Most of us work at jobs where we feel there’s much more to our job than meets the eye.
I’ll suggest that there are few places that is more true than as a major college basketball or football coach.
Of course the final measuring stick is a coach’s won-lost record. There are seldom any reasons to retain a coach who simply isn’t winning.
If you can, for a moment, forget the circumstances of the last three months of Joe Paterno’s life, I can personally tell you that among the most faithful of Penn State fans the majority were calling for his dismissal during the early 2000’s as the Nittany Lions suffered through losing seasons.
This was a man who at the time had done more for his university than any other coach in history.
Yet, in the sections of Beaver Stadium that the Nittany Lion Club asked for the highest donation level to maintain your seats within, almost everyone wanted him fired. Why?
Because Penn State was losing.
"What’ve you done for us lately, Joe?"
I bring this up today because I believe one of the finest rising talents in the world of college basketball coaching, UVA’s own Tony Bennett, has likely been involved of late in some of the aspects of his job that we don’t always think about.
When your friend says someone’s a "good coach", what exactly does he mean?
Generally, it’s as simple as that coach is winning more games than he’s losing.
No one will dispute that Tony Bennett is a good coach.
But today’s head basketball coach must wear many hats to be successful at his trade.
Those hats include (but may not be limited to): Recruiting, teaching, strategizing, delegating, being "dad", being "mom", being priest/minister/rabbi, being a confidante, being a therapist, being a taskmaster, being the warden. You can probably think of other roles. And, of course, there are subsets to many of the aforementioned.
For example, what makes a good recruiter?
First, you need to be able to sit in their living room and convince mom and dad that their boy will be in good hands with you. You need to determine which of those hats mentioned above are most important to each set of parents, and sometimes you need to do that on the fly. As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and that first visit to them may well decide if there will be a first visit to your school.
This is not a one-way street, either.
As a coach is trying to put the right foot forward to sell a potential recruit on himself, his program and his institution, he also needs to be determining whether he positively wants those feet on his basketball court!
He needs to be able to assess a potential recruit’s character. Does he have the right mental make-up to fit into the program? Does he have the ability to see the "big picture", to understand all that will be required of him to succeed within that program? Can he handle the academic requirements?
Yup, no easy job, this coaching stuff.
So, why all this today?
Because, if you have been following "The Perils of Pauline" known as the University of Virginia’s Men’s Basketball season, you know there is great concern right now about one Sammy Zeglinski.
Sammy has been an integral part of this team’s success.
Yes, Mike Scott is the "big horse". We surely wouldn’t be having this discussion without all the contributions he’s made to this team and the success he’s enjoyed this season.
But to many observers, Sammy Zeglinski is the heart and soul of this basketball team. A fifth-year senior, Sammy has exhibited that "Philly boy" toughness throughout his time here, playing despite nagging injuries with nary a complaint or excuse.
In the eight games prior to the ACC season Sammy was 26-58 from three-point range, or 44.8%. In the eight games since league play began that shooting percentage has dropped off dramatically to just 26.6%.
Just as Sammy has been an integral part of his team’s success, he has been the most obvious reason for its failures.
Teams are just that, teams. But in the Cavaliers’ three ACC losses by 3 (Duke), 2 (Virginia Tech), and 3 (Florida State), Sammy has been 0-5, 0-6, and 1-5 from beyond the arc.
The math isn’t hard to do.
But before you begin to think this is a condemnation of Sammy Zeglinski, you need to understand he continues to contribute in every other way. He knows the game. And, like every other member of this team, he plays hard every second (another measurement of a "good coach").
After defeats at Duke and at home to Virginia Tech, teammates acknowledged they needed Sammy and still had total faith in him.
On Saturday in Tallahassee, as Zeglinski had another subpar game, Jontel Evans and freshman Malcolm Brogdon picked up the slack and nearly pulled off an astonishing comeback.
But although the ‘Hoos fell short, it was the strongest demonstration to date that yes, things go better when Sammy’s shot is "on", but this team isn’t dead in the water if it’s not.
And this is where coaching behind the scenes comes in.
With the possibility of benching Zeglinski in favor of Brogdon being raised, Bennett claimed that the distribution of minutes among his perimeter players was more important than who started and who came off the bench.
Zeglinski would continue to start. A vote of confidence meant to instill confidence in his beleaguered player.
But also since Saturday you can bet that this team has had it made clear to them that they can succeed regardless of whether contributions are coming from the expected sources or from other places.
A college basketball season is a long trail drive. It is ever evolving.
A coach must observe, evaluate, and react to its ebbs and flows.
The extent to which he does so successfully ultimately determines the level of success, or lack thereof, his team will enjoy. And also whether he is seen as a "good coach".
As previously stated, the University of Virginia has a good coach.
The second half of the ACC season begins tonight. If you’re not excited about what awaits this basketball team over the next four to seven weeks you better check for a pulse.