Cheryl Reeve Edit V1
Mon, Mar 13, 2023 12:38PM • 19:17
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
coach, cheryl, head coach, sport, women, players, people, maya moore, simone, taught, assistant coach, wnba, castile, person, league, team, leader, season, philander, augustus
SPEAKERS
Paul Barnett, Cheryl Reeve
Paul Barnett 00:00
Good morning Cheryl rave, and welcome to the great coaches podcast.
Cheryl Reeve 00:04
Good morning Podcast. I'm super excited to be here and be a part of this.
Paul Barnett 00:08
Cheryl, you've had a wonderful career, you've experienced some wonderful coaches face to face and close up. And these people like Dan Donovan, Dan Hughes, Geno Auriemma and of course, Dawn Staley and Sandy, Brian dello. The list is very lengthy. And I'm wondering, from this perspective, what is it you think the great coaches do differently, that sets them apart?
Cheryl Reeve 00:31
Well, I think along my journey, and I had the great opportunity. While while I was being an assistant coach in the WNBA, I didn't necessarily see this opportunity, it was probably a bit impatient, and one of my opportunity to be a head coach. But the silver lining in that is I spent 10 years in the WNBA, sort of watching, not only pro basketball, women's and men's, but also, you know, you just have a chance when you're an assistant coach to kind of look around. And, you know, if you do it, right, you collect notes, and you take advantage of the time that you have. Because once you become a head coach, things get a little bit more cloudy, if you will, you know, as they say, you can't see the forest for the trees type of thing when you become a head coach. And so I thought it was important to, you know, sort of take note about what what greatness entails. And I really think that probably at the root of it, is the ability for a leader to not only motivate their personnel, but also I have found that one great players want to be coached. So you have to understand that they want to be pushed, they want to be driven. That's why they're great. And then I think accountability, holding people accountable. And so I think that sometimes coaches fall into holding people accountable where it's safe, and maybe not the great players. And so we have always in Minnesota, if it was Maya Moore, or Simone Augustus or Lindsay Whalen, I probably held them more accountable than some of the others. And so I think that a combination of those things, I think, certainly lean lean into the idea of being great.[SB1]
Paul Barnett 02:21
Cheryl, what's interesting about your background is it's not just basketball, you're a Rhodes Scholar nominee, you have a bachelor's degree in computer science and MBA, whilst being a head coach, you've also been a general manager. And so I'm just wondering, what is it you wish they could have taught you about leadership when you were back in college? But they didn't?
Cheryl Reeve 02:42
Wow, that's a good question. You know, and it's been a while since I was in college, and getting that those degrees. I don't necessarily know if they didn't teach it, Paul, I think it might have been when you're young, you're unaware maybe of what they're what they're teaching I, I have a few nuggets from when I was a player turned coach my first season, there's a couple of things that stick out,
I think in terms of maybe lessons that were being taught whether it was intentional or not. And one of the things that I use. Now as a mentor, is when John Miller, who was my head coach at LaSalle University, when I became a graduate assistant coach, my first coaching opportunity, I remember, John would be in his normal, you know, coaching, I was in his normal coaching position, which was on one knee, with his elbow up on his knee watching, you know, the repetitions, you know, in the halfcourt. And I was knelt down next to him. And I remember having frustration with maybe a player, and you know, voicing that frustration, and he said, this was all in the midst of a play. He says, Cheryl, here's something that you'll have to learn your box right now is about this big. And he made a very small box with his with his with his hands. And he said and you're gonna have to learn that in coaching, you're in leading your box is going to have to grow bigger as far as what you learn to accept in terms of different personalities and players and I did not know that that was going to be a lesson that I would that I would use repeatedly. And I you know, I say it to him all the time. You know, it is something that has stuck out with me that I it, you do it when you're younger. You know, it's like the probably a version of sweating the small stuff. And that's, you know, that's probably things that were taught to me that I didn't know at the time. Were going to be leadership lessons.[SB2]
Paul Barnett 04:54
Well, you took that learning and you traveled along on your journey and then in 2009 You get to The links, but it's in 2011 when your first championship comes, and I'd be really interested to know, Cheryl, what were some of the things that you did when you first started in your role with the links that ultimately led to that championship?
Cheryl Reeve 05:15
Yeah, I, you know, my first season in 2010, I began after being an assistant coach for 10 years, you know, I was I was more than ready, as they say, I had binders of ideas that I said, Okay, it's my time, I'm going to put all of this. And here, we're gonna, we're gonna go and you know, if I were to pop in some video of the 2010 team, my first team, I might have my might be yelling at myself going, what are you doing? What are you running that for? What? What are you guarding it like that for? So you have these visions of what you think it's going to be.
And I say this to every industry, where I have a chance to speak to leadership, that the single most important thing that we do as leaders is the selection of people that we're going to involve in our journey. [SB3]
And we were very, very fortunate in that the the existing personnel that we had, like a Simone Augustus, at the core of who she has is a really good person. So we had some good pieces we had traded for Lindsay Whalen prior to the start of the 2010 season, of course, tremendous person. So we had players that were talented, but were really good people. And we had this idea, what does that mean? How does that translate? Well, it means that they're going to think of others first. And they're going to put the team first. So everything that we did, was to that end, we in 2010, fell short of the playoffs, we had the chance to very, very fortunate we won the lottery, and we won my amour. And what was significant about that, certainly is the timing of when your your fortunes turn, where you're not in the playoffs is who could possibly be there in the lottery. We weren't the worst team in the league. So we did get lucky. So luck has certainly played a part of this. But Maya Moore was the perfect superstar for the culture that we were building. So we had a convergence of Rebecca Brunson. And a dispersal draft of people that were just really hungry, to be successful. And the the notion of playing with and for each other, which is when you get that any coach will tell you, when you have that feeling of it's not about me, it's about the person next to me, it's not about how I feel, it's how are they feeling? are we successful? Can we challenge each other to for the good of the team. And we had the perfect storm in the best best of ways with regard to that. And so I think that, you know, those would be the core values, we had a work ethic, we thought that obviously was going to be important in anything that we did. We had a passion for what we were doing. And we cared about each other. I think any any player or coach, in any sport, that had a chance to win a championship or be really special, whatever the the pinnacle would be, they will tell you that those characteristics existed on that team. And it was special, it was a special feeling every time you got together. And for us, the 2011 training camp is a training camp I'll never forget, because it was palpable in terms of what we had. Did I know that it was going to translate into, you know, six out of seven seasons being in the WNBA finals and winning four championships? No, I didn't know that. But I knew it was special, and how much they cared about each other and, and just the chemistry that they exuded and our inner fans could feel that. So really, really special. Cheryl, the
Paul Barnett 09:22
WNBA has been around for 27 years now. And for many of those years, you've been involved in the league. There are still people that criticize it for being a sport that is less than the men's competition. And I know this is still talked about in the mainstream media. But as someone who's been around the league for large part of its history, what have you learned about developing the resilience needed to deal with this kind of criticism?
Cheryl Reeve 09:47
Well, I think it goes with anything women, if I could say that, Paul, in that for you know, if you think about societal norms, I believe that's the root of the challenge we have and As women in sport, it's the same whether it's women in politics, women in business, you know, women in sport, it's just I would say that some of it is sort of premeditated. And they'll always be a faction of society that maybe wants to hold women down. That's always been the case, I don't think that there's any ability to crack that nut so to speak, I do focus on the people that are understanding that maybe, that they didn't realize that they were sort of giving in to societal norms in terms of how they thought about things. And so we challenge them to think differently. And what that means is that men in sport has been around for a long time, more than 100 years, women in sport women and the WNBA has been around for 27 years as you as you mentioned. And so if you go back and you look at the NFL, Major League Baseball, how did those sports become popular? How do they become what they are today, because they weren't always what they are today. If you go back and you look at the NFL, the beginning of the NFL, they had to play near a high school football game, because that's what was popular to society. So whether it's before the game after the game, they needed the high school football game. For the draw. The Major League Baseball, what popularized Major League Baseball was media media decided that they wanted to make this important. And then with regard to the NBA, if you think about the early years, people didn't go to watch an NBA game, they went to watch the Harlem Globetrotters. And so if you think about an evolution of a league, in the fandom that goes with that, it takes a very long time to establish that culture that norm. And what I've seen in the course of my time, since 2001, is tremendous growth and awareness. For women in sport, I think the generation that has come sort of behind my generation, far more open and more visibility towards women in things other than maybe what we were held to be prior which was to be at home, to be homemakers, you know, to not be, you know, as educated and certainly in certain fields. So things have changed, the game has really changed, if you will, with regard to women in terms of what we're involved in women in leadership. We, you know, could be the President of the United States and should have been not too long ago. You know, we can be generals in the military, we can be, you know, CEOs of corporations like we are we are seeing all that and though the percentages are still far less than what they should be. If you go back and you need to go back 4050 years. My goodness, have we come a long, long way. And so I think the societal norm shift is is what we're seeing. And I think that women have been tremendously resilient. And like I said, that goes well beyond sport we succeed anyway, despite the barriers that are put in front of us.
Paul Barnett 13:16
Cheryl in 2016, your team took a stand against the deaths of Philander Castile and Alton Sterling. And the team wore T shirts saying, change starts with us. And when I saw those T shirts, it intrigued me because this saying seems to be at the very core of your philosophy, just as you alluded to in that last answer. So for those listening, what advice would you give them on engaging more with diversity and equity and inclusion as an agenda? Where would you tell them to start?
Cheryl Reeve 13:47
Well, I think sort of where our team started, in that. We saw something happening the Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. We're not that wasn't new that was, you know, in a long number of police officer involved shootings, that led to a person's death. And so I think you sometimes reach an inflection point. And I would say because Simone Augustus was from Baton Rouge, because Philander Castile was just outside of Minneapolis, it hit closer to home for us, and I think when you you know, sometimes when you when you see it around you I sort of knew that this particular issue, criminal justice reform, social justice issues, were things that were on the minds of our players. And that probably came from being in the league for a long time. And I think it's, you know, being exposed to issues, allows you To understand maybe what's happening around you and your you know, outside of your world, I could easily have said as a white female, that I'm not profiled when I go to a department store, I could have easily so that doesn't affect me. I don't know, I don't have any, any need to enact change there. I think what it takes as a leader is to is to look around those that you are mentoring and leading and empowering. And I think it's a responsibility for the leader to know what the issues are not just for the group. But I find it really important, each person, kind of what are they about what matters to them? And I try to insert myself into like the idea of like, like, I want to know their family. And I want to know, like, what does it what does it feel like to be this person and what they value. And I think if you, if you take the time to do that, if you spend the time and you learn about families and learn about their paths, you start to really kind of understand what's important to them. And I think the idea that, when this happened, I knew it was something that are was on the players minds. And I felt like I needed to make it safe for them as a leader, to use their voices in a way that could be construed as controversial. And we had to have the courage to do that. And we wanted to sort of stand up and say, you need to talk about this, because if we don't talk about this, there's not going to be changed. It'll just continue to be the norm. And and I think that was sort of the conversation. They all, you know, whether it was Maya or Simone, Lindsey, Rebecca, it was it was just a feeling at the time was now and that we wanted to start conversations about what was happening, and to see if we could in some way, some small way, begin to change what was happening to black and brown communities with regard to policing.
Paul Barnett 17:11
So you've been very generous carving out this time for us, as I know, you're getting ready to finish up the season. So perhaps just one question to finish. Before we get to the question, I'd like to read a quote from you. And you say, when you look back, you can take the easy route, you can just be an athlete, which is silly. We all have a voice. When all is said and done. What do you want to be known for? Now? In fact, you alluded to this in your last answer. But Cheryl, to finish with, I'd like to ask you, when it is all said and done. What is it that you hope that you're known for?
Cheryl Reeve 17:45
Well, gosh, that's that's pretty loaded. I think, you know, I think the most special times are not when they ran a play and it was executed perfectly and sure that feels good as a coach is why you get into it. I think it's really more about do Do we have a long lasting life changing experience? And life changing in that? Can we can we be in each other's lives for the rest of our lives? Because it was so special, not just a championship team, because you're always going to be connected? I think the experiences that you have could I did I teach them just Did I teach them one thing that was valuable in their life? That's the way that John Miller taught me. Is there a life lesson? Did they feel valued as a person, first and foremost? So I think the legacy I think, you know, you hope that you challenge them to be the greatest player they could be. But they knew how much they were valued as a person. I think that would be utopia.[SB4]
Paul Barnett 18:58
Utopia, long lasting life changing experience, accountability and motivation. I think that's a pretty good place for us to finish. Cheryl. It's been a fantastic interview. Thank you for carving out the time today and, and I wish you all the best for the season ahead.
Cheryl Reeve 19:12
Oh, thank you so much, Paul. And thanks for thinking of me to be on the podcast.