No fire?
No brimstone?
No problem.
Jim Calhoun didn't become a three-time NCAA tournament champion without knowing how to motivate his team before a big game. In the case of his Connecticut Huskies, who defeated Butler on Monday night to take home the title, it didn't take much.
CBS cameras recorded the coach's pregame speech to his team and it was every bit as dull and awful as the game that followed. There were no inspiring words or last-minute nuggets of wisdom, no key to unlocking the secret of beating Butler or repetition of rallying cries that had sustained UConn throughout its NCAA tournament run. Nope, just casual words that sounded more like a college lecture rather than a speech before the biggest game of the players career:
"Let's make sure we go out and get 'em." I don't think that line will be appearing in Bartlett's next to other inspiring lines from Winston Churchill or Patrick Henry. Did you see how bored the players were? And how Calhoun wasn't really saying anything but speaking in circles instead?
The best part was the one player clapping at the end of the speech. It was something out of a comedy movie.
Related: Real winner of NCAA championship game? Snark.
And you know what? Who cares. Calhoun's team was the victor, so it didn't matter what he did before the game. It worked! And it worked in the Final Four and the regional final and in the Big East tournament. The mellow vibe (probably brought on by Calhoun's advancing age and various other issues) evidently works. As he doubtlessly knows, coaches don't win big games in the locker room. The game is won through months of hard work and practice and execution on the floor. Calhoun could have showed clips from a family vacation during his pregame speech and it wouldn't have mattered. He had prepared his players to play and, as they proved, they were up to the task.
Calhoun was equally calm after the game. When the clock hit zero, the 68-year-old hugged a player, shook hands with Brad Stevens and stood on the court, arms outstretched, soaking in the revelry of his players. It wasn't a celebration as much of a culmination.
In winning, the 68-year-old Calhoun became the oldest head coach to ever win a national championship. But don't think the grandfather of six is relaxed all the time on and off the court. After the game, Calhoun jokingly told Nantz that he was happy CBS cameras weren't allowed in the Huskies' halftime locker room. The insinuation was that he went off on them for allowing Butler to take a three-point halftime lead and used some choice language to do so.
Maybe there's still some fire left in Calhoun after all.
Related: Buy national championship gear
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