...Identity

March Madness 2022 is nearing an end. In one week, we will have our champion. There have been a lot of storylines from this great tournament, but the most memorable is 15 Seed St. Peters making the Elite 8; the first 15 seed to do so. Good players, coaching, experience, and momentum are all certainly contributions to why they had a successful run, but I think there is one thing that helped them make their cinderella run.?

Identity.

Plain and simple, this team shared an identity and from their Head Coach to their athletic trainer, they embrace their Identity.?They are tough. They are athletic. They are grinders. They don’t back down. They don’t get bullied. They play with a chip on their shoulder.

All of the identity starts with the head coach and how he helped build the program. Coach Halloway was a hard-nosed, Big East player from Jamaica, Queens. He has taken that grit and persistence and instilled it into building his program, and you can clearly see that paying off this year.

For you coaches out here trying to rise up in the coaching ranks, create your own identity. Be you… Authentically you. Study. Learn. Observe. Be obsessed. But find your true identity, and ride with it.?

Systems are identities, and multiple systems work; just ask Jim Boeheim if he ever cared about doing what is popular. His 2-3 Zone is unique and different; but it’s his coaching system, therefore his coaching identity.

Find your identity, perfect it, and embrace it. There is only one you and your identity can not be duplicated; That’s your real power…