Players first
Subtitle: coaching from the inside out
By: John Calipari and Michael Sokolove
Contributors: Sokolove, Michael
Publisher: Penguin Press; The Penguin Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 275
ISBN-13: 9781594205736
Subjects: Basketball; Success; Anecdotes; Basketball coaches; SPORTS & RECREATION; Sports; Coaching; Leadership; Biography; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
Description: "In Players First, John Calipari relates for the first time anywhere his experiences over his first four years coaching the Kentucky Wildcats, college basketball's most fabled program, from the doldrums to a national championship, drawing lessons about leadership, character, and the path to personal and collective victory. At its core, Calipari's coaching philosophy centers on keeping his focus on the players--what they need to get the best out of themselves and one another. He is beloved by his players for being utterly honest with them and making promises that he always keeps, no matter what. He knows that in this age, they come to Kentucky to prepare for the NBA; every year he gets players who in a previous era would have gone directly into the pros from high school but now have to play college basketball for one year. Calipari has fought against this system, but he has to play within it, and so he does, better than anyone"--
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The names on the backs of the jerseys; title: Making lists, keeping score (lessons from Moon Township, Pennsylvania); title: Just two words; title: The Kentucky effect; title: Knocking on the door; title: Champions at last; title: Decision time; title: The trouble with one and done; title: Humbled; title: Recruiting at a nontraditional program; title: I don't do this alone (and I didn't get here by myself); title: At war? Common sense versus the NCAA; title: Fail fast.