Excerpt
On the day I took over as head coach at North Carolina, the chances of my finishing
out my career in that job were about a hundred to one. Most Division 1 basketball
coaches are fired somewhere along the line. Some become athletic directors; others
became TV commentators or enter a new vocation. Only a lucky few retire as coaches.
One of the first things I did was institute the "tired signal." When a player was
tired, I told him he could pull himself from the game. All he had to do was hold up a
clenched fist. The trade-off was that he could put himself back in when he was ready.
Looking back on it, I realize that often when I did something differently or
innovatively as a head coach, I did it as a reaction to other coaches I had
known--because I disagreed with them. Much as I respected Phog Allen, I wanted to
rest my own players more than he had rested his. I knew we were in good physical
condition, but our pressure defense and constant movement off the ball made it
difficult not to be tired. Also, there were just a few games on TV, thus no TV
time-outs then. When fatigue sets in, execution breaks down. I decided I would rather
hav ... read full excerpt from: A Coach's Life: My Forty Years in College Basketball ebook
