TAKING ON CHALLENGES


At all levels of college basketball, there is only one team that does not end their season with a loss. For many coaches the months of March until November can seem like an eternity. Although the goal for any school is to be part of March Madness, the early season games always give the fans some upsets and a look at teams that may surprise people. Last year Georgia Tech stunned preseason #1 Connecticut in the Preseason NIT, and showed that they were going to be a difficult team to beat. This year Iowa upset two Top 25 teams, Louisville and Texas in Hawaii.

Upsets are not just confined to the Division I level. North Alabama, after defeating a Division I opponent in the preseason, made its presence felt nationally by defeating #1 Southern Indiana and #14 Kentucky Wesleyan over a three day span. North Alabama head coach Bobby Champagne and his team are excited about the hot start, but they also know that they have a lot to prove after a difficult first season under Champagne. The team understands the importance of staying hungry, so the players often break the team huddle saying, “No let ups!”

After 12 years as a Division I assistant, Coach Champagne will tell you that it is not easy “moving those 18 inches down the bench.” It was more difficult because he was replacing a coach who had won a National Championship and averaged over 19 wins per year in 15 seasons. However, the success and tradition of the program played a large part in Champagne’s desire to become North Alabama’s head coach, “There are not many places you can go to that has got a National Championship, let alone 2 National Championships in basketball.”

Backing away from a challenge is something that will never be associated with Champagne, who loves to challenge his opponents with an attacking defense and an up-tempo offense. He found out about the opening at North Alabama by reading the NCAA News. Although he figured the position would be filled, he called the Athletic Director, who told him that he could still apply.

Champagne is not the first coach to have difficulty in his first season as a head coach. He makes no excuses for his 12-16 season in 2003-04, but he noted there were some difficult challenges he faced. First, there was the adjustment of making decisions and not suggestions. Second, he had to replace a successful coach. Third, he inherited six seniors who were accustomed to playing a different style. Fourth, playing a schedule of 17 road games and 10 home games, and having 10 ranked opponents on the schedule. Lastly, a lot of outside distractions that included a nine-hour bus ride in the rain with no windshield wipers for the last 200 miles of the trip. “For any coach those (factors) are tough, but for me personally being a first-year head coach it was hard,” Champagne said.

Despite the tough year, Champagne had a positive outlook on the season, “We finished good enough in the league to qualify for the conference tournament. We were two points away from beating the National Champions. We had some talent, but we just couldn’t get them on the same page.” Champagne’s experience as an assistant coach with Kelvin Sampson and Lefty Driesell helped him maintain his positive outlook. Driesell may have given him the best advice, telling Champagne, “Don’t win too many games the first year.”


PLAYING THE BEST

Going into his second season, Champagne was ready to make the changes necessary to turn the program around, but one thing he did not change was the schedule. He felt that it was important for his players to play good competition, and being in a competitive conference (Gulf South Conference), he wanted to play schools that would help prepare the team for the conference season. “A lot of people called me to say ‘what are you doing?’”

Champagne felt an exhibition game in his first season in which they won 124-67 did not prepare the team for the season and only made the players overconfident. So, he scheduled three Division 1 opponents for exhibition games. “I thought we learned a whole lot more getting beat by South Alabama and Middle Tennessee than we did in that exhibition game (we won).” Champagne’s scheduling philosophy is simple, “I feel like you gain a whole lot more by playing against better teams. I think these early tests will pay off for us in January and February in the conference season.”


PLAYING WITH INTENSITY

Champagne also went to work on making sure he did not make the same mistakes as in his first season. He added eleven newcomers to six returnees with a philosophy of recruiting kids with good character who want to play for his university and coaching staff. Champagne recognizes “Players make the difference. When you have got players who are willing to work hard for you that is when good things happen.”

He has never veered from the playing style he wants identified with his North Alabama team. “We want to play man-to-man defense 94 feet and create some easy baskets with our defense.” His main goal as a coach is intensity, which is something he learned as an assistant to Kelvin Sampson, “One of the things I took away from working with him was that you can’t compromise effort. You can maybe have a guy who is not as talented as another guy, but you have to have guys who are willing to give effort every day. We want to play at a higher intensity level than our opponents.”

His intensity never changed, but he felt like he changed the intensity of his players from the first day of preseason conditioning this September. He did not compromise any standards, and he credits his entire coaching staff with making sure that everybody on the team achieved the standards he set. “We made sure that everybody on the team from the start of preseason to October 15 had paid the same price and done the same amount of work, so that when they got to practice they had all committed to the team. I think that made a world of difference in our attitude when we got to the practice floor.”

It is a lesson that he learned from some of his mentors who told him to “stick by his decisions.” Champagne felt that he may have compromised on some of his standards in his first year, and it was a great lesson to learn, “I didn’t want to be looked at as one of those guys who ran guys off because they didn’t work hard.” However, he knew that his recipe for success would be to recruit and play his kind of players, “I decided to go with those guys who wanted to work. I found out that whatever standards you set, the guys are going to rise to that.”

Champagne never felt concerned about starting the season playing against two nationally ranked powers, including the preseason #1 ranked team. “A lot of people told me that the best I was going to be was .500 after the first four games. ‘I said so-what?’” He felt after he finished recruiting that they would be pretty good if everyone bought in to his philosophy, and he credits his seniors for providing leadership this year.


Sticking To Your Guns

However, he is not satisfied with the early success and still believes his team has a long way to go. “I think we have been fortunate to play our first four games at home. I think these early wins will pay off down the road, but it will be all for naught if we don’t keep improving and working just as hard as we did to get to this stage.”

However, he is encouraged by how the team approached their game against Kentucky Wesleyan after knocking off #1 ranked Southern Indiana 78-75. “The locker room was full of excitement, but 15 minutes after that excitement was over, we were focused on Kentucky Wesleyan. We have set the tone with our seniors that every day we come to practice we are going to strive to get better and we don’t have any let ups, and that is something they have done as a team.”

North Alabama dropped their first road game to Miles College 81-76 last weekend, but it is evident that his team is on the right road to success. What impressed me most about Coach Champagne was his courage in attacking the problems his team had in its first season while not backing away from competing against the best.

The good coaches seek advice from their peers, and I think first-year head coaches can learn a lot from someone who just went through that first season. I asked Coach Champagne to give advice to those first-year coaches, “Whatever your philosophy is or game-plan is, don’t second guess it. Do what you do best as a coach and build on it whatever that is. Develop your team around that and give them an identity, and then stick with it. Just because you are not getting the wins that you would like to get, have enough patience that you are building the program and that it is not just a one year deal.”

Making tough decisions is never easy, but Champagne is proving that a coach with the courage to stand by his decisions can quickly go on to have success.
 

David Adelman spent 7 years as a Division I assistant and two years as a Division III assistant at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. After two years coaching minor league professional basketball, he is currently working as a consultant for the New Jersey Nets. EMAIL DAVID