It comes down to how hard you want to work

Great quote from Larry Hughes in the NY Daily News.

Hughes, who exploded for 30 points on 13-20 shooting in a win at Milwaukee on Tuesday, then added 22 in NY's win at DET the next night, said that as the postseason approaches, the key variable is effort:

"At this point it comes down to how hard you want to work," he said. "Everyone has talent. It comes down to how hard you want to work."

You can't stay in the basketball game if you're not going to play with effort

In SAC, Kings coach Kenny Natt has "made it very clear" who will play over the last 20 games of the season.

"What I need to do is pull guys out of the game that don't want to play. Guys who don't play with effort, that's who I'll start pulling out of the game. I've made it very clear to them that that's where we're going from now on. You can't stay in a basketball game if (they're) not going to play. If you think that you're going to stay in the game (without playing hard), you're going to be sitting over there with me."

All you can do as a coach is ask players to give what they have

What a season it's been for Gary Williams at Maryland.

The Terps won their first four games of the season, including beating No. 6 Michigan State by 18. On January 7, they were 11-3. Since then, they've gone 7-8, though they upset No. 3 UNC and nearly upset No. 10 Wake Forest during that 15-game stretch.

A Washington Post column last month described the Terps as a"workmanlike, undersized unit" featuring just one senior and noted that Coach Williams' "critics charged that he either can't or won't recruit the talent he needs to be more competitive."

But the columnist adds: "So what did Williams do? He coached his team up, that's what."

Throughout it all, Coach Williams, who is in his 20th season at UM, has kept his team focused. After the close loss Tuesday night to Wake, he said his team has given all they had.

"This is what it's about: all you can do as a coach is ask them to give what they have -- and this group has done that. It's never because of effort with them. As a coach, that's what you live for."

[Thanks to Zak Boisvert at Fordham for passing along!]

Tracking a team's effort

Last night, the Big Ten Network had a story on the University of Minnesota's "Hustle Chart."

I emailed Ryan Saunders, a graduate manager on Tubby Smith's staff at UM, asking about the chart. He was nice enough to email me back with some details.

During every game, the UM staff charts steals, blocks, charges, deflections, and hustle plays.

According to Coach Saunders, it's "not uncommon for Coach Smith (pictured above) to ask during timeouts how many deflections we have" as it serves as a tool for gauging the team's overall effort. Not surprisingly, "much of the time, [deflections] coincide with the score."

To hold players accountable, the team posts the "Hustle Chart" in its film room that lists the best offensive rebounder, screener, player who took a charge, hustle player of the game, defensive player of the game, deflections, assist/TO ratio, and blocks leader. [They also maintain an updated cumulative deflection chart in the locker room that highlights numbers from the last game and season totals.]

"Players always are aware when they do not make the board, and we are sure to point it out when somebody is dominating the hustle chart or if their name is missing."

We guard, we prepare, every possession means something

This week, after critics complained about the "meager offense" of Big Ten teams this season, Illinois coach Bruce Weber said he'd had enough.

"I’m sick of hearing it, to be honest. We guard, we prepare, we play our butts off and play in hostile environments. It’s style of play. I’ve always said we prepare. We guard. Every possession means something, whether it’s right or wrong. This goes back to coach (Gene) Keady, coach (Bobby) Knight, coach (Jud) Heathcoat. It’s just how it is within our league."

[As a sidebar, I came across an interesting note about how Illinois sophomore forward Mike Davis' "poor body language" was hindering his play. According to Davis, "A psychiatrist called Coach and told him about my body language that I put my head down and would get down on myself. He said I can’t do that. It’s a weakness of mine. I have to stop. The other team can tell when I put my head down that I’m out of the game, so I have to stay positive the whole game."]

6 Minutes, 50 Years

Yesterday's All-Pro Dad had a great story about Bear Bryant's speech to his team before a game back in 1974:

~~~~~~~~~~

6 Minutes, 50 Years

"Most of you will live another fifty years or more. I hope it's seventy, but if it's fifty that's still a good life, and what happens today you'll have to live with the rest of the way. You can't get it back if you don't win. It's sixty minutes and over. The losers are the ones who say, 'Oh I wish I could play it again.'

You can't play it again.

Well, you're not really going to have to play sixty minutes. None of you. The longest play in a game is six and a half seconds. The shortest play is less than two seconds. That's barely a wink of the eye. You'll average five seconds a play. Five seconds of total effort, going all out, giving a hundred percent. You oughta be able to hold your hand in a fire that long.

If you're lucky enough to play seventy plays, that amounts to about six minutes. Six minutes of your time. Out of fifty years, six minutes doesn't seem like much. But a loser will regret it the rest of his life.

You've worked a long time for this. You've been playing since you were in the seventh grade. You go out there in front of all those people and don't give a hundred percent every play then you're cheating yourself, and your recruiters, and your parents, and your high school coach, and everybody whoever helped you. This is what you have been working toward.

In any big game there are five or six or seven key plays that will decide the outcome. If you put out for five seconds on every play, you'll get your share of those key plays. You never know when they'll come, so you have to go all out every time.

If you're reckless, and give that extra effort, and every play try a little harder, you'll see in the films on Monday that it was you who made those five or six plays that win. Play 'em jaw to jaw, and you'll win in the fourth quarter."

Basketball's Benjamin Button

How good is Brandon Roy?

He's so good that BOS coach Doc Rivers has put together highlight videos of Roy that he gives to his sons to study.

"He's one of my favorite players in the league," says Coach Rivers. "He plays under control, he plays unselfishly, and he plays at gears that young players don't play at. Most young players play fast and out of control, and for them it's all about getting 'my shots.' But his whole attitude is based on team play."

As Ian Thomsen describes him in his story today on SI.com, "the 6'6" Roy plays like an aging vet who takes pride in outsmarting the rim-scrapers while conserving energy to extend his career. In fact, he is a 24-year-old blessed with a 41-inch vertical leap, which he uses only when necessary. He wears neither tattoos nor jewelry. In this era of unparalleled athleticism and style over substance, Brandon Roy is the NBA's curious version of Benjamin Button—a young body driven by an old-school mind."

Says Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard: "He absolutely changed the direction of our team."

According to Roy, many mistake his style of play for a lack of intensity:

"I would get so mad because I would be trying to run harder, but my game would never let me get out of control," says Roy. "When I went to college, right away coach [Lorenzo] Romar was like, This guy just doesn't go hard. He was just hammering me, hammering me, hammering me, and I would say, 'Coach, I am playing hard.'"

So, asks Thomsen, "how does he make the spectacular look so effortless?"

The answer is fundamental: Roy can dribble so well that you can't tell which is his weak hand, and at 211 pounds he has the size to shield the ball as he reads the defense and waits for a play to develop. He has a coach's mind, an intuitive understanding of teammates and opponents swirling around him as if they were X's and O's diagrammed on a whiteboard.

Teammate Steve Blake contends that Roy is "always on balance, so if someone reaches in, he's able to spin and he's not falling over."

POR coach Nate McMillan says Roy has "three moves that will get you... a crossover, a pump, a spin."

According to Chris Paul, it's a matter of angles and efficiency:

"He goes in straight lines. Anybody who knows basketball knows if you go around a guy, you need to go right by him. He takes a minimal amount of steps, and then he's at the rim."

To improve, Roy says he needs "to make some mistakes."

"I think that's where my potential lies — taking more risks, trying to play with more flair and having more fun out there."

The 33 Elements of Toughnesss

ESPN's Jay Bilas, a great player at Duke in the '80s who also served as an assistant to Coach K in the early '90s, says that when he'd come up against a "a tough opponent, I wasn't worried that I would get hit -- I was concerned that I would get sealed on ball reversal by a tough post man, or that I would get boxed out on every play, or that my assignment would sprint the floor on every possession and get something easy on me. The toughest guys I had to guard were the ones who made it tough on me."

Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. Some players may be born tough, but I believe that toughness is a skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and improved. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo always says, "Players play, but tough players win."

When I was playing, the players I respected most were not the best or most talented players. The players I respected most were the toughest players. I don't remember anything about the players who talked a good game or blocked a shot and acted like a fool. I remember the players who were tough to play against.

Here are Jay's 33 elements of toughness:

1. Set a good screen: The toughest players to guard are the players who set good screens. When you set a good screen, you are improving the chances for a teammate to get open, and you are greatly improving your chances of getting open. A good screen can force the defense to make a mistake. A lazy or bad screen is a waste of everyone's time and energy.

2. Set up your cut: The toughest players make hard cuts, and set up their cuts. Basketball is about deception. Take your defender one way, and then plant the foot opposite of the direction you want to go and cut hard. A hard cut may get you a basket, but it may also get a teammate a basket. If you do not make a hard cut, you will not get anyone open. Setting up your cut, making the proper read of the defense, and making a hard cut require alertness, good conditioning and good concentration. Davidson's Stephen Curry is hardly a physical muscle-man, but he is a tough player because he is in constant motion, he changes speeds, he sets up his cuts, and he cuts hard. Curry is hard to guard, and he is a tough player.

3. Talk on defense: The toughest players talk on defense, and communicate with their teammates. It is almost impossible to talk on defense and not be in a stance, down and ready, with a vision of man and ball. If you talk, you let your teammates know you are there, and make them and yourself better defenders. It also lets your opponent know that you are fully engaged.

4. Jump to the ball: When on defense, the tough defenders move as the ball moves. The toughest players move on the flight of the ball, not when it gets to its destination. And the toughest players jump to the ball and take away the ball side of the cut. Tough players don't let cutters cut across their face -- they make the cutter change his path.

5. Don't get screened: No coach can give a player the proper footwork to get through every screen. Tough players have a sense of urgency not to get screened and to get through screens so that the cutter cannot catch the ball where he wants to. A tough player makes the catch difficult.

6. Get your hands up: A pass discouraged is just as good as a pass denied. Tough players play with their hands up to take away vision, get deflections and to discourage a pass in order to allow a teammate to cover up. Cutters and post players will get open, if only for a count. If your hands are up, you can keep the passer from seeing a momentary opening.

7. Play the ball, see your man: Most defenders see the ball and hug their man, because they are afraid to get beat. A tough defender plays the ball and sees his man. There is a difference.

8. Get on the floor: In my first road game as a freshman, there was a loose ball that I thought I could pick up and take the other way for an easy one. While I was bending over at the waist, one of my opponents dived on the floor and got possession of the ball. My coach was livid. We lost possession of the ball because I wasn't tough enough to get on the floor for it. I tried like hell never to get out-toughed like that again.

9. Close out under control: It is too easy to fly at a shooter and think you are a tough defender. A tough defender closes out under control, takes away a straight line drive and takes away the shot. A tough player has a sense of urgency but has the discipline to do it the right way.

10. Post your man, not a spot: Most post players just blindly run to the low block and get into a shoving match for a spot on the floor. The toughest post players are posting their defensive man. A tough post player is always open, and working to get the ball to the proper angle to get a post feed. Tough post players seal on ball reversal and call for the ball, and they continue to post strong even if their teammates miss them.

11. Run the floor: Tough players sprint the floor, which drags the defense and opens up things for others. Tough players run hard and get "easy" baskets, even though there is nothing easy about them. Easy baskets are hard to get. Tough players don't take tough shots -- they work hard to make them easy.

12. Play so hard, your coach has to take you out: I was a really hard worker in high school and college. But I worked and trained exceptionally hard to make playing easier. I was wrong. I once read that Bob Knight had criticized a player of his by saying, "You just want to be comfortable out there!" Well, that was me, and when I read that, it clicked with me. I needed to work to increase my capacity for work, not to make it easier to play. I needed to work in order to be more productive in my time on the floor. Tough players play so hard that their coaches have to take them out to get rest so they can put them back in. The toughest players don't pace themselves.

13. Get to your teammate first: When your teammate lays his body on the line to dive on the floor or take a charge, the tough players get to him first to help him back up. If your teammate misses a free throw, tough players get to him right away. Tough players are also great teammates.

14. Take responsibility for your teammates: Tough players expect a lot from their teammates, but they also put them first. When the bus leaves at 9 a.m., tough players not only get themselves there, but they also make sure their teammates are up and get there, too. Tough players take responsibility for others in addition to themselves. They make sure their teammates eat first, and they give credit to their teammates before taking it themselves.

15. Take a charge: Tough players are in a stance, playing the ball, and alert in coming over from the weak side and taking a charge. Tough players understand the difference between being in the right spot and being in the right spot with the intention of stopping somebody. Some players will look puzzled and say, "But I was in the right spot." Tough players know that they have to get to the right spot with the sense of urgency to stop someone.

16. Get in a stance: Tough players don't play straight up and down and put themselves in the position of having to get ready to get ready. Tough players are down in a stance on both ends of the floor, with feet staggered and ready to move. Tough players are the aggressor, and the aggressor is in a stance.

17. Finish plays: Tough players don't just get fouled, they get fouled and complete the play. They don't give up on a play or assume that a teammate will do it. A tough player plays through to the end of the play and works to finish every play.

18. Work on your pass: A tough player doesn't have his passes deflected. A tough player gets down, pivots, pass-fakes, and works to get the proper angle to pass away from the defense and deliver the ball.

19. Throw yourself into your team's defense: A tough player fills his tank on the defensive end, not on offense. A tough player is not deterred by a missed shot. A tough player values his performance first by how well he defended.

20. Take and give criticism the right way: Tough players can take criticism without feeling the need to answer back or give excuses. They are open to getting better and expect to be challenged and hear tough things. You will never again in your life have the opportunity you have now at the college level: a coaching staff that is totally and completely dedicated to making you and your team better. Tough players listen and are not afraid to say what other teammates may not want to hear, but need to hear.

21. Show strength in your body language: Tough players project confidence and security with their body language. They do not hang their heads, do not react negatively to a mistake of a teammate, and do not whine and complain to officials. Tough players project strength, and do not cause their teammates to worry about them. Tough players do their jobs, and their body language communicates that to their teammates -- and to their opponents.

22. Catch and face: Teams that press and trap are banking on the receiver's falling apart and making a mistake. When pressed, tough players set up their cuts, cut hard to an open area and present themselves as a receiver to the passer. Tough players catch, face the defense, and make the right read and play, and they do it with poise. Tough players do not just catch and dribble; they catch and face.

23. Don't get split: If you trap, a tough player gets shoulder-to-shoulder with his teammate and does not allow the handler to split the trap and gain an advantage on the back side of the trap.

24. Be alert: Tough players are not "cool." Tough players are alert and active, and tough players communicate with teammates so that they are alert, too. Tough players echo commands until everyone is on the same page. They understand the best teams play five as one. Tough players are alert in transition and get back to protect the basket and the 3-point line. Tough players don't just run back to find their man, they run back to stop the ball and protect the basket.

25. Concentrate, and encourage your teammates to concentrate: Concentration is a skill, and tough players work hard to concentrate on every play. Tough players go as hard as they can for as long as they can.

26. It's not your shot; it's our shot: Tough players don't take bad shots, and they certainly don't worry about getting "my" shots. Tough players work for good shots and understand that it is not "my" shot, it is "our" shot. Tough players celebrate when "we" score.

27. Box out and go to the glass every time: Tough players are disciplined enough to lay a body on someone. They make first contact and go after the ball. And tough players do it on every possession, not just when they feel like it. They understand defense is not complete until they secure the ball.

28. Take responsibility for your actions: Tough players make no excuses. They take responsibility for their actions. Take James Johnson for example. With 17 seconds to go in Wake's game against Duke on Wednesday, Jon Scheyer missed a 3-pointer that bounced right to Johnson.

But instead of aggressively pursuing the ball with a sense of urgency, Johnson stood there and waited for the ball to come to him. It never did. Scheyer grabbed it, called a timeout and the Blue Devils hit a game-tying shot on a possession they never should've had. Going after the loose ball is toughness -- and Johnson didn't show it on that play.

But what happened next? He re-focused, slipped a screen for the winning basket, and after the game -- when he could've been basking only in the glow of victory -- manned up to the mistake that could've cost his team the win. "That was my responsibility -- I should have had that," Johnson said of the goof. No excuses. Shouldering the responsibility. That's toughness.

29. Look your coaches and teammates in the eye: Tough players never drop their heads. They always look coaches and teammates in the eye, because if they are talking, it is important to them and to you.

30. Move on to the next play: Tough players don't waste time celebrating a good play or lamenting a bad one. They understand that basketball is too fast a game to waste time and opportunities with celebratory gestures or angry reactions. Tough players move on to the next play. They know that the most important play in any game is the next one.

31. Be hard to play against, and easy to play with: Tough players make their teammates' jobs easier, and their opponents' jobs tougher.

32. Make every game important: Tough players don't categorize opponents and games. They know that if they are playing, it is important. Tough players understand that if they want to play in championship games, they must treat every game as a championship game.

33. Make getting better every day your goal: Tough players come to work every day to get better, and keep their horizons short. They meet victory and defeat the same way: They get up the next day and go to work to be better than they were the day before. Tough players hate losing but are not shaken or deterred by a loss. Tough players enjoy winning but are never satisfied. For tough players, a championship or a trophy is not a goal; it is a destination. The goal is to get better every day.

Work is not a variable; it's an attitude

In his book "The Smart Take From the Strong," the great Pete Carril writes that "defense is the heart of our game. Good defense is recognizable even when you're losing."

"Defense is not a variable. It's a constant. Shooting is a variable. Contesting a shot is not a variable. Skill is a variable. Work is not a variable, not a skill; it's an attitude. Defense has to be deeply embedded in your attitude."

Working hard is a message DAL coach Rick Carlisle is preaching to his team:

"Hard play is the biggest key to winning in this league, other than having enough talent. I love the talent on our team, but we don't have the kind of talent to win on talent alone. That's a fact. And most teams in the league are in the same position. We got to fight every night for wins. It's never easy."

[I just finished typing up notes from Coach Carril's book and will post later today. Even better, you can order the book on Amazon today. It's outstanding.]

Play the game, not the score

Coach Silver reminded me of something Jeff Van Gundy said during a recent broadcast:

"Play the game, not the score."

It's an old adage -- one I heard a lot growing up -- but one that's worth emphasizing, especially in games when you're way ahead or way behind.

Defining roles for players

Hall of Fame guard Clyde Drexler, who coached at the University of Houston from 1998-2000, recently described to SLAM magazine's Matt Caputo the kind of NBA coach he'd be:

"I’d be a communicator. I’d be a guy that would demand the most, demands the maximum, out of his players, and I would give them total respect, and the key is as coach I think you have to define roles. You have to define roles of the players, let them know what you expect out of them. If you communicate that effectively, I don’t think you’ll have a problem because at the end of the day they’re the ones who are going to get the job done. You got to give them room to succeed; you got to help them succeed."

You can control whether you hustle

Now in his 12th NBA season, SAC guard Bobby Jackson reminds me a lot of Avery Johnson, another veteran guard who has had great success as a pro coach after his playing days ended.

Based on this quote, Bobby has the mindset of a coach, too.

"If you're not doing the things to help us win games, then you've got to come out. When a guy isn't performing the way you expect, then he has to come sit down. When I become a coach, I'm going to do the same thing. You can't let guys think it's okay to play [selfishly]... They end up making a mistake instead of making the simple play. Here, it's about guys wanting to score instead of making the extra pass, thinking of the team concept. But, hey, you're not always going to shoot well. You can't always control that. But you can control your effort on rebounding, on defense. You can control whether you hustle."

Understanding what causes a team to lose

Ask Jermaine O'Neal, a veteran of a dozen NBA seasons, why TOR has struggled at times this season and he doesn't hesitate:

"It boils down to experience. How much experience do we actually have? I'm interested to see how many double-digit leads we've given up this year. I would have to say 16 or 17," said O'Neal.

According to this story, "the Raptors are second in the NBA in losing games in which they've held double-digit leads this season."

"I don't know if we understand what causes a team to lose. It's pretty basic," said O'Neal. "We're just not getting that effort. Sometimes when the games get tight we get a little tentative about what we want to do and don't play the same way. It's almost a tale of two teams in two halves ... (It) has been our Achilles heel."

TOR coach Jay Triano says his team has a "habit of incessantly looking over at the bench for guidance at the expense of pushing the pace. Again, perhaps the constant seeking of a coach's input is a function of relative inexperience."

"We've lost games pretty much the same identical way. And we've got to figure out a way to get out of it," said O'Neal. "You can't draw it up any better. You can't practice it any better. The players have got to do the job."

To get on the court, you have to defend

Twelve games into the season, Steve Fisher's 9-3 San Diego State team has one of the top scoring defenses in the country.

That's the result of Coach Fisher and his staff doing more than simply emphasizing defense.

They've linked defensive effort to playing time.

“The nice thing about our team is that if a person doesn't compete hard, we've got somebody else that we can put in. I don't want anybody playing out of fear or afraid to make a mistake, but I want them on edge to the point if where they don't play hard, there's going to be a reason they'll be playing fewer minutes.”

As this article puts it, "Fail to play defense and you can be rest assured of taking a seat."

According to sophomore guard D.J. Gay, one of the nation's leading scorers as a high school senior:

“Everybody has bought into what we're doing defensively and everybody wants to play. But to get on the court, you have to defend; if you don't, you're coming out. Guys are playing their hardest to stay on the court.”

Judging games on performance rather than wins and losses

Sounds like the SJ Sharks, who've won an NHL-leading 25 games this season, have borrowed one of John Wooden's core principles:  "Focus on effort, not winning."

After a rare recent loss to Columbus, in which SJ outshot the Blue Jackets, 48-32, Sharks center Joe Thornton (pictured here) said he was pleased with his team's play, despite the outcome:

"We said from the start of the year, we're not going to judge the games on wins and losses. We're going to judge them on how we played and I think we played well."

Knowing how to kick them in the rear and kiss them on the cheek

Former Ball State coach Brady Hoke has taken over at San Diego State, where the Aztecs went 2-10 this past season.

Coach Hoke also played at Ball State, where "he was an inside linebacker... who compensated for inferior speed with advanced malevolence."

In his words: "I couldn't run very well. But I'd get your ass."

At his press conference, it was clear that Coach Hoke, who guided Ball State to a 12-1 record this season, emphasized toughness, respect, accountability, and preparation:

"We're going to coach hard. Whether that's raising your voice a little bit or not, we're going to make our emphasis on the things that are important and how we want to do things and the attention to detail you need to take to be successful. We are demanding. We're going to be fair, but we're going to be brutally honest.

This program is going to be a program that is based on toughness. You have to be physically tough and mentally tough. This is also going to be a program that is going to play with unbelievable effort every time we take the field.

This program is going to have people in it that respect each other. If we respect each other, then we are going to take the opportunity to lean on each other and hold each other accountable. When you have accountability on a team, then you have a chance to be very successful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, `Success comes to those who prepare.' Well our preparation started today. We look forward to it; we are ready to hit the ground running and get this thing going."

Says his wife, Laura: "Brady believes in what he does. He's very demanding of the players, but he loves them, too. He knows how to kick them in the rear and kiss them on the cheek.”

Rest is a weapon

Earlier this month, after the Red Wings dropped two of three, Detroit coach Mike Babcock, who's coached the Wings to a first place Central Division finish the last three seasons and a Stanley Cup last year, talked about the difference between this season and the three previous years.

"We haven't been more relentless every night than the opposition. Every team ... goes through tough stretches. What you've got to do is minimize the damage at those times, and then when you've got a chance to get rolling, you've got to get really rolling."

After reading that, I went back and found an article from earlier this year in which Coach Babcock, his team coming off a Game 3 playoff loss, opted to give his guys a break the following day, citing the need for a "physical and mental break" and the importance of staying "fresh as a team and using today in a good manner and not wearing on your people."

According to Coach Babcock, taking time to rest is a strategic tool:

"You’ve got to get reenergized, and rest is a weapon and get prepared to play. And getting the lessons out of the game that you can. But there’s no sense beating yourself up over it. We didn’t win the game. It’s a new day tomorrow. It’s a new day today. It’s sunny. Let’s go."

Understanding the effort and intensity to play good defense

The Lakers aren't the only team in LA concentrating more on defense this season.

At UCLA, Ben Howland's team has spent the last few days of practice "step-sliding on defense, keeping your man in front of you, a lot of box-out drills, help rotation. Just a lot of basics."

According to PG Darren Collison, young players don't always comprehend "the effort and intensity required to play good defense."

Says Collison (pictured here with Coach Howland): "I know I didn't when I was a freshman."

A message of "relentless effort"

"Relentless effort." It's something you hear again and again from U of Florida players and coaches during interviews.

It's a message the UF coaches stress in meetings, practices, and on signs posted in the team's lockerroom.

They hand out awards that recognize players who demonstrated "relentless effort" during a game.

Film sessions include highlights of plays featuring "relentless effort." And in practice, there is a "relentless effort" drill.

On every play, coaches demand their players give "four to six seconds of relentless effort."

From looking around online, it seems Florida coach Urban Meyer began using the "relentless effort" theme in 2006 when he said:

"You call it having relentless effort to be great. From what I was told by Donnie Young [former Gator great offensive linemen on the 1996 national championship team] and some of the players that were on that '96 team, that's what they had. They were so upset when they would fail in practice. They had that relentless effort to be great."

Said the team's strength and conditioning coach: "Our program is based on accountability, self discipline, relentless effort and great attitude."

I want guys to play hard, play with passion, play for their teammates

At 2-7, Rich Rodriguez and the U of Michigan football team is assured of a losing season. With the season winding down, Coach Rodriguez and his staff will be monitoring the players' effort level:

"I don't think we've got any quitters. I know I've called it into question a little bit, our mental and physical toughness. I think that's just my nature. I think it's what we're trying to build, one of the foundations we're building our program off.

We're watching [the players' effort] very, very closely -- not just the underclassmen but the seniors, as well, how they want to represent our program and our university the next three weeks. We'll be watching very, very closely. We talk about it every day as a staff.

I just want guys to play hard, play with passion, play for the University of Michigan, play for their teammates. If anybody's not willing to do that, they shouldn't have to come here, shouldn't come to practice or work."