Tough Lessons for Pampered Athletes?

I saw where Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan banned his players from the plush basketball facilities at the university and told them, in essence, that they had gotten the “big head” after winning two straight National championships and hadn’t put out the effort needed to be winners. He said they took life and their privileges for granted.

I like that, just the way I liked it when Middle Tennessee State University basketball coach Kermit Davis did about the same thing to his players earlier this season. He locked his team out of their pampered locker rooms for not playing with any effort. They were forced to change in and old equipment room that had no hangers, no lockers, and no plasma TV on the wall. They changed on chairs that they found in other rooms, and put their clothes in big trash bags, and did it for at least a week. The players I talked too said it really got their attention. They realized how fortunate they were to have their entire schooling paid for by scholarships and all the frills that go with that.

What do you know? They woke up and overachieved the rest of the season.

Nobody wants to play for a coach that degrades players, but a good coach will have the courage to teach tough life skills in the midst of adversity because he knows it’s for the good of his players, not just today, but for the rest of their lives.