Coach Muller

Dan Hurley says coaches should be a jockey in practice and a corner man during games “I understand the two different roles I’ve got to play for the players in preparation. In practices, I’ve got to push for game-like reps so that on game night they can execute.” “On game night, I go to boxing trainer in the corner with the fighter, pumping them up, building up their confidence.” “You’ve got this practice persona where you push for the preparation, and then on game night you become that person that’s trying to convince them throughout the game that they can do anything.” “Any anger you see on game night for me is always at the referees. They know I love them. I invested time in them, so they let me do my job.”

Jim Calhoun says his definition of hard coaching is to tell them the ugly truth and then be there for them when basketball is gone “They told me things I didn’t know. Things I might have said to them that helped change things. Things I might have kicked their butt about. Don’t you bring your butt back into this gym until you understand it’s you that’s messed you up. Do you understand me? It’s you that’s screwing this whole deal up.” “I’m here for you. I’ll be here for you now. But as soon as that ball stops dribbling, ain’t gonna be nobody there for you. It’s a whole new game, man. It might be love. It might be a different kind of expression of love.” “But you’ve got to be there for them. It’s easy to come and say, ‘Hey, you’re wonderful. You’re great.’ But, man, you’ve got to understand, you’re messed up. You’re screwing this whole deal up for no goddamn reason except your own.’” “I found out you could open people’s ears. You come over to the sideline… First thing I say is, ‘You know what? You’re one of the greatest players I’ve ever coached.’ Your ears are out here someplace.” “Instead of, ‘You lazy son of a gun.’ Then your ears listen. Then you say, ‘You’re lazy.’ I found out when people hear kind of what they want to hear, then the message comes afterwards.” “I want to tell them they are special. But you screw up too. When I say I’m going to coach you, I take it seriously.”

Steve Sarkisian reveals he couldn’t get a job interview in 2015 before Nick Saban gave him a $30,000/yr analyst job that saved his career “In 2015, I had gotten fired at USC, gone to recovery, started working on me personally. Coming out of that, I couldn’t get a job. In 2016, I was ready to go do TV.” “I couldn’t get an interview for a job. And Nick Saban saved my career. He offered me an analyst job. I was willing to do it for free.” “But he said, ‘I gotta pay you $30,000 so you can get benefits.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do that.’ I’m forever indebted to him. Because at that time, somebody in life has got to give all of us a second chance.” “It totally changed my perspective. It changed my perspective on how I coach. How I deal with our players. Because everybody’s going through stuff. Everybody’s got stuff.” “Whatever your stuff is, you’re just trying to get through it. If I can be that guy that can extend that olive branch to our players as we go through this journey, I always lean back to that time.” “Here’s the greatest coach of all time in our era. For whatever reason, he saw something in me. He gave me a chance. He gave me a shot.” “From there, he actually makes me the offensive coordinator for the National Championship game against Clemson. And I was an analyst. I wasn’t even a coach.”