Valvano's Method Of Motivation

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Former NC State head basketball coach and player Sidney Lowe reflecting on his Coach Jim Valvano:
In the huddle, even with Coach V’s enthusiasm, when it was time to be calm he always spoke very positively. Whether it was about a guy we needed to stop or if we were going to shoot a free throw, he always said positive things.
Now, what he would do after the other guys broke for the court, he would grab me and say something different. Like if he told Lorenzo or Cozell that they were going to make a foul shot like it had already happened he’d say to me, “Sidney, if he misses this thing, foul the first f*%$er you can.” Of course, I knew what he was doing. Here’s a situation—one game he told us that we had to take the open shot, and so if it’s there, we take it.
“I want Sidney to penetrate and make something happen, find the open man, I don’t care who it is, just get it to the open man.”And as we are going out he stops me and says, “Now you know I want it to go to Thurl or Dereck!” So the other players were out for this play, but he wanted them to stay confident, and that’s just the way he did it.

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