University of Virginia Library

John Wooden Demands While Dean Smith Expects

Bruin Coach John Wo Is Low Key But High Performance Figurehead

(This is the first of a
two-part article based on
telephone interviews by CD
reporter Ned Roberts during
the week of March 5-9. -Ed.)

Over the past six seasons in
college basketball, fans across
the nation have been virtually
lulled to sleep by the
domination of one coach over
the western half of the
country, not to mention the
entire nation Simultaneously,
in the East, they have seen
another coach, though more
obscurely, create teams to
which all others this side of the
Mississippi are compared.

The first coach of course is
UCLA's John Wooden, the
man who like another great
teacher, Vince Lombardi, has
become a legend in his own
time. The brand of play his
teams have presented on the
court has set Bruin basketball
one notch above the rest of the
country, causing the remaining
155 major college teams to
fight it out for second place.
Yet despite all his countless
records, most people are far
more impressed by the man
himself than by his statistics.

Similarly, but without his
due in national publicity, Dean
Smith at North Carolina, has
compiled a 151-35 record over
the past half-dozen years, while
capturing four Eastern
Regional Championships.
Competing in the country's
toughest division, the ACC,
Smith's Tar Heels have
dominated the league.

Wooden Is Very Accessible

Last week, this writer
interviewed both men to try to
gain some insight into the
personalities that have shaped
the top two college teams in
recent years. Surprisingly,
Wooden was the easier of the
two to get hold of. Both times
I called, he was available and
was willing, even seemingly
eager, to talk as long as I
wished. The fact that he
consented to talk at length and
in some detail to someone he
didn't know was more than
enough indication to me of the
type of man Coach Wooden is.
Throughout the conversation, I
could not help but be
impressed by the humility,
sincerity and conviction of his
beliefs of the man who has now
won six straight national
championships.

Smith, quite the contrary,
was harder to get in touch with
than the President. At least
fifteen calls were necessary in
order to finally get through to
him. The line was either busy,
or he was in conference or
examining game films. It was
understandable, however,
considering that the ACC
tournament was only a few
days away. Without a doubt,
last month was the league's
coaches' most hectic time of
the season. When connections
finally were made, Smith, who
is considered universally to be
one of the finest gentleman in
the game, seemed extremely
worried and busy getting ready
for the upcoming tournament
and not too concerned with
the present conversation.

At UCLA, Wooden is much
more than just a coach. He is
also a philosopher, a
psychologist, and teacher all
wrapped up in one

He expects his players to
exhibit "unselfish
characteristics on and off the
court." He feels that if they are
unselfish off the court to one
another, the same feelings will
"carry over onto the court"
resulting in "enhanced
team play."

Moreover he tries to tell his
players to have consideration
for other people not just in
their own private basketball
world but elsewhere as well.
They must learn, he says, that
"they cannot be two different
people" on and off the court.
In other words, what his
players do and how they act in
the outside world will usually
carry over and determine to a
large degree what their playing
style will be like. Keeping this
philosophy in mind, Wooden,
on trips, has his players, from
Bill Walton to Pete Trgovich,
clean up the locker rooms. In
addition, he always makes sure
that the squad is polite to
stewardesses and waiters in
restaurants.

In his person-to-person
relationships with the team,
the Coach attempts to "make
things realistic." He tries
sincerely, though not always
with total success, to adjust to
the times and understand what
the kids are going through. At
times, unfortunately, he has
had communication problems
with a few black ballplayers,
but for the most part, he has
been able to maintain that
delicate balance between
freedom and discipline. He
"tries not   to   be dictatorial"
because to be successful, he
believes a coach "must be a
leader, not a driver."

In his role as head man,
Wooden insists that he is
not an overbearing coach. He
is "interested in their
comments" referring to his
team, and what the individuals
feel However, once he makes a
decision, it is final and he
expects the players to accept
the results without
complaining. He may not
always be right – he continued
but the team must realize
and accept who is controlling
the operation.

Wooden represents what
many people refer to as the old
guard when talking about his
personal beliefs. He has quite a
few of these and he will defend
them vigorously, but he does
not require in any way that his
players follow him at all.

For instance, he has strong
convictions in his beliefs in
prayer, and thinks that every
prayer is answered, though not
necessarily in the affirmative.
He formulates much of his
strength as a person from these
beliefs, but differently from his
attitudes on common courtesy,
he does not attempt to force
his ideas over on the team.
What he is interested in is a
strength of a different type –
the way in which "they meet
adversity and react to
prosperity." To him, these are
the keys to maturing.

Seniors Are The Key

While talking with Smith,
the UNC coach, showed no
desire to articulate to the
degree Wooden did on his
philosophy beyond the realms
of the basketball court. He
tended to downplay his
demands that he makes to the
squad outside of the practice
floor. Rather, he looks more to
his seniors on the team to lead
the way and provide the
examples for the younger ball
players.

When asked what he
thought the keys to Carolina's
perennial good moral and team
spirit, he pointed to the players
as a team to receive the due
credit. Additionally, while
discussion what discipline he
demanded of his teams, Smith
seemed to emphasize that he is
interested basically in on the
court activities. However, it is
also know that Smith will not
hesitate to sit down or suspend
a ball player he thinks is
hurting the team's morale and
unity as he did to Bill
Chamberlain early last season.

Thus, despite relative
personal freedom that the two
coaches allow their players to
express, the team members at
both schools must learn to
accept and play with the
discipline each coach stresses.
This discipline in turn results in
team unity that is unsurpassed
throughout the country. The
ensuing style of play has
become the subject of not only
admiration of fellow college
coaches but professionals as well.