The Basketball Podcast: EP272 with Kristy Curry on Longevity and Success

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Kristy Curry Quotes:

“I’ve been really fortunate that my beliefs, my values aligned with who I was working for and working with every day. A lot of times in coaching, you’re not that fortunate. But I’ve been blessed to have tremendous staff and players, and recruiting is the lifeblood of every program. So whether you’re recruiting players or staff, I think it’s really important to make sure that those folks in your program line up with what your values are and what you believe in.”

“It’s the longest season, men’s women’s basketball, in any sport. And so, how do you balance being a mom and also being a coach? And how did I balance that when I got married as an assistant coach? And then how do you balance that as a head coach? So, I think I just look at it like this. You’re too blessed to be stressed. It’s the best tired feeling in the world, and you have to be organized, and you have to have a great village around you.”

“We love a five-out system. We love for all five to be able to shoot the three. It’s just something that we feel has given us . . the opportunity to be able to create mismatches. We don’t want to play against a set defense, so we want a 1-second decision. We want to shoot the first open shot, make the first decision we possibly can. And it’s been a fun system and style of play.”

“We love developing three level scorers and we do a good job with that . . We spend a lot of time on our finishes. We spend a lot of time on game like spots and shots and no hesitation and giving our kids a lot of confidence in shooting the basketball. We chart everything every single day. And we work on kids developing a great quick release.”

“We want to make more free throws than our opponent shoots every single game. That’s a game goal.”

“Everything that we try to do is competitive. Whether it’s our shooting times, whether it’s our breakdowns in practice, our shooting drills. We spend a lot of time shooting the three and several drills that we do are game-like game pace. And if you don’t have a certain number, you’ve got accountability at the end that day. We just spend so much time working on the little things, at game pace, that it all becomes repetition.”

“We spent a lot of time on our culture and trying to understand that we’re stronger together than we are individually. We also feel like, in this day and time, you’re going to have to allow young kids to make mistakes and you’re going to have to put them in the game to get better. When you can say that we play that many people [13], I think it’s going to show your young kids that you’re going to give them an opportunity. What they do with it’s up to them and I think it motivates them for future growth.”

“I know it may sound cheesy and we’re not perfect here, but I’m a really big believer that this is a 50-year plan. It’s not a four-year plan. When you leave Alabama as a female, I want to make sure that you’re able to impact the rest of your life in the most positive way possible in your community.”

Kristy Curry Breakdown:

1:00 – Keys in Longevity in Coaching
3:00 – Bravery
6:00 – Alabama Job
8:00 – Women in Coaching
10:00 – Administrative Support
11:30 – Coach Mentoring Program
14:00 – Embracing Three Point Shot
15:30 – Powerhouse League
17:00 – Talk Matchups
19:30 – Free Throw Ladder
21:30 – Accountability
24:00 – Foreign Trip
25:30 – Defense First
26:22 – 26:58 – B.I. Podcast AD Spring 2023
26:30 – Conceptual Concepts
28:00 – Finishing
31:00 – Playing 10 Players Per Game
35:30 – Managing Your Players
38:00 – Openly Communicate with Coach
40:00 – Challenges in her Program
43:00 – Takeaways From Coaches
47:00 – Coaching Tree

Kristy Curry

Leon Barmore

Kim Mulkey

Carolyn Peck

Nell Fortner

Katie Douglas

Camille Cooper

Kelly Komara

Marsha Sharp

Jody Conradt

Joe Tiller

Brittany Davis

Jasmine Walker

Essence Cody

Gene Keady

Bobby Knight

Avery Johnson

Nate Oats

Joe Curl

Mike Leach

Nick Saban

Gary Blair

Katrina Merriweather

Shereka Wright

Brooke Stoehr