A few days ago I was surfing Amazon and discovered a book that mentions University of Memphis head coach Josh Pastner. The book is Championship Team Building: What Every Coach Needs to Know to Build a Motivated, Committed & Cohesive Team
p. 72 discusses the 1997 Arizona national championship team that beat three #1 seeds (Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky) on their way to the title. Miles Simon was named the tournament’s Outstanding Player and was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, “but the team’s Most Valuable Player was ironically a seldom-used, 5’11” guard named Josh Pastner.”
The book details how Pastner believed the team could win the national title despite experts saying they were too young, how he spent hours working with Mike Bibby on his jumper, how he spent hours with the coaches analyzing tape to look for opponents’ weaknesses. “While he played only a few minutes the entire season, mostly at the end of lopsided games, Josh contributed to the team in so many critical ways that the players and coaches were convinced they would not have won the championship without him.”
Reviewers note that this book will benefit any coach, whether in charge of a sports team or a team situation in business. Sounds like it’s a book worth reading.