What Is Your Team's Identity?

Coming on the heels of another great NCAA run where his Loyola Men’s Basketball team made it to the Sweet 16 by beating Georgia Tech in the first round and then stunning University of Illinois from wire to wire in the second round, Porter Moser was named the Head Basketball Coach at the University of Oklahoma on April 2nd, 2021.

We talked a few times during the week leading up to his third round game as his world was spinning at a pace that is hard to explain. Indiana was pulling at him, Marquette was pressuring as they didn’t want to wait to make a hire, DePaul… well they are DePaul and just did the absolute worst job possible handling his situation, Minnesota was in the mix, and then there was Loyola who squeezed their coffers dry just trying to keep him there forever.

I asked him very simply, “What is going through your mind” as he sat in his hotel room in Indy inside the proverbial bubble of the NCAA Tournament.

His reply was predictable as I have know Porter since he hosted me on my recruiting visit to Creighton in 1988.

“Eddie, all I can do is focus Oregon St. and hand off these calls to Drew (his Assistant Coach and now Head Coach at Loyola, Drew Valentine)… I have to stay locked in and not get distracted.”

Schools didn’t wait and like Porter, I believe everything happens for a reason.

Loyola loses… Lon Kruger retires… Porter is now at Oklahoma which was not even on the radar when we spoke.

Then… reality sets in.

Mass exodus of players to the NBA and into the transfer portal and he is left with four players who did not play key roles.

So here he is simultaneously building a staff and trying to sign players when the best of the best were almost all gone from the transfer portal when he got the job.

Almost eight months later and their first game in sight, I get this question often, “How do you think the Sooners will be this year since it is Porter’s first year?”

My answer is simple.

“They will be really fun to watch because they are going to play like his Loyola teams. Maybe not all the time as there is a learning curve but they will get after it defensively, they will play so damn hard, they will communicate. Offensively it make take them a while to pick things up (or it may not) but they will play together and make it hard for teams to guard them, and they will play with a passion and singleness-of-purpose that is hard to find which will translate into a high-energy team on the floor.”

See, every team has an identity, and that identity is a direct result of their head coach and what that coach values, believes in, expects, and accepts.

Keep doing great things,

No alt text provided for this image



This was originally published as a weekly newsletter from Ed Molitor, with The Molitor Group. If you’d like to receive the weekly newsletter,?follow this link?to subscribe.

Bill Karavites

PE/Health/ Driver Education Teacher/Basketball Coach

3 年

Great article !!!! Being a hoops guy/coach, always want to see Illinois teams do well,but agree with u that DePaul is frustrating !!! Love Porter

Bill Eckstrom

Founder & Chairman at Ecsell Institute, Ecsell Sports, and Ecsell Education I Author I Keynote Speaker

3 年

Yup. Always!

Sean McCormick

Writer/Voiceover Professional & Football Coach

3 年

Too many coaches/leaders fail to recognize this.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Ed Molitor的更多文章

  • The Next Step

    The Next Step

    Isn’t it funny how unexpected things get in the way of incredibly well-thought-out plans?! This week the plan was…

  • Pressure is a Privilege

    Pressure is a Privilege

    Youth sports never cease to amaze me. EJ and his teammates on the Colonels (a 9U baseball team) were playing a home…

  • There Has to Be Another Level - Lessons from Griff Aldrich

    There Has to Be Another Level - Lessons from Griff Aldrich

    The weeks of the NCAA Men’s and Women's Basketball tournaments and then the Masters are one of my favorite times of the…

  • Be There Before You Get There

    Be There Before You Get There

    Preparation is our first of five fundamentals of coaching. The more prepared you are the greater the chance you have to…

    1 条评论
  • Get Them To Think

    Get Them To Think

    Finding the best talent is fun. It can also be daunting, frustrating, tedious, and packed with pressure.

  • Thoughts From My Whiteboard

    Thoughts From My Whiteboard

    It has been quite the week and I cannot wait to share everything with you, but it is going to have to wait. After I got…

    5 条评论
  • Put Your Name On It

    Put Your Name On It

    I keep going back to the picture you see of my daughter Maddie because my entire message is in there. It is a message…

    8 条评论
  • Put Your Curiosity to Work!

    Put Your Curiosity to Work!

    Curiosity and coachability go hand-in-hand and it is something that needs to be valued and highlighted at every level…

    3 条评论
  • How To Support Team Members To Achieve Goals

    How To Support Team Members To Achieve Goals

    Good leaders want their team members to achieve their goals, and they will support them in reaching their goals however…

  • Connection and Trust

    Connection and Trust

    As I sat in my hotel room this past weekend watching the Arkansas-Oklahoma basketball game I could not help but smile…

    4 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了