Jack’s Blog

Each Tuesday night at 6:00 (PST) The Jerry Tarkanian Show airs on 1430 ESPN radio (Fresno) and during the second segment, there’s an interview with someone prominent in college hoops (usually a coach of a national power but we’ve also had Bob Knight, Billy Packer and Dick Vitale).  Every year, Jerry has had his former (national championship) point guard, Greg Anthony, discuss the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  This year, however, Greg’s star has shown so brightly that his current employer, CBS Sports, wouldn’t allow him to do an interview with his former coach.

So, as a last minute replacement for last night’s Tark Show, Jerry’s guest was former head coach at UTEP, Texas A&M and Kentucky, Billy Gillespie.  Billy Clyde had some truly interesting things to say about his coaching experiences and, unlike most radio talk shows, none of it was negative or bitter.

Gillespie spoke about how he had always loved coaching and when he first started, when he thought about how much money he’d make, figured he’d probably pull down $30-40,000 a year.  This was fine with him because he enjoyed the relationship with the players, the challenge of preparing a team to beat an opponent and, simply, the game itself.

He talked about his days as Bill Self’s assistant at Tulsa.  Self, as any basketball fan knows, is the highly successful coach at Kansas.  What most fans don’t realize is on his Tulsa staff were three guys who would wind up becoming Division I head coaches themselves.  Gillespie, Norm Roberts (St. John’s) and John Phillips (who eventually became the coach at Tulsa).  Each of those guys were pink-slipped, the latter two from their first head coaching gig, although both were considered good coaches, just ones who didn’t win enough.  The same could be said for Gillespie who drew the wrath of the Wildcat faithful after being named the SEC Coach-of-the-Year after his first campaign in Lexington and won 22 games his second season there.

Gillespie talked about the frenzy that exists all the time on UK’s campus and how Tark tried to talk him out of the Kentucky job, telling him, “You were great at UTEP and you’ve done wonderful things at A&M but that will always be a football school.  If you blow your nose at Kentucky, everybody will hear about it.”  In all, the UK job can - and has - swallow up a coach.

I recall when I was an assistant at Tennessee all the nasty things the fans there would say about (then head coach) Joe B. Hall - and he won a national championship!  “Yeah,” their fans would say to those who made that remark, “but he’s only won one.”

Although pressure like this is greater at UK, don’t for a minute think other big-time schools don’t have unrealistic expectations for their coaches.  In football, it may be even worse.  With pressure like this, can anyone wonder why so much rule breaking goes on in college athletics?  A future blog will be devoted to “cheating” on the intercollegiate level.

What I heard, although Billy Gillespie never said it, was the purity of coaching, i.e. the fun, has been removed from coaching and in its place are a whole lot of dollars.  Is this better?  As the saying goes:

“Money isn’t everything, but it beats the hell out of whatever comes in second.”   

On last Tuesday night’s Jerry Tarkanian Show, our guest was Billy Packer.  During his interview with Jerry, Billy made a statement many prognosticators, including Tark, have said - “Duke is not only the best team in the country, they’re head and shoulders above everybody else.”

I’ve blogged previously that the difference between this Duke team and the others is that freshman Kyrie Irving is unlike any of the point guards who’ve played for the Blue Devils - including Jay Williams.  He’s not just savvy and tough like Hurley, Wojo, Dawkins and the rest.  He’s more like a guard you see on the roster of Kentucky, UCLA or Kansas.  Lightning quick, impossible to stay in front of, with the ability to get others great open looks.  And now, according to the release from Duke, he’s out indefinitely.

Some may say that with Coach K at the helm the Blue Devils are still the team to beat.  Possibly, but with the way Kansas, Ohio State, Syracuse, UConn and Pitt are playing, “head and shoulders” might no longer be applicable.  Don’t count out Michigan State either.  The Spartans have to have played not only the toughest schedule in the country but the toughest ever by a team that doesn’t have to, e.g. Coppin State where head coach Fang Mitchell (who doubles as the school’s AD) sacrifices his basketball team in the preseason so that their other sports - men and women - can exist.  Tom Izzo and Sparty have no such monetary problems.

When Josh Selby becomes eligible for KU, there might be a new sheriff in town and if UK’s appeal for Enes Kanter goes through, the Wildcats just might surpass both Kansas and Duke.  No doubt, even with Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and the Plumlees, Duke will feel the loss of their precocious floor leader.  As far as Irving’s return goes, I imagine Mike Krzyzewski shares the same feeling expressed by Sandra Knell, who said:

“I’m looking forward to looking back on all this.”

Every Wednesday night during the college basketball season, I host The Jerry Tarkanian Show, live at the Red Zone Sports Grill on the local ESPN radio station in Fresno (1430AM).  The hour show (6:00-7:00pm) is comprised of four segments, the first of which is me asking Jerry about the happenings of the past week.  The final two segments talk about his past week’s picks and how (& why) he did (third segment) and the big games to be played the following week and his selections (final segment). 

The second segment is a pre-recorded interview that he tapes at the studio.  I defy anyone to show me a Rolodex as comprehensive as Tark’s.  So far this year, here’s a partial list of the coaches we’ve had: John Calipari, Bill Self, Rick Barnes, Bob Huggins, Rick Majerus and Lorenzo Romar.  There have also been interviews with members of the media: Bob Knight (who ever thought he’d be in that category), Billy Packer and Greg Anthony (a particular favorite of Coach Tark’s because Greg was the point guard on his 1990 National Championship team) as well as others “in the game,” such as Gavin Maloof (one of the owners of the Sacramento Kings) and Mark Warkentien (GM of the Denver Nuggets - and a former assistant to Jerry at UNLV).  This is the fifth or sixth year I’ve been the host and I can’t think of anyone whom he wanted on the show he hasn’t gotten.

Wednesday night’s guest was Mike Krzyzewski, coach of the Duke Blue Devils and the Gold Medal winning coach of our Olympic team.  The exchange between the two mentors was fascinating.  Coaches open up to Jerry, mainly because they realize he has no agenda and, as he’s been called on innumerable occasions, he is a coach’s coach.  He’s not into criticizing coaches as much as studying and learning from them.  What are they doing - and why - who else in their league/the country do they have the most trouble coaching against - the exact questions the basketball fan would ask if given the chance.

In the interview, Mike divulged that his current team is made up of an eight-man rotation, with six of the eight being “bigs.”  This fact means he’s coaching differently than he has in over a decade, e.g. no press - or even half court pick up.  The rest of the conversation was just as interesting, not the normal “coachspeak” that most interviews tend to be.

Following the discussion between Mike and Jerry, I mentioned that there have been a number of upsets recently (last week, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 teams were all beaten).  My observation was that the winners seemed to play harder in those games than they had all year.  Plus, most upsets seem to be by the home team.  My point was that the truly great teams play hard every night, not just on a special occasion, i.e. they are consistent.

The question I posed to Tark was, since his teams’ trademark was they played hard all the time, was, What’s the key to maintaining that constant effort?  We had discussed earlier how, at the end of the season, most coaches cut the time of their practices down dramatically - from three hours + at the beginning of the year to, maybe, an hour and fifteen minutes, or no longer than an hour and a half.  Many people think the reason is to save the legs of the players - which is true, to a point.  Jerry added a vital component to his practice philosophy and why he thought his guys always played hard.

“No matter how long - or short - our practices were, we always went 100%.  We may have shortened the practice time, but NEVER the intensity.”Â

It’s bad enough that the country’s economic situation is upside-down and its morale is at an all-time low, but to have to hear Rush Limbaugh say he hopes Barack Obama’s policies fail, you wonder if some people in the United States have any idea of a team concept.  Is partisan politics that important?

Rush is way too big a figure for me to take on - even if he doesn’t know he’s being taken on.  Somehow, I don’t think he’s a frequent visitor of this blog.  Plus, he has it all over me when it comes to dealing with distractions, e.g. after my fifth back surgery, Oxycontin was prescribed for me.  The effect it had on me was to make me hallucinate, yet Rush was popping them and still doing his top-rated show.  Simply an amazing display of commitment to his strength and weakness - simultaneously!

Therefore, if I will take issue with a talk show host, it ought to be someone on the local front.  Due to finishing my latest audiobook, I turned on ESPN sports talk radio on the way to and from my latest version of rehabilitation - yoga.  Guy Haberman was filling in as host for the late afternoon show and was discussing a letter to the editor in the local newspaper, in which the writer supposedly said the glory days of Bulldog basketball were the years under Jerry Tarkanian’s tenure and that he’d given up on the current version of Bulldog basketball.

Haberman had statistics from the Tarkanian years, stating how many games the teams won, lost and were vacated due to ineligible players.  He then went on to say that the people who claim that the atmosphere was electric at Selland Arena must be crazy because Tark’s record showed he had an under .500 winning record.

In this case, I think there are two different arguments being staged at the same time.  Haberman’s claim is that the atmosphere at the arena couldn’t have been electric - look at the stats.  How can you get excited over a vacated game?  First of all, the games weren’t vacated until well after they were played.  While they were being played, people were filling up Selland beyond capacity and frantically cheering on their ‘Dogs.  I can’t recall one person in attendance who calmly sat there and said, “How can you people get so wild -don’t you know these games are going to be vacated?”

I defy anybody who attended the games at Selland Arena, while Jerry was coaching, to make the statement that the atmosphere was - I usually try not to use the same word over and over - but in this case, electric is as close to a perfect word to describe the overall feeling people had at the games. 

Having a strong opinion about a topic is normal, especially for someone who’s trying to get people to listen to their station when there are so many other things they could be doing - whether it be listening to other stations, e.g. talk radio, music or news or listening to homemade CD’s made up of their favorite selections, talking to others in the car or, just plain enjoying the silence.  And that only covers the listeners who are driving! People listening in their homes or at work have a multitude of other choices, so what a talk show host is saying had better keep their interest.

There are three camps when it comes to Jerry Tarkanian - those who love him, those who hate him and those who don’t care (by far, the smallest group).  Each tribe has its own (very good) reasons for feeling the way they do.  However, no one in either of the first two - even those who have gone on record as passionately despising the man - can deny the SaveMart Center would have been built had it not been for Tark.

Obviously, having worked with Jerry during the seven years he was at Fresno State and having known him since the summer of 1974 when he brought his sons, George and Danny, to attend our camp at Washington State, I have a different perspective than Guy Haberman does.  Jerry’s a coach’s coach, evidenced by his rolodex of other coaches.  Every Wednesday on Fox Sports radio 1340 and 1400 AM (shameless plug), I co-host The Jerry Tarkanian Show and it totally blows me away at the coaches he gets to tape interviews.  I’m not sure but I believe, at least in the three years I’ve done the show, we’ve had most every head coach from any of the top 10 programs in the country, in addition to Bob Knight, Lute Olson, Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps, a couple of the Maloof brothers (owners of the Sacramento Kings) and Billy Packer.  He certainly doesn’t lack for fans - or friends.

Naturally, he has his flaws (don’t we all?) - and many of them could be in the “doozy” category, but I came up with a philosophy regarding people that I’m fond of telling my sons, students and colleagues.  As a matter of fact, it’s on the wall of my room at Buchanan High.  It goes like this:

“You like the people you like, not because they don’t have faults, but because, even though they do, you can overlook them.  You don’t like the people you don’t like because they have a fault, or faults that you, try as you might, cannot overlook.  Just remember, the people you like are disliked by others and the people you dislike are liked by others.  So don’t deify those you admire and don’t crucify those you don’t.  Simply try to UNDERSTAND everyone.”

The end of regulation of the National Championship game saw Memphis up three points with 10.8 seconds to go after Derrick Rose made the second of two free throws.  For Kansas to have a chance, they needed to score three points on their next, and probably final, trip down the floor before the regulation 40 minute game ended.  Although there have been four-point plays, they happen about as many times as Billy Packer admits he’s wrong.  So, for all intents and purposes, three is pretty much the maximum KU’s team, coaches, administration, student body and fans could have hoped for.

Coach Bill Self elected to have Kansas inbound the ball and dribble it up the floor, “weave” their guards and attempt a contested three-pointer.  All the while the ball was being advanced, pleas of “foul, foul, foul, FOUL!!!”  were being heard around the globe (basketball transcended this country years ago).  Yet, the Tigers didn’t foul and, as luck would have it, Mario Chalmers drained a three and sent the game into overtime.  Afterward, ESPN’s analysts discussed the situation (as did thousands of half- or totally drunken analysts at sports bars everywhere).  It seemed as though each ESPN member (I can’t speak for those other inebriated ones) agreed that a foul was in order.  Why?  If for no other reason than the odds are overwhelmingly in the team with the lead’s favor.

First, however, the defense must make sure the offensive player is not in “the act of shooting” in which case a foul would lead to three free throws, making the strategy seem somewhat foolish (although, even the odds of hitting three-for-three with your team down three and seconds to go to tie for a National Championship wouldn’t exactly be a sure thing).  But if the defender can manage to commit a non-shooting foul, the following must happen in order for the team that’s ahead not to win in regulation: 1) the player who was fouled must make the first free throw (independent of whether it’s a one-and-one or an over-the-limit two shot foul; 2) the shooter would then have to miss and his team (with the disadvantage of having a defender inside each of them, i.e. closer to the basket) would have to rebound the miss; 3) then, the options are: a) put back the miss, thus tying the score; b) put up a shot and miss, but draw a foul (and then convert the two free throws, usually by a big man since that’s who would be inside attempting to get the rebound anyway), or c) kick it out to a teammate (assuming there’s enough time), who makes a shot, tying the game.

The absolute best, but least likely, cases would be 1) to make the first FT, miss the second, rebound & put back in the miss and draw a foul with a chance to win it or 2) make the first, miss the second, rebound the miss and kick it out to a teammate for a three-pointer to win it.  Should either of these last two scenarios occur, expect to see three wise men and a virgin show up in your neighborhood shortly thereafter.

Believe it or not, coaches are not in 100% agreement on this topic.  Maybe it’s a macho thing, i.e. “we don’t need some gimmick play to win, just get a ’stop’ on defense and walk off the floor with our victorious heads held high.”  It’s just that when you don’t foul and you lose, it would be wise not to stick your neck out too far around any of your fans (or people who waged on you to win).

The disagreement among the ESPN guys: Digger Phelps (a very successful coach at both Fordham and Notre Dame), Bob Knight (the winningest men’s college coach of all-time), Dick Vitale (who, believe it or not, had incredibly good records as both a high school coach in New Jersey and as a college coach at the University of Detroit) and Jay Bilas who was only an assistant for a brief period, but graduated from Duke so he’s obviously very bright, was whether a time out should have been called by Memphis after Rose made the free throw to put them up three (they had two TO’s left at the time).

Digger saw no need as he said his teams practiced the situation (as nearly every well-coached team does) many times throughout the season.  Knight vehemently argued in favor of the time out, stating that was the time to tell each and every player on the floor exactly what was to be done.  This discussion was interrupted by the live press conference with Memphis coach John Calipari at the mike, addressing that very question.  Cal’s response was that they were trying to foul but didn’t foul “hard enough” to influence the referee to blow his whistle.

So they did want to foul … only when the replay was shown, Memphis players clearly were not attempting to foul and in fact, looked as if they were trying to avoid fouling, i.e. they acted confused (not surprising considering the conditions they were performing under).  That could be why Bob Knight is the coach he is.  He understood that, no matter how many times a team can practice how to handle a situation, the emotion of the moment often overcomes what the body has been trained to do.  In other words,

“Don’t ever forget to take into account the human element.“  Â

In the second game of the Final Four, the underdog Kansas Jayhawks jumped out to a 28 (yeah, that’s no misprint, twenty-eight) point lead - in the first half! - over an extremely talented and high scoring North Carolina Tarheel team.  There was a nine-minute stretch in which the ‘Heels were held without a field goal.

All was well in the land of Dorothy and Toto.  As my former boss at Washington State and USC, George Raveling, used to say about games like this, “The game is bound to ‘return to reality.’ “  Apparently, KU didn’t believe Rav’s theory.  KU started taking some questionable shots early in the shot clock and Carolina got to within a margin where they could be seen in the rear view mirror.  Still, no one thought the game was in doubt.  Case in point: Billy Packer, one of the brightest basketball analysts there ever has been (yet still not nearly as good as he thinks he is - please excuse me, Billy, for not capitalizing the “h” in “he”), pronounced the game over with seven and a half minutes to go in the first half - a move, which no doubt, brought a great deal of joy to CBS executives.  When people wonder why Packer never coached (aside from the one year as an assistant at his alma mater, Wake Forest, a career which, allegedly contained NCAA violations), that comment might be a good starting point in the explanation.

However, in his defense, not too many people would have disagreed with him.  Luckily for the viewing audience, the Tarheels and its head coach, Roy Williams, either didn’t share his opinion (usually Packer prefers people to think of them as “facts”), or they figured since they were on the court anyway, why not give it “the old college try.”

With 11:16 left in the game, KU’s lead had been shaved, whittled, carved - everything verb but erased - and, if lie detector tests could have been issued to anyone watching, there wasn’t one coach who, at that point, would have switched seats with Bill Self and not one player who would have wanted to be in the game as a Jayhawk (with the possible exceptions of Kobe, LeBron and a few select others).  I’m fairly certain there weren’t too many fans who wanted to stand up and be counted as Jayhawk faithful at that point in the contest, either.

In the interview room after the game, Self explained that after they got out to the enormous lead, “we were taking quick shots - not because I told them to, … I’d rather they exercised more patience, but they were so geeked at the beginning and having so much fun, I didn’t want to corral that.”  Talk about a coach knowing his team, understanding the flow of the game, and hanging in there to right the ship so the final result was a victory for his guys.

Given the option, most people would have sided with the words of Billy Packer over those of Helen Keller, who said (regarding a far more important game):

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.  Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved.”