ESPN baseball guru Buster Olney recently authored a book about the Coach of Coaches", Don Meyer. Coach Meyer broke Bob Knight's All-Time College Basketball wins mark while coaching at Northern State University in 2009. Upon emergency surgery after an almost fatal automobile accident on a North Dakota highway in 2008, doctors diagnosed Coach Meyer with cancer. Olney's book in both motivational and inspirational...one of the best I've read. The following are a few highlights from Olney's book:
- Coach Meyer had three rules for all of his players in his program:
Rule No. 1: Everybody takes notes.
Rule No. 2: Everybody says, “Yes, sir,” “Yes, ma’am,” “No, sir,” and “No, ma’am.” In other words, be courteous to everybody.
Rule No. 3: Everybody picks up trash.
- Meyer coached that their goal should be small and immediate: Execute the next play properly. That’s all.
- Don Meyer focused on the process and taught his players to think more about the process than the results – but of course, he understood that a preponderance of correctly executed plays would almost inevitably lead to victories. (Sounds a lot like his mentor, Coach Wooden!)
- A student coach had once remarked to Baruth that in Meyer’s program, every person doing every job was essential, whether you were preparing a tray of food for the players at a meal or you were an assistant coach working with the guards on transition defense. No job within the Northern State program was any less important or any more important than any other.
ESPN has covered Coach Meyer's story...
To view a preview of Coach Don Meyer's story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_019GcX-lyc
To see Coach Meyer's ESPY's Awards Speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoOkHawZKa4
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