Daughter, sister, friend, dog Mom, 20 year college WBB Coach, Head WBB Coach Whittier College
Joined August 2010
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Kristen Dowling retweeted
Gabby Williams and Kiah Stokes both bet on themselves as free agents coming to @valkyries this season and that paid off with the 2026 WNBA championship. An amazing year for Golden State.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
Amen.
Excellence is boring.
But in the most interesting way possible. It’s staying with that run, swim, or sentence long enough so that you appreciate its nuance. You see that staring at the same line over and over, can bring new challenges and insight.
stevemagness.org/p/why-the-b…
Kristen Dowling retweeted
Here are some of my notes from the talk I delivered to the University of Kansas football program…
Before you can become a champion you must behave like one and hold yourself to a championship standard (on and off the field).
You must live to this standard every day. Not when you feel like it. Not when you want to. Not when it’s convenient. You must do it every single day. Consistency is a controllable superpower.
Excellence is not a switch to turn on and off. Excellence is a standard.
When excellence is your standard - your code - then you have a very solid foundation.
Then you can shift your focus to three key pillars of winning:
Discipline: make decisions now that align with your goals
Process: don’t focus on building an entire wall, focus on laying each and every brick with care and precision
Progress: make daily, systematic, incremental improvement
With all of the above, have short term urgency with long term patience.
Before you can win, you must know (and eliminate) what loses.
Here’s what loses in the game of football: penalties, turnovers, dropped passes, missed tackles, missed blocks, and missed field goals.
Here’s what loses in every area of life: selfishness, entitlement, complacency, arrogance, lack of effort, poor execution, lack of trust, lack of leadership, lack of role fulfillment, being soft/silent/stupid.
Winning is result of consistently doing the opposite to all of that!!
Here are other behaviors that lead to winning:
Be a great teammate. Be the teammate you want to player with. Be the teammate people love to play with and hate to play against.
Know the difference between waiting and preparing. Don’t WAIT for practice to start. PREPARE for practice to start. Make your preparation your separation.
Finish everything: finish reps, finish plays, finish workouts, finish practices, and finish games.
You won’t be defined by how you start, you’ll be defined by how you finish.
Daily Checklist for Winners:
• Were you on time/early?
• Give your best effort?
• Have a great attitude?
• Were you a great teammate?
• Were you coachable?
• Did I get better?
• Did I make us better?
Kristen Dowling retweeted
1. Engage
Make it about them. Players don’t see it like coaches do anymore.
2. Inspire
Greatness is not the default setting. Average is comfortable.
3. Influence these 3 things - in order:
• Thoughts
• Habits
• Priorities
4. Impact
The best cultures are player-led.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
QUIET GYMS ARE LOSING GYMS
"When you see a teammate do something that is really good, tell him.
If you see something he can do better, build him up and help him with that." (Jon Scheyer)
𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨
📽️ @tonywmiller
Kristen Dowling retweeted
Mike Brown was fired four times — twice by the same team.
He could have walked away bitter. Instead, he kept learning, kept showing up, and kept believing his story was not finished.
Now, he’s a champion.
Sometimes rejection is not the end of the road. It is preparation for the right opportunity. Your setback may simply be setting the stage for your comeback.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
Mike Brown's journey:
*Fired from Cleveland on May 24, 2010
*Fired from LA (Lakers) on November 9, 2012
*Fired from Sacramento on December 27, 2024
*Wins an NBA Championship in his inaugural year as head coach with the NY Knicks
Moral of the story: Your failures don't define. How you respond to them does.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
Great coaches care deeply.
About standards. About people. About growth.
The key is learning how to care deeply without becoming emotionally unstable.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
The best coaches aren’t obsessed with proving themselves.
They’re obsessed with improving themselves.
One mindset creates insecurity.
The other creates longevity.
Lead yourself first.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
"When I grew up, I woke up every day and my mom was there. I took it for granted. She's never tired- or she never showed it. Be as tough as your mothers. They show up all the time."
~ Mike Krzyzewski #HappyMothersDay
Kristen Dowling retweeted
“Mental toughness is doing the right things for the team when everything isn’t perfect for you.”
-Bill Belichick
Kristen Dowling retweeted
Hard conversations are the ones you’re afraid to have. Avoiding hard conversations undermines all relationships.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
“Bad leaders see smart people as threats. Good leaders see them as force multipliers. The strongest builders don’t protect their ego — they weaponize the experience around them.” #LIFERS
Kristen Dowling retweeted
You are not meant to go through life fearful, anxious and chronically stressed all the time. With so many struggling it’s become normalized but it’s not normal. You are meant to go through life with focus, power and peace! You are one thought and one habit away from transforming overthinking into powerful thinking.
Kristen Dowling retweeted
DAMIAN LILLARD ON ACCOUNTABILITY
“I make sure that I’m on time to the gym. I get there early. I make sure I’m the most coachable. That shows I am accountable for myself, now I can hold other guys accountable.”
~via @Dame_Lillard @Eastbay