SWENSDAY STUFF

Assessment is the Beginning of Change, and Change is the Beginning of Excellence
Swen Nater
 
At dinner with Coach Wooden, family, and my Costco boss a few years ago, I said something that was humorous. Coach asked, “Swen, where do you get all those jokes?”
 
I took full advantage of the moment and said, “Coach, when I was sitting on the bench, I had a lot of time on my hands. People in the stands, right behind the bench, used to tell me jokes. That’s how I got them.”
 
He thought deeply for a few seconds and then said, “That explains something Swen. There were a few times I looked down the bench because I wanted to put you in the game, but you were looking behind you so I didn’t bother.”
 
Many believe the main reason for UCLA becoming a championship team in 1964 was that Coach Wooden finally got the talent to win it all. They assume Coach Wooden’s system, up to that point, was good enough to make the Bruins a contender, but what got them over the top was the acquisition of great players. To a degree that is true, for you can’t win it all without talent. But few know, at the end of the 1961-1962 season, two years before UCLA’s first championship, Coach made four major changes in the way he did things that were the main reasons for UCLA winning its first championship and the nine more that followed. Too bad for me; one of those changes had me sitting on the bench.
 
1. Go With a Seven-Man Rotation
Coach was a nice guy. He wanted all of his players to play in the games. Prior to his first championship, he played almost all of his players. But that philosophy, in his opinion and for his team, didn’t produce the kind of teamwork he knew he needed to win it all. He stopped being “Mr. Nice Guy” and went with seven starters and the rest were the non-starters or the support group.

2. Improve What You Do Best; Don’t Add Things
Every post season, before he began making the major changes, he added new plays and defenses in order to throw something new at the opponents. When he began looking at that philosophy, he realized, the time he used to add the new things could have been used to perfect the good things his team was already doing. He decided, instead of changing plays, it was better to perfect the plays that he had.

3. Maintain Conditioning; Don’t Kill Them
Coach was a believer in conditioning. Prior to the first championship season, he believed he could get the players in even better shape during the post season. He worked them hard. But, when he assessed that strategy, he realized he was playing tired players and that may have been a reason for his lack of success in the tournament. He decided to simply maintain conditioning during the playoffs and even give the players some rest. He felt, their conditioning would actually improve this way.  

4. Install the Full-Court Press
Coach used full-court pressure as a high school coach and at Indiana University with success. But his early UCLA teams didn’t do as well and he aborted the concept. However, after the loss to Cincinnati in the NCAA semifinals of the 1962 Final Four, Jerry Norman, his brilliant assistant coach, suggested he put it in and gave his reasons why. After serious consideration, Coach accepted Coach Norman’s suggestion. Many think the Press was the single most important reason for UCLA beginning to ring the cash register with championships.
 
All four changes would never have been made had it not been for Coach Wooden’s resolve to deeply assess what he had been doing. He told me he put everything he did on the “Table of Review and Examination.” Nothing was sacred. Every part of his program, from Xs and Os, to drills and practice organization, was eligible for elimination or revision. He questioned the relevancy, efficiency, and practicality of everything.
 
Change that results in increased productivity begins with taking inventory and assessing each item in that inventory. Assessment and change always leads to improvement and excellence. I believe it is safe to say, had Coach not objectively and aggressively judged his program with the purpose of moving UCLA from the Final Four to the Championship level, basketball history would be a lot different.
 
I’m not completely serious about this but, I kind of wish I was born ten years earlier—before Coach made the change to go with the seven-man rotation. But then again; I wouldn’t have learned as many jokes.