Page 218 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
200
allowed them to move the ball without interference for almost 40
feet up the court.) The Press put opponents under immediate pres-
sure but required great conditioning, athleticism, coordination of
players, and intelligence.
The system he was recommending was not new to me. I had in-
stalled it almost 25 years earlier when I was coaching at South Bend
High School and used it later with good results at Indiana State
Teachers College. In fact, I was eager to use it on my first day as
head coach at UCLA—and did (or tried to). However, I aban-
doned it before the first game of the season.
The Press is difficult and time consuming to teach. It had
worked at Indiana State, but only because I had coached many of
the players before, at South Bend. They knew the system and my
style of coaching. At UCLA it just didn’t click in soon enough—
perhaps because of my own shortcomings in teaching amidst all
the other distractions of the Men’s Gym. Whatever the reasons, I
simply lost patience and got rid of it.

During our flight back to California, Coach Norman made a
very convincing argument for trying the Press again. He reminded
me that two new players were joining the varsity team whose in-
telligence, athleticism, and competitiveness were perfectly suited
to the demands of this style of defense—Keith Erickson and Gail
Goodrich. My assistant coach was convinced that now was the time
to install a system I had abandoned 14 years before.
I listened carefully to what he said, even though I had heard and
ignored it before from others. This time, because of our near win