Building and sustaining team culture is crucial
for a basketball coach because it shapes the overall experience and
performance of a winning basketball team.
A strong culture fosters trust and camaraderie among players, allowing
them to communicate openly and work effectively together. When players
feel a sense of belonging, they are more likely to put in the effort and
hold each other accountable, creating a cohesive unit that can navigate
the challenges of the season.
A positive team culture enhances resilience, helping athletes
cope with the ups and downs of competition. It encourages players to
embrace a growth mindset, focusing on collective improvement rather than
individual accolades. Coaches who prioritize culture cultivate an
environment where athletes feel valued, motivated, and inspired to give
their best.
These reasons point to why well-established team culture can be
the difference between winning and losing, as it impacts player morale,
commitment, and performance on the court. A coach's ability to nurture
this culture is foundational to long-term success.
On February 24, 2025, the latest AP Rankings for NCAA women’s basketball showed that the Texas Longhorns were the nation’s top-ranked team, marking the program’s first No. 1 AP ranking for the first time since February 16, 2004, which is over 21 years ago.
It
has taken Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer a long time to bring his
program to this point. Schaefer is a two-Time National Coach of the
Year, and boasts a 109-32 overall record in four seasons as the head
coach of the Texas Longhorns. The 2024-25 season will mark his 20th
season as a head coach and 40th season in coaching.
Schaefer,
a Texas native who has spent 25 of his 39 years in coaching within the
state of Texas, is the fifth head coach in program history.
In
19 seasons as a collegiate head coach, which also includes eights
seasons at Mississippi State and seven seasons at Sam Houston State,
Schaefer now owns a career record of 410-204.
If someone
were to ask Schaefer how he has brought the Texas program to this point
of being the country’s top-ranked team, one of the first things he’d
cite is surely the team culture he has built. And in his ‘It’s Not What We Do, But How We Do It - Vic Schaefer, Univ. of Texas’
clinic, Schaefer reveals some of the core lessons he has learned about
building team culture that has turned his program into perennial
national championship contenders.
Three Adjectives All Coaches Want For Their Team
Coach Schaefer explains that a team’s identity
can often start with the ideals (and adjectives) that a coach wants
their team to encompass. And in his opinion, there are three adjectives
that are a great place to start when it comes to building team culture.
“If they describe your team as a tough, physical, aggressive team, I’m gonna say you’re gonna like that,” Coach Schaefer says in the clinic.
The reason Coach Schaefer loves these three adjectives is because it doesn’t convey anything about the talent your team boasts or
their win-loss record and place in the standings. And this is also why
these three adjectives are great for any sports team (not just
basketball) to try and strive for.
Coach Schaefer then
discusses an unavoidable aspect of coaching in the modern age: Kids
don’t like “hard work.” They typically want their success to come easily
and with as little struggle as possible.
However, by
building a culture that can genuinely be described as tough, physical,
and aggressive by someone on the outside looking in, there’s no way just any player will be able to succeed in that sort of program.
This means that your team will only attract and retain players who don’t want things easy and are willing to work for their role. And these are the exact kinds of kids all coaches want to have on their roster.
Celebrate the Little Victories (Even in Losses)
Coach Schaefer spoke about how at the beginning
of his coaching career, Pat Summitt’s Tennessee Volunteers teams were
consistently national championship contenders and seemed unbeatable.
Of
course, while any coach wants to win every game (especially an upset
against a juggernaut like Tennessee used to be under Pat Summitt), the
reality is that losses will occur. But as the cliché goes, you either
win or you learn. And Coach Schaefer asserts that there aren’t just learning opportunities in losses, but little victories that can be found that will help build team culture.
For
example, a basketball team could lose a game by 15 points but still win
the rebounding battle. And if this is something that a team is actively
trying to improve upon, a coach would be wise to point this out as a
positive during a defeat. Or if one player had a standout game, they
should still be praised despite losing. Celebrating little victories like these will build confidence and increase morale in tough moments, which can work wonders for building a winning team culture.
Coach
Schaefer also shared a message one of his coaches shared with him, that
conveyed how sometimes a coach’s best job in a season is getting a
basketball team that was supposed to win five games in a season to win
10. In other words, only one team can win a championship each season.
Therefore, a coach can't hinge their work on that lone outcome.
Even if a winning season isn’t in the works (which is unavoidable
eventually), Coach Schaefer asserts that the building blocks to success
can still be laid each day.
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