This article originally appeared
in Basketball Times.
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THE ABCs OF BOBBY BRASWELL
Jim Boeheim is Syracuse
basketball. Jim Calhoun is Connecticut basketball. Lute
Olson is Arizona basketball. Bobby Braswell is Cal State
Northridge basketball. While he would certainly have to
log a lot more time and success to be reach the level of
that hall of fame trio, Braswell has become the face of
the Northridge program. Before Braswell there wasn’t
much tradition. There weren’t many wins and there wasn’t
a whole lot of anything.
When the head coaching position opened at Northridge,
many of Braswell’s coaching friends pleaded with him not
to take the job, believing he would be committing
professional suicide. Resources were minimal and
facilities were virtually non-existent. But that didn’t
deter Braswell.
“I always thought there were so many positives about Cal
State Northridge,” Braswell says. “Being the only
division I program in the San Fernando Valley, which has
a population of two million. I thought we could win
here.”
And since taking over Braswell has won and won often.
In nine seasons he has never failed to qualify for the
postseason (Big Sky and Big West do not allow every team
to participate in the conference tournament). He entered
his tenth campaign with a career mark of 143-123.
That is remarkable, considering the fact that the
Matadors still play their home games in one of the
smallest arenas in all of division I (1,600). But at
least now they have a locker room, something that wasn’t
in place when Braswell was hired on April 30, 1996.
“I took it as a challenge,” says Braswell. “I knew there
was a lot that we didn’t have at that time so I thought
it was very important to establish a foundation. We had
to start from the ground up.”
That first season Braswell introduced the ABCs of
Northridge Basketball. A for academics, B for basketball
and C for character.
The first two letters were pretty self-explanatory.
There was and remains a major emphasis on the classroom
and the goal was to improve the talent base every year.
But Braswell wanted to further challenge his players.
From the first day on campus to their final sendoff,
Braswell wanted to constantly reinforce the value of
character to his players. His ABCs contain the things
you would expect from a coach -- class, integrity,
respect and humility. But these aren’t just words
painted on a wall in the locker room that Braswell saw
built. From day one Braswell has made sure they would
become part of his players’ fabric.
It’s not uncommon for the 47-year old coach to clip an
article out of the newspaper, which deals with one of
the aspects of his character list. That article gets
copied and passed out to every player on the team. But
this isn’t a ‘reading is optional’ program.
Each player keeps a notebook in his locker, which
contains every article clipped out by the coach,
accompanied by notes and personal thoughts on the story.
And these notes are important because there is always a
quiz.
It’s never a pre-determined time, but Braswell will
eventually quiz his team on each article, most not
dealing with basketball or sports at all. Braswell also
provides a ‘thought of the day,’ which is required
learning. Stop a player on campus and he will recite the
day’s thought and answer a few questions on Braswell’s
article handouts.
And if they don’t remember when asked by the head coach?
Well that rarely happens anyway.
Braswell’s detailed approach might give some the wrong
impression. Yes he has a pension for detail, but he is
also a very lose and easy-going individual. He expects a
lot, but no more than he would expect or demand from
himself.
Like so many coaches at his level, Braswell’s program
doesn’t get a lot of attention because he doesn’t seek
it. His coaching friends will point to this one area as
being a major reason for the lack of recognition he and
CSUN receive.
It’s a little puzzling when you consider that Braswell
has never had a proverbial ‘rebuilding season.’ The
Matadors haven’t always won the conference crown, but
they have consistently been in the mix, each and every
season.
Brutal non-league slates have led to a few slow starts
for Braswell’s clubs, but they are always there at the
end.
Last season Braswell and company entered Big West play
with a 1-7 mark. They would finish the season with 18
wins. Only a couple of tough (closely-contested) losses
kept Braswell from winning 20 games. That’s pretty
special.
“Tough non-conference schedules have always served us
well,” says Braswell. “We are not unlike a lot of
mid-major programs in that we spend the majority of the
first two months on the road. We could schedule down,
but my philosophy has always been to win the conference
tournament. We could win a few more games in December,
but if we don’t win the conference tournament then what
was the point. Playing a brutal schedule best prepares
us for January and February.”
The results speak for themselves.
In the very first practice he held as the head coach at
CSUN, Braswell gathered his team at center court for a
little speech. He told them that one day they would be
proud to have worn the uniform. He told them there would
be a night when they can’t find a seat because the arena
is packed with Matador fans. And he told them that they
would be a major part of all the future success.
He’ll have to re-work his early-season schedule if he
hopes to rack up a win total like that of Boeheim,
Calhoun or Olson, both of which are unlikely. But like
that trio, Braswell is the face of his basketball
program. There was no program before Bobby Braswell ran
that very first practice.
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