Rich: Chat with Geno has Hayes Surging

[pap49cba]

Some good quotes here....

 

[speedoo]

Tiff deserves all the good things that will come her way. She's a great Husky.

 

[HuskyNan]

" Ithink when you’re going through a season as a coach you’re always trying to find the pulse of individuals and the pulse of your team,’’ Auriemma said. “And I sensed that there was a little bit of frustration on her part. She was almost resigning herself sometimes to, `This is what it is. This is who I am. This is what I’ve been.’ And almost a settling. And I really did talk to her about, `Is this what we can expect the rest of the year because if it is just tell me, and we’ll go from there. If you’re just going to settle with where it is right now and you’re happy with that, fine.’ And the challenge was, `Are you able to change? Are you able to start making changes little by little and become something that you probably thought you always wanted to be?’ And little by little, here we are. I don’t know that my words were the difference. I think her mindset, her attitude and her approach are the key to this. Not anything in particular that I said.’’

This is what separates Geno from most other coaches. No screaming, no blaming, he just wants to know what to expect from each player every night so he can manage games better. He also wants the players to take ownership of the team and this is how he gets it done.

 

[JoePgh]

Nan, I don't know that you could make that as a universal statement. I remember some screaming with Tina and a lot of blaming with Charde. It's true that we don't see as much of that recently, but it's probably only because the players recently (except Samarie Walker) have had more coachable attitudes.

Honestly though, don't you think that his recent interactions with Kiah involved a degree of "blaming"?

 

[ChicagoGG]

No, Joe, I call it challenging them to get thru whatever it holding them back. Geno said that Kiah had the talent, he never said she didn't have what it takes. On the contrary, he said she did, but she had to work thru it. And to her credit, she is.

As for Charde, who knows? Even her fellow players (see Mel's book) couldn't get thru her walls. But, to her credit, she has gone on to a good pro career.

Tina would be great, and then not, great again, and then not. He challenged her, and she took it to heart, and became stellar.

Kiah and Brianna both have said that no one every really made them work their hardest till they got to UConn. Why? Because they were the best on their particular teams - HS, AAU, etc. UConn is a whole different level. KML knew that from USA basketball.

Kiah and Brianna will be fine, just as Tina and Charde are. Sometimes tough love works out. Better to be challenged than to settle for what you think "may" be good enough.

 

[alexrgct]

The tactic it sounds like Geno is taking with Tiff is very similar to his/CD's approach with Tina. Geno was on Tina her junior year, and Tina didnt understand why. CD explained that Geno just wanted her to become the player she said she wanted to be when he recruited her, but that if she was happy with where she was, she (CD) would tell Geno to lay off. The light went off shortly thereafter. Tina realized she wasn't where she wanted to be and that her coaches were still confident she could get there. Tiff's situation sounds analogous. And if she can keep playing at the level we've seen of late, it completely changes the makeup of this team. We'll see soon enough.

 

[Phil]

My sense is that what makes Geno special isn’t that he yells at players, or doesn’t yell at players, but that he knows what to do with each player(maybe with some exceptions). He famously told Lobo she was the worst post player in America, and I think he knew that would motivate her. Other players might respond better to a quite heart-to heart talk. And beyond that, he doesn’t simply identify what one thing works (I think he has said part of his job is learning what buttons to press) he knows what to do whe. So while he did yell at Lobo, he also sat her down in his office privately to discuss her goals, when she thought he was jumping on her too much. When she explained her goal was to be on the Olympic team, he was able to make the light go on that he was working to achieve that goal. So the semi-public yelling was part of it, but he also knew what to say quietly.

 

[Icebear]

The tactic it sounds like Geno is taking with Tiff is very similar to his/CD's approach with Tina. Geno was on Tina her junior year, and Tina didnt understand why. CD explained that Geno just wanted her to become the player she said she wanted to be when he recruited her, but that if she was happy with where she was, she (CD) would tell Geno to lay off. The light went off shortly thereafter. Tina realized she wasn't where she wanted to be and that her coaches were still confident she could get there. Tiff's situation sounds analogous. And if she can keep playing at the level we've seen of late, it completely changes the makeup of this team. We'll see soon enough.

Bingo, it is a tactic Geno has used before. Appeal to player's personal pride.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Geno was telling Tiff that she could be better. That may have inspired her and given het confidence. By talking about "little by little," he made it sound achievable, not overwhelming.

Tiff's problem has been consistency. Most of the time she has been good. Some of the time, she has been great. Occasionally, she has struggled and been effective. Geno said last year that she can be the best player on the court, and the team is really good when that happened. She outplayed Maya the Magnificent about half a dozen times last year. She clearly has the ability to be 1st team All-American. For her sake and the team, I hope she achieves that.

It does remind me some of Tina, though Tina came in with even more promise as the #1 recruit.

Go Tiff!!

 

[pap49cba]

I REALLY wish I could relate a story I was told by a very close friend who is a sometime golfing buddy of Geno's but I was sworn to secrecy. All I can say is it involved a conversation Geno had with Maya on the flight back from the World Championships. It centered on what Maya had to do to succeed at the next level and Geno's approach (I thought) was brilliant.

Instead of saying 'Maya, I think you're really good at this and this and this but you suck at that' he put her in a position where SHE (after some time) identified her own weaknesses. They then discussed what she needed to work on to address those weaknesses.

Say what you want but the guy is a very talented coach, mentor and psychologist and like any good psychologist Geno takes a different approach with different personalities.

 

[Sonny44]

Nan, I don't know that you could make that as a universal statement. I remember some screaming with Tina and a lot of blaming with Charde. It's true that we don't see as much of that recently, but it's probably only because the players recently (except Samarie Walker) have had more coachable attitudes.

Honestly though, don't you think that his recent interactions with Kiah involved a degree of "blaming"?

Charde deserved Geno's wrath.

 

[Sonny44]

" Ithink when you’re going through a season as a coach you’re always trying to find the pulse of individuals and the pulse of your team,’’ Auriemma said. “And I sensed that there was a little bit of frustration on her part. She was almost resigning herself sometimes to, `This is what it is. This is who I am. This is what I’ve been.’ And almost a settling. And I really did talk to her about, `Is this what we can expect the rest of the year because if it is just tell me, and we’ll go from there. If you’re just going to settle with where it is right now and you’re happy with that, fine.’ And the challenge was, `Are you able to change? Are you able to start making changes little by little and become something that you probably thought you always wanted to be?’ And little by little, here we are. I don’t know that my words were the difference. I think her mindset, her attitude and her approach are the key to this. Not anything in particular that I said.’’

This is what separates Geno from most other coaches. No screaming, no blaming, he just wants to know what to expect from each player every night so he can manage games better. He also wants the players to take ownership of the team and this is how he gets it done.

He wants Tiff to leave with a legacy somewhat like Maya's, Tina's and so many of the other UCONN greats.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Charde deserved Geno's wrath.

you hate Charde huh?

 

[RoyDodger]

I REALLY wish I could relate a story I was told by a very close friend who is a sometime golfing buddy of Geno's but I was sworn to secrecy. All I can say is it involved a conversation Geno had with Maya on the flight back from the World Championships. It centered on what Maya had to do to succeed at the next level and Geno's approach (I thought) was brilliant.

Instead of saying 'Maya, I think you're really good at this and this and this but you suck at that' he put her in a position where SHE (after some time) identified her own weaknesses. They then discussed what she needed to work on to address those weaknesses.

Say what you want but the guy is a very talented coach, mentor and psychologist and like any good psychologist Geno takes a different approach with different personalities.

Watching Geno Auriemma both in his interactions with the team during a game and when he is chatting on the Geno Show or making public statements, is a fascinating experience. He sounds like he could be grating (and a lot of fans of other schools, such as Stanford, think he is), but the loyalty of his players over the years, and the results he achieves proves that there is something very special going on. "Psychologist" is a good word for him. He knows how to get into his players' psyches and inspire them (or at least most of them). I remember that Brianna Banks said that one of the reasons she decided to come to UConn was that she wanted to be coached by a great coach and become one of the best. But obviously that desire alone isn't enough until the player actually interacts with Mr. Magic. One element that seems to work is his very dry sense of humor. I imagine it doesn't take the UConn women long to realize that whatever Geno says about them, he's on their side, cares deeply about them, and is doing it to inspire them to greater play. All we have to do is look at the results to see that whatever he does, it works.

 

[RoyDodger]

Now here's an element of Geno's approach (and I presume it's his decision) that is interesting for a team as successful as UConn. This is from an article by Jim Fuller in March 2010:

“I think the locker room was the biggest thing,” Banks said. “It was just a locker room, there were no (frills). Other places there were all flashy (decorations), but it showed what is important to the team and the coaches. Other places would have these flat-screen TVs and you’d think UConn would be able to (have all the amenities). I liked that.”

 

[Icebear]

Over the years I have come to appreciate that Geno is one of the most psychologically sophisticated coaches in the game.