“How strong can we be?”
– Pete Carroll, on facing the 2015 season after the crushing, last play loss in the Super Bowl
“You’re next!”
– Shaka Smart, New University of Texas Men’s Basketball Coach, from an article in August 3, 2015 Sports Illustrated
Just as Greg Bishop changed my perspective on Pete Carroll, Brian Hamilton has given me one on Shaka Smart. And just as Carroll has built a system that provides his team singular focus — constant improvement founded in resiliency — Smart brings a similar mindset to Austin.
“If you’re down, you have one second to get up,” he enforces.
The over-arching method these two coaches apply is almost maniacal positive energy. “Make sure this is our best week of the summer,” Smart encourages. “It starts now, doesn’t end until Friday. Make this the best week yet.”
“Are you ready to attack the day?” is a question Smart asks his players ever day, and it’s a question that will serve us well as leaders. What will serve us even better is making sure that our system, our preparation makes them most likely answer, “You bet I am!”
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