Going to pile on JB a bit more here. His complete dictatorship of the program extended to him making all decisions, which likely leads to his coaching progeny not being all that good. It was always amazing to me to see other hall of fame coaches consulting with their assistants at the beginning of time outs. But never with JB.
Final decisions -JB was definitely the last word but assistants praised him throughout the years for delegating authority, allowing them the freedom to prepare the players, lead practices etc that most head coaches didn’t. JB was far from a micromanager. In game decisions, and analysis, JB excelled at, I don’t know how teachable that characteristic is. I know some brilliant people who have trouble teaching what they know because it’s so innate to them. Knowing who and when to substitute, when to change tempo, the feel for a game is tough to teach, it’s gained by analyzing, experience, asking questions and one’s own innate ability to observe, motivate and understand. JB used timeouts to talk to the players immediately, not use the time to talk to the assistants in a circle before even speaking to the players - many coaches do this too. Probably good and poor coaches chose their own certain style.
I spoke years ago to a Villanova staff member who praised the freedom JB gave his assistants with the players, practices etc. He said that Massimino micromanaged everything that he used to even check how each player rolled their socks before travel. He said many head coaches are total control freaks but despite not liking JB for competitive reasons, that he didn’t lack candidates who wanted to be an assistant at SU.
JB was a prolific reader who studied and read about military history and their leaders. A teammate said JB was always very serious about learning how to motivate, strategize and assumed he had a very high basketball IQ, seeing possible plays before they ever occurred. He said Boeheim was learning when his teammates on trips were sleeping, playing cards, screwing around - Boeheim read. That was JB’s way and I imagine every successful coach devised his own way to excel and what to study, implement over time.
Look at Coach K’s record his first years at Duke - it took time. Duke fans were ticked that their successful coach, Bill Foster, quit and went to S Carolina to coach for more $ and the admin picked the young Army coach K to succeed him. He went 38-47 his first 3 years at Duke and there were very loud cries for his firing. If Scheyer had coach K’s same record, doubt he’d still be the coach there. I don’t know Red’s ability to excel, improve over time like some other coaches but the current college basketball big money atmosphere doesn’t give coaches the time to adjust, learn on the job over time anymore. It’s just a fact, patience can no longer be afforded to be a virtue leading to multiple coaches, multiple contracts over short periods of time for many programs. Sorry this is so long.
