We have the good fortune to have the UCONN Ladies Hoops Coach, Geno Auriemma, on TV quite often here in state with his own TV shows where he talks extensively about his coaching techniques. Yes I know it is ladies hoops but his thoughts can easily be transposed to baseball
01--How he looks for his players---he looks not only for the best player but the best athlete who is willing to buy into his system--if they do not like it then they are free to go somewhere else
02--Talent--- as we know his present team is undefeated and on a 76 game winning streak--he claims his 2003 team was a better talented team individually but the current group is a better "team" overall because of how they they have come to know their roles and "meshed" as a unit even if they are not as individually talented
03--The Players Today---and he made this statement with players from his earlier teams on the show--todays kids are totally different according to him--he cannot yell at them anymore--he cannot cuss them anymore--he can be tough but in a different way--the players in the past could be beat up verbally but not today--he has had to change his style to be successful today--I would think that the record shows it has worked
04 --Why He Gets The Players He Does----this is something for the HS players to think about very seriously--Geno says when you look at the other campuses like Duke, North Carolina, Stanford etc the UCONN campus pales in comparison but the kids he gets want to play his style of ball not just be on a great campus---there is nothing wrong with the UCONN campus but in comparison I can tell you it is second rate
05-- Asked why he has very few if any Connecticut kids playing on his teams--his answer was stunning and I think this is something for all HS coaches in all sports in every state to think about--Geno says the CT HS Coaches do not help their kids to be college level players--he feels they fail the kids totally in that aspect
I think you would agree that there is a lot of "food for thought" here
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