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The Daily OrangeMBB | Gold standard
Boeheim's calming influence helped Team USA find redemption
By Tyler Dunne
Posted: 9/10/08, 12:32 AM EST Section: Sports
But the program's assistant executive director Sean Ford and other Team USA execs looked further, reuniting Boeheim with Krzyzewski, who coached together at the 1990 World Championships.
"(Boeheim) has been involved for a long time, and he takes pride in making sure USA Basketball is on top because he had a lot to do with us being on top for years," Ford said. "So I knew he takes great pride in USA Basketball."
Boeheim wasn't in Athens, and wasn't part of the bronze-medal muck. In the gap that USA Basketball slowly eroded to reality - between 2001 and 2006 - Boeheim wasn't on the senior team staff. But in a way he was. He speaks of the Athens performance in first-person.
"We didn't play well," Boeheim said. "We didn't have a cohesive unit. That team hadn't played together. It was obvious that we had to get a team to play together a couple years and to develop unity. Develop a team."
And Boeheim assumed a complementary role. Ford said on a practice-to-practice, game-to-game basis, Boeheim pulled players aside individually to explain intricacies.
As head of the men's program, Ford organizes and oversees practices, trials and exhibition games for the team. As a kid growing up in St. Bonaventure country, he was drilled to despise Boeheim. Back then, Ford's dad was the Bonnies' personnel director and the two schools battled for recruits, which harvested a heated intrastate rivalry.
They laugh about the rivalry today. No longer a childhood dartboard, Boeheim was Ford's hands-on coach, offering the isolated details to the concepts Krzyzewski instilled. All with a completely different cast of characters.
"He's a head coach at Syracuse, but he did a great job in taking on his role as an assistant coach," said Ford, who has been Team USA's assistant executive director since 2001. "He did the little things. And these players respect Coach Boeheim. A lot of them played against him or were recruited by him. I always saw Coach Boeheim working with an individual player during practice, after practice, during a game, at halftime."
"(Boeheim) has been involved for a long time, and he takes pride in making sure USA Basketball is on top because he had a lot to do with us being on top for years," Ford said. "So I knew he takes great pride in USA Basketball."
Boeheim wasn't in Athens, and wasn't part of the bronze-medal muck. In the gap that USA Basketball slowly eroded to reality - between 2001 and 2006 - Boeheim wasn't on the senior team staff. But in a way he was. He speaks of the Athens performance in first-person.
"We didn't play well," Boeheim said. "We didn't have a cohesive unit. That team hadn't played together. It was obvious that we had to get a team to play together a couple years and to develop unity. Develop a team."
And Boeheim assumed a complementary role. Ford said on a practice-to-practice, game-to-game basis, Boeheim pulled players aside individually to explain intricacies.
As head of the men's program, Ford organizes and oversees practices, trials and exhibition games for the team. As a kid growing up in St. Bonaventure country, he was drilled to despise Boeheim. Back then, Ford's dad was the Bonnies' personnel director and the two schools battled for recruits, which harvested a heated intrastate rivalry.
They laugh about the rivalry today. No longer a childhood dartboard, Boeheim was Ford's hands-on coach, offering the isolated details to the concepts Krzyzewski instilled. All with a completely different cast of characters.
"He's a head coach at Syracuse, but he did a great job in taking on his role as an assistant coach," said Ford, who has been Team USA's assistant executive director since 2001. "He did the little things. And these players respect Coach Boeheim. A lot of them played against him or were recruited by him. I always saw Coach Boeheim working with an individual player during practice, after practice, during a game, at halftime."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Laurie
posted 9/10/08 @ 11:31 AM EST
Wow, Syracuse can definitely be proud of Coach Boeheim. What a well-deserved honor to help take the US team to the gold!
Thanks for a great story Tyler. (Continued…)
gene
posted 9/10/08 @ 4:59 PM EST
Coach Boeheim is a class act and a fabulous ambassador for Syracuse University , both as a former player playing alongside Dave Bing and , of course, as a coach. (Continued…)
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