weberwildcat
Active member
Really good article in the SLTrib about Rahe and the team:
http://www.sltrib.com/wsuwildcats/ci_11725995
Weber State men's hoops: Rahe getting best out of Wildcats
By Maggie Thach
The Salt Lake Tribune
Posted: 02/17/2009 07:59:00 PM MST
Ogden » There was no pleasing Randy Rahe on this particular December morning. As the third-year Weber State men's basketball coach put his team through its paces, he ensured that there would be pain and suffering, and that it would be shared by all.
So if the Wildcats' offense scored, the five players on defense had to run. If the defense made a stop, he punished the offense just the same. Finally, Rahe ran a drill where the defensive players had to make three stops in a row in order to end it.
"If the offense scored, you had to start all over," junior Steve Panos said. "You could have been there all day. "
One of Rahe's strengths as a coach, though, is that he knows when to nurture and he knows when to torture. At this particular 6 a.m. practice, the morning after an embarrassing 92-62 loss to Brigham Young University on Weber State's home court, Rahe knew he had to push.
"We gave in to adversity. We can never do that," Rahe said, recalling the loss to BYU. "We had to figure out if we're going to improve and go north or do nothing and go south."
Six weeks later, the answer is clear. The Wildcats have won 15 of 19 games since that Dec. 3 loss to the Cougars and surged to the top of the Big Sky Conference standings with an 11-1 league record. Weber State now has the inside track on hosting the conference tournament and capturing an NCAA tournament berth.
For Rahe and his players,
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the turnaround can be traced to the bookend two-a-day workouts the coach unleashed on them following the debacle against BYU.
Here's why: In a balanced conference where just about any team can pull out a win on any given night, the Wildcats have to play with maximum efficiency. They aren't the fastest, tallest or even the most talented team.
What has separated them from the pack is their thorough understanding of the team concept.
Four players score in double figures for Weber State and two others score more than eight points per game. As a team during conference play, the Wildcats average more than 11 assists per contest and pick off 7.3 steals a game at the other end.
"We have to do things a certain way. We have a very small margin of error," Rahe said. "We're not the most talented team. We're just not. But I do know hard work makes up for a lot of things."
And Rahe always has found a way to get the best out of his players. It's a trait he picked up along the way after 13 seasons as an assistant under Stew Morrill at Colorado State and Utah State. Rahe observed how Morrill always knew what his team needed, whether it was to be supportive and caring or strict and a disciplinarian.
Rahe's success as a coach -- in his third season at Weber State, his overall record is 53-34 -- stems from the trust his players have in him. He gains it, he says, by being honest. He's never unrealistic about the team's goal, but he also believes this team can go far and he lets his players know it.
Rahe is straightforward and that was a big reason why Weber State athletic director Jerry Graybeal took a chance on the career assistant coach.
"I liked his passion for the game," Graybeal said. "[At our interview] he wasn't afraid to talk about his own strengths and weaknesses."
One of his strengths was recruiting, and he had to rely on that heavily in his first season as Weber State's coach. He kept only three players from the previous year, and because he was hired in March, he didn't have much time to put together a team. In the next three weeks, he signed 10 players.
In spite of that, he guided that team to a 20-12 record that first season in Ogden. Winning the Big Sky conference title that year -- Weber State's 17th title overall -- only added to the school's rich basketball tradition. The Wildcats are no strangers to the NCAA tournament and have pulled off some major upsets there -- most famously their first-round shockers over No. 3 Michigan State in 1995 and No. 3 North Carolina in 1999.
After winning the conference title in 2007, Rahe remembers waking up at 4:30 a.m. and thinking to himself, "Everyone is going to expect this of us every year."
Last season, Weber State fell to Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament, ending its season with a 16-14 record.
This year, though, there more similarities to Rahe's first season -- and some differences.
For starters, the expectations weren't high. At the beginning of the season, the conference's coaches picked the Wildcats to finish fifth. It was a fair assessment, considering Weber State had only four players returning with any college experience.
But the Wildcats like to be under the radar. In fact, they thrive on it.
"The big dog can't always win the fight. I love to be the underdog," senior forward Daviin Davis said. "Our vindication will come if we can win it all. Winning proves everyone wrong."
So far, no one is arguing.
[email protected]
http://www.sltrib.com/wsuwildcats/ci_11725995
Weber State men's hoops: Rahe getting best out of Wildcats
By Maggie Thach
The Salt Lake Tribune
Posted: 02/17/2009 07:59:00 PM MST
Ogden » There was no pleasing Randy Rahe on this particular December morning. As the third-year Weber State men's basketball coach put his team through its paces, he ensured that there would be pain and suffering, and that it would be shared by all.
So if the Wildcats' offense scored, the five players on defense had to run. If the defense made a stop, he punished the offense just the same. Finally, Rahe ran a drill where the defensive players had to make three stops in a row in order to end it.
"If the offense scored, you had to start all over," junior Steve Panos said. "You could have been there all day. "
One of Rahe's strengths as a coach, though, is that he knows when to nurture and he knows when to torture. At this particular 6 a.m. practice, the morning after an embarrassing 92-62 loss to Brigham Young University on Weber State's home court, Rahe knew he had to push.
"We gave in to adversity. We can never do that," Rahe said, recalling the loss to BYU. "We had to figure out if we're going to improve and go north or do nothing and go south."
Six weeks later, the answer is clear. The Wildcats have won 15 of 19 games since that Dec. 3 loss to the Cougars and surged to the top of the Big Sky Conference standings with an 11-1 league record. Weber State now has the inside track on hosting the conference tournament and capturing an NCAA tournament berth.
For Rahe and his players,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the turnaround can be traced to the bookend two-a-day workouts the coach unleashed on them following the debacle against BYU.
Here's why: In a balanced conference where just about any team can pull out a win on any given night, the Wildcats have to play with maximum efficiency. They aren't the fastest, tallest or even the most talented team.
What has separated them from the pack is their thorough understanding of the team concept.
Four players score in double figures for Weber State and two others score more than eight points per game. As a team during conference play, the Wildcats average more than 11 assists per contest and pick off 7.3 steals a game at the other end.
"We have to do things a certain way. We have a very small margin of error," Rahe said. "We're not the most talented team. We're just not. But I do know hard work makes up for a lot of things."
And Rahe always has found a way to get the best out of his players. It's a trait he picked up along the way after 13 seasons as an assistant under Stew Morrill at Colorado State and Utah State. Rahe observed how Morrill always knew what his team needed, whether it was to be supportive and caring or strict and a disciplinarian.
Rahe's success as a coach -- in his third season at Weber State, his overall record is 53-34 -- stems from the trust his players have in him. He gains it, he says, by being honest. He's never unrealistic about the team's goal, but he also believes this team can go far and he lets his players know it.
Rahe is straightforward and that was a big reason why Weber State athletic director Jerry Graybeal took a chance on the career assistant coach.
"I liked his passion for the game," Graybeal said. "[At our interview] he wasn't afraid to talk about his own strengths and weaknesses."
One of his strengths was recruiting, and he had to rely on that heavily in his first season as Weber State's coach. He kept only three players from the previous year, and because he was hired in March, he didn't have much time to put together a team. In the next three weeks, he signed 10 players.
In spite of that, he guided that team to a 20-12 record that first season in Ogden. Winning the Big Sky conference title that year -- Weber State's 17th title overall -- only added to the school's rich basketball tradition. The Wildcats are no strangers to the NCAA tournament and have pulled off some major upsets there -- most famously their first-round shockers over No. 3 Michigan State in 1995 and No. 3 North Carolina in 1999.
After winning the conference title in 2007, Rahe remembers waking up at 4:30 a.m. and thinking to himself, "Everyone is going to expect this of us every year."
Last season, Weber State fell to Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament, ending its season with a 16-14 record.
This year, though, there more similarities to Rahe's first season -- and some differences.
For starters, the expectations weren't high. At the beginning of the season, the conference's coaches picked the Wildcats to finish fifth. It was a fair assessment, considering Weber State had only four players returning with any college experience.
But the Wildcats like to be under the radar. In fact, they thrive on it.
"The big dog can't always win the fight. I love to be the underdog," senior forward Daviin Davis said. "Our vindication will come if we can win it all. Winning proves everyone wrong."
So far, no one is arguing.
[email protected]
