The Basketball Podcast: EP431 with Kim Barnes Arico on the Hardest Working Team in America

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Kim Barnes Arico Quotes:

“Every coach says they want their team to be the hardest working team in America. And it’s something that we preach, but everyone preaches it. How do you measure it? I think that’s what’s really important. So, we’ve tried to put things in place to really measure. We try to talk about it with our team every year. What does it mean to be the hardest working team in America? What does that actually look like? And then when we get in place, what that looks like, then we try to figure out, how do you measure that?”

“We say teams that work hard really defend. They really rebound. So, what are our defensive numbers? What are our rebounding numbers? But then they also are teams that do the intangible things – they dive on the floor, they sell out for loose balls, they’re willing to do things that normally don’t show up in the box score. They communicate exceptionally well. So, at practice we chart all those things.  Certain things are worth a point and intangible things are worth extra points.”

“I went to school to be a teacher and to be in education and I learned . . how important time on task is . . as a former player, I enjoyed the atmosphere more when we were bouncing from one thing to the next instead of dragging it out . . and I think our players buy into that. The other thing you can see is that excitement and that intensity at practice for the points and for the belief of being the hardest working team in America.  We add up those points and at the end of the week we celebrate it. Whoever has the most points gets to be the queen and we bring in a little crown.”

“One thing I learned early in my career is you want to have that fun. You don’t want to ever lose that. It’s a fine line as a coach to really push and challenge your athletes to be the best and be very demanding for them to be the best, but at the same time, they can’t lose the love and the fun of it.”

“You have to allow your student-athletes to play through some of those mistakes. You don’t want to stop so often that they’re not learning to play through them. But I am also focused on attention to detail because the little things really matter, and I think that’s important.”

“I had a friend of mine . . and she said, ‘I played college athletics and I think of my college coach as someone that has changed the trajectory of my life and someone that has shaped me to the woman I am today and someone that will be a large part of my life for the rest of my life.’  . . That’s what we talk about. It’s not a four-year commitment. It is a lifetime commitment . . when you commit to the University of Michigan . . you are committing to that belief and that network of people, that alumni base that is going to be your support forever and will open doors and have opportunities to change your world forever.”

“Inside our basketball program, it has to be about developing young women and developing young women to be strong, to be powerful. We talk to our team about this all the time. You walk into a room, you have your shoulders back, you have your chest up and you project your voice because you deserve to have a seat at every table, in every room that you step in.”

“For me, that [developing young women] is my most important job . . I’m a basketball coach. And yeah, we want to win games . . but we really want to develop young, powerful young women that can change the world, that can impact the world, that can go on to be the future leaders, the future presidents, the future CEOs. And that is part of our responsibility.”

“Every day we start practice with the circle. In that circle, we pick a different person every day to speak on different things on different days . . Monday is minute Monday, Tuesday is transformational Tuesday, Wednesday is wisdom Wednesday, and we have funny Friday. We have it all charted, so we have an equal number of speakers. So, you speak so many times a year, but there are a lot of people that that’s very uncomfortable for them. They’ve never been in a situation where they have to speak and they have to use their voice.”

“People find it very challenging to have hard conversations. So that’s another space that I really try to promote . . is having hard conversations, having difficult conversations. Because in real life, when you go out in the workforce, you’re going to have to have some challenging conversations with your bosses, you’re going to have some difficult conversations with your co-workers, you’re going to have some different difficult conversations at home with your family, with your spouse, with your children, with your siblings. So, how do we create an environment where they feel safe, where it’s a safe space to grow and to have those conversations?”

“You have to be strong, you have to be tough, you have to be physical, but you also have to be in tremendous shape, because if you are in great shape and you are relentless, you will continue to have a motor to the ball. So, those are all things that each drill that we do in practice, we try to incorporate those things. So, it’s not just a defensive slide drill, but how intense can we make it? How game-like, can we make it? Can we add the physicality piece to it as well? “

“You want to keep that balance where you’re trying to win. Sometimes you may not,   you’re not successful, what do you need to do?  That’s an important piece, too – the evaluation after not being successful. What do we need to do next time to grow and improve in this space so that next time we’re more successful? We always want our players thinking like that . . it’s process-oriented. It’s not like, ‘I lost the game, it’s the end of the world.’  No. Let’s figure out what we need to get better at and move forward. So, we always want to celebrate the wins.”

“So every game, if you do those intangible things, you will get a little basketball sticker . . and then there’s a winner at the end of the year of who has the most stickers. It’s also been proven that any game we have 10 stickers or more, we have never lost. So, there is a correlation between doing those little things that are important, that might not show up in a box score and winning games. And that’s a goal of ours.”

“Part of my responsibility to be the best that we can be is to continue to learn and continue to grow. I’ve had tremendous players at every single position that I’ve been fortunate enough to coach here. And it’s helped me to be a better coach.”

“Last year was unbelievable. But that has ended. We have different pieces. We’re starting again. How do we develop that unselfishness, that playing for my teammate that want to do something incredible for the University of Michigan, want to do something incredible for the players next to me?  That’s something we have to work on each and every single day. And if we do, I think we’ve got a chance to be really special this year as well.”

“We want to get better in transition offense. What are the best three transition offensive teams in the country? Let’s watch them. We think we’re going to play five guards at times. What are the best five-guard teams in the country? Let’s watch their clips. Let’s find out what drills we can do to get better at that . . just trying to watch, trying to grow, trying to continue to learn . . continuing to learn not just the X’s and O’s, but how to be a better communicator, how to be a better leader, how to connect more with every member of my team, every member of my staff, with people that are different than me.”

Kim Barnes Arico Breakdown:

Kim Barnes Arico Selected Links from the Podcast: