Mike Anderson: Fixed mindset or growth mindset

[Drop the Mike]

As an educator, we have been really pushing the topic of mindset to our students. We are trying to encourage a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. A growth mindset means that you use the word "yet" a lot. An example of a fixed mindset is someone who says, " I can't do that." By adding "yet" at the end you change to a growth mindset.

Fixed mindset people are generally uncomfortable to being challenged, like to stay in their comfort zone, etc., while a person with a growth mindset accepts challenges, understands that failure is an option, is willing to learn from mistakes, etc.

There are 2 main things about Mike that really stand out to me about him having a fixed mindset.

The first is his ample use of a press. It seems to me and many others that the press is just not working. How many times has an opponent blown by us on the way to layups and dunks. The press worked 25 years ago because there were less ball handlers, less timeouts, and the game was officiated much looser.

Secondly, I believe Mike has a fixed mindset when it comes to his assistants. He has surrounded himself with people that he is comfortable with and that he has had a long term relationship with, which on the surface doesn't seem like a negative. However, in his 16 years as a head coach he has never had an assistant leave to become a head coach. He seems to be grooming his assistants to be his assistants instead of moving on to become head coaches. It seems like elite coaches understand their deficiency's and try to hire assistants to fill those (ex. Saban hiring Kiffin). I'm not sure how dynamic of a hire Scotty was given the fact that he had zero coaching experience and the only coaching system he knows is the one he played under with nolan and mike. Scotty would seem to be a TJ Cleveland 2.0.

[Hogimus Prime]

I feel like MA has a fixed mindset

MA's press is different from what Nolan ran. Both want to speed you up but for different reasons.  Nolan wanted get in your face make you uncomfortable, to play hurried. Thats what caused turnovers and fatigue.  MA wants to speed you up to make the game uptempo.  MA doesn't teach the defensive fundamentals like Nolan. This is what causes the easy layup and open threes

[Atlhogfan1]

TJ has interviewed for jobs.  Rumored to have been in running for UAB.  Could probably have a Southland or SWAC job easily but too big of a career risk.  Problem now is we aren't having a level of success where the assts are hot commodities.   Mike too had trouble getting a head coaching job at a mid major when he was an asst.  Took Nolan's firing for his hometown to give him a chance. 

[Hawg Red]

Excellent post, DTM.

[Kevin]

our team does to really press a lot. they just pick up full court man to man most of the time without trapping.  this just gives the offense more space to attack our bad defenders.

go all in and press & trap or fall back and making it a 47 foot war.

[FineAsSwine]

Excellent post, DTM.

[PonderinHog]

I disagree!      

[PonderinHog]

I disagree!   

[Paul]

TJ has interviewed for jobs.  Rumored to have been in running for UAB.  Could probably have a Southland or SWAC job easily but too big of a career risk.  Problem now is we aren't having a level of success where the assts are hot commodities.   Mike too had trouble getting a head coaching job at a mid major when he was an asst.  Took Nolan's firing for his hometown to give him a chance.

what about when he had successful years at UAB & Mizzou?  Mike has never had a assistant hired away to become a head coach.  The only other one of Nolan's(to my recollection) was Scott Edgar & he hasn't been successful.  That's telling. 

[Kevin]

what about when he had successful years at UAB & Mizzou?  Mike has never had a assistant hired away to become a head coach.  The only other one of Nolan's(to my recollection) was Scott Edgar & he hasn't been successful.  That's telling. 

edgar was successful, he just cheated

[hawg66]

Most people here have a fixed mindset about Anderson one way or the other.

[ParkerSchnabel]

Most people here have a fixed mindset about Anderson one way or the other.

I love it. No doubt. IMO the assistant coach thing could stand to be addressed. Its stagnant. On the other point idk.. It seems like we have slowed way down on the pressing. What's hurting us more is the trapping. We aren't recovering fast enough and its giving up a lot of open looks. Having said that, Florida hit a lot of their 3's with a guy in their face.

We ARE a pressure team. Its what we do. You don't ask an option team in football to constantly throw the ball. You do what you do.

[hogsanity]

I love it. No doubt. IMO the assistant coach thing could stand to be addressed. Its stagnant. On the other point idk.. It seems like we have slowed way down on the pressing. What's hurting us more is the trapping. We aren't recovering fast enough and its giving up a lot of open looks. Having said that, Florida hit a lot of their 3's with a guy in their face.

We ARE a pressure team. Its what we do. You don't ask an option team in football to constantly throw the ball. You do what you do.

You post alot like whoever also posts as fCJ, except with better punctuation.

[hawg66]

I love it. No doubt. IMO the assistant coach thing could stand to be addressed. Its stagnant. On the other point idk.. It seems like we have slowed way down on the pressing. What's hurting us more is the trapping. We aren't recovering fast enough and its giving up a lot of open looks. Having said that, Florida hit a lot of their 3's with a guy in their face.

We ARE a pressure team. Its what we do. You don't ask an option team in football to constantly throw the ball. You do what you do.

Anderson will try some different things. Last year he went to zoning more. He's tried it a bit this year. I didn't get to see the Florida game but against Mizzou he played Gafford and Thompson together for the first time this year that I can recall. Last year those were the changes that helped turn it around.

Unlike what the OP says Anderson has changed things up and will again. The biggest problem right now is Jones and Macon are in shooting slumps.

The saddest part is that when things improve the Anderson critics will disappear. Most aren't real CBB fans, IMO.

[Jim Harris]

As an educator, we have been really pushing the topic of mindset to our students. We are trying to encourage a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. A growth mindset means that you use the word "yet" a lot. An example of a fixed mindset is someone who says, " I can't do that." By adding "yet" at the end you change to a growth mindset.

Fixed mindset people are generally uncomfortable to being challenged, like to stay in their comfort zone, etc., while a person with a growth mindset accepts challenges, understands that failure is an option, is willing to learn from mistakes, etc.

There are 2 main things about Mike that really stand out to me about him having a fixed mindset.

The first is his ample use of a press. It seems to me and many others that the press is just not working. How many times has an opponent blown by us on the way to layups and dunks. The press worked 25 years ago because there were less ball handlers, less timeouts, and the game was officiated much looser.

Secondly, I believe Mike has a fixed mindset when it comes to his assistants. He has surrounded himself with people that he is comfortable with and that he has had a long term relationship with, which on the surface doesn't seem like a negative. However, in his 16 years as a head coach he has never had an assistant leave to become a head coach. He seems to be grooming his assistants to be his assistants instead of moving on to become head coaches. It seems like elite coaches understand their deficiency's and try to hire assistants to fill those (ex. Saban hiring Kiffin). I'm not sure how dynamic of a hire Scotty was given the fact that he had zero coaching experience and the only coaching system he knows is the one he played under with nolan and mike. Scotty would seem to be a TJ Cleveland 2.0.

Good stuff.
I'd like to add that some of Nolan's use of a press was not just to cause turnovers (usually from teams getting out of control more than from backcourt traps and such) but to get a team into a faster-paced game where, like he would say, give them a little cheese to chase for a while and then in the last 10 minutes Arkansas could yank that cheese away, so to speak. Teams would play that speed game up and down the court and burn out in the last 8-10 minutes. Perfect example was Auburn during the national championship season down there. Both teams played at a crazy frenetic pace, and Auburn kept pace until, of course, those last 10 minutes when they just died and I think Arkansas won 104-93. For 30 minutes, though, you could not determine that Arkansas was necessarily the superior team, or even eventual national No. 1, vs. Auburn. But you sure could in the last 8 minutes.
All that has changed, as you note. The 8 TV timeouts, one every 4 minutes, and the four team timeouts alone are much more stoppage of play over the course of 40 minutes that we saw a generation ago. You can't give a team that much "cheese" in easy layups now or you'll be down 10-20 if you aren't matching them on the offensive end, and you are rarely going to see decent teams hit a wall and face in the last 10 minutes. We've seen these results a lot under Mike. We still see a lot of easy shots allowed in the press, be it layups in the speed game or easy kickouts to much better 3-point shooters than what college basketball had 23 years ago.

How many people remember North Carolina's Dante Calabria being left wide open by Arkansas all game long in Seattle in the national semifinal and missing every one of his wide open 3-pointers. That was the college game then, and the gamble often worked. Sometimes it didn't work; A mediocre Auburn that same season had a guy hit what seemed like 9 3-pointers on Arkansas at Auburn that same season. Never did cover him. It was a roasting (also, btw, people point to games this year saying they don't recall good teams getting beat like this, but even that national finalist team got rolled a few times that season).
In 2017-18 we play a style of trapping man and still hope that teams will brick the open three, and at Mississippi State it kept Arkansas in the game to the final second. It didn't work a few days later at Auburn. The press doesn't wear anyone out. These days it also forces no more turnovers than they'd get in just good half-court pressure or playing a Syracuse style of 2-3 zone.

[Jim Harris]

what about when he had successful years at UAB & Mizzou?  Mike has never had a assistant hired away to become a head coach.  The only other one of Nolan's(to my recollection) was Scott Edgar & he hasn't been successful.  That's telling. 

Andy Stoglin was successful as much as he could be at Jackson State.
But all of your points about the assistant coaches then and now are spot on. Melvin Watkins was a failed D-I coach, he's not going anywhere. TJ interviewed at SEMO (?), he's most likely going to have to luck out getting a Sun Belt job or below to prove he can bring something on his own. Scotty may be the one assistant that might have the cachet to land a job before the others, and it's still going to be Sun Belt at best. That's why these guys don't move.
Stoglin wanted to be a head coach. Edgar sought a lot of jobs and finally got a decent break with Duquesne. After Nolan was done, Brad Dunn left coaching to work in ad sales at Hawgs Illustrated. Mike is the one assistant from the NR era who turned a little something (hometown UAB, who was struggling financially) into a good run.
There haven't been a lot of Coach K's who turned out several former assistants turned head coaches. Calipari's had, what, one? Rick Barnes had Frank Haith at Texas. It's not like everybody's had Eddie Sutton's first staff of Pat Foster and Gene Keady. Now, THAT was a brain trust in the coaches' office. I was lucky enough to be around them some.

[Atlhogfan1]

what about when he had successful years at UAB & Mizzou?  Mike has never had a assistant hired away to become a head coach.  The only other one of Nolan's(to my recollection) was Scott Edgar & he hasn't been successful.  That's telling.

http://www.uabsports.com/news/2002/4/17/Mike_Anderson_Announces_Basketball_Staff.aspx

Edgar had been fired as a head coach.
Zimmerman had been head coach at Dardenelle High School.
TJ went from video coordinator to assistant.

This is why none of these guys became a head coach off of UAB's "success". 

Mizzou staff same as we started with.  An E8 can't wash away Watkins' stint at A&M and a 7-22 0-16 Big 12 season. 

TJ was rumored to be in the running for the UAB job after the 2012 season after his first season at Arkansas.  If we were to actually play consistently well enough for the program to earn back its respect, TJ could probably get some chances at mid majors. 

College basketball is about the head coach except recruiting. 

[niels_boar]

You guys act like CMA fullcourt presses and runs the trapping Nolan scramble for 40 minutes every game.  He doesn't.  Christ, go watch the replay of the UF game on ESPNWatch.  When we couldn't get a stop against UF in the first 10 minutes of the first half, we weren't pressing, and we weren't trapping.  It was straight halfcourt man.  It wasn't good straight man, but we weren't gambling at all. That's not the problem. UF scored 30 points in the first 10 minutes.  The D actually got decent, not great, after that initial flailing around.

Personally I'd like to see some sets in that 1-2-2 zone trap with Hall up top and Bailey and Gafford down low for rim protection.  Last season it was our best defense at simultaneously forcing TOs, cutting off guard penetration, and challenging treys.

[hamARchy in the USA]

[mhuff]

I feel like MA has a fixed mindset

MA's press is different from what Nolan ran. Both want to speed you up but for different reasons.  Nolan wanted get in your face make you uncomfortable, to play hurried. Thats what caused turnovers and fatigue.  MA wants to speed you up to make the game uptempo.  MA doesn't teach the defensive fundamentals like Nolan. This is what causes the easy layup and open threes

[Paul]

Andy Stoglin was successful as much as he could be at Jackson State.
But all of your points about the assistant coaches then and now are spot on. Melvin Watkins was a failed D-I coach, he's not going anywhere. TJ interviewed at SEMO (?), he's most likely going to have to luck out getting a Sun Belt job or below to prove he can bring something on his own. Scotty may be the one assistant that might have the cachet to land a job before the others, and it's still going to be Sun Belt at best. That's why these guys don't move.
Stoglin wanted to be a head coach. Edgar sought a lot of jobs and finally got a decent break with Duquesne. After Nolan was done, Brad Dunn left coaching to work in ad sales at Hawgs Illustrated. Mike is the one assistant from the NR era who turned a little something (hometown UAB, who was struggling financially) into a good run.
There haven't been a lot of Coach K's who turned out several former assistants turned head coaches. Calipari's had, what, one? Rick Barnes had Frank Haith at Texas. It's not like everybody's had Eddie Sutton's first staff of Pat Foster and Gene Keady. Now, THAT was a brain trust in the coaches' office. I was lucky enough to be around them some.

coach K has 7 former assistants who are currently head coaches:  Tommy Amaker, Mike Brey, Chris Collins, johnny Dawkins, Bobby Hurley, Stve Wojo, Anthony Grant

[Hoggish1]

Secondly, I believe Mike has a fixed mindset when it comes to his assistants. He has surrounded himself with people that he is comfortable with and that he has had a long term relationship with, which on the surface doesn't seem like a negative. However, in his 16 years as a head coach he has never had an assistant leave to become a head coach. He seems to be grooming his assistants to be his assistants instead of moving on to become head coaches. It seems like elite coaches understand their deficiency's and try to hire assistants to fill those (ex. Saban hiring Kiffin). I'm not sure how dynamic of a hire Scotty was given the fact that he had zero coaching experience and the only coaching system he knows is the one he played under with nolan and mike. Scotty would seem to be a TJ Cleveland 2.0.

Of all the problems Mike has, this ^ is the biggest one.

[Jim Harris]

  coach K has 7 former assistants who are currently head coaches:  Tommy Amaker, Mike Brey, Chris Collins, johnny Dawkins, Bobby Hurley, Stve Wojo, Anthony Grant

Right. As said, there haven't been a lot of guys like Coach K who turned out former assistants who became head coaches. I can't imagine there is another active coach who has seven former assistants, even six, heck even five, who are head coaches. Bob Knight had a good record while he was coaching, and of course one of his pupils was in fact Coach K.

[elksnort]

This is great stuff also.

[Nickle-Pig]

Is there any possibility there is a combo...why do we stereo type people today...you are one or the other is silly

[elksnort]

Is there any possibility there is a combo...why do we stereo type people today...you are one or the other is silly

The majority of people think polarized. I guess it is easier. Political strategist pander to this, because the average person thinks this way.

[Paul]

The majority of people think polarized. I guess it is easier. Political strategist pander to this, because the average person thinks this way.

You're right.  One psych study put rats in black, white & gray boxes:  the ones in the black & white boxes ate & slept normally;  the ones in the gray boxes showed signs of stress by not eating & sleeping poorly.

[Paul]

Right. As said, there haven't been a lot of guys like Coach K who turned out former assistants who became head coaches. I can't imagine there is another active coach who has seven former assistants, even six, heck even five, who are head coaches. Bob Knight had a good record while he was coaching, and of course one of his pupils was in fact Coach K.

Pitino & Larry Brown surprised me:  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2654360-ranking-the-best-coaching-trees-in-college-basketball-history