Welcome to 'The Swamp'

I have visited Florida quite often, but have only really been to Orlando and Palatka. Orlando is obviously very commercialized and built up around the exposure that Disney World offers, while Palatka is a small, rural portion of Florida complete with jungle like vegetation and alligator fences. One time when I was in 4th grade visiting family friends in Palatka, I was tubing on the St. John River and my tube hit an alligator… I couldn’t make that up. So, I really didn’t know what to expect when visiting Gainesville.

It was a nice surprise to find the city of Gainesville a nice mixture of Orlando and Palatka. While there were shopping malls and a lot of stores, there was also an equal amount of palm trees and heavily forested areas. It’s a confusing area for navigation though, because every street is labeled a direction (i.e. North, Northwest, Northeast) and a number. Which I suppose in theory makes sense, but I got lost (again).

So I arrived in Gainesville at around 3:00 p.m. and called Mike Robuck, the program assistant for the basketball team. I was one of five coaches who had arrived the night before camp, so I had to meet Coach Robuck in the practice facility to get my dorm key and parking pass. This is the first thing I saw when I entered the Florida basketball practice facility…

I left the practice facility and after finally finding the parking lot for the dorm Hume West, I started moving my stuff in. I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before or not, but I left Maine without air conditioning, thinking it wouldn’t be that much of an issue to go without AC for a month in the southern United States. This story serves as a great example of how someone who does well in school can also be an idiot. I have easily lost 15 pounds in water weight since leaving on June 3rd. But, after getting into the dorm room and feeling that cool air, all plans of exploring Gainesville quickly disappeared, and I decided to relax for a while.

A couple short hours later I heard some movement in an adjacent room, so I decided to check it out. The dorm building I was in basically had two double rooms connected by a bathroom in the middle. So I knocked on the door and met Aaron Winshall, a manager at Syracuse University. I was surprised to meet someone my age working at UF, especially the first person I met. On top of that, Aaron was from Weston, Massachusetts, which is probably only a couple hours from my house. We talked for a while about hoops and then went into the main lounge area to watch the Magic play the Cavaliers. During the game I also found out that I was working the same exact camps Aaron was. Florida, Duke and Syracuse. It was a crazy coincidence.

I didn’t get much sleep that night, I was so nervous and didn’t know what to expect at all. I kept reading these clinic notes on defending the pick and roll offense by Jeff Van Gundy. In hindsight it’s funny that I was doing that, because my age group turned out to be ten and eleven year olds, and defending the pick and roll turned out to be the least of our problems. I drove to a Dunkin Donuts and got a coffee and started going over some organizational elements. We had to meet inside the Stephen O’Connell center at 9:00am, so I slowly got ready and decided I’d get there about 30 minutes early, just to make sure my paperwork was in order.

There were some coaches already there, so I had a chance to meet a few people before our meeting started. They were all college students. More people came in, more college students. Managers, players, practice players, referees in training and stats crew. I couldn’t believe it. Obviously my naivety led me to believe that it would be me and a bunch of old seasoned coaches who smoked stogies at night around a table and shared their stories of trial and tribulation. If nothing else it was an eye opener and allowed me to see for the first time how competitive the college coaching field is.

After we received our assignments and duties for the week, we all split up for lunch and were told to meet back at the O’Connell center in roughly two hours to help out with camper registration. During registration my job was to set up a knock out game on one of the hoops… tough job. So for two hours I got to referee knock out games while meeting some other coaches. Here is a picture of the O’Connell Center during camp week…


I managed to find a picture of the O'Connell center from nearly the same exact spot right before tip off. It's cool to compare the two...


I met two managers from a university in Boca Raton, a women's manager at UCONN, some Florida managers, an assistant coach for Lees McRae College, and an assistant coach at Gainesville High School. One of the beautiful things about camps, or I should say, one of the beautiful things about basketball coaches is how everyone loves talking about basketball. If you get five coaches in a circle talking hoops, you can feel the energy and buzz that comes from people who love what they do. That being said, basketball coaches are all bull shitters. That isn't necessarily a put-down. Bull-shitting is not lying. A liar speaks with knowledge of the truth. So when a bullshitter speaks, he or she is neither on the side of the true or the false. He or she may often times speak on subjects that they have no apparent knowledge of what-so-ever. A bull shitter may also speak purely to get a reaction out of the other members of his or her bull session. But I digress. All that being said, If everyone were as passionate about his or her profession, our world would certainly be a better place.

So after all the campers were registered, they were instructed to meet on the main floor of the O’Connell center for camp introduction. As I was walking down to the floor, I walked by Billy Donovan. At first, it was so weird to see him. The only times I had ever seen him were on a DVD that I had watched about pick and roll offense, and obviously on national television. It was indescribable at first to watch him just interact with people and speak to the campers. I don’t want to sound like some “big timer” when I say this, but after getting to know him a little more, I realized that before arriving at UF I didn’t view Billy Donovan as a real person. In other words, in our culture, celebrities are glorified to the point where we almost forget that they have families, hobbies, friends, aspirations, and feelings.

So I met my team, who were mostly all from various regions of the United States. I had kids from Texas, Washington, Oregon, Georgia and Alabama. I found out that the campers who were from out of state, more often than not, had parents who were alumni of the school. Either way, it showed me how wide Gator culture reaches across the US and world.
After doing a set of evaluation games and stations we had dinner. After dinner, more games. After games, back to the dorms. We made it back to the dorms around 10:00. I’m not going to lie, I was tired, but at the same time, relieved. Going in I had no idea what to expect, and I feel as though by the end of the first day I had gained a strong understanding about my role and also felt as though I could meet and exceed those given expectations.

The next morning we had to be up at 7:15am to get breakfast. I woke my floor up and walked to breakfast. Even at 8:00 in the morning, Florida is HOT! Luckily, the only times we were outdoors occurred via the cafeteria.

One of the best parts about Florida camp (for me) that I forgot to mention occurred every night right after the campers were dismissed to their dorms. Current players and former players would play a pick up game on the Gator practice court. Coach Pitino’s son Ricky had just gotten hired, so he was usually there watching the players to familiarize himself. Larry Schiatt, the associate head coach was also present and on the last night even Coach Donovan came and watched. The last night was incredible because Lee Humphries, Marcus Speights, and Chris Wilcox all were scrimmaging with current Gators Chandler Parsons, Vern Macklin, Erving Walker, Eloy Vargas and Ray Shipman. You really can’t visualize how big these guys actually are until you see them in person. The only word that really comes to mind when describing them is “specimens.” A close second is “freaks.” When you put guys on the court that are all above 6’4”, the court drastically shrinks and strength, speed and size become huge assets.

There was one thing about camp that I was disappointed about. I had always heard the stories about Five Star Basketball Camp and how the coaches stayed up until the early morning hours debating things as simple as weak-side offense. I was really looking forward to conversations about basketball, but more specifically just general X’s and O’s. There really wasn’t any of that, and if there was, I certainly wasn’t invited… ha-ha. However, I did pick up a lot of good drills that I can use, and it made me start to develop a solid basketball philosophy.

On the last day of camp in the morning, I was on my way to the O’Connell Center when I remembered that I had left my player evaluations in my dorm room. I ran back to the dorms and had to race back to the O’Connell center so I wouldn’t be late for our daily staff meeting.

Because I was running behind I decided to take a short cut and go in through this back door that I normally don’t take. I was walking steadily down a dark corridor, trying to make sure I wasn’t late, and at the end of the hall I could make out a figure leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. I soon realized that Billy Donovan was looking me straight in the eyes. I wasn’t really sure what to do or say, so I decided to take the casual approach and said,” Good morning Coach,” and we shook hands. I was wearing a Farmington Basketball t-shirt, and he quickly replied,” No way, you’re from Farmington, Mass?” I knew Coach Donovan played at Providence, but he told me he grew up in New York, and his dad played at Boston College so he visited New England a lot and loved the area. It was great just having a conversation with him.

After spending a week in FL, I decided that I could never live there year round. Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely beautiful and the people were great, but I love being outdoors. People in Florida walk to their AC cars from their AC homes so they can work in their AC office buildings, etc. Perhaps if you live closer to the ocean it’s different, however I suppose I should stop this drivel before I offend anyone (namely residents).

Before leaving I snuck into the football stadium and watched their team practice. Here is a picture of that...



After doing four days of 7:30 a.m. to 12:00am… it was definitely time to sleep in and drive to Durham...

Traveling... without a turnover

First, let me apologize for not putting this up sooner. I haven't been able to connect to the internet since June 7th. This is the traveling portion of my trip...

So I left Maine after substitute teaching at my old elementary school. I had been substituting at Mt. Blue High School for a couple weeks, so I felt fairly comfortable in my role as a high school substitute. But, when Whitefield Elementary School called me and assigned me the 1st grade, I was apprehensive, but the money was too enticing to pass up. The only drawback for me was that it would have been the first time I had substitute taught any grade below 7th,, so I was definitely uneasy about it. But, after arriving early on Thursday, (in khakis and a polo) and having a kid greet me with, “Hey, you look like Barack Obama,” I knew it was going to be a good day. Now, on a side note, after substitute teaching a first grade classroom, I can say without hesitation that every high school kid should do it as part of his or her sex education curriculum. I guarantee you that the teen pregnancy rate would decrease.
I left Whitefield School at 2:15pm and started my journey towards the bottom of our country. One thing I didn’t exactly take into account was how tired I would be after spending six and a half hours with balls of extremely high energy. I had already booked a hotel in Sturbridge, Massachusetts the night before which is only a three and a half hour drive from Whitefield. I made the reservations purely because I wanted to get through all the major cities in one day, but I struggled staying awake for the majority of the trip. I was hoping this wasn’t going to be an ominous sign of things to come, as I planned on driving at least eight hours a day from then on.
I stayed in this extremely old hotel, which I guess is my fault, because when I drove in it was obvious their marketing campaign was geared solely to get people to stay who were visiting old Sturbridge Village. Now, I’ve never taken any marketing/business courses in my life, however, I was a little confused. Longevity is a great thing to advertise for banks and insurance companies, but for hotels? After seeing the hotel from the outside, I was thinking I might have to sleep on some hay, or brush my teeth by taking a jaunt to a wishing well (both theories were later overturned).
After having a quick breakfast at the hotel, (I didn’t even have to churn my own butter) I met up with my friend Sara in Middletown, Connecticut and we walked around for a while. It was a nice break from driving, and it’s always great to see her. I then continued driving towards New York.
Before my trip started, my mom bought me a GPS to help navigate and it has truly been essential in helping me get from hotel to hotel, and city to city as efficiently and effectively as possible. I really don’t know what I would have done without it. That being said, I’d like to think of it as that kid in math class who could factor and foil in his head, but had to wear Velcro sneakers because he couldn’t tie a bow. Allow me to explain… So, it has this feature (incognito to me) where it sends a signal to a satellite in outer space, which then finds out where the traffic is most congested, and then relays that information back to the GPS, which then sends me on a detour to avoid traffic jams. Brilliant, right? Not so fast. Right before entering the Bronx on 95, it told me to get off on some exit and I did. (Mind you, at this point I didn’t know about the traffic feature) Before I knew it, this scrawny white kid from Maine was scared for his life in the heart of the Bronx. Also, at the same exact time, I was listening to this book on CD called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and it was telling the story of this guy named Amadou Dialo who was shot 41 times in the Bronx by the police. (I think Bob Dylan wrote a song about this incident?) This didn’t exactly make me feel better about my situation. Luckily, the Bronx decided to spit me back out onto 95, and after sitting in a couple hours of traffic I continued towards my destination for that day, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
So I had this theory about interstate driving one day while watching television. I’m sure you’ve seen those car commercials where they simulate a car driving X miles per hour with wind being propelled at the vehicle while they release this white smoke to show the car’s aerodynamic capabilities. Well, if you notice, the white smoke’s level doesn’t immediately drop after it leaves the tail of the car. After thinking about this concept, coupled with the fact that when you’re on the interstate going roughly 65-75 mph, there is a lot of resistance colliding with your vehicle, I came up with a hypothesis. If I followed an 18-wheeler for the duration of the trip, I could avoid the normal wind resistance, and in turn, increase my car’s fuel efficiency by roughly 25%. (I aimed high.) My car normally gets 24 miles to the gallon on the highway, and I tested out my theory between New Jersey and Florida and I was getting 38 miles to the gallon! Granted, I probably annoyed 15-20 truckers who noticed I was tailgating them for hours on end, but the end definitely justified the means.
So I finally arrived at Howard Johnson’s in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Internet there was thru Ethernet cable only, so I drove to Target to get a small one. Upon arriving at Target, I quickly found out that the smallest one they had was 25 feet long, which was around 24 feet longer than I actually needed. I convinced myself that I might need it again someday, so I went ahead and bought it. Why was this significant? This was the only thing I bought on my trip down. (Besides hotels and gas) I’m very proud of this. I brought a cooler with various food items, peanut butter, jelly, granola bars, a case of Gatorade, and a case of vitamin water and power bars.

So I left Virginia and drove to Port Wentworth, Georgia, stopping twice. (I thank you) I got there at three o’clock and didn’t know what to do with myself. Let’s just say that 70 dollars in Georgia goes a lot further than 70 dollars in Massachusetts. Saying the 70-dollar hotel I stayed at in Georgia was an upgrade from the 70 dollar one in Sturbridge is like saying, ‘Tiger Woods is ok at golf.’ (Also known as, the understatement of the year.)
So, anyways I drove to Savannah, Georgia and checked out one of the oldest cities in the United States. It was fascinating, although I wish I had a clue about where to go and what to see. I decided to check out the river walk, and the old architecture made me feel like I was in Italy or Spain. All the roads were cobblestone and the streets were very narrow. It was absolutely incredible.
During my walk-about, I got extremely lost, which hurt my ego. I think it had something to do with the GPS though (not to keep blaming it for things). I had become so reliant on something to tell me where to go, I feel as though without it I probably would have done what most people do, which is grab a map at the visitor information center (which I walked by a couple times). I really wasn’t mad, or in a hurry, and because of this casual attitude about time, I saw some of the oldest houses in the United States and incredible architecture to boot.

During the final leg of my trip I had a lot of time to kill. I left Port Wentworth at around 8 am, and had all day to get to Gainesville, which was only about three or four hours away. As we say in Maine, I ‘moseyed’ down 95, checking out various tourist traps. I got excited because there were a lot of signs advertising for these ‘Georgia Peaches’ on Exit 7, and I suddenly wanted to see what a peach farm was all about, so I took exit 7 only to find a peach stand. I asked the guy where his farm was and if I could check it out. I guess to a Georgia native, that is a dumb question, because as it turns out there is a county called Peach County where the majority of the farms are located. So, while I did have a lot of time to kill, driving across the state of Georgia to see a couple of peach trees wasn’t exactly an efficient use of time and/or gas, so I sacrificed four dollars and bought a lot of peaches. Like I said, money goes a lot farther in Georgia than most states, and four dollars can get you enough peaches to last for a couple weeks. (I speak from experience) Let’s talk about something. The first peach I had might have been one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, and that is no exaggeration. If you gave me an ultimatum between gas and peaches, I would have gladly parked my car in Georgia and walked all the way to Gainesville eating them. Luckily there was no ultimatum; so instead, I drove all the way to Gainesville eating them. You know that saying, too much of a good thing is a bad thing? I never accepted that as fact until now. I now understand on a deeper level what that means. If I never saw another peach in my life, I wouldn’t lose any sleep.

So, I arrived at Gainesville…. To be continued

Outliers and Basketball Coaching

I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success last week, and have been trying to process the plethora of information presented. For those who don’t know, Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine since 1996. Gladwell’s writings often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences field and are often interlaced with education and sports related stories. If you want a sampling of his writing, I recommend ‘googling’ (has this become a verb?) “Quarterbacks vs. Teachers” or “David vs. Goliath.” (Both of which have been featured in the New Yorker magazine) In 2005, Time named Malcolm Gladwell one if its 100 most influential people.

In statistics, an outlier is something or someone that lies an abnormal distance from other values in a random sample from a population. To put this concept into real terms, if during a track meet every sprinter in the 100-meter dash finished between 11.5 and 12.9 seconds, but there was one sprinter who produced a winning time of 9.8 seconds, this individual would be the outlier of the group. Gladwell attempts to analyze 'outliers' in our society, both past and present, and find the commonalities that set these individuals apart.

During the course of the first few chapters, Gladwell's evaluations reach out to individuals such as Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft), Bill Joy (creator of Unix), The Beatles and John D. Rockefeller (to name a few). Gladwell attempts to link variables between these success stories to try and find an objective way to measure success and the correct way to attain it.

In Chapter 2, Gladwell introduces the 10,000-hour rule. The rule is fairly simple... to be an outlier, you need to achieve over 10,000 hours of practice in the particular field you're either associated with, or want to be associated with. For Bill Gates, he had been programming computers for well over 10,000 hours before he graduated from high school. The Beatles completed 10,000 hours of practice while playing live shows in Hamburg, Germany seven days a week, before they hit it big. The great composer and pianist Mozart finished his 10,000 hours on piano before he reached his teens. However, this 10,000 rule is simply one variable of success, another is opportunity.

All outliers were presented with extraordinary opportunity, and just as equally important, autonomy. Bill Gates had complete access to a computer with 'state of the art' programming software as a young teen, when at the time; most college-professors who were computer science specialists in the United States did not.

Timing is essential to the existence of an outlier. The 75 riches people of all time were born within 9 years of each other in the mid 19th century.

01. John Rockefeller, 1839.
02. Andrew Carnegie, 1835.
28.Frederick Weyerhaeuser, 1834.
33. Jay Gould, 1836.
34. Marshall Field, 1834.
35. George Baker, 1840.
36. Hetty Green, 1834.
44. James G. Fair, 1831.
54. Henry H. Rogers, 1840.
57. J.P. Morgan, 1837.
58. Oliver Payne, 1839.
62. George Pullman, 1831.
64. Peter Widener, 1834.
65. Philip Armor, 1832.

Why is this significant? During the 1860's and 70's, the American economy went through one of the most significant transformations in our history. Railways were being built, Wall Street emerged, and the American dream was a very real possibility. If you were born in the 1840's you were too young to take advantage of the rich opportunity and wealth. If you were born in the 1820's you were too old because your mindset was already shaped by the 'pre-Civil War' paradigm.

Yes, all of these men and women had talent, vision, and a great work ethic; but they were also blessed with an incredible opportunity and autonomy to pursue wealth and prosperity.

The three most influential people in the development of the personal computer were all born within 6 months of each other; Bill Joy, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The personal computer was invented in 1975 when all three of our computer programming gurus had turned 21. If they had been 17 or 18 when the PC came onto the market, they would have been too young and inexperienced to impact the market. If they had been 24 or 25, they would have been preoccupied with bills, their career, and a family life.

Gladwell also discusses how your cultural legacy can either be a hindrance, or very beneficial, to your success. For instance, Gerard Hofstede, a Dutch writer, came up with a system to measure how close or how distant relationship superiors like to have with their subordinates, and that subordinates like to have with their superiors. (In relation to cultures and countries) Hofstede called this a Power Distance Index (PDI). The United States has a very low PDI, in other words, subordinates don't feel as distant to their superiors (and vice-versa) in comparison to most cultures and countries around the World. Nations in Asia have a very high PDI, meaning subordinates feel distant from their superiors, and to go one step further, show a great amount of respect to these individuals.

During Chapter 7, Gladwell tells the story of Korean Air, formerly one of the most dangerous airlines in the world. During a twenty-year span, Korean Air was responsible for the loss of over 700 lives. However, since 1997, Korean Air has not had one single crash and was just given an outstanding achievement award for being one of the safest airlines in the sky. How did Korean Air produce such a remarkable turn-around? By understanding their cultural legacy and by examining the Power Distance Index.

On average, during a plane crash, seven consecutive human errors have to occur. On every commercial flight, there are two pilots. Communication between these pilots is imperative for a safe flight to occur. In a cockpit, there is the captain of the plane, and a second in command. In The United States, where the PDI is so low, communication between the second in command and the captain happens effortlessly. However, the reason why Korean Air experienced so many problems was because of how high the PDI was and currently still is in Korea, and how this affected communication. The second pilot in command felt so below the Captain, and the Captain above the second pilot, that communication didn't occur. If small errors happened, they weren't reported to each other and because of that, accidents were frequent. Once Korean Air concluded that their problems were cultural and not logistical, they immediately changed their communication strategies, and haven’t had an airline crash in almost thirteen years.

Asian cultures are renowned for being extremely hard working. "No one who can rise before dawn three-hundred-sixty days a year fails to make his family rich." This Chinese proverb presents the reader with a vehicle into the mind-set of Chinese culture, and also with details about the values and morals they hold to high standards. The value of hard work is an important cog in the structure of success, and because of this philosophy, Chinese students produce some of the highest test scores in the world across curriculum. This diligence, of course, brings about more success to that individual.

While it is impossible for me to summarize the entire book while still doing it justice, essentially what Malcolm Gladwell argues in Outliers is that there are many factors involved with success. Many people assume that success is directly correlated to genius and natural talent, but instead, Gladwell squashes this assumption by declaring that success is a byproduct of 10,000 hours of practice, lucky opportunities, cultural legacy, upbringing, and timing. When we talk about the successful ‘individuals’ it’s ironic that we use that word, because without a community of people fostering propitious behaviors and habits, we would have no idea who any of the aforementioned ‘individuals’ were.


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So, when analyzing one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time... we can still apply Gladwell's principles for success…

John Wooden was born on a small farm in Hall, Indiana to Roxie Anna and Joshua Hugh Wooden. Wooden’s parents raised him with strong Christian values that gave him a foundation upon which to coach, teach and live his life. At a young age, Wooden had to work very hard around the farm during the day, and by night, listened to his father recite poetry and bible readings to him and his brothers. Wooden's love of poetry and reading contributed not only to his wealth of knowledge, but to the endless amount of basketball maxims that still continue Wooden's coaching legacy today.

"Be quick, but don't hurry."
"The best way to improve the team is to improve yourself."
"If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?"

These phrases also show us the culture that Wooden associated with, that helped shape who he was... a hardworking, intelligent, respectful and responsible gentleman.

At one point, early in his life, Wooden was going to accept the head-coaching job at the University of Minnesota. Wooden was going to take over for head coach Dave MacMillan and the University of Minnesota wanted to demote MacMillan to assistant coach. Naturally, Wooden thought this would present an awkward situation for both men, so he requested to bring in his own assistant coach, Eddie Powell. The Athletic Director Frank McCormick was going to run the decision by the board and give Wooden a telephone call at 6:00pm, if everything went according to plan.

At the same time, Wooden had visited UCLA and while he did like their campus, he wanted to stay closer to home. If the Minnesota job fell through however, he was going to take the UCLA head coaching position, so he told UCLA to call him at 7:00pm with their offer.

On April 7th there was a terrible snowstorm raging through Minneapolis. Wooden wasn’t aware and waited patiently by his telephone at 6:00. 6:30 came and went, and Wooden was starting to assume that the board had rejected his offer. When Wilbur Johns, Athletic Director at UCLA called Wooden at 7:00pm, Wooden had to accept the job. At 8:00pm, Frank McCormick called Wooden to tell him everything was in place and “all-set." A distraught Wooden, true to himself and his beliefs, had to reject the offer.

If John Wooden had stayed at the University of Minnesota, would he have been able to recruit California all-Americans Gail Goodrich, Sidney Wicks, Dave Meyers and Bill Walton? Could Wooden have convinced Walt Hazzard, Lew Alcindor and Richard Washington to play basketball in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Probably not. While I'm sure Wooden's teams would have been formidable and competitive; and when you co-vary all other factors, he still would have been an outstanding coach and individual no-matter where or when, but, would we still hold him to the same high esteem? To think that a snowstorm changed someone's life so dramatically, it's easy to say a lucky opportunity contributed to Wooden's success. So even when we consider the life of John Wooden, we can see how his path to success was paved with hard work, his culture's legacy, lucky opportunities, his upbringing, and timing.

The notion of collectivism is what every coach wants his team to embody. When we look at some of the greatest players of our era, they had outstanding supporting casts. When you look at the greatest coaches of our era, they had outstanding mentors and role models.


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When watching coaching clinics or videos, one has to understand that division one head coaches are extremely good salesmen... (A lesson from Coach Meader)

You can be intrigued by Jim Boeheim, explaining how every high school and college coach in the nation should use the Orangemen 2-3 zone. You can start to imagine your players in this 2-3 alignment, shutting down towering post players with your undersized team and hoisting up a conference title.

Then after Boeheim, Dean Smith could convince you to play attack style, man-to-man defense. He could tell you how to get up in the passing lanes, bump the cutters, and front the post. He could allow you to imagine your players diving after loose balls, not allowing penetration, forcing opponents baseline and taking momentum-shifting charges, ultimately shutting down even the most dangerous offensive teams... hoisting up a state championship with great thanks to your incredible attack defense!

I think it's important for coaches, with so much information out there, to be realists. In this conceptual age that we are living in, where defenses and offenses are not being invented, but adjusted to team personnel, it's so important to never be satisfied with your knowledge of the game. While you can't control who your parents are, if a lucky break occurs in your favor, or the timing of your existence on this planet, you can control your attitude and how hard you work. One of my favorite Bob Knight quotes aligns with Gladwell's thesis to a T.

"Everyone has got the will to win, it's only those with the will to prepare that do win."

Welcome

Welcome to my basketball blog!

Allow me to briefly tell you about myself. My name is Sam Boynton and in the fall I will be entering my fourth and final year at the University of Maine at Farmington. If all goes according to plan, on May 16th, 2010 I will be receiving a secondary education degree from UMF with a concentration in the social sciences.

I graduated from Erskine Academy in June 2006 and was a member of the Erskine Academy basketball program for four years. During that time span we brought back a gold ball from Bangor and made it to the tournament three out of the four years under the direction of head coach Tim Bonsant. (Hall of fame player at USM under legendary coach Bob Brown whose son serves as an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs)

During my first year at UMF, I played basketball under Coach Dick Meader, which allowed me to experience the faster game that Division III basketball has to offer. Not only was the pace quicker in comparison to high school basketball, but players were bigger, faster and stronger. Windows of opportunity closed abruptly, so decisions had to be made with the utmost instinct, and with supreme confidence.

Over the past two years, I have been the freshmen basketball coach at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, Maine as well as an assistant on the varsity team under Coach Jim Bessey. My experience at Mt. Blue has been nothing but a positive one, and learning the game under Coach Bessey and the Mt. Blue coaching staff has been the opportunity of a lifetime. The marriage between his passion and knowledge of the game is unmatched, and even though he has amassed nearly 450 wins (playing 18 game seasons), he is still one of the most underrated coaches in our state.

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Throughout my entire life, I have always worked manual labor type jobs during the summer to make some extra money. As a resident of Whitefield, Maine I started working on a farm when I was nine years old, picking strawberries and green beans. Every morning I would wake up at seven and bike the two miles to work. During my high school years, the strawberries and green beans eventually turned into milking cows and stacking hay bales. Even though the days were arduous, and the haylofts were excruciatingly hot, the satisfaction of having a vehicle and extra pocket money were too enticing to give up. After I graduated from high school, these jobs helped me pay my way through college. A connection through Mt. Blue basketball allowed me to receive a job working construction during the summer of 2008.

While I am extremely thankful for these opportunities, not only because of the monetary rewards, but also for the appreciation and values that a hard days work has given me, during September 2008 I decided I wanted to make money doing something I absolutely loved… coaching the game of basketball.

I had just finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and after feeling a surge of motivation, I decided that if I was going to spend my summer coaching basketball, than I would dream big and really go for it. I applied to work summer camps at the University of Florida, Duke University and Syracuse. After months and months of hearing absolutely nothing from the aforementioned, I started to come to the realization that my summer might have more cow manure in it than I truly desired.

On April 10, Coach Spatola, Director of Basketball Operations at Duke University sent me an e-mail extending an invitation to work at Duke University for three weeks. I immediately called Coach Bess to tell him the news, still in shock. Even today, it still hasn’t completely sunk in, and I don’t predict it will until I step onto the Duke Campus in June and explore Cameron Indoor.

Almost systematically, the following week Coach Fine from Syracuse also extended me a two-week invitation to work with the Orangemen.
Finally, two weeks ago, Coach Hertz from Florida offered me a coaching position at Billy Donovan’s basketball camp in Gainesville, Florida.

My summer schedule now looks like this:

June 8-11th- Billy Donovan’s Basketball Camp (UF)
June 13-17, 20-24, and 27-July 1st- Coach K’s Basketball camp (Duke)
July 5-9, 12-16th- Hoop Camp (Casco, Maine)
July 22-25, 26-31st- Jim Boeheim’s Big Orange Camp (Syracuse)
August 2-6, 9-13th- Pine Tree Camp (Colby)


If I were to create a mission statement for this blog, it would serve as an opportunity for me to reflect on my experiences on and off the court, as well as provide information to fellow students of the game. Basketball has always been a passion in my life, and it has led me to become a better student, better friend, and a better human being.

I hope this will become an interactive forum for discussion, but if it doesn’t, I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures. I’ll be leaving June 4th from Whitefield, Maine. Feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail.

Thanks!



Sam Boynton
Sam.boynton@maine.edu
(207) 446-6102