I was around when Wooden's UCLA basketball teams were so dominant. When I attended Ohio State in the 70's I heard people say that Wooden wasn't that great a coach, and that he just got the best players. His first two championships were in 1963 and 1964. The 63 team went undefeated but wasn't even ranked in the top 50 at the beginning of the season. After that, he was very successful with recruiting, but lots of teams have had great talent and been disappointments.
He enforced a discipline on the court, (and I suppose off) that gave them the best chance of winning and it worked. Starting in 1966, the won seven championships in a row, and eventually won 10 titles in 12 years. As I recall, only 16 teams participated. So in that sense it was easier than it would be today. On the other hand, if you finished second in your conference, no matter how good you were, you didn't participate. So in that sense it was harder than it would be today. In any case it was unprecedented.
The 8th year was Bill Walton's senior year and they lost to the eventual champion North Carolina State in the semi-finals. Wooden always felt that he let the team down by being too lax with his seniors after they had won the last two in a row. Walton always felt that he had let Wooden down by not taking his wisdom seriously.
The year after that, they had a team that wasn't as talented, but won anyway.
I don't know if there are films around of his team's play, but if there are, take a look at them. You will see a very well coached team.
He had some great quotes too. Some of my favorites are:
- "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."
- "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
- “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
Well said, Mr. Wooden =)
Posted by: Katie | 06/09/2010 at 10:40 PM
Young people need role models, not critics. John Wooden
YLW
Posted by: Joyce LeFever | 06/12/2010 at 07:24 PM