I Heart Coach K

Things have also been really busy with work - especially with my boss (aka 33% of our core team!) off on paternity leave. And I was starting to get frustrated with work this past week - just a ton going on and no end in sight, plus the students can be a pain sometimes.

Anyway, I was complaining about work but then had it all turned around when I got to take advantage of a super cool perq ... I was able to participate in a conference on leadership held at the business school and one of the sessions was an opportunity to go to a men's basketball practice at Cameron with Coach K moderating the entire practice! Here he is talking to us while practice goes on behind him...

Now, that might not seem like a big deal but when you are a HUGE Duke Basketball fan and think that Coach K is amazing, it's pretty cool to see him in action. He wore a mic during the practice and throughout the 3 hours would walk us through his practice - talking about his leadership style, how he manages his team and his coaches, etc.

I have to say, I have a whole new respect for their program. The practice was the most efficient thing I have ever seen. He gave us all a copy of his practice itinerary with drills broken down in to 10 or 15 minute segments and they actually stuck to it!

Another thing that was interesting was that for the first half of the practice, Coach K barely did anything. He talked about how in order to be a great leader, you have to learn to trust the people that work with you and train them to succeed. So, his assistant coaches ran drills, his captains worked with younger players, his managers (there is like a whole crew of managers!) set up equipment for drills, stretches, etc. And Coach K just oversaw the whole thing.

But then towards the second half of practice, once the drills were over and it was more of scrimmage time, Coach K was definitely in the midst of it all. Literally, jumping on the court and yelling at players about things (typically with some serious expletives thrown in there!). It was very cool.

Plus it was great to see the team practice - only the 4th practice of the season but they were looking pretty good!! Coach K talked about having to switch up his coaching style every year based on the team, their strengths and weaknesses, and their personalities. This year, he said that he was drastically switching things up because for the first time in a while, the team has some decent, tall guys and isn't SO dependent on guards and the 3 pointer. Hallelujah!!!!!

Looking forward to another great college bball season and hopeful that my job will include more cool perqs like this in the future!