John Wooden

by hairofthedawg on Feb 17, 2009 1:51 AM PST

I saw this blurb in the Times tonight. It made me wonder about your opinions of him.

For me, I grew up loving UCLA basketball. I'm not a bandwagon type either because if the Huskies aren't playing, I'm cheering for UCLA. I've heard stories about how he assembled his teams but I don't know what's true and what's not. That, and the old days were a lot different than they are now for all teams.

I think my most significant memory is when I was supposed to be learning how to play steel guitar from my grandmother. She was good, but I couldn't take my eyes off the Notre Dame/UCLA game that, I think ended their streak. It showed me how much could be done in a very short time, that's for sure. I went on to play the trombone and when I could get drunk enough, scream Ted Nugent and AC/DC lyrics, so my musical career wasn't a total waste.

What I admire most is the way he's carried himself after he retired. A very classy guy.

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Coach Wooden

John Wooden’s picture should be in the dictionary, right next to the word “coach.” As far as I am concerned, he is the bar to which all the rest of us strive. He was proof you could win with class, and dignity, without cheating or shaving the rules. I do not think there any close seconds. Many do not realize, he is in the Hall of Fame twice, once as a coach, and again as a player.

coach (noun) John Wooden

by OlyDawgFan on Feb 17, 2009 3:45 PM PST reply actions

Well put Oly.

I’ll use Bill Walton as an example. He was a bit unruly after he left college, but throughout his college career pretty much kept himself in line. I don’t enjoy listening to Walton often, but love it when he talks about his “Coach”.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 17, 2009 6:03 PM PST up reply actions

National Recruiter

Coach Wooden revelutionized college basketball. While everybody in the country was recruiting regionally and within state. John Wooden was the pioneer that went cross country to recruit the very best.

I would argue along with his philosphies in coaching, this is one reason why coach won more national championships then anybody. Were did coach find a lanky kid named Lew Alcindor? Queens, NY.? Nobody but Wooden was recruiting nationally.

All I saw was purple

by crazidawg on Feb 17, 2009 4:06 PM PST reply actions

I don't agree completely

about Wooden being the only one recruiting nationally. He was a pioneer on the west coast for sure, but Wilt Chamberlain went to Kansas and I’m fairly certain drew interest from a fairly wide area. Was Phog Allen the coach at Kansas then?

by hairofthedawg on Feb 17, 2009 6:00 PM PST up reply actions

It was the trend he created

Agreed hariofthedawg, but my friend Wooden is the guy that was noted for pushing other schools to recruit nationally. It has been well-publicized that because Wooden was recruiting nationally and winning so many national championships, it pushed the Kentuckys, Carolinas, and Indianas to keep up with the pace.

Granted others were doing it, but Wooden created the national recuiting trend.

All I saw was purple

by crazidawg on Feb 17, 2009 7:43 PM PST up reply actions

Seattle U was recruiting nationally before UCLA

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 7:13 AM PST up reply actions

Aside from Elgin Baylor

who else? I didn’t follow Seattle very closely. I know they used to get a lot of the good local talent.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 18, 2009 3:30 PM PST up reply actions

O'Brien Twins

They recruited all over the country.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 3:38 PM PST up reply actions

Thanks.

For some reason I thought the O’Briens were from the area.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 18, 2009 5:10 PM PST up reply actions

The twins are from back East

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 5:53 PM PST up reply actions

But John, did Seattle U win national championshps in the way Wooden did? Wooden wasn’t the first I will agree with, but coach was the guy that pushed other elite programs to recruit nationally, not only recruit nationally but successfully recruiting nationally by actually signing the kids.

And after having some time to think about hariofthedawg’s comment about Wilt going to Kansas- Wilt Chamberlain was from Kansas. So did Allen really recruit him nationally? No he was an in-state recruit.

I don’t really want to argue about this, hairofthedawg posted a topic about John Wooden and I added to it by stating that he revolutionized college basketball by going out and recruiting nationally. Other’s were doing it, but Wooden is noted for creating the trend for the elite programs. This isn’t something I made up, I’ve heard it from many reliable sources, particularly ESPN and Fox. Now if I had said the P.I. then my credibiltiy would be down the tubes- right?

All I saw was purple

by crazidawg on Feb 18, 2009 5:29 PM PST up reply actions

Seattle U had the #2 BB program in the West behind UCLA in the 1960’s. They were a tournament fixture when the tournament only had 16 teams.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 5:52 PM PST up reply actions

Wilt was from Philly.

He went to Overbrook HS, which, I think, is the same school Tom Gola attended. It’s been awhile since I read the book.

I think part of the reason he went to Kansas was that at the time NBA teams had some sort of territorial right to players from colleges near them.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 18, 2009 6:39 PM PST up reply actions

Who would take black players at that time?

That was a big factor in the 50’s and 60’s.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 7:40 PM PST up reply actions

Wilt was a victim

of segregation in Kansas, but he went anyway. I may be confusing the territorial NBA stuff causing him to choose Kansas with the reason he played with the Globetrotters for a year before joining the NBA. The NBA had some strange rules back then.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 18, 2009 7:56 PM PST up reply actions

Trotters

Wilt left a year early so he had to wait till his class graduated to play in the NBA.

Hence his stint with the Globetrotters.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 8:49 PM PST up reply actions

Another pioneer...

and another of my favorites, at least on the court.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 18, 2009 9:15 PM PST up reply actions

I have a great respect for him as well

And anybody who doesn’t is just plain ignorant. I’m not old enough to have appreciated him when he was coaching, but I don’t think that’s necessary when you look at his body of work and more importantly, the things he has done off the court. There just aren’t enough guys like him the world, much less coaching.
One of the reasons why I like Pete Carroll is the work that he does in the Los Angeles community. He’s not John Wooden, but if there were more coaches who did some of the things that he does it would be a great thing.

by thecassino on Feb 17, 2009 5:16 PM PST reply actions

That's true, but at least

more and more coaches are following the example set by the great ones. I hope that side of Carroll rubbed off on Coach Sarkisian too.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 17, 2009 6:05 PM PST up reply actions

Why Wooden?

With all due respect I love coach Wooden, but why bring him up? When I first saw this post, I thought something tragic had happened to coach.

He is without a doubt the greatest college basketball coach of all time- NO QUESTION! North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, or Kentucky has nothing on John Wooden and the history of Ucla basketball.

Now I am a devoted Husky both on the gridiron and on the hardwood, but when Washington isn’t involved in the NCAA tournament I follow Ucla. I love Ben Howland’s style- hell, I love how he utilizes timeouts. Come thursday though it is all about the purple and gold, it would be nice to sweep the Bruins, but at least hope for a split in LA.

Go Dawgs! WOOF!!!

All I saw was purple

by crazidawg on Feb 17, 2009 7:51 PM PST reply actions

The blurb I linked to

in the original post. An excerpt…

John Wooden is in about every hall of fame, befitting a 10-time NCAA men’s basketball championship coach. And next month, Wooden can add another to the numerous accolades he’s received: induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame in Kansas City.

I guess I’m just getting old and am enjoying things that trigger fond memories.

I agree about Thursday. GO DAWGS!! I think Wooden is probably glad that UW is stepping it up again. I think he’s pretty close to Marv Harshman.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 17, 2009 8:11 PM PST up reply actions

Why not Wooden?

I had that same first reaction Crazi. I thought something had happened to him. Not to worry he will be in the stands to watch the game.

I think bringing Wooden up is awesome because of how the history of the game revolves around him.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 7:16 AM PST up reply actions

Sorry guys.

I’ll be more descriptive in the subject next time. I didn’t even think about it from that view.

by hairofthedawg on Feb 18, 2009 3:32 PM PST up reply actions

Respect is not a big enough word

Well to close this out, we are going to have to agree to disagree in regards to John Wooden and how he created the trend of recuiting nationally. You may be correct hariofthedawg about Wilt being from Philly, but I think I am quite certain I am right that he was from Kansas or Missouri- maybe he was born in Philly and raised in Kansas/Missouri- don’t know.

But for Wooden to land a prize recruit like Lou Alcindor out of Queens, NY is without a doubt the biggest prized recruit in the history of college athletics- NO QUESTION! Brining in Alcindor at that time is one reason why Wooden had the sort of coaching career he had, then came a red-headed hippie and the Ucla basketball program just went off. Yes they’ve had some dud years now and then, but Ucla is Ucla because of Wooden and his philosophy to go get the best recruits in the entire country. To me their are three faces when I think of UCLA basketball:

1. Coach John Wooden
2. Lou Alcindor aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3. Bill Walton

Coach Wooden is the dean of all NCAA coaches. Nobody is above him, not even the Bear himself.

All I saw was purple

by crazidawg on Feb 22, 2009 11:34 AM PST up reply actions

Alcindor

He was the biggest recruiting prize of all time IMHO.

UCLA was very good before he got there but once Lou arrived they became the ultimate true dynasty that lasted until Coach Wooden retired.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 23, 2009 8:22 AM PST reply actions

Walton

Bill was from San diego so there was no way he was going anywhere else.

One other thing to remember about Wooden teams was not only the talent but the system they played. Wooden got all this great talent to buy into that system. That probably is his greatest achivement.

by John Berkowitz on Feb 23, 2009 8:23 AM PST reply actions