12 - "Be A Good Person" - Mary Beth Spirk 🏀 DIII Women's Basketball

In this episode we talk with the all-time winningest coach in Moravian College Women's Basketball History, Mary Beth Spirk, who now also heads up the Moravian College Athletic Department. She currently ranks in the top 10 winningest records of active DIII coaches, and coached against me as a college player back in 2012 & 2013. Coach Spirk has 33 years of coaching experience at the college level, and sheds a fraction of that on us in that in this interview. We talk about: Having a team of individuals (in October) come together as one unit by February and March  Helping her players become better basketball players while at the same time becoming better people How the best, most fun, and most successful teams are those that care about one another and respect each other the most  Having versatility in team bonding activities from year to year and willingness to change and adapt is paramount to staying successful for every team  Recruits who are 'good people' are ideal players for any program, and how empathy and conscientiousness of right and wrong can make that easy to become Spending 1 on 1 and small-group time with your team allows you to understand them better and help them excel on the court and in life  An interaction with her All-American player during a conference championship which taught her and her team and coaching staff one of the most valuable lessons of her coaching career How winning, especially early on in a career, is not everything, and enjoying the process of becoming a team and the little victories is one of the most rewarding aspects of coaching This is a good one. Coach Spirk is a wealth of knowledge and I'm truly grateful for her time and expertise. You can check out Coach Spirk's bio from the Moravian website here.  She shared these resources with us, and mentions Pat Summitt and Coach Mike Krzyzewski as wells of information. You can check out their books here Pat Summitt: Sum It Up, Reach For The Summit, Raise The Roof  Coach K: Leading With Heart , Beyond Basketball, The Gold Standard