(With the absolute certainty this thread is going to go WILDLY astray from what I intend, I'm doing it anyway. Also, if you hate long posts, just move along. This one isn't for you.)
This was clearly a different year for Kim from any other she coached, except for the last half of last year. And I think she should learn how to make excuses for her players. No, wait. Hear me out.
First, let's look at just how different this year was:
| School | Season | Longest losing streak | Total losses |
|---|
| Glenville State | 2016-17 | 2 | 6 |
| Glenville State | 2017-18 | 1 | 2 |
| Glenville State | 2018-19 | 1 | 3 |
| Glenville State | 2019-20 | 1 | 5 |
| Glenville State | 2020-21 | 2 | 4 |
| Glenville State | 2021-22 | 1 | 1 |
| Glenville State | 2022-23 | 1 | 3 |
| Marshall | 2023-24 | 2 | 7 |
| Tennessee | 2024-25 | 3 | 10 |
| Tennessee | 2025-26 | 8 | 14 |
So, she has RARELY had to explain failure for her team. And, as many have pointed out, her most common explanation is effort (usually in the context of defense, sometimes rebounding).
I think she should practice making excuses for her players:
That was a great shooting night for...
The ball took some crazy bounces.
Every time we knocked a ball loose, it went right to one of their players.
And so forth and so on.
Why? Resilience. I'll try to keep this short, but basically one characteristic of exceptionally high performing athletes and athletic teams is often a positive explanatory style (Martin Seligman's work). When something goes wrong, they quickly put it behind them (short memories) and
explain it by pointing to some external, short-term, limited scope cause. For example, a baseball player who misses a fielding play might go "bad hop" instead of "I'm not a good fielder" or "I can't play baseball' or "I'm a loser." Each of those is progressively more pessimistic and leads to decreased effort, both in the moment and in preparation for the future. Of course, they can sound like excuses, but when individuals with a positive explanatory style look to the future they take ownership and expect effort and focus to pay off. They're optimists.
And it applies to teams! MLB teams with more positive explanatory styles outhit their season averages in the late innings of close games (clutch hitting). NBA teams with pos exp style are more likely to beat the spread in the game after a home loss.
And teams tend to adopt the style of their leader! Bobby Cox was a very successful MLB manager, but many Braves fans would get furious with him for "not holding players accountable." He'd say thinks like "the ball carried" or "it hit the heel of his glove and popped out." Anything but blame it on something internal and uncontrollable for the player. These can sound like excuses, especially when the players themselves say them, but, when internalized, they pop up in the heat of the moment and affect the player's ability to let adversity go and continue to perform at their highest level.
What about "effort"? Effort sounds like something controllable. And, when applied to the present in preparation for the future, it mostly is. But in the past? Nope. Most of us think we were giving it our all, and I'm sure basketball players at the D1 level think that. So, pointing to that as the cause is saying that failure was due to something internal that they can't change and that will continue to affect all aspects of their game going forward into the future. And, over time, the drumbeat of that explanation wears players down, even though, in the moment, it sounds like something that can be "fixed."
Kim's career: Now look at the table above. Until last year, Kim had never lost 3 games in a row! So, even though the "we need to put in more effort" might have been slightly negative, that has always be wiped away pretty quickly by a win. Resilience, a great mental game -- all of that stuff isn't stressed when you're winning. Confidence is effort and you ride the high. But, when you lose. And lose again. And again. Yeah, then it matters.
Thus my suggestion Kim learn to make excuses. Well, not excuses, but point to something specific to that night, that opponent, that situation, that is over and done with and won't affect anything in the future. Say that to the team, and say it to the public. (This is going to be REALLY hard for Kim. She seems to motivate herself by being very critical and has a deeply ingrained habit of blunt honesty, of saying things as she sees them. She's going to really have to develop the ability to see things in a different way, so she can be honest even while saying some new things.)
Does that mean she gives up on effort? Not at all. But just use that moving forward. I believe she's trying to get players to learn they can play at a new level of intensity within her system, but you do that focused on the future. Which is why I think she should (and will) go back to a very hard version of pre-season practice. Players who learn they can practice harder than they ever have, train harder, will also start to believe they can play that way in the season. I think backing off last summer was a mistake.
Be that as it may, it's clear that Kim, with her notes about each season and the analytical, critical approach she has already turned on herself, is going to be
rethinking a lot of things before next year. I think one of them should definitely be how she explains adversities. And if taking a more positive approach seems like "making excuses" -- practice until it doesn't. It's a skill that can be learned. I know. I had to do it.
