:[ I've read stories that at the ripe age of 91 he used to walk 5 miles on the UCLA track. Amazing...
I read about 3 articles and I'll add what they don't have. He went straight from coaching high school to coaching at UCLA. He coached high school not only in Indiana, but in Kentucky too. He took UCLA to the Final Four FIVE times before he won an NCAA championship. He had 5 distinct championship teams--Walt Hazzard & Gail Goodrich, Alcindor & Lucious Allen & Vallely, Wicks & Rowe & Steve Patterson, Walton & Wilkes & Bibby & Nater & Meyers, Marques Johnson & Richard Washington. Here are 5 more things I don't see in articles. 1. fast break - layups His plays sought layups. His second option was a layup. Outside shots were 3rd or 4th option, an admission the play had failed. After several games, I would read the opposing coach say, "I've never seen so many easy layups! We never had a chance!" He didn't allow forwards to dribble, guards to drive to the basket, or anyone to dribble around trying to create not in a set play. (I watched rookie Jamaal Wilkes in preseason for Golden State and he dribbled, after I had never seen him dribble at UCLA. I yelled in amazement, "Look at Wilkes dribble!" and strangers sitting there thought I was nuts. They hadn't watched him in college.) Wooden ruined (for the pros) many guards who had been great in high school but learned little in college since he kept them leashed in his big man-dominated offense. 2. fast break - conditioning His players were in better shape than the opponents and wore them out. He popularized the uptempo style. 3. scouted for quickness Other college coaches searched high schools for shooting, speed, and leaping. He looked primarily for quickness. The word quickness wasn't in many coaches vocabulary until he kept saying, "I look for quickness" after reporters asked him why he was winning championships. Then coaches copied him and use of the word spread. For years they continued to be confused over whether quickness meant speed. 4. disdain for NBA He felt the pros were dirty. He had no intention of coaching there. He never motivated his players by mentioning an NBA future. He never classified players as "a future first-round pick." He never mentioned the NBA or ABA and shied away when a reporter would mention where his star would be going after college. He disliked the pro leagues. 5. poise and grace A former high school English teacher, he was the most dignified coach I ever saw in interviews.
5 (continuation) He spoke in complete sentences, Other coaches spoke in emotional fragments in interviews, and were often seen yelling at players and cussing. Wooden spoke in complete sentences. Calmly. There are a few filmed scenes of him yelling at refs during games, but they are shown now exactly because they are so few. Almost always he just sat there, legs crossed, making no game adjustments. Everyone assumes he was a conservative because he was religious, but his demeanor was intellectual and liberal, not dominating and emotional. People assume he was conservative but no one really knows how he voted. He didn't scout the other team, didn't prepare his team for the other team specifically, and didn't make adjustments during the game. These are luxuries derived from having a lot more talent than the opponent. I have a couple thousand odd basketball items in my hard drive, and here's one I just happened to see a minute ago. It's a rare criticism of Wooden. http://www.slate.com/id/2155116
Say what?!? Man your post was going great. I enjoyed the first 4 parts but you go and end it with that? I've never seen anyone speculate or make assumptions on his politics. Why would you? It has nothing to do with anything. Also you're whole point was off, you're saying conservatives are religious, dominating and emotional but liberals are intellectual?
Writers always call him pious, pithy, the opposite of Walton, etc. --from the articles I've been reading after his death, as well as from before that. The founder of the Wooden Award, 6 years younger than Wooden at age 93, died hours before Wooden. Coincidence? I think not. http://www.woodenaward.com/