When the 1973-1974 Notre Dame men's basketball team knocked off John Wooden's UCLA Bruins to end their 88-game win streak, it wasn't just another great upset story.
Ohio men's basketball assistant coach Kevin Kuwik considers it the ultimate motivational story of all time. It's a story he loves to tell.
It's January 1974. UCLA has the longest win streak in history and is about to square up against Digger Phelps' Fighting Irish. The Bruins have not lost a game since Notre Dame beat them Jan. 23, 1971.
Phelps holds the usual practice the day before, gathers the team around for the usual speech and just as the huddle disperses, he tells them he has one more thing for them to do.
Tomorrow when we knock UCLA off
it's just going to be chaos out there with all the students running all over the place Kuwik retells Phelps say. If we don't practice how we are going to cut down the nets right now we aren't going to be able to do it.
The next day, Notre Dame beats UCLA 71-70 and celebrates by cutting down the nets. Kuwik, 29, did not see this game, but it is something he shares with his fellow coaches and players.
It's kind of the whole idea as a coach that if you don't believe in your kids
and you don't believe in your team
how can the kids believe? Kuwik said. You've got to have that kind of blind faith sometimes. Instead of waiting for the kids to prove it to you
you have to almost envision it a little bit
and you make it become reality for them. That's what Phelps did.
Head coach Tim O'Shea said the coaches all draw from stories they have heard, great plays they have seen, and especially experiences they have had, to build their own coaching methods.
And they all have their share of experiences.
Assistant coach John Rhodes played professionally in Europe for eight years, and in college he played for Ohio's MAC championship team that made an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1985.
When we had a situation where it looked like we were defeated we found ways to win
Rhodes said. I try to apply those situations and what I learned from them anytime I can
to help the team we've got.
O'Shea had several memorable moments playing basketball as a kid - from playing on a traveling team with former NBA player Patrick Ewing to attending camps led by up-and-coming coaches like current Louisville coach Rick Pitino. O'Shea said he grew a desire to coach because of the experience he had playing with and learning from these types of players and coaches.
That's really why people get into coaching
he said. In your youth
typically you've had these types of experiences playing or watching the game that make you want to share those experiences and teach other people.
Assistant coach Brian Townsend brings a slightly different perspective. He played football at the University of Michigan and then went on to the NFL for two years before beginning his basketball coaching career in 1993.
Football has really aided me in coaching basketball
