Ed Cooley’s 10 Keys To Success At PC
Sunday, March 27, 2011
It has only been a few days since Ed Cooley was introduced as the new men’s basketball coach at Providence College so the honeymoon is not yet over. However, the process of rebuilding the program back to respectability has already started.
Cooley accepted this difficult task with open eyes and open arms. He knows that it is not going to be easy and that it may not happen as quickly as some fans would like. But he is up to the challenge.
Here are 10 things Cooley must do to, as he said at his introductory press conference, “win and win big!”:
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST1.) Assemble a Solid Staff – Any head coach will tell you that they are often times only as good as the men that they work with. For many years, Cooley was one of Al Skinner’s lieutenant’s helping him get solid players at Boston College. Now, Cooley needs a staff that is capable of helping him land Big East-caliber recruits. Some believe his staff at Fairfield, while solid, lacks the experience to get it done at this level. Whether or not that’s true, Cooley obviously believes that he does need to find another experienced assistant which is why he is holding a spot open on his staff for the moment. What he does with that spot may turn out to be a very important move.
2.) Recruit NE Prep Schools – We continually hear that the state of Rhode Island lacks sufficient Division 1 talent making PC’s job of recruiting difficult. While that may be true, there is tons of talent throughout New England at various prep schools where many of the nation’s most talented high school players go to play. Cooley and his staff must have a constant presence at these prep programs and recruit them well.
3.) Recruit New York City – Some say that this isn’t as important as it was in the past because many of the city’s top players end up going to prep school anyway. Still, there is lots of talent in the New York metropolitan area and, in years past, PC did very well bringing some of that talent to Smith Hill. That well needs to be tapped once again.
4.) Scour the Junior Colleges – The PC administration has gone back and forth on this one in recent years in part because of the Prime Time Café incident which involved some of PC’s junior college players back in 2000. Tim Welsh had a commitment from the talented Quinton Hosley a few years back but PC played hardball with Welsh and didn’t admit him. That hurt the program. Remember Ruben Garces and Derek Brown? How about Abdul Abdullah? They were all JUCO players who had a significant impact on PC’s program and they were all good kids. PC needs to find those types of players to fill the gaps they may have on any given year in their line-up.
5.) Win Over the Fans – A tremendous amount of apathy has developed amongst PC fans in recent years because of the lack of success of the program on the floor. And while winning is the true elixir that will bring them back, Cooley and the program are going to need some support from the fans to help make this process easier. After watching and listening to Cooley speak at his introductory press conference last week, he clearly has the charisma to make you buy in to what he’s selling. Providence College needs to figure out a way for him to personally get in front of as many PC fans, students included, so that he can sell them on his vision for the program.
6.) Be a Tough Love Leader – If you talk to anyone who has been around Cooley in recent years, they will tell you that he is a coach who does employ tough love with his players. Cooley needs to first come in and lay down the law to his players and make them understand that there will be one way to do things – his way! At the same time, his players will need to know that they will not only get a boot in the ass when they screw up, but that they will also get a pat on the ass when they do well. It’s called being a master motivator. Bill Parcells is one such guy who coached in this manner. And while we’re not comparing Cooley to Parcells, something tells me that he is similar in his approach.
7.) Preach Defense – Unlike his predecessor Keno Davis, Ed Cooley HAS to emphasize defense first! This is the Big East Conference and if you don’t play defense, you don’t win. It’s as simple as that. A coach’s best friend is the seat next to him on the bench. And if his players aren’t putting in the effort on defense, Cooley needs them to understand that they will be in that seat as opposed to on the floor where they want to be.
8.) Recruit Tough Kids – Along the lines with that last point, to win in the Big East night in and night out, your team needs to be tough. Toughness can be hard to teach. Either you have it, or you don’t. Cooley and his staff need to find those tough players much like Rick Barnes did when he was here.
9.) Be Positive But Realistic – Say what you want about Keno Davis but the man was positive. The problem was that he wasn’t being real to the media and the fans. We could all see the lack of defense and, on many nights, the lack of effort and toughness. Keno never acknowledged that publicly which infuriated many fans. If it’s bad, Cooley needs to say that it’s bad and vow to make it better. That’s all we want to hear. Don’t insult our intelligence. That’s not to say that Cooley has to single out players by name in the media, he simply needs to keep it real because that will only help him, his players and everyone involved with the program.
10.) Just Win Baby! – As we said earlier, winning is what it’s all about! In the movie “Field of Dreams” the saying was, “if you build it, he will come.” Well, in the case of filling the Dunk, “if you win, the fans will come!” The PC Friars always have been and always will be Rhode Island’s “pro team.” This state wants them to be good. If Cooley’s Friars can win enough games to compete in either the middle of the pack or the upper half of the Big East standings, the fans will be lining up to buy tickets and the Dunk will be rockin’. It’s all about the “W’s!”
