Guy main body
Thu, Jan 16, 2025 8:27PM • 46:25
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Guy Molloy, Sydney Flames, coaching philosophy, mentorship, Lindsay Gaze, team building, competitive cycle, player development, communication skills, high performance, persistence, cultural differences, New Zealand basketball, mana, coaching challenges.
SPEAKERS
Paul Barnett, Alan McConnell, Guy Molloy
Paul Barnett 00:01
Hi, Malloy, it's great to see you in Sydney this time. How are you going? And welcome back to the great coaches podcast.
Guy Molloy 00:10
Well, thanks for having me back on. It's been a little while, and you're in Bucharest, I think when we talked last time. So lots happened since then.
Paul Barnett 00:19
A lot's happened since then, and we're going to go through all that's happened for me and a lot's happened for you. So I'm really looking forward to getting into it tonight. Of course, joining me for the interview is my good friend and your fellow great coach, Alan McConnell. Alan, good evening.
Alan McConnell 00:36
Hey, Paul, how you doing? And good to meet you guy, I'm looking forward to the chat.
00:41
Yeah, thanks, Dean, great to be on
Paul Barnett 00:45
guy. Something simple to kick us off. Could you tell us where you are in the world and what you've been doing so far today?
Guy Molloy 00:50
Yeah, I'm in Sydney Olympic Park and head coach of the Sydney frames, just in my second year here now. So a few things have shifted since we spoke last, but really enjoying working for the new club and and all the potential that the flames offer, I think it's going to be a really good club. And
Paul Barnett 01:11
as we were just saying, off before we started, my daughter is a big flames fan, so I'll get that out before we begin, so that people will know that my bias is coming from my daughter's affiliation. But guy, let's talk about the big names that you've been associated with over the long arc of your journey. And I know you've still got many years to go as a head coach, but Lindsay gays, Adrian, Hurley, Barry Barnet and Brian Gordon, they're probably the four biggest names in Australian basketball. I know you've also had some experience internationally as well, but I'm just wondering what it is you think the great coaches do differently that sets them apart.
Guy Molloy 01:51
Yeah, when you when you sent me that list of people that I've been around or work with pretty closely, I feel pretty privileged that I had that opportunity. I mean, what better grounding could you get? But I think Paul, from that, I just learned over the years, there's, there's no real formula for what, what could constitute a legend in the coaching game like those people have been in the sport of basketball in Australia, and I think they've all got a different way of doing things, but it's probably what made them all so good, was just how they went about it, and just a certain conviction and stubbornness in their beliefs, and then an ability to influence positively and get teams to buy into that. I think from those experiences, what I was able to do is just to still my own philosophy. Out of all that, what I liked, what I didn't like, what was probably going to be good for me and and, you know, I think most of all from those experiences, I I reckon that. I mean, there's a word for it. It's probably a bit of an essentialist or a minimalist in the way that I go about my my coachee, but look at seeing those great coaches in action. It's a it's a figure it out sort of job.
It is an art as much as a science, maybe more so. And but also saw those coaches in action or work with them for a long period of time, and I understand the periods of self doubt and stuff that they went through so now many, many years later, into my journey and looking back at some of those things that they didn't always have the answers either, and that's what probably made them great, too, that they had an ability to work through Game problems or tactical problems, but more so people problems and team problems and come out the other side. [PB1]
And I think the other thing, though, is that each of the coaches you're talking about there were just highly competent, and I think that's what competent in their own way, and knowledgeable in their own particular domains, and and, yeah, that just drove my curiosity to try and improve.
Paul Barnett 04:04
You mentioned stubbornness in there. I would like to ask you about that line. Clearly, you'd need to be have a certain degree of stubbornness to hold true to what you believe. But I guess it needs to move too, doesn't it, and you need to be open to new ideas. How have you found that balance between openness and stubbornness?
Guy Molloy 04:28
The Great man Lindsay gays was, he was, when I think about him, a tactical genius in the way that he coached the game and influence the sport of basketball in the country and but he's probably also the most stubborn coach I've ever come across. So he he had a way of putting his methods out there so that the clarity was deep and the principles were understood. So he. Didn't budge off the principles, that was the thing. And if they didn't work for a particular game, it wasn't viewed as the fault of the principles, that their principles for a reason, that their sound and but also, what comes with that is a certain empowerment and trust and belief that he had in the players, and he would give them a fair amount of rope to either succeed or to hang themselves and then be able to bring them back if needed, to what his systems were. So I think that's the balance that you're talking about.
Alan McConnell 05:34
Guy you also mentioned in your opening remarks something about managing that voice in your head. Now my understanding is you started the Canberra camp. Started at the Canberra Capitals in the W, MBL, way back in your early 20s. Whether was the voice in your head different than to what it is now. And what else do you remember from that time, in those early years?
Guy Molloy 05:59
Yeah, well, I reckon Alan. I mean, yeah, I hard remember back that far, I think, in, in getting a coaching gig that early, and I was influenced by someone that I mentor, that I really looked up to. And, you know, I was, I was a hard working but average player trying to get somewhere with probably a reasonable brain for the game. And anyway, look at this particular mentor I had influenced me to get into the coaching game and and I think, though, that what I learned from those early experiences is that the the people problems were 10x is a factor on the on the basketball problems.
And the thing that I'll always remember about that first year I had a coaching senior basketball was just the off court drama. Because, yeah, I we, I think we had a couple of marriage breakups that happened, and yeah, sadly, one of the girls parents were involved in a horrific car accident. We had someone else's boyfriend or partner got convicted and sent off to remand. And it was just one of those horrendous sort of off court situations where everything was falling to pieces around me, and here I am trying to figure out the basketball issues. And I just found, well, look, if the if the environment and the culture and those things aren't good, then you're probably going to struggle no matter what, how good your tactical or your technical knowledge of the game is going to[PB2]
Alan McConnell 07:41
be. Wow. What a what a welcome to the world of coaching. Pretty well. That
Guy Molloy 07:46
was it, mate, because I think I did it for a year, and I thought, I'm not going to do this again. And and I quit, and I thought, I, you know, that's it. I'm going to try and give playing another go and get somewhere which didn't really last. And then anyway, they moved me on to the next coaching thing. And then it sort of took off a little bit after that. So it grabbed me early and didn't let me go.
Alan McConnell 08:13
So guy, let me read something that I know is attributed to you better to go an inch wide and a mile deep than the opposite. Now, based on what you've just talked about, about your introduction to the game and, and I guess, the the responsibilities that come with coaching now that's far more diverse and than it was, you know, back then. How do you do that? You know? How do you how do you remain true to not getting spread too thin, and being able to go deep on the things that really matter.
Guy Molloy 08:48
And I thought that I got reasonably competent at saying, Well, look, we're going to choose three things, and we're going to be good at three things, and just because of the time demands, because you don't have a lot of time with Australian teams, that you can't do the other 30 things, that might be important. So I, I reckon that that helped me learn a. To keep the main things the main thing, and then from there, that philosophy hasn't really changed too much with me over the years, I reckon that I've just tried to keep things as simple as possible and not complicated unnecessarily and but sticking to the areas that I can coach well, and I know well, and I think has a big impact on winning. And as I said, I never felt that that drifted too far from the basics. And even though the game, I think, all codes, all sports, have changed dramatically in the in the last 2030, years, but you still have to do fundamental things really well and at a high level of intent.[PB3]
Paul Barnett 10:37
Someone said to me, I mean, I'm not a coach. You two are. I'm a CEO, but someone said to me recently they were referring to another great manager they'd worked for, and they said this person was able to pull threads at any level in the organization. And I thought it was a fascinating analogy. But then again, I just made me pause and wonder whether that is the role of leadership, whether you need to stay broad enough and not go too deep. But that's perhaps for another another conversation, another day, I'd like to pick up on the Australia experience. He talked about guy coaching Australian teams now. Right now, Australian basketball is on the ascendancy, multiple male and female players in the starting lineup over in America, in the WNBA, in the NBA. Back in 2010 you were coaching the Australian under 17 to the men's team, and you created this Consultative Group to provide input into the development of future male players, which I think is led to the great ascendancy we're seeing of Australian basketball right now. But how did that experience shape your use of mentors going forward,
Guy Molloy 11:46
I reckon that, again, the power of the mentorship had come out of necessity for me, because obviously I talked about having some early Advice to get into coaching, and that was impactful. But I do remember I'd coached the CANS Taipans in the NBL for five years, and that was my first that was my head coaching job, first head coaching job in the NBL, and after my fifth year there, I got fired, and it was particularly painful experience, which it always is anytime that happens. But it's not unusual in the world of coaching. And, you know, I've already referenced Lindsey gays, but he was just, he contacted me not long after it happened, I was in a pretty bad place, and I think that, you know, single handedly, he sort of pulled me up out of the doldrums and and just gave a huge shot of encouragement to keep going and with with my coaching and to get better and work on the reasons that that led to some issues and and, I suppose, continue my craft so that I first hand, the power of a coach, having a coach, that's when I really realized that, I reckon, and so when, and it was about that time I think, that I coached the first Australian junior team. Back then, we used to have an under 21 World Cup and and fever eventually let go of that, because too many of the players were getting drafted into the NBA and signing big deals in in Europe and that kind of thing. So they actually replaced it with a U 17 qualification and World Cup, because those players weren't about to become professionals or not, not as likely. So, yeah, I think I'd seen firsthand the power of of the impact the mentorship had had on me and and then we had a particular group that was really striving hard around that time to get the first medal ever for Australian men's basketball, because we'd never meddled with anything other than there was a group that Ian stacker had coached way back in 1997 I believe that there was a under 20 World Cup in Australia, and that team won and got old on their home court, but there'd been quite a period of time without anything. And I think that there was a good group of people that got together and just worked on some common plans and and, yeah, we were fortunate in 2012 to get a silver medal at the World Cup in Lithuania with some pretty outstanding young players such as Dante Exum and Ben Simmons and others. And I think around that period of time is when the whole thing started to really kick up and move ahead. And I know Andre lamanus was coaching the Bucha. And I think he had a really big impact in pulling that all together as well. So I just think it was a pretty tight knit group of coaches with similar aspirations and plans for what the men stuff could look like, because we've certainly been a lot more successful in women's basketball.
Paul Barnett 15:19
Can I come to you, Alan, because I know that you've been sacked a couple of times. I think if
Alan McConnell 15:26
you've been there, yeah, if you coach again, it's gonna happen.
Paul Barnett 15:30
Well, yes, but you also work with a lot of young high performance coaches across Australia in Olympics and so on. How do you help people get over the bump in self confidence, self belief, or anything along those lines that goes with getting sacked.
Alan McConnell 15:53
Time isn't time is a pretty important ingredient. I think in the end, it's about getting back to the point where you have a growth mindset again, where you can actually, when you get sacked, there's a massive sense of a loss of control in a whole range of areas. And I think shifting from being the victim of those circumstances back to a mindset of taking control is, is critical. And so finding, finding the right time and way to to experience that is, is pivotal. In fact, I'm in Perth at the minute, and I've spent the last 24 hours with a couple of coaches that are in exactly this space and and I think, you know, finding ways to inspire people to take control. Is, is a, is a is is very empowering for people. So that would be my, my answer. And but I'd like to pick up on guys point, if I may, around this, this whole mentorship piece, and one mentor or multiple mentors, guy. And the other thing is, how deliberate Are you in terms of the people that you choose to put around you based on your needs? Because not everybody, there are lots of mentors out there, but do they fit your needs? And how do you go about making sure that you surround yourself with the people that fill the void or or the space that's needed to make you the best version of you.[PB4]
Guy Molloy 17:29
I think when I was learning to become a senior professional coach Alan, it was I was lucky to be, because Melvin's probably the epicenter of Australian basketball and a lot of Australian sport, as we know, but I, I was surrounded by Brian Gordon and and Lindsay gays, because I worked with gorge for as his assistant coach for about five or six years, and then, because Lindsay was in Melbourne, coached a rival club, but his generosity and, you know, passion to share the game, and just willingness to share the game. I just hung around him and and just bugged him to death. And so I think that at that period of time, they were the perfect people for me to learn from, and very different, because one came from the American coaching tree and background, which is way, way different to the Australian coaching background, and I the American style, particularly at the time, was probably a lot more dogmatic, in a sense, used to large resources, large staffs, and probably a little bit more, I don't know if militaristic is the right word, but, but it, you know, a lot more conformity about how you you do things and and then just an outstanding work ethic. And, you know, Brian was just very, very good at all those areas of the game. And then compared to Lindsay, who probably had a bit more of the treated basketball, I suppose, a lot more in an AFL sense, or a soccer sense, where it was had some structure, but it was a lot more free flowing. So I had the best of both worlds, I reckon, in that mix, and so sort of distill my own out of that. But also I reckon just going through your own experiences and what you learn from because, you know, you dabble in other sports and see people around and then also growing up, I had, I was fortunate one outstanding teacher when I was at high school, and so I was starting to figure out that that what made the good teachers, and started to figure out why they were good and and how they cared a bit more, and how they went the extra mile, and how they were just onto their craft and not. So much about the So, yeah, I was always happy to pick up mentors from everywhere, and, and, yeah, and some of them don't have profile. They're not publicly known, but I just reckon were highly competent, knowledgeable and and very good at what they did.
Alan McConnell 20:18
I've read a little bit about your phases of the competitive cycle. Philosophy. Do you want to share with us a little bit around that space and what it means, how you use it?
Guy Molloy 20:29
I think I talked on a podcast about it a number of years ago. I it was probably just a clumsy way of talking about a growth mindset. Said, to be honest, Alan, I'm not really a what would you call it? I'm not really a top down coach, so if it's anything in life, I mean, if I read the newspaper and the government's got a five year plan or such and such, it's got a 10 year plan after that. Because I just, my experience is that those things don't really come to fruition, or you get hit with, you know, a million things that can go wrong in the process.
So I the competitive cycle idea is, as I said, is more a growth mindset thing, where it's, it's a lot more about bottoms up and and some trial and error and tinkering and and really, in terms of phases of that, is that if you can learn to treat the games as more feedback, rather than defining it as the public defines it, such as in success and failure, so we lost a game by two points. What were a failure? Well, I don't really think that that's true, but the same thing, you win a game by two points. You're not a roaring success either, because you probably did a ton of things that weren't very good. And so I wanted to distill the essence of it and then get into, well, you take the performance, and then you want to get into the most applicable review of that, and then that'll give you the evidence, because your own environment will tell you where you where you're succeeding, where you're failing, and what's going well, and how can we do more of what's going well, and how do we learn to reduce what's not going so well? And then you then put that into the next performance and and so that patient building up over time of both individual players and and the team itself. I felt that if, if you were able to stay on course and trend in a good direction over the course of a season or over the course of a number of years, that had a lot more power and leverage than just emotionally reacting to every win or loss, and that did influence quite a few decisions that I made with clubs over the years, [PB5] because when I was at a club called the Melbourne boomers, we were one of the first clubs that offered multiple players multi year contracts, because we tried to get them in a little bit younger, and give them the security and training to stick with the club over four or five years. And we found that the power of that in a league where many of the players were on one year contracts and free agents, and it was a bit of a free for all at the end of every year, with free agency, and every club would just start afresh. And so the these things just became, again, important factors in in philosophy about how you build the club.
Paul Barnett 23:29
Can I just talk a little bit about team building? I know we talked about building the club there, but I've heard you say in numerous times on articles and in podcasts, that when you're building a team, you should start with yourself as the leader and do a deep dive into your own personality. Was there a moment or a person who helped you shape this view?
Guy Molloy 23:55
I was just involved in coaching in a couple of organizations that they had, it's a pretty new position, but I suppose, in the scheme of things, but high performance managers and sort of sitting over the top of a coaching structure and the various parts of your organization. So sitting over the top of your strength and conditioning and your medical and your coaching was part of a couple of organizations that started to do things like disc profiling and case personality tests, those sorts of things, and so, you know, look, I'm I'm pretty introverted. I grew up as a as a shy kid, and I've been pretty introverted my whole life
. And learning to communicate well has been something that I've had to work hard at because it didn't come naturally to me to be in front of groups and to take on conflict and and all those sorts of things. So anyway, I mean getting back to the point the level of my i. How deep I'd go into analysis and how deep I go into introversion. It was, it was always it was pointed out, well that might not always be the best solution. So you need to surround yourself with different people and different personalities that might bring a different energy or a different outlook to things. And so that was probably the point where I learned that that was the genesis, I'd say to, you know, round out your capabilities with your staff, and then also your own rough edges.[PB6]
Alan McConnell 25:32
Guy in relation to this, you know, you're talking about being shy and not not necessarily being a sweet spot for you? Did you have frameworks, routines, things that you would lean on over the course of the week that would give you confidence and support to you know, to prepare your team for the battle and post to the post the battle each week? Or does it look a little bit different based on what's happening at any given time in your season?
Guy Molloy 26:03
Yeah, well, pretty early on, I was told that a good thing to do would be to get myself video to training, but more importantly, to mic myself up and listen to how I actually coached at training and games, and that was as a way of improving my communication skills. And I found that terribly confronting, and I was shocked, dismayed at the results. They weren't very good to I'd often, you know, put the recording on in the car driving home from training and that kind of and, and I was pretty shocked. It wasn't great. But over time, I think you just learned to become a bit more self aware about how it is you talk to people, how you correct themes and and how you conduct your training drills and all those sorts of things. So I just learned, but, but mainly it was just going through the process and getting the painful feedback and then figuring what worked better for me,[PB7]
Alan McConnell 27:13
is there one piece of feedback you found particularly confronting or that was very repetitious in those in those times?
Guy Molloy 27:23
Why? Yeah, the the need for some brevity to get to the point much quicker. And I think that stuck out a fair bit. And because I recognize just trying to you know, you want to prove yourself, you want to demonstrate your capability, you want to win respect off your group, all those sorts of things. And then I I'd come away from that and go, bloody hell yeah, I'm sure they switched off about five minutes ago, and I'm still going on. So I reckon that I learned to get better with my interventions, and then a bit more accurate with my feedback, because as I would watch and see myself in action, it was like, Oh, well, I probably missed the critical point. You know, there was a critical point here, or there was something going on, and I've, I've gone to the next thing, or the thing after that, and I've missed the main thing. And it just made me aware of you can say less, but have more of an impact.
Alan McConnell 28:24
And so in relation to that, because the athletes we coach today are very different to the athletes we're coaching 20 years ago, athlete autonomy is a thing now. So do you find yourself telling less now and asking more? Or has your feedback evolved?
Guy Molloy 28:42
Yeah, I've worked. Yeah, I reckon. I mean, I've worked to a point now that if the activity that we're doing or the drill that we're doing or the game that we're doing shouldn't provide a ton more information than I can verbally describe it. And if that's not the case, then I haven't structured the training environment to be the right way, so I probably spend hours on my training design to put the right activities in place, because at the end of the day, I think it's going to be the the actual drill or game or or situation that we're working on that's that's got to really educate the players here, and then I can talk to feedback on that, or I can talk to the standards that were accomplished on that. But, yeah, I just placed much more importance in my ability to get the design right, rather than necessarily my verbal explanations or demonstrations of it. Can I
Paul Barnett 29:58
talk a little bit about. Art communication, but I want to couch it in the context of, we know you've coached men and women, but you've also coached the national teams of Australia and New Zealand and and I say this as an Australian, but I think the the sense of heritage with New Zealand sporting teams is famous the world over. They seem from afar, to be able to create this sense of belonging that is just second to none. But I'm wondering, having experienced both these cultures and having talked a little bit about your own experience with developing your communication skills, how have you experienced the sense of belonging in cultures where it works really well.
Guy Molloy 30:44
Well, you learn pretty early in New Zealand, there's this thing called mana, which is just certain respect or aura of leadership or authority or knowledge, and manners are fairly well understood concept to the Kiwis, they grow up with it and as a leader of of a national team. So it's pretty humbling to be a coach of a national team at all, let alone a coach of a foreign national team. So I definitely wanted to make sure that humility was in check, when, whenever i i pulled on that shirt, and yeah, found ways to connect into that. And so I asked a lot of people about things to do and and culturally, there were lots to tap into, so from particular bits of symbolism or even team songs and that kind of thing that I asked the players a lot of the time to invent, create or use what they knew and then show me and then include me A little bit in it. And so I felt that there was, then there was a lot of power in that, because they certainly, you know, punch above their weight when it comes to pulling on a black singlet with that stuff. And, yeah, that was, that was probably what I learned about it. [PB8]
But look, also, there's, there's a very fear, I know we're close cousins and Anzacs and all that sort of stuff. But there's also a fierce rivalry with Australians as well. And I believe that, if my history is right, that when we've federated as a nation, that we asked New Zealand to be part of Australia, basically. And they said, No, we're going to do our own thing. And I reckon that that sums up beautifully the relationship that they have with Australia, because they're not us, and they're going to do their own thing. And they're, they're tough, and there's a fierce rivalry, and, and, yeah, this whole concept of mana exists, and it's it's important to find a way to tap into it.
Alan McConnell 33:06
So guy, we culture keep coaching within different cultures. You've also been very successful at coaching national teams, which requires the ability to bring people in most of the year apart. How do you do that effectively? Is it just what you do when they when they come or other things you do before they come together? How do you how do you create that chemistry within the team, regardless of their culture, in nice sort of environments?
Guy Molloy 33:40
Yeah, the vision part of it is always important, and the identity part of it's important as well. So, yeah, I know as Australians, we always like to have that underdog rat, even within our country. I mean, State of Origin, Queensland, you know, that's their rap, that sort of thing. So that was always, to me, part of the New Zealand thing, that we're going to be the underdogs and, and you create a vision around that, and that sort of defines your identity, because you want to work a bit harder, and you want the chemistry to be closer, and those sorts of things. So I mean it, it is definitely you're needing to do a lot of that work in isolation or remotely before the players come together. But I think that what helped me was there's, again, that idea of just having a bit of essentialism or minimalism, because I never tried to make it too big. Always try to say we are this, you know. So we are A, B and C and whatever your A, B and C is, it's like we, you know, we're a dog and defensive team. We're a we're a team that really shares the ball well, we're. A team that you know is good in chaos, or what I call the play after the play, and to be a few things that we would build around that, and when we whenever we got together, I try and stick as closely to that as we possibly could. And I think that that's what generated whatever success we could have and but, you know, look, it's, it's not, not without its obstacles. I, when I started with New Zealand in that space, the world ranking was 42 and when you're a number 42 team in the world, it's, you know, there's a lot of obstacles in front of you because you can't get into the tournaments and the qualifications and those sorts of things that you need to actually progress. And by the time I finished, I think the peak ranking we had was 23 and and again, people, they won't know it, because they ask you about, well, what are your highlights in coaching? And you always think about big wins or championships or those sorts of things, but, but going into the last Olympic cycle and the qualification with New Zealand, our four of our leading players suffered injuries right before the qualification, and we literally went to this Olympic qualification event with a fair to say it was our B team, probably a bit of a combination of a B and a C team, and definitely without our our three most skillful and most experienced players. And we got pumped in a couple of games, but the one game that came down to determine whether we went to Paris or not we we lost by a solitary basket. And that game and that performance, and what those kids did to pull that together with their black singlets on, I think that speaks volumes for what you know that that type of spirit that they have. And you look at it and go, Well, is it a failure or not? And I and I look at it and go, to be with with the B and C team, and you're one basket shy of making the Paris Olympics, and no one will ever know, and no one will give you any credit. And but I look back at it and go, you know that that's that's why you coach. That's pretty satisfying.
Alan McConnell 37:23
Paul, I don't know about you, but I sort of have goosebumps right now because I sort of feel like I know what it's like to play for guy, Maloy, right now.
Paul Barnett 37:34
Well, it's very stoic, and I have loved watching you from the stands because you're so calm guy, you're you're very calm. It's almost like it's an effort for you to get worked up, but I see you do it to emphasize key points, but you're very calm, and you deliver a very The eyes are all on you when you speak. I don't know whether that's a reaction to coaching. I don't know whether you'd be the same with me, or whether it's a reaction to coaching the flames.
Guy Molloy 38:05
Well, coaching men and women is a very different thing. But in regards to look, I don't think an environment of high anxiety is a sweet spot for any high performance team. So I and your anxiety as a team can be too low. I get that, and you want to be in a sweet spot. But I think that the coaching female athletes in particular, it's better if you are on the end of lower anxiety. Now, having said that, I got through circumstances. We got a much younger team at the flames this year than than was anticipated, and one of the things that we're dealing with is a high mistake, right? And I don't think I've done a very good job in in terms of helping them keep some anxiety while we're learning to play through mistakes. So I've got to relearn that a little bit and do a bit better with it, but in terms of values for things, I mean, I've, I've always, as I said, sort of striven to have a good simplicity about the game, not, not a dumb simplicity. I sort of think of it as a as a intricate simplicity. And then you couple that with with some low anxiety, and and then you need a clear identity, and then you need a deep clarity on things. And now I sort of put those values together and and then hopefully you get a good result.[PB9]
Paul Barnett 39:36
So guy, I guess I'll just finish with the quote, If I can you say all the other things, I think will fade. The results from games from 25 years ago just don't matter. They don't count. But it was something that happened along the way that impacted both of us in a really positive way, and that's great. And so I'd like to finish by asking. You a little bit about this idea of results not mattering as much, but the journey. And ask you what you think your legacy is going to be when you do hang up the whistle one day.
Guy Molloy 40:13
Well, your legacy is probably for other people to decide. I, I definitely want to be in the moment as much as I can, so I I just never really want to get too far ahead of myself and think about what the future might hold, because that's, you know, I think that's a bit of a trap. So I think a lot of it's in the little teachable moments and and successes that are out of the public eye and coping with adversities and those sorts of things that pull together your journey. [PB10]
And you know, it's you always get the question, well, if you could start again, what would you do? You know, if you could go back in time, begin again, how would you do it differently? And I just don't think it's the right question, because I think that all this is only created for you because you walk your own journey, and that that creates every situation that you got to learn from, and there's no way of doing it differently, because if you didn't have the same experiences, you wouldn't have the same consequences or learnings or advantages that come out of it. So you shouldn't want to have that, and you should embrace it.
And again, that's that is, that is a bit of a stoic philosophy thing, again, but it's in that journey, I think, is, is nearly all the things that I can remember and the people that I've had the fortune to work with or to coach, or, you know, it just comes back to some things that have happened, adversities dealt with, funny things that have happened, great Stories. You know, that that's it just matters a lot more. So I don't think that there's necessarily a legacy piece. I just I've never viewed myself as anything more than than really a junior coach. I mean, I it hasn't been. I just try and keep it simple and teach the basics of the sport really well and getting better at being someone that the parents of any aspiring basketball wouldn't entrust me to coach their child and teach them something about the game and teach them something about life and put them in a better spot. And that's reward enough. Yeah, so it's it's definitely been a perspective that has helped me, and I don't think that I've really wanted to chase a career or chase the next job very hard, and I've been probably pretty content to just let it unfold.
43:03
Well,
Alan McConnell 43:04
God, no no. Paul, before you go, I have to it wouldn't there couldn't be the last question without a subsequent follow up question.
43:12
I wanted to challenge you as well, so you go first.
Alan McConnell 43:15
And my experience is that coaches are crap at answering this question. But guy, what what is it you're most proud of?
Guy Molloy 43:28
Maria? Well, I'm, I'm most proud of my persistence, because I don't particularly think I'm very talented and, and I'm not saying that
Alan McConnell 43:39
to go and appear self deprecating somehow? Well,
Guy Molloy 43:44
no, I don't, and I don't want to appear that way, but I've been knocked down so many times. And and coaches are the other cause of all evil, right? And they're the brunt, or they cop the brunt of every problem, and then they're the cause of every problem. So it's and I've been fired a couple of times, and I've all my friends that are in coaching have been fight. You know, it's just the way that it is and but it's very hard to dust yourself up from big setbacks, big failures in the public eye, getting fired. Things not going to plan. I'm just most proud of my persistence, because I've been doing this for 3536 years now, and I I'm learning every year, and I think I'm getting better every year, and I'm starting to figure it out a bit better.
Paul Barnett 44:43
I think persistence, and I would add doing it with low anxiety, and bringing some intricate simplicity and role modeling that behavior is is exactly the legacy that you're leaving. But I haven't played for you, so I wouldn't. Necessarily, if that's 100% true, but, guy, it's been great to spend some time with you. I'm sorry, did you want to rebut?
Guy Molloy 45:09
Oh, I know. Well, again, I, I don't know that. I, you know, fast the players, boy, I don't even know that I what I'm saying. That's what I feel. That's what I try and do. They could tell you something different. I'm sure in my early days, they tell you something different as well, that it's a work in progress. And I feel that way. And I think that just the as you get older, one of the gifts in life that you get is that you just stop worrying about what other people think of you so much. And I reckon that that serves you. And you know, all the all the young players I cut out these days, is so worried about what everyone thinks. They're just so worried about what happens on social media and what and I think that is the one benefit of getting older that you just you care less about that. And that just helps that go along a bit better.
Paul Barnett 46:00
Well, as a father of a daughter, two daughters, one of whom just turned 18 today, I think that's pretty sage advice. So thanks, guy. I appreciate your time tonight. It's the second time I've interviewed you, and there's so much, there's so many new insights in there. So I appreciate the time and the depth with which you answer questions.
Guy Molloy 46:21
Great to chat. Thanks, Paul and thanks. Helen. Bye.