Lon Kruger's 80-20 rule

Good story in the Las Vegas paper about Lon Kruger, a mentor from my days in ATL, and now the head coach at UNLV. A couple of highlights:

On his coaching style: "[In college], I played for a coach who absolutely motivated out of fear. No one enjoyed going to practice. No one looked forward to it. Everyone was scared. He was a great coach. He got great results. I had a great relationship with him and learned a great deal from him, but that wasn’t me. We’re kind of the other extreme.”

On his stint with the Hawks: "Losing got old fast. It was a great experience … and we got fired. That’s a good thing sometimes. I thought we’d go down there and fix it. It was humbling."

On positive coaching: Kruger has an 80-20 rule, about the ratio of positive reinforcement to constructive criticism, that he instructs his coaches to use. "Is that how I would like to be treated? What is it that I would want from my leader, my boss, my coach? It’s not so much about what I say but what they hear. Sometimes we get confused. Motivate them in their best interest and they’ll run through a wall for you."