Valley Coaches on Reinforcing Culture

Winning and Losing Can Distract

(St. Louis, MO) – College basketball coaches may say the word ‘culture’ more than the names of their own children. Every new coach talks about creating the right kind of culture. Established leaders discuss maintaining and building upon existing culture. I asked MVC mentors about reinforcing culture during the middle of the season.

Several coaches told me both winning games and losing them can be a distraction to culture building. For ‘brand name’ programs like Belmont and Northern Iowa, that elusive thing called culture, is easier to maintain. Programs with first year coaches have different challenges.

During this ‘portal pandemic’ period, roster stability is next to impossible, so building chemistry or program values is a constant job. While teams are trying to win games and vie for championships, coaching staffs are also working on foundation stones.

Murray State has great tradition and the return of Steve Prohm opened the door for that tradition and ‘personality’ to be easily pursued. However, bringing in an entirely new roster also meant the Racer values were new to all but one scholarship player.

Coach Steve Prohm says it takes time to establish, understand and reinforce culture.

 

 

Reinforcing Culture Everyday

The challenges of the regular season can put pressure on teams and coaches to cut corners, or just look at immediate results. Brian Wardle is completing his eighth season as Bradley’s head coach and Valley watchers know the Braves will always be better at the end of the year than they are at the beginning. Wardle insists on his teams growing and improving. He defines culture as what people ‘hear, see and feel’ when they are around you.

Bradley (20-8, 13-4) is tied for the Valley’s top spot. Wardle says competing in the top half to the standings can even elevate a team’s culture.

 

 

Missouri State’s Dana Ford says winning and losing can affect a team’s culture positively or negatively. Now in his fifth season with the Bears, Ford says culture is both something you work on everyday and something that you lean on during the heat of the competition.

 

 

Reinforcing Culture = Back to Basics

Belmont (19-9, 12-5) recently won its nineteenth game. In so doing, the Bruins joined Gonzaga, Kansas and San Diego State as the only four programs to have won at least that many games for 18-straight seasons. ‘Culture’ means so many different things in Nashville. The Bruins have been one of the most offensively efficient programs nationally for years. Belmont hasn’t finished below second place in a conference race in seemingly forever.

Coach Casey Alexander boils it down to being consistent and maintaining focus. Now in his fourth year at his alma mater, Alexander says those are tough things to do.

 

 

Perhaps the Valley’s ‘surprise team’ is Indiana State. The Sycamores (19-9, 12-5) are the Valley’s top scoring team, with the highest field goal percentage and they hand out the most assists. Head coach Josh Schertz says growing together and improving is his players’ daily job.

Schertz’s team is extremely cohesive and has largely succeeded at locking in and blocking out ‘the noise’ from winning or losing. The second-year Sycamore coach emphasizes ‘competing, learning and preparing’ as a method of success.

 

 

With three games left in the Valley season, so many spots in the standings are still up for grabs. While two teams, Drake and Bradley are tied for first place, three more are tied, just one game behind the leaders. One of those five teams will end up in fifth place and playing on Thursday at Arch Madness.

Teams and coaches will be reinforcing culture, or leaning on it during this stretch drive.

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