Entitlement

"Websters dictionary defines "Entitlement", The state of being entitled .... the right to guaranteed benefits."

In basketball, you're not entitled to anything!

You have to pave your own way .... you have to commit yourself to making the team, earning playing time and being a great teammate. And with that comes work .... something very foreign to many players.

After losing to Penn State at home several years ago, Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo had this to say about his team and playing at home via the Detroit News, "It's an entitlement society as we all know" ....

"I think our players kind of feel the past players pioneered their way through and it's entitlement to win at home."

Coach Izzo hits the nail on the head, it's an entitlement society. No one wants to work for anything anymore.

You just can't walk on the court and expect to win basketball games. Too many players think just by showing up, putting on a uniform and lacing up their sneakers they will perform well.

You need to hit the gym, get up your shots, lift and run. What do you do when you can't score? Do you rebound, defend and dive on loose balls? Do you share the ball, run the floor hard and screen to free up a teammate?

Woody Allen had it all wrong when he said that "80% of success is showing up!"

.... Shared by Coach Steve Finamore

"I hope he is using dry erase pen."

It seems to me our society and culture is doing a disservice to our young people by not allowing them to be responsible for their own actions. How do your players react to criticism? Listen carefully to their conversations. Who do they blame for their failures?

If you watch our media, when was the last time you heard a political announce in public they made a mistake? No sense holding your breath .... you probably will never hear one! Now there is talk about forgiving student loans and how about those commercials that tell you you do not need to worry about the IRS as their company will make sure you never have to pay back all you owe? What about plea bargaining?

Now none of my examples are necessarily bad or negative BUT why are we surprised our players are not able to deal with being personal accountable for their own actions?

I made many mistakes in teaching and coaching. I was not always as accountable as I should have been with my relationships. I also stood up and apologized to individuals one on one and even to the team and I NEVER regretted it. Was is humbling? Absolutely. But it also set an example to our players/parents that I could admit I was wrong and out of that came, at least to a certain degree, respect. Respect that I as the coach was not above making mistakes and being able to admit them and move on.

Entitlement shows up in many different forms. Some players and let's be honest parents believe their daughters/sons DESERVE to play when they are seniors. Does not depend on skill or talent level. Some players and their parents believe they DESERVE to play based on who the parents are. Teacher's kids, board member kids, booster club members kids, etc. may feel they DESERVE to play because of who their parents are.

I tried to make sure at the end of a season to have an evaluation time with each of the returning players. During this contact I would try to be as honest as possible as to how I saw each player's future in the program. Some players I told them at this point in time you are in the top 8. While some others I said you were not. Some I even suggested they would probably see very little playing time and if they could deal with that they were more than welcome to be part of the team next season. If they could not, they should consider not being part of the team.

Some we asked them to consider being a manager or even consider being a coach at a lower level if we felt they could benefit the program in one of those roles.

We also at times talked to our players after the first two weeks of practice and tried to share with them as to where we saw them or what role we felt they would be filling. These interactions were not always easy but I felt we (coaches) owed it to our players to be as honest with our players as we could.