Friday, March 13, 1998
Where the Legacy Began
Q&A: Coaching great John Wooden talks about his experiences,
feelings and visions for college basketball
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Staff
When the name "John Wooden" is spoken, one thinks of dominating
basketball and an incomprehensible string of national
championships.
He is known simply as the "Wizard of Westwood," and is widely
considered to be the greatest basketball coach of all time.
Yet, he is so much more than a coach – he is also a writer, a
teacher and a philosopher.
In a two-part interview, Coach Wooden shared his views on a wide
spectrum of issues ranging from the changing state of college
basketball to his lasting legacy at UCLA, as well as his inspiring
secrets for success – both on and off the court.
Mr. Wooden, your coaching philosophy was very unique, and
apparently a very successful, coaching philosophy. In a nutshell,
can you tell UCLA exactly what that was?
First of all, I never talked to my players about winning in the
general sense that most people consider winning. My whole
philosophy is based on trying to get them to never think about
their opponent, just think about themselves. I say never
compare.
It is impossible to compare accurately and validly so just
concentrate on improving yourself day by day. You do it in great
leaps and bounds, but just try to do a little bit everyday and if
you do that every day, just a little bit a little bit, and a little
bit, it eventually adds up to a considerable amount.
My definition for success is peace of mind is achieved only by
self-satisfaction of knowing that you made the best effort of which
you are capable of. Everybody is equal in that respect – no one is
better than you are in terms of making the best effort of which are
capable of. We’re not equal as far as size, or appearance or other
ways, but we are all equal in terms of having the opportunity of
making the best with what we have. That was my whole philosophy in
trying to get that idea across.
Your pyramid of success is well-known around the UCLA campus and
the college basketball community. Tell me, how did you develop it
and do you still stand by it?
I do indeed stand by it, yes. I’ve never liked the idea that a
person’s success can be measured by the mark they make in the
classroom, or the number of points they score in a basketball game.
I think only the individual knows whether or not they made the
effort of which they are capable.
I love poetry, and I had verse that said, "At God’s footstool to
confess a poor soul knelt and bowed his head, ‘I failed he cried,’
the master said ‘Tho did thy best that is success.’"
That made an impression on me, and I thought about that when I
coined my definition of success. But, my development of the pyramid
resulted because some parents of some of my students in my English
class – if they didn’t get an A or B – thought either my students
failed or that the teacher failed.
Now, not everyone can earn an ‘A’ or a ‘B.’ And I had youngsters
who didn’t get an A or a B who I thought did very well, maybe as
well as some youngsters who received an A or a B. So then I began
thinking of something, and I knew how they judge athletic teams –
if you win them all, you are considered to be reasonably
successful.
After coining the definition it didn’t seem to be getting the
desirable results that I had hoped for – either from myself
individually or from those under my supervision – and I tried to
analyze that and determine why, and I finally decided it is because
something you couldn’t see so I wanted to get something you can see
and gradually I came up with the idea of the pyramid.
I started out with the cornerstones and never changed that –
work hard and love what you’re doing. One is industryism and the
other is enthusiasm. Don’t worry about what others think, just you
make the best of what you have.
In fact, your reputation and character are two things that
define you – your reputation is what others perceive you to be, and
your character is what you really are. You are the only one who
really knows what your character is. Now, that is just in general,
I can talk an hour on the pyramid.
Basketball has undergone a tremendous amount of change – both in
the style of play and the rules of the game – since you last
coached. If you could change one thing about the college game today
what would it be?
You’d be surprised at what I might say. If I could change just
one thing, It might be to abolish the dunk.
It’s the most exciting thing as far as fans are concerned – fans
roar when there’s a dunk. And yet, they make a real good play, like
a screen-and-roll or a nice cut or give-and-go, where there is
teamwork involved and you’ll get a smattering of applause.
I think there’s too much showmanship today. We talked about
change, there’s far more showmanship, and I don’t like showmanship.
When I coached, behind the back pass or behind the back dribble, or
something excessive in showmanship meant you went to the bench. I
think that, to me, has hurt the game. This is just an opinion now,
it doesn’t mean it’s fact.
With the prevalence of all-sports television and radio stations,
as well as electronic media and other such outlets, media pressure
nowadays is incredibly intense. Was it that intense when you
coached at UCLA?
It is the same, but I don’t think it amounts to a hill of beans.
If the coach permits the media or the alumni, or the parents, or
any outside thing from that point to bother him in any way that’s a
weakness.
There’s only one type of pressure that’s important, it’s the
pressure that you put on yourself. I don’t care what you’re doing –
whether it’s your job or some other job, or a dentist, or a
surgeon, or a groundskeeper or whatever, it doesn’t matter – the
pressure you put on yourself is the only thing that really
matters.
What about the differences in recruiting?
I think it’s changed in the fact that they’re going to a farther
field to recruit. We’ve had coaches at UCLA that have gone to
Czechoslovakia and places all over across the country. I didn’t
used to do that at all, and not many coaches did either.
Now you see so many California high school players playing back
in the Midwest, and they didn’t used to do that. If you do a good
job you will draw good players from other areas who find out about
you. But, in places like Southern California, the population is
here and all the activities here. You should just try to keep the
ones here that you can and if you do a good job other good ones
will come to you.
I never went to New York to visit Lew Alcindor. I never visited
players from out-of-state to come here, I wanted them to be
interested in us. I don’t think they do that anymore.
Is it necessary? Well, I think it would be necessary if you
coached in Eugene or Pullman and other places, but I don’t think
it’s necessary in Southern California because the population is so
much here and the athleticism of all our youngsters in all sports
is just enormous.
Over the past two decades, the style and attitudes of the
players as a whole have dramatically changed. It seems that
sometimes teamwork has taken a back seat to individual glory, at
least much more often than when you coached. Considering that, if
you were still in your prime and were given the chance to coach
college basketball in modern times, would you do it?
Teaching is the most wonderful profession. The two most
important professions in the world are parenting – that’s the most
important -and teaching. You bet, I would love to teach youngsters
and work with them. And I think if you are fair with them and be
consistent with your fairness, you will be fine.
You don’t have to treat them all alike, that’s being unfair. If
you treat them all alike, that’s showing prejudice. You have to try
to give everyone the treatment they earn and deserve.
If you try to do that and recognize the fact you are imperfect
and you’re not going to be correct all the time, and if you try to
give everyone the treatment they earn and you listen to them if
they want to be heard, I don’t think there would be any more
problems than there were in the past.
Now, lets turn a little bit back toward UCLA. How much
communication do you have with the Bruin coaches and players?
If they contact me, I’ll talk to them. I never want to be put in
a position where it could be seen that I was interfering. I have
stayed away from basketball banquets for that very reason, and I
don’t go to practice. The only time I ever go to practice is if
some coach asked me to come and give my opinion on something. I
have done that in the past years, when I have been invited by the
coach specifically to do that. I would never go in to practice
voluntarily.
After all these years is Pauley Pavilion still a special place
for you?
Yes, it is. I still think Pauley Pavilion is one of the greatest
places for the opposing teams of any place I know.
The fans are farther from the floor and that’s better for the
opposing teams. I wanted the first row of bleachers on the side to
be at least 12 feet from the sideline and the ends to be at least
20 feet from the end lines. I had something to do with that and I
like that.
I wanted the opposing team’s dressing room to be identical to
the home team’s dressing room, and it was that way when it was
built.
I’ve gone to places where the opposing team was living in luxury
and the home team would hang their clothes on nails – things of
that sort. I wanted to give treatment to opponents the same
treatment our team would receive – just the way I would like to be
treated. Some people said I was crazy.
There has been much controversy aroused in the recent shrinking
of choice seats in the student section. What is your opinion of
that?
I permitted my name to go on the Wooden Center because it was
going to be for the students and not just the athletes. In many
ways, we do too much for the athletes – in many ways, not always.
Primarily it was going to be for students, and I am very proud that
activities have gone on in there.
So, obviously I think a lot of students. I think we have
interscholastic athletics for the students.
But at the same time, you know the reason they do that? How much
money did the women’s athletics program make? How about the
expenses? It’ s a lot. Where are you going to get that money?
You’re going to get the money from two sports – basketball and
football – so the answer to the question is I understand why they
have to do it.
You speak of the money, generated by the two main sports. Now, a
majority of that comes from television contracts. What kind of
influence has television had on college basketball?
To me television is the worst thing that ever happened to
collegiate basketball. It interrupts the flow of the game because
of extra time outs. It has made actors out of players, coaches and
officials to some degree. It has brought about playing games every
day of the week, every hour of the day.
A lot of games now are played on Sundays, and it’s primarily
because of television. I think it’s been the worst thing for
intercollegiate basketball.
Television may have had a dramatic impact on another part of the
college basketball – the NCAA Tournament which started this week.
When you coached the NCAA Tournament had, at various times, only 16
or 32 teams. It has since increased to 64 schools. Is this good for
the game?
I think it ought to be a tournament of champions. I don’t
believe, for example, that Arizona should have had an opportunity
to win the championship, and they did. I don’t think a team that
finished fifth in their conference belongs in it.
Now there might have been reasons why it happened – it’s a long
season and you have injuries and what not. But, I think it should
be based on how well you do all season long in the conference. You
play a home-and-home game with every team in the conference – those
are the ones that you go for.
If you’re going to go that far, you may as well let them all in.
And all the receipts that will eventually go to the teams that get
in, all the receipts from the tournament – TV, radio, sales,
everything – should be divided into equal shares, and you get one
share for every game you play.
So, half of all the teams in there are going to get one share.
Then the half that’s left gets two shares. And eventually, instead
of a team getting a million, a million and a half dollars, every
team is going to get 50 or 60 thousand dollars. Let them all in. If
you’re going to let 64 in, let them all in.
Give us your assessment on UCLA’s chances in the tourney?
There’s probably only 15 or 20 of the 64 that could possibly win
it. You have to go with the team that seems to the best, and that
would be either Arizona, Duke, North Carolina or Kansas.
I’d like to see UCLA win it, but when you analyze the way they
played against the top teams all year long. What did they do
against Stanford? What did they do against Arizona? What did they
do against North Carolina? What did they do against Duke? They
lost. I would say if you analyze it, I don’t pick them as one of
the teams that will win it. They are the one I hope wins it, but I
can’t pick them to.
UCLA is entering the Tourney as a sixth seed and is not expected
to go very far. Do you have any advice for them from the man who
won an NCAA record 38 consecutive Tournament games?
Well, it’s kind of an old cliche. My feeling is to always
concentrate on today. The past will never change. The future can
only be affected by what you do today. Don’t worry about particular
opponent or where you’re going, concentrate on the one thing of
which you can do – that is make the effort to do the best of what
you’re capable of.
The second part of the John Wooden interview will appear in
Thursday. Among other topics, he will discuss a wide variety of hot
issues in college and professional basketball, explain why he never
coached in the NBA, and talk about his lasting legacy in
Westwood.PATRICK LAM
Former coach John Wooden signs autographs during a game.
UCLA Sports Information
John Wooden motions to the team during a game. He retired from
coaching in 1975.