come home, but the fact is they get way more attempts than their opponents.”

Jim Valvano, NC State -Don't say anything negative about your team or school in the media.

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert Chris Holttman is building up the Butler Way in the Big East (Sports Illustrated) -"I credit our guys with the culture they've created with this team right now," White said after the Miami win. "It's a very healthy culture ... in that when five guys get taken out of a game, there is no drama. You're not dealing with any drama right now." -“I talk to our staff about ‘ABG’,” said Holtmann. “That stands for ‘A Butler Guy’. It is our job to identify and recruit those players and hopefully land [them]. Obviously very few schools are able to get everyone they want, and we don’t, but we do our best to identify the right players that fit our culture and at the same time can help us on the court.” -“My second year, when I was the interim head coach, we finished second in the Big East with kids mostly recruited to play in the Horizon League. That showed us with the right kids we can win. It is important for us to keep that in mind, and not compromise who we are and to find the right pieces for Butler, while continuing to bring in the most talented players possible.” -“I definitely think the type of kids we have helped keep continuity that you wouldn’t have had at some schools,” said Holtmann. “There is no doubt that some of those kids have been through a lot, but we haven’t been through many bumps and everyone has played hard, and it comes down the relationships and trust my staff and myself has built with everyone on the roster, and it has helped us not skip a beat.”

Mike Brey (Pure Sweat podcast) -Guys that have a basketball IQ and feel for the game. We've given up some athletic ability to get a skill guy, a feel for the game. We look for guys that have been coached. -Get old, stay old. Get and keep a rhythm to your roster where you don't need to recruit 7-8 freshmen. -Your juniors and seniors should be coaching your freshmen. -For assistant coaches: be a teacher and a confidence-giver -Coaching them out of 5-on-5 is very important. The quicker you can get into that, the better. Coaches sometimes dwell on drills too much, you have to get them to play together. In order to get them to play together, they have to play together. -Doesn't go more than 2 hours. -Builds from 2-man to 3-man to 5-man. -Likes to end practice on a good note. -I still see myself as a high school teacher and a coach. -From Morgan Wooten: he was the ultimate confidence-giver. He just knew the right thing to say to a young kid. -To a player: have a ball in your hands as much as possible. If the decision comes down to the gym or the weight room, choose the gym every time.

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert For Chris Mack, Xavier is more than a job - it's home (Sporting News) -“I think because of the way Coach was brought up in this business … whether it was recruiting or scouting or if we had practice, Battle was going to be in charge of this drill, Mack was going to be in charge of this drill,” Mack told Sporting News during an interview in his office, just in advance of the madness of March. “And you felt like when they turned the page to my drill, be ready because I’m going to be the head coach for the moment. That was an awesome experience.

Mack in Your Face (Cincinnati Magazine) -As one NBA scout says, Mack runs “the most brutal practices in the country.” The team works through a rigidly choreographed series of drills, scrimmages, and scenarios—18 sets in 84 minutes. -The team also works on offense, especially getting out on fast breaks. (“I want Sacre to run his ass off,” Mack hollers.) But it always comes back to defense. During a three- on-three drill for the guards, Mack makes his players go again and again until they see just how far he wants them to sag on weak-side defense. At one point, a loose ball squirts out to half-court, and both sides ease up. Mack starts screaming, staccato: “Play it! Play it! Play it!” -When practice ends, Mack brings his players together and urges them “to get back that nastiness, that edge.” -On Monday, the team took an 11-hour flight from Honolulu to Cincinnati, and Mack spent the time watching just the team’s defensive possessions on his laptop. While the players got Tuesday off, Mack kept watching Xavier tape. “We really concentrate on our own team,” he says. He didn’t watch his first Gonzaga film of the season until late Tuesday night, when he also wrote the practice plan for the next day. -When they’re finished, the players spend another 15 minutes watching film on the opponent’s tendencies or “themes.” Mack keeps it purposefully simple, choosing three or four clips for each theme. He also makes sure never to be in the room during a film session. “I don’t want them to think, ‘Coach Mack is so consumed with Gonzaga,’” he explains. “I’m consumed with what we do.” -He admired how Prosser, first as Gillen’s top assistant, then as Xavier’s head coach, interacted with people. “It didn’t matter if you owned the arena or swept the arena,” Mack says. “He treated everyone the same.” -Mack interviewed for Xavier’s top spot with athletic director Mike Bobinski, and made a nine-point presentation about the “Xavier Way.” To understand Xavier’s success, you have to understand both this concept and the impact of Bobinski. -It’s New Year’s Eve, and Mack stands next to the dry-erase board in the locker room, preaching about “kills.” As the clock counts down to tipoff against Gonzaga, Mack makes the same point he does before every game: If the team gets seven kills—one “kill” equals three consecutive defensive stops—it has a 96% chance of winning. December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -But there’s a bigger problem here, and it gets at Xavier’s dirty little secret: The brawl has been a long time coming. -From the beginning, Mack’s been up front about wanting a nasty team. That’s why he practices the way he practices. That’s why he recruits the way he recruits. You can find evidence of this from former players and coaches, from on-court incidents, and from opponents. But here’s a particularly telling example: In October, before the season even started, Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports stopped by a Xavier practice and noted how the team relied on a potentially combustible edginess. “We’re straight tough,” guard Mark Lyons told him.

Frank Martin leads South Carolina's turnaround (SI.com) -Before hanging up, Williams offered one more piece of advice: Go fight for what you want South Carolina to be. "I hung up the phone," Martin says, "and that registered with me." -The Gamecocks suffered losing streaks as long as six games during both years. But most disconcerting to Martin was the level of complacency that permeated the program, both inside and outside the locker room. "This program was broken," he says. "It was irrelevant on our own campus. So how can we expect anyone outside our own campus to think we're any good?" -But more than anything, Staley reminded her friend to trust in his own process, never allowing himself to succumb to self-doubt. "You pull your hair out," Staley says. "You think you made the wrong career move. But what it does as a coach is, it teaches you how to be patient. It teaches you how to lose." -The difference was a renewed level of focus. "You had more guys staying for the summer, more guys working on their game," Thornwell says. "It was more of family— playing more pickup, getting into the gym as much as we could." -"At the end of the day, you don't spend time with people you don't respect," Martin says. "If I don't respect you, I'm not spending any of my personal time with you. That told me they respect each other. If you have that, it's hard to fail."

Andy Toole (Shootin' it with Matt Langel podcast) -Rank yourself within our program. Where do you stand with the other guards in our program? -Rob [Kennedy] took me as a college graduate and taught me how to work. -To young coaches: work camp, develop a network, create relationships. If you want to be a coach, start coaching (with any team you can). Immerse yourself in it if you're going to make it your life's work. -Fran Dunphy: when the leadership can come from within the group as opposed to solely from the coaching staff, then you can really achieve your potential. -Dunphy to Toole: the more you can infuse your personality to this team, the better we'll be. December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -Toole on Dunphy: his incredible competitiveness. He instills in his teams that an important part of this whole process is giving your best to win. -Takes his team to a haunted house every year. Take them bowling. -Dunphy: competitiveness, take care of the ball, take good shots -Dunphy would say "make sure you appreciate the opportunity" almost every day. Maximize your opportunity as a college athlete, how great is it to be a player? -Dunphy keeps the game simple, emphasize what he knows will help win games. He sticks to that, he doesn't vary game to game or half to half. Stick with the plan, play as hard as you can and be there for your teammates.

Belichick is the master of the sick burn (The Ringer) -Time management may be more important for Belichick than any coach in the league — he is a micromanager of historic proportions, coaching nearly every position on the field and having a hand in essentially every phase of the game. Most coaches usually have a single area of expertise. Belichick does not. That means he has less time for everything.

Myles Turner's Ascent to Stardom (The Crossover) -He seems noticeably more prepared to track opposing ball-handlers step by step, punching up his defense with the power of deterrence. Being on top of the play also positions Turner to just swallow up all kinds of passing angles. Everything from pocket passes to lobs becomes a tougher pull when Turner is square to the ball with his arms spread. A little proactivity is the tangible difference between stalling out a possession at the point of attack and watching, a few steps off to the side, as the primary operations complete. -Change came through greater precision in the process itself, starting with the screen. “Watching film, I never really hit anybody last year,” Turner said. “This year, that's what I'm starting to get better at that. The biggest thing is first, you've gotta sprint into the screen. Then you've gotta set it at a lower angle. A lot of guards kinda try to cheat and run under it, and you've got to be at a complete stop because refs are calling moving screens all the time now. If they're at the three-point line, you might want to set it at the top of the key and you've gotta kind of set it at a 45-degree angle instead of just straight ahead. If you set it at that angle, it's kind of hard for that guard—especially if it's a solid screen—to fight over it. They can't really go under because you're angled diagonally.” -McMillan also noticed that the more minutes Turner logged in a game as a rookie, the less effective his screens seemed to become. “If you set 75 screens and the guard tries to bust through 50 times while you're trying to pick-and-pop,” he said, “you've got to have the body makeup to be able to tolerate that.” December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -In the meantime, Turner put a lot of preparation into rounding out the cerebral side of the two-man game. Reading the floor is not solely the responsibility of the ball handler; from the moment Turner turns off his screen, he has to take a snapshot of the floor and instantly analyze the intentions of the defense. There's no easy, straightforward way to train yourself into those reads. It can only come with instruction and experience, over and over, until every little tell in a defense's positioning and movement jumps out on first glance. “It's kind of hard to do it in a one-on-one setting," Turner said. "But when you start playing in practice, you've gotta read the help side, the weak side. Are they stunting at you? Are they heavy stunting? Are they there right away? Then you've gotta just stay in the guard's window—their window of vision is what we call it." -As the guard moves, so does the passing lane. Every step deeper into the paint means another bit that Turner has to adjust, all to maintain that straight line of possible connection. "He can't just blindly throw a pass," Turner said, "so you've got to be able to get to those positions really quickly. It's not just knocking down the shot. There's a couple things that go into it.”

Rodney Hood Explains the Jazz (SI.com) -On Utah's culture: We're just a close-knit group. We're always joking. Laughing, having fun. But I think the thing that's unique about us, we'll hold each other accountable. When we're in shootarounds, or we're in practice, we always lock in and try to make each other better. So I think that's kinda different. It's a unique atmosphere in Utah, that I don't think a lot of other teams have around the league.

Grizzlies eye future beyond grit & grind (SI.com) -Already there are rules and there are consequences. Fizdale is far from a coaching authoritarian but he invests in organizational consistency. -This kind of regiment originates with the Heat, where Fizdale spent his last eight seasons as an assistant coach. maintains strict organizational standards in Miami. Among his highest priorities, however, was making the team facility an environment that players would be loathe to leave. The look and feel of the place matter. Even the offerings of the kitchen contribute; it might not satisfy every player’s palate, but professionals tend to respect those organizations that respect them and their bodies. Team operations in Miami—and, by model, in Memphis—are structured to provide education and resources to players on even minor factors related to their performance. -“I take defense very serious,” Gasol said. “I know that defense has a lot to do with attention, paying attention to details and being tied together to the next guy and all that. So when a mistake on that happens, I know you're not concentrating. I don't allow that.”

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -“That’s what he has come in with and is trying to implement in your mind,” Gasol said of Fizdale. “The little things in every part of your life and every facet of your life matter.” -Navy SEAL teams deployed to particularly dangerous areas will often go accompanied by an expertly trained dog and its handler—in some cases without any established relationship with either. The SEALs have trained together. They’ve scrambled for their lives together. They’ve broken bread together and shared in the horrors of war together. Then they are asked to trust their lives, immediately and completely, to a German Shepherd. That bond can sometimes be all that stands between the SEALs and the concealed explosives their companion has been raised to detect. “That's the message I wanted to get across to these guys with all the new faces and me being new,” Fizdale said. “We don't have a lot of time to feel each other out. I'm their sniffin' dog. So I need them to understand: trust me when I'm leading you down this path that I'm gonna look out for you.” -NBA team dynamics are fraught with the politics of credit. Everyone wants to be appreciated for their skills, featured, and paid accordingly. Memphis isn’t immune to those influences but is, through the continuity of its leadership, shielded from it. “It's obviously impressive to see how they can say things to each other and not personalize it and just be able to move on,” Fizdale said. Constructive criticism can be issued without the thought of some other agenda. Disagreements can be had without bile or baggage. Even as the Grizzlies evolve beyond grit and grind, the connections forged in that ethos survive in a valuable, progressive function. -Yet NBA players, as Fizdale said, “are always hunting for comfort.” -The build comes gradually—with 2-on-0, then 3-on-0, then 4-on-0 drilling of positioning and function. Everything Memphis does is still best understood as a collaboration between Gasol and Conley. Their dribble hand-offs are a critical engine that has simply been recontextualized; slight adjustments in spacing and tweaked principles of movement will make one of the most dynamic connections in the game all the more impossible. “The hand-offs that we do—I can read his body,” Gasol said of Conley. “I can read his legs, his feet, and how they're positioned. I don't even need to look at his hands or face. Just by looking at his lower body I know what he's trying to do because we've done it so much. So once I see him slow and kind of take a step one way, I know if he's gonna keep going or if he's gonna stop and pop back or if he's gonna go backdoor.”

Lakers assistant Brian Keefe helps school young pros (Los Angeles Times) -“Taught me everything I know,” said Durant, a seven-time All-Star and league most valuable player in the 2013-14 season. “About work ethic, being a pro. He wouldn’t take any credit for it, but he taught me everything I know as far as how to approach shoot-arounds, practices, games, workout sessions.” December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -“Trust me, we had very little to do with this,” Keefe said. “Once they learned to have their own habits, it just became part of who they were. And then when all these other guys came into the organization they saw it. So it became the whole, kind of, culture of the place. … You’ve probably heard that a million times from coach here. It’s really all the same.” -Each player, was put on a schedule for extra work with assistant coaches — even the veterans. In their time slots they’d work with parts of their game, be that shooting, ballhandling, defensive concepts or whatever else needed work. -“The biggest thing was just trying to make all the young guys become pros,” said Nick Collison, a 2003 first-round pick, who has spent his entire career with the Thunder and Sonics. -“Like when Kevin started, he had all this talent and ability and trying to figure out how it works in an NBA game,” Collison said. “The way he can handle the ball and play in pick-and-roll and come off screens. He’s almost 7 feet tall. He wasn’t able to do that when he first got in the league.” -The fruits of the extra labor became obvious to everyone. As they did, that extra work just became part of the organization’s culture. Success became a strong motivator. Westbrook, whose face brightened at the mention of Keefe’s name, still goes in early to shoot, just as he used to under his schedule as a young player. “That’s a part of what we stand for here,” Westbrook said. “That’s a part of Oklahoma City. To be able to come in and compete at a high level, you gotta work for everything.” -“He’s told stories to me about them, how they would be coming in early in the morning, getting extra work in,” Ingram said. “He knows what it takes to get to that level. I just listen.” -“Met him when I was 18,” Durant said. “From 18 probably to 25, he’s been grooming me into the player that I am today. I owe a lot to him. He probably wouldn’t take the credit, but he’s been one of the most influential guys that I know in this business and in life.”

Blount's offseason workouts revitalized his career (Providence Journal) -"He knows he has talent, but it was one of those things. He knows he's getting older, so it's time to bump it up," McMillan said. "The NFL is going to be there before you and it's going to be there after you. So, you can either make this your last season and you're not going to perform well and nobody's going to sign you again. Or, you can go out and ball out and earn another contract and play another three years." -"Earn the money." Blount heard this a lot from McMillan in the offseason, especially after the Patriots signed him to his contract. The deal he inked was incentive-laden. Blount had a chance to earn an additional $750,000 if he hit nine rushing yard marks - they went up in 50-yard increments, starting at 700. Blount's already earned an extra $450,000 this season by reaching the 950-yard mark. December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -"That was the main thing: Don't make this your last year. You need to go out there and show it," McMillan said. "If the teams aren't interested in you or if the Patriots didn't give you a high offer, that means you need to prove yourself. Just always in his ear to prove people wrong, prove himself wrong and play like he can play."

Zach Lowe on James Harden -He preys on flat feet [of off-ball defenders in P&R situations].

Mike McCarthy's tough, complicated season in Green Bay (Sports Illustrated) -Whenever he got the chance, McCarthy would peruse the playbooks of certain Chiefs. He was most interested in those belonging to Montana and his backup, Dave Krieg. “I wanted to see how they were taking notes,” he explains. “Joe was very regimented in his preparation.” McCarthy, not surprisingly, is to this day a voluminous note-taker, very regimented in his preparation.

Tom Thibodeau (Kap and Co - ESPN) -For the players: get ready for each game. Build the right habits, consistency of how you prepare each night. Don't get lost because every night there's something. You're playing someone's former team and you can get lost in that stuff, can't rely on that for motivation. I think understanding what wins and how you prepare for each night, that's the important thing. And how much we're learning and growing. Each day it has to be about improvement. Take it step-by-step, don't skip over anything. And understand how hard you have to play to win in this league.

Chris Caputo, Miami -With the "verticality" trend creeping into our game, it's no longer responsible to tells kids to go off 2 feet to finish every time. You need to have the ability to lift off 1 and be athletic.

Understanding Basketball Footwork (The Ringer) -In basketball, what happens on the ground is as important as what takes place above it. -The actions you see on the court are behaviors learned from countless hours of practice. Footwork makes a play come to life. A player may encounter a double-team, but unless his body can properly execute the move, he’ll be unable to react appropriately. -As J.J. Redick told me, “Footwork is the foundation of everything you do on the court, so if you don’t have footwork you can’t play in the NBA. It’s the key to everything.” December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -“Chris just enhanced my ability to do what I’m capable of doing. He never held me back. He never told me I couldn’t do something. He always embraced the player I wanted to be,” DeRozan told me at TD Garden on Friday. “He put me in a mind-set where I have a sickening work habit.” -“You can’t do … those moves without the jumper. He has become a midrange killer,” Farr said. “He only does those things because they’ve taken the other thing away. He doesn’t do them just to do them.” -As DeRozan’s footwork has continued to evolve, so has his body. When DeRozan first entered the pros, he lacked the bulk to establish prime positioning. Now his body has fully matured and he’s “got a booty game now,” according to Farr, which allows him to get to his high-percentage spot on the floor, like he does to Stephen Curry in the clip above. “It’s almost like a great running back bouncing off a tackle. It’s all in the footwork when he takes the hit and it doesn’t move him anymore,” Farr said. -Farr says the key to getting DeRozan to this level was building muscle memory by repeating moves over and over again at game speed. DeRozan brings his cousin Shaun to their summer workouts, and Farr said Shaun helps by “putting some Compton hands on him” — fouling and roughing DeMar up. “The more physical they get, the better his footwork gets because they’re hitting him one way, and then he counters,” Farr explained. -Full-speed, full-intensity workouts are no secret. They’re something coaches across all levels of the game preach to their students. But not everyone does them. That’s what sets DeRozan apart. “DeMar did not wake up like this. He works out at game speed, so by the time you get to the game it’s just a routine." -“Your ability to control your body, utilize different footwork patterns is a huge key to success,” said Drew Hanlen, CEO of Pure Sweat Basketball and an NBA skills coach and consultant. “From an offensive standpoint, if you have the ability to utilize jabs, stop and start, and change speeds and directions, you’re really unguardable as you can eventually make the right decision: finish, shoot, or pass to an open teammate. I think footwork is up there with anything.” -Hanlen has three steps to teaching a new move: The first involves Hanlen showing how he moves his own feet; the second has the player walk through the move so he understands what to do; and the third is to “make them feel it,” he said. The third is the most complicated step for players to pick up. Hanlen described it like this: “the feeling is understanding how to really sell stuff out, stop and start.” -The next step for Tatum and many players across the league, Hanlen said, is to add in moves that involve “awkward footwork patterns” that a defense isn’t accustomed to. This is the stage DeRozan has reached. It’s what allowed Kobe to still get buckets even in the twilight of his career. It’s why, at 36 years old, Jamal Crawford is still a problem for defenses. Crawford is not the same athlete he was when he was 26, but he’s still frustratingly shifty. “Defenses don’t know what to expect,” Hanlen says. “The unpredictable footwork is what really creates separation and creates breakdowns in December 2016 – Zak Boisvert the NBA. The people that can do natural and unnatural acts of footwork are the ones who are able to create space and separation for themselves.” -“It wasn’t like Steve was faster or more powerful than everybody,” Diaw says of Nash. “But his footwork was so precise that he could change direction on a dime, and make the defense go in one direction, then go in the other direction really quickly.” -Nash’s footwork, creativity, ambidexterity, and craftiness turned him into the star he was. “Soccer taught me a lot of coordination and footwork, skills and vision." -One thing that Boris Diaw attributes his high skill level to: One year as a young teenager growing up in France, the group of basketball players at INSEP was less than 10 so they didn't have enough to compete 5-on-5. Instead, they just worked on footwork drills. - “A change of tempo is also very important in footwork so you’re not always going at same the speed,” Diaw said. “Sometimes you need to be slow to have good footwork. Having good footwork going 100 miles per hour is something that’s really, really difficult.”

How David Beaty's plan helped downtrodden Kansas knock off Texas (SI.com) -Finally, Beaty had proof of concept. Instead of selling the same dream he'd sold since he arrived, he knew he could address a team on Monday that understood how sweet it felt to run off the field a winner—that understood exactly why the coaches pushed so hard even when defeat seemed inevitable. "We needed that win, because eventually you have to break through," Beaty said. "Otherwise, what are you really seeing? You say you can see it, but what the hell are you seeing? We've been close, but close don't get it in our game." -That meant signing undersized players who projected to grow, feeding them well and hoping that projection was correct. -Beaty and his staff ripped a page from the Gary Patterson recruiting handbook and sought long, fast, agile players. TCU's Patterson can take a high school tailback and make him an NFL defensive end, and Kansas coaches figured they had a chance if they could do something similar. -Kansas needed a Big 12 win as proof of concept that Beaty's plan can work. Now the Jayhawks understand the feeling they've been chasing. "Why would you continue to get better if you just haven't won?" Beaty said. "I think a lot of it has to do with our coaches and the environment we've created around here. Those kids believed, and they could see it."

How do the Jazz go from good to great? (ESPN.com) -"I used to say, 'Gosh, we are playing slow -- am I bad at my job?'" Snyder recalled, laughing. "But we just don't have a team that is going to be quite as good playing fast." December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -It requires a fine balance: Work the offense, but not so long that you run up against the shot clock. "You always want to get up shots in the segments of the shot clock where you can be efficient," Snyder said. "Teams that have more shooting are probably going to shoot faster, because they can find good shots early. We just kind of gravitated toward this style." -He stayed in Salt Lake City to be close to his newborn daughter, and to work each day with , a Utah assistant. (The Jazz include incentives in many contracts that allow for bonuses if players stick around in the summer, sources say. Gobert's massive new extension includes some.) -He started watching film of his workouts. "I wanted to see: Am I doing it right every single time?" Hayward said. "I think there is a still a big leap for me, and I want to get that out of myself. I couldn't do the same stuff I've been doing every summer. I wanted to be uncomfortable."

How Jonathon Simmons found his way to the Spurs (The Vertical) -The three-a-day workouts in Houston continued, and Simmons’ close friends made sure he clocked in and clocked out. “There’s no difference between going at 5 a.m. or 12 p.m., but it takes a level of discipline and mindset that you need to have to wake up at 5 and go do it again at 12 and then do it again at night,” Simmons said. “We’re hungry, and I had people around having the perseverance with me.” -“In San Antonio, you have to really work for what you want. It’s not going to be given to you; it’s not going to be given to me,” Simmons told The Vertical. “It is difficult at times. Sometimes, as a player, you don’t understand. Why is Coach Pop at me like this? Is it to make me better, or are you just talking [expletive] to me? Sometimes, I didn’t know. I always try to work hard, and I think they’ve seen that I’m one of the hardest-working guys on the team. It’s benefited me. Once I got into the Spurs’ system, I never had the mindset that I had to give up. Before I came, I wondered about giving up and starting all over again. I showed that I could play though. I showed athleticism that a lot of guys don’t even have when they get opportunities.” -“I was working out this season, and Pop comes up to me, ‘Stay low, be ready at all times, no soft play, be a dog all the time.’ And then he just walked out of the gym,” Simmons said. “It’s a different type of motivation. I’m used to motivation like that. The weak cannot play for Pop. You have to have a strong mind and just know that he expects greatness.”

The Maturation of Matty Ice (The Ringer) -Ryan admits that he heard the complaints about his play more than ever last season, but in a way his midcareer swoon came at a time when he was most ready for it. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned and that I’m better at dealing with at 31,” Ryan says. “I think it would have affected me more at 23 or 24. At 31, you understand what’s important and what’s not. You’re better at dealing with that.” December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -In his younger days he had hunted for big-armed, fleet-footed gunslingers; to him, the ideal signal-caller moved and threw like Brett Favre. As he spent time around Tom Brady, though, Dimitroff’s view of quarterback greatness gained nuance. Dependability mattered above all else. Brady was built to handle all that comes with being a franchise bedrock. Dimitroff saw the same qualities in Ryan. “We knew it started with a quarterback,” Dimitroff says, “and we knew it started with a quarterback in our mind that was not only going to perform, but also be a very important part of the culture and a part of winning the entire fan base over.” -“Matt Ryan is, in my mind, the epitome of consistency,” Dimitroff says. “In how he approaches things, how he leads, his intelligence, his desire to get better.” -“He didn’t come in that first year thumping his chest and acting like he owned it all and [that] he was in charge of everything,” Dimitroff says. “He was very mindful each step of the way with what he deemed as leading properly.” -Shortly after the team’s 2015 regular-season finale, Ryan sent an email to members of each position group, gauging interest in a group excursion to Miami later that spring — on him. In all, 27 of his teammates agreed to spend two nights at the W Hotel on South Beach. Mornings included throwing sessions at St. Thomas Aquinas High School; nights featured indulgent group dinners. “When there’s a gap, when you’re 31 and some guys are 22, you want them to know, ‘I’m not that old, and I’m not that big of a stiff,’” Ryan says. “I like to have a good time, too.” During their meal at the Dutch, chef Andrew Carmellini’s bistro inside the W, Ryan sat next to Robenson Therezie, a 24-year-old safety about to enter his second season. “I got to know him much better in an hour and a half of sitting next to him at dinner than I did in an entire year,” Ryan says. “To me, that’s what was cool.” The pair talked about Therezie’s love life, wine tastings around Atlanta — anything but football. “It really meant the world to me,” Therezie says. “It made just feel great as a person and a professional, talking to a guy who’s seen it all.” -Game days weren’t the problem. Adrenaline took care of that. The weariness set in midweek, on Wednesdays in late November after thousands of throws without an extended break. Lacking the chance to work through certain routes, the offense suffered on Sundays. “In order to be really good, you’ve got to practice well,” Ryan says. “You need to work what you’re going to work.” -Nine years as the face of a franchise is all but guaranteed to include dozens of swings between those extremes. The truth, Ryan knows, lies somewhere in the middle. Armed with a roster brimming with young talent and a reservoir of knowledge, Ryan is better equipped than ever to warrant mention alongside the game’s best. But he’ll leave that up to someone else. “In terms of comparisons, I know I’m good enough to win every time we step on the field,” he says. “At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert The General Manager Short List for 2017 (MMQB.com) -“Every time you’re at workout, do your job, because people are watching. You need to show everyone you’re a hard worker. But meet people, too. Ask a GM questions. Be the guy with the clicker. By doing that, you connect with people. That’s how you market yourself. You need advocates. Someone needs to pick up the phone for you. If they aren’t doing that, you’re in a tough spot.”

Phil Gaetano, Maine Red Claws -When chasing the snake, you want to chase when the guard goes east to west, if he gets downhill to the rim then we Veer, which means big takes ball and guard cracks down to box out the big -With the high hands, we teach guards hands high to prevent skips/lobs, but bigs hands low to take away the pocket/seam pass

Finney-Smith and Matthews form dynamic 1-2 defensive punch (Mavs.com) -“Wes is a great guy for any young player to spend time with, because his mind is a computer when it comes to defense,” Mavs head coach said. “And offense, too. He’s a very smart player on offense. But defensively, he’s one of the very best.” -Both players can dip into similar pools of motivation — they were undrafted, underappreciated, and they take pride on an end of the floor that many of their competitors discount or outright ignore. There is nothing flashy or sexy about playing good defense, whether you’re blocking shots or recording steals. And while Finney- Smith has blocked five shots in his last four games, neither he nor Matthews ever puts up gaudy “defensive stat” lines. They rarely pick pockets or send shots into the fifth row. They just bear down and make everything difficult for their opponent. -That quality has been especially impressive to see from Finney-Smith, who came out of college with a good reputation, but he spent much of his time at Florida defending college power forwards, who, no disrespect, don’t have the same ability as NBA-level wings. But the Mavs’ rookie has defended both 4s and 3s in the big leagues. “When you go from 4 to 3, it’s always harder,” Carlisle said. “You’re guarding guys with more- honed skill sets. They’re faster, they’re smaller, they attack more. Generally, they just have a different aptitude, just a different kind of aptitude for the game than guys that are inside banging. It’s much more challenging.” -“I know how to be in the right spots,” Finney-Smith told Mavs.com. “But (coach) will challenge me and put me on the best player on their team. For him, or the team, to have that much confidence in me, it just makes me want to go out there and play that hard. How can you not be excited to guard one of the best scorers, and one of the best players in the league?” the 23-year-old told Mavs.com. “I take it personal when I’m guarding them. I try to act like I don’t got help out there.” December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -But what exactly can a player like Finney-Smith learn from Matthews, especially when they’re not always defending the same types of players? For one thing, he’s taught Finney-Smith about the importance of showing your hands to avoid cheap fouls. But Carlisle said finer details have gone a long way toward helping. “There are probably 10 different defensive situations that great defenders are dealing with constantly,” Carlisle said. “Mid pick-and-roll with a guy coming at you 100 miles an hour, guys coming out of the corner off multiple staggered screens, when you have to go over the top of him and when you can gap those slightly. There are a lot of subtle things.” -“I see a lot of resemblance,” he said. “Just that hunger, just playing, not really thinking about the ins and outs of the league — not knowing the ins and outs of the league — but just knowing that it’s a basketball game, and leaving everything out there every single night. He’s growing, and he’s been a big bright spot for us this season.”

To solve pick & roll issues, Wizards go small (CSN Mid-Atlantic) -“One through four when they ran pick-and-roll with Marvin Williams, that’s one of their bread-and-butter plays getting Kemba to turn the corner,” said John Wall, who led all scorers with 25 points and 10 assists. “We just switched it one through four and then with these guys running pick-and-roll our bigs did a great job of being up into the screens so those guys couldn’t split or come downhill. The weakside was intact. We did a great job of forcing them into some tough shots and we were stealing the ball.”

Westbrook's Thunder move on without Durant (USA Today) -“I notice a real difference in him in terms of leadership and how he’s addressing the team, talking, trying to lead, take everybody with him. So I think he’s highly motivated, for sure. ... I think it was understood that we’ve got a lot of work to do, and it’s going to be a lot harder without Kevin.”

One step at a time (Sports Day DFW) -There are three elevators at College Park Center, where UT-Arlington plays its home basketball games. UTA coach Scott Cross never uses them. Neither do his players. They take the stairs. But it's more than a physical activity for the Mavericks. It's a basketball philosophy. "I don't want our guys to look for any shortcuts," Cross said. "I want them to know that we have to do things the hard way. We have to take the stairs and do all the little things." -The wins over Texas and St. Mary's were the products of a lot of stairs. "Taking the stairs means treating every play like it's the most important play in the game," Cross said. "If the ball is passed, you jump to the ball. You're in your stance, you're engaged. If the shot goes up, you take up space, out, go get the ball, . When we shoot, you rip and slip and go to the offensive boards every single time. December 2016 – Zak Boisvert When the ball's on the floor, we're diving on the floor. We're taking charges. All those little things." -"If you watched the St. Mary's game and saw how many deflections we got and how many times we dove on the floor, there was a significant difference between us and them. We have to do those things to win big games."

In the Shadow of Superman (The Ringer) -For his part, Baynes credits most of the team’s defensive performance when is playing to communication. “I just try and communicate as best I can. Being down low and in the back of the defense, you see everything so I try to keep everyone in the right position,” said Baynes. “The more you talk, the easier it is for everyone on the court. When five guys are on the court moving on a string, it’s a lot easier than playing as individuals.”

How West Virginia's press became the nation's most intimidating defense (Yahoo) -They only had a single day to study film of how West Virginia deploys its traps. They also had no way to mimic the Mountaineers’ aggressiveness in practice. Even giving the scout team a sixth defender didn’t sufficiently imitate the difficulty of inbounding the ball, advancing it up court and trying to run set offense. “It’s honestly very, very hard for a team at our level to try to simulate the speed, the athletic ability and the relentlessness of their defense,” Herrion said. “It’s constant, nonstop pressure. There’s nobody else in the country who does what they do.” -“Hopefully we’ve gotten a little better coaching it and a little better playing it,” Huggins said. “It continues to evolve as people continue to do different things to attack it. We constantly have to come up with different ways to fight that and to keep making teams uncomfortable.” -“Three years of practicing it, you get a little better each day,” senior forward Nathan Adrian said. “It’s definitely a conscious effort not to foul. We’re keeping our hands up and not reaching so much. We’re making plays with our feet instead of trying to reach and the ball.” -“The overriding thing is we want to make you really uncomfortable,” Huggins said. “Where we set our traps is the most important. We want to force you into an area that puts you in a bad position.”

Luke Fickell introductory press conference (GoBEARCATS.com) -I think I told Mike this the very first time I talked to him. I said this is not a job to me. What I mean by that is a job is a means to provide for your family. A job is what it is that you do. This is a role to me. This is a role to me because it is a passion of mine. It is who I am. It is in every fiber of my body. To be a leader and a mentor of men. December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -I’m not going to stand up here and promise you wins and championships but I am going to promise you that we are going to put a product on the field that you will be proud to call your own. Our team will play with great passion, integrity, and toughness and an incredible amount of class. We will do this by building a culture that relies on everyone being accountable, accountable to one another and realizing that in the game of football, like life, together everyone achieves more. -We as a program will focus not on goals. Sometimes people don’t understand that. We won’t focus on goals. Goals to me are too broad and too long term. We will focus on objectives. Objectives are things that can be evaluated every single day. Will we grind? Will we truly, truly have the passion to work for what it is that we want? A lot of people say they will but will they truly have the passion to work for what they want? Will they have attention to detail? Will they truly do things that it takes to be successful? Will they be fundamentally sound, whether in football or in life in general? Will they truly love their brothers? Will they have a selfless commitment to one another to do the things that we are expecting you to do. This will determine how fast we will grow our program.

Mike MacIntyre promised to buy former players bowl tickets (CoachingSearch.com) -A big part of that rebuild is getting players to buy into the long-term vision of the program when it’s a very real possibility that they might not be around to reap the benefits of the hard work that it takes to lay a solid foundation. So Mike MacIntyre apparently made them a promise: Help to lay the foundation of the future success of the Colorado program, and when the team makes a bowl game, he’ll get them a ticket to be sure they can share in the experience. -Coaches that have gone in and helped rebuild a program understand the vital role that upperclassmen play in laying the foundation of the future, so it’s great to see coach Mac make good on that promise so that players who helped to lay the foundation of the future success get to share in this bowl experience as much as possible.

Mike Lombardi, Make Me Smarter -It’s so funny last night on TV they were talking about how much the Rams players loved Jeff Fisher. Well the Texas players loved Charlie Strong too. This isn’t a love business. We’re not on Love Boat. This is a business of ‘you gotta do what’s right.’ I mean we’re not pouring cocktails at 4 in the afternoon here. We don’t have volleyball on the deck. Not everyone is happy. I don’t care who is happy, I want to win. The only way to win is to demand things and push people to the limits and if they think they’re doing just good enough, they’re going to do just good enough.

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert Matt Henry, Saint Peter's -The most foul-prone situation in the game is transition. Offensively if you have a good player, maybe encourage him to be more aggressive than he already is in those transition situations. Defensively if your foul numbers are high, you're probably getting caught in more transition situations than you should.

Terry Stotts (Locked on NBA) -On changing since his first heading coaching stint in Milwaukee: I think the biggest thing for me was I had been with for my entire career and he was my primary, if not only, influence I had. George was great, but going to Dallas and being there for 4 years and being with Rick and looking at it in a different way and the way Rick coached the game and manage the game and communicate with his players gave me a different perspective. It allowed me to see things and do things the way I felt were comfortable for me and the team. -On Lillard: Beyond basketball, what I appreciate from a coaching standpoint that he's extremely competitive, he's extremely demanding of himself, he's a great leader by example. He has tremendous work ethic that transcends. You want your best player to be your best worker. -From : Every season is a new team even with everyone back.

Marc Stein (The Lowe Post) -If you watch Dirk up before a game he's not going to play in, he's more serious than 99% of NBA players warming up before a game they are going to participate in. Everyone knows Dirk works hard, t's not a secret, but to see him go through a 45- minute warmup...every part of his routine - this, that, corner, one-legged, lefty - that he's not going to play in, it makes you appreciate just how special he is. -I know of teams that I shall not name that film that warmup when he is in road arenas because they like to show it to some of their guys that they're developing at the same position just to watch what he does and how he works because it is quite a routine.

Steve Jobs -I've built a lot of my success off finding these truly gifted people and not settling for B and C players, but really going for the A players. I found something...when you get enough A players together...when you go through the incredible work to find 5 of these A players...they really like working with each other because they've never had a chance to do that before. They don't want to work with B or C players so it becomes self-policing and they only want to hire A players. So you build up these pockets of A players and it propagates. That's what the Mac team was like...they were all A players.

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert David Thorpe, ESPN -I evaluate defenses so frequently through the prism of "Does everyone know their job?" With Thibodeau's Bulls teams, no matter what action you threw at them, no matter what personnel was involved in that action...the best ones always know what every player's job is.

Why Washington is only getting started under Chris Petersen (ESPN.com) -"[Petersen and his staff] are so fundamentally oriented, more than any system that's been here since Don's," Baird said. "They cover all the tiny details on a regular basis. I love to just watch them work. These guys have a system and they go about it on daily basis." -Despite the growing national attention, and even after the loss to USC on Nov. 19, Petersen maintained his team's equilibrium. "Your team is different all the time," he said. "Your team is different after every game, win or lose. I think it's very important for coaches to pay attention to that."

Luke Fickell navigates OSU present, Cincinnati future (SI.com) -Fickell hopes to combine the strengths of Tressel and Meyer with his own twist, much like Dantonio did at Cincinnati and Michigan State. He pinpointed Tressel’s people skills and consistency as traits he’d like to emulate, noting Tressel’s penchant for remembering names, connecting with people and being compassionate. Fickell brought up Meyer’s “aggressive leadership,” which focuses on taking staff and players out of their comfort zones to force them to grow. He paused for a second and then said, “The ability to combine those things would be crazy.”

Charlie Cole's basketball course is a full-court test (Sports Illustrated) -Offense is the hardest thing to teach. Why? It's like saying, 'I'm putting $50,000 in cash up here, now come up in an orderly fashion and get your share.' That's what a basketball coach does."

Joel Berry's journey to a prominent role at UNC (SI.com) -Joel II stuck to a sleep schedule many high schoolers might snicker at: Lights out around 9:30 p.m., with the 5 a.m. wakeup coming. (Even during AAU trips, Joel II roomed with his father and kept the same pattern.) Workouts began around 6 a.m. every morning at Lake Highland. -“It’s what I had to do,” he says. “I’m not the tallest guy. I’m not the biggest guy, either. Athletic ability can get you so far, but at the end of the day, you’re still going to have to have skill with it. I just wanted to reach my full potential as a basketball player. I love to work hard.” -There’s a reason Berry’s father texts him one word before every game—Believe—and there’s a reason Berry tattooed that word on his arm. December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -It usually takes only 10 or 15 minutes for Joel Berry II to see what he wants. Every night, he lies on his back, shuts his eyes and measures his breaths. Usually the room is quiet; sometimes ocean sounds fill the background. If he happens to be sharing a hotel room with a teammate on the road, Berry puts on his headphones and opens Pandora and whoever occupies the other bed knows to leave him alone. He thinks about hitting a shot or laughing with his fellow Tar Heels or holding up a trophy. He thinks about all the things he wants to happen but haven’t happened yet. -All of it, in Berry’s estimation, was merely the end result of shedding distractions and negativity after a freshman season that didn’t meet expectations. “Sometimes as human beings we look at things outside of ourselves, and try to blame it on other things,” Berry says, “instead of just looking within ourselves and saying, ‘Maybe I need to change something.’” -Before a road trip to Virginia at the end of February, Tar Heels coaches suggested that the perimeter players engage in a three-point shooting competition inspired by the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson. The contest: How many long-range bombs could they make without missing two in a row. Earlier that season, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield piled up 142 makes without consecutive misses. North Carolina’s Marcus Paige later followed with 156. Hield then ran off 197. So before a post-practice film session, Berry began to fire away, with a 10-minute limit on the session in mind. Instead, he became a one-man roadblock to film study: Berry hit 251 threes before missing two in a row. -The diligence Berry demonstrated in the summer of 2015, to rebuild his work ethic and hone his shot, was complemented by a clearing of his mind. He not only minimized the smartphone distractions but also returned to the serenity of nightly meditation and visualization—habits he had learned during his father’s martial arts lessons.

Trust is key in hiring process for Tom Herman (Burnt Orange Nation) -“Our full-time staff, trust was the biggest thing for me,” Herman. “I could trust these guys are unbelievable teachers, and they’ll be completely accountable for the actions of their position group on and off the field.” -“There is no secret offense. There is no secret defense,” Herman said. “It’s how good are the players that are doing it, in terms of how well did you recruit? And then what is their reason? What is the passion that drives them, and how are they developed?” -"Having one voice and one message throughout our whole program is critical. It all comes from Coach Herman and trickles down to every person who touches our football program,” said strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight. -“The biggest part is doing things that a head coach doesn't have to worry about,” Orlando said after he was hired. “There's a certain way things are done, and he should not have to explain that to guys he's been with. I think that's really important.”

December 2016 – Zak Boisvert How Chris Petersen turned the Huskies into a powerhouse before anyone expected (Seattle Times) -“I take a lot of pride in being part of what’s built there, and I take a lot of pride in the success they’re having, but I don’t take credit for it,” said Choate, UW’s defensive-line coach and special-teams coordinator from 2014-15. “That’s Chris Petersen’s vision, and it’s coming to fruition.” -“From the start, he was very transparent about the way he was going to go about doing things,” said Evan Hudson, a senior defensive lineman on the 2014 team. “It was basically: Get with it or you’re not going to be here long.” -“The first thing he said to us was, ‘Guys, I’m going to treat you as if you’re my own sons,’ ” Wooching recalled recently. “And I feel like that right away opened his heart, opened our hearts and just connected us together as a great team to come. It’s amazing to have someone who thinks school and life after football is worth something, you know? I’m not saying Coach Sark wasn’t about that, but it wasn’t preached as much as Coach Pete (does). For Coach Pete, football is Plan B. Plan A is life. Football can only be for so long. He’s preparing us for something bigger.” -Not everyone was buying Petersen’s “Built for Life” philosophy at first. “Honestly, coming in from a completely different culture with the previous coaching staff, that stuff was like, ‘Why are we wasting time on this? Let’s just focus on football,’ ” Hudson said. “But you really get from him that he does care a lot about his players individually. Over time you realize these things are darn important. And you can hear it in his voice when he talks about that stuff.” -As Choate describes it, the culture at UW before Petersen arrived seemed more “transactional.” Petersen wants players’ experiences to be “transformational.” -Even so, 2014 was a difficult transition year. Petersen dismissed four players and suspended five others at various times. The most telling moment, then and now, was Petersen’s dismissal of star cornerback Marcus Peters in early November. “Obviously, the sea-change moment in the program was Marcus,” Choate said. “Even though that was not a great deal for the program on the surface, I think it was a great thing for Marcus and for the program in the long run. Drawing that line in the sand and saying, ‘I don’t care how talented you are, we’ve got a certain standard and a way of doing things.’ I thought (Petersen) handled that in an amazing fashion, and that was really important for moving the program forward.” -“We thought we were on the cusp of something really good (with Sarkisian),” Hudson said. “But a lot of guys understood that change would be better for the long run. Looking back, it was really cool to be a part of that change, especially with how well they’re doing now.” -“I had to do a lot of the same things (this year at Montana State), just saying, ‘Hey, I’m fine sacrificing a win now for the betterment of the program over the next five to seven years,’ ” Choate said. “But that takes a lot of personal integrity and a lot of discipline because of this microwave society that we live in.” December 2016 – Zak Boisvert -“I have a really special place in my heart for those guys because there are a lot of guys that are not here, you know,” he said. “It always works out how it’s supposed to be. Not everybody can do this. And in some ways we take pride in that. If everybody can do this, we don’t have this thing set up right. This thing is for the special and the few. And when they do it right, I think you can see what can happen here. So I’m really, really proud of those guys. … Nobody likes change, but change is all about growth, and I think these kids have grown tremendously going through a change and are in a much different mindset to go through hard stuff. Because change can be hard on everybody. But when you do it the right way, there’s a tremendous benefit at the end.”