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Looking to quickly transform a mediocre or moribund program into a national champion in a short period of time?
Discover how Coach Brenda Frese transformed Maryland women's basketball into a national champion in just four short years in Overtime is Our Time: The Inside Story of the Maryland Terps' 2006 National Championship by Chris King with Coach Brenda Frese.
http://www.overtimeisourtime.com/
The book gives you a terrific behind the scenes look into the amazing transformation of the Maryland program as well as their unbelievable run to the 2006 national championship.
Here are some of the great nuggets of wisdom from Brenda about what it takes to engineer a championship transformation.
STEP 1 - CREATE A CLEAR AND COMPELLING VISION
"We have bigger goals than [just getting to the Final Four]. Our goal is to be able to bring home a national championship trophy to be housed in a case like the men's. When ours is here, you are going to be able to bring back your families, your husbands and your kids and show them this trophy that will never be taken out of here."
From Day 1, Brenda had a vision of building a champion. She accepted the Maryland job because it was a place that would afford her all the things necessary to realize her vision: a great conference, top-notch facilities in the Comcast Center, a strong recruiting base, and most importantly, an athletic director in Debbie Yow who shared her vision. Frese says, "Her vision and my vision met. Our goals were one and the same. To have that kind of support from your athletic director and your president, the full package is a dream come true for a young coach."
As Stephen Covey emphasizes in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, you must begin with the end in mind. As a coach or athletic administrator, you too must create a clear and compelling vision of where you want to take your program.
What vision do you want to achieve with your team in the next five years?
During the 2006 season on a road trip to Boston College, Frese cemented the vision in her players minds when she took an early visit to the TD Banknorth Garden, site of the 2006 Final Four.
Said player Laura Harper: "I don't think we had really put Boston in perspective. This is where the Final Four is played - the championship. Her taking us there was like, 'We can do this, guys.' Coach B believes in us way more than we believe in ourselves. She was like, 'Do you guys realize this is where we can be in a couple of months if we handle our business?'
The Bruins were playing that night, so ice covered the arena floor, but the Terps got the message. They sat in the stands, admiring the 16 championship banners the Celtics had earned while envisioning the opportunity to win a title of their own."
STEP 2 - CHANGE THE CURRENT CULTURE
"If you miss a class or are late to class, it's unacceptable. We've got student-athletes representing women's basketball walking into class 10-15 minutes late. I don't care if you are two minutes late, that's unacceptable. You should be there ahead of time. That's unacceptable behavior, and it won't be tolerated."
One of the biggest keys to transforming a program from mediocre to magnificent is changing the current culture. While a lack of quality talent can be an issue and must be addressed, more often than not the big culprit in an underachieving program is the negative culture and unacceptable standards.
As Frese did, a new coach must come in and establish a positive and productive culture based on teamwork, responsibility, accountability, trust, hard work, honesty, etc. You must raise the bar and clearly establish the new culture, reinforce it on a continual basis, and enforce it when people consciously and unconsciously attempt to undermine it.
Think about the current culture and standards of your program...
What's acceptable and unacceptable on your team, in your sport, in the classroom, in the community?
What are the unwritten rules of your program that either buoy or submerge your team's chances of success?
Does your current culture foster success and allow you to reach you potential?
Or does your current culture doom you to frustration, losing, and selfishness?
As Arthur W. Jones once astutely said, "All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get."
STEP 3 - RELENTLESSLY RECRUIT THE TOP TALENT
Rather than just accepting that Maryland would never be able to recruit and compete against the dominant programs in women's basketball like Tennessee and UConn, Frese and her staff relentlessly recruited the top talent - knowing it was their best and quickest way to substantially upgrade the program. With a tireless work ethic and the critical ability to connect with prospects, Frese quickly made Maryland a major player in the minds of many top recruits.
Says player Laura Harper: "Coach B's passion and her dream sold me. I wanted to go somewhere I was going to be happy. You have to spend your waking hours with these people, and you have to feel like it's going to be OK. She's a head coach that is always there, and I can't say that about any other coach that recruited me. It wasn't like she threw some assistants on me [to handle a lot of the recruiting]. She cared.
She had me believing I was going to be a big piece of the puzzle, and you really can't turn something like that down. She kind of challenged me: 'Do you really want to take this team to a championship? We need you here, and we are going to win.' Her confidence really made me want to come here."
Says player Marissa Coleman: "When [Frese] was recruiting me, she knew she was going to win a national championship. She was confident in that and as a recruit, you feed off her confidence and ultimately want to be a part of that.
She's not like other coaches telling you what you want to hear. She's honest with you, and you can tell she sincerely cares about you as more than just a player. She has a great personality for it. She's not stiff, she likes to have fun and joke and that helps...
A lot of places would tell you this is the place for you. Coach B wouldn't do that. She wouldn't tell you were you should go. She would tell you, 'I want you to come here, but I want you to go where you think you will fit in best.'"
What preconceived notions are limiting you and your program's success?
Have you created a compelling vision and earned people's trust that inspires them to want to hitch their wagon to your horse?
(For an unparalled look at how important it is to recruit and retain the top talent in any team, school, or organization, I highly recommend reading the book Topgrading by Dr. Bradford Smart.)
STEP 4 - COACH CONFIDENCE: BE DEMANDING WITHOUT BEING DEMEANING
Saving perhaps her best attribute for last, I think Frese's finest forte is her ability to coach confidence. Watch any Maryland game and you will see an engaged and energized Frese on the sideline in a positive, encouraging, and uplifting way. She is always sensing the situation, managing the momentum, and giving her team what they need. She has the rare ability to continually provide hope and encouragement - to be demanding without being demeaning.
Assistant coach Joanna Bernabei puts it extremely well in the Overtime is Our Time: "She does a nice job of being positive but intense. Even if she is getting in a girl's face yelling, she is saying, 'You are better than this,' as opposed to 'what the hell was that?'
There are so many different ways to motivate girls, and she's picked the right one. There isn't a question of whether or not she has their backs. She cares for them. Yes, she is going to get on them and yell, but she spins it where it's a positive thing. You can be up in somebody's grill yelling but not degrading them. It's an intense 'You are better than this' type of demeanor as opposed to a 'You aren't going to be any good' demeanor.'"
Says player Marissa Coleman of a key moment in the championship game when Coach Frese positively confronted her during a timeout about her poor play: "Coach B knows how to motivate me, getting in my face with a lot of energy. She didn't say one negative thing to me that whole time. She said, 'You are too good a player to be in this kind of funk. You aren't having fun. You are playing the game you love. In order for us to win this game, we need you. You need to get your head in the game. You are going to hit big shots for us, and we are going to be cutting down the nets.'"
Another example of Frese's confrontative confidence-building came when challenging her team at halftime of the national championship game against Duke:
"You tell me, were we the most confident team out there in the first 20 minutes? Were we the hardest-working team out there in the first 20 minutes? Did we defend harder? Frese scolded her team at the half. Our team's M.O. has never been to hang our heads and think the game is over at halftime. Who said the game is over? We have way too much talent in this locker room to be acting like the game is over. Most teams when they come in at halftime with Duke they just fold and quit. What are you going to do?"
Frese sums up her positive coaching philosophy by saying:
"I learned through the course of the season that this wasn't a team that responded when they were getting down to more negativity, and most teams don't.
It goes back to when I coached my sister and the insights she shared with me when she was a player. I don't think anyone on any stage goes out to compete and make mistakes. That doesn't have any logic to it. Everybody is going out there to succeed. "
As you can see from the strategies above, Overtime is Our Time will provide you with a lot of great ideas for transforming your program into a contender.
To order your copy of Overtime is Our Time, visit http://www.overtimeisourtime.com/