The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk 314: John Calipari & Michael Lombardi - Building & Sustaining A Culture Of Excellence Full show notes found at www.LearningLeader.com John Calipari has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky basketball team since 2009, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (in 1996, 2008 and 2015), and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. Calipari has coached Kentucky to four Final Fours, in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Michael Lombardi was an assistant to the coaching staff of the New England Patriots (until 2016) and is a former analyst for the NFL Network and sportswriter at NFL.com.  Lombardi also previously served as an NFL executive with the San Francisco 49ers working withBill Walsh, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, and Oakland Raiders working with Al Davis.  This was recorded in front of an audience at an event called the NCAA Final Four Coaching Consortium.  The people in the audience were college basketball coaches and athletic directors. Notes: The "Players First" credo: "When I worked for Larry Brown he told me, if you care about the kids and you really care, you'll always have a job." "Larry was a coaches coach, but a players coach, who wasn't afraid to coach.  Right now, we're moving in a direction where we're afraid to coach.  Correcting in real time is so important." "Everyone said the 1 and done rule would ruin college basketball, they wanted to replace me." "If you're about your kids, whatever happens good for them, will not be a negative for you.  It's about them first.  It's about us second.  If you want them to be servant leaders, they have to see it in you." "If they don't see you getting involved in the community, they won't get involved in the community."  Players first is not just them playing basketball, it's everything. "We all should be reading.  The more curious you are, the more curious your players will be.  Read books, give your players books to read." Lombardi -- Coach Walsh was all about the players, he was the first to go on fishing tournaments with players.  He bought Bubba Smith a big tv, he made Michael sit and eat all meals with him. Bill Walsh had a book club in San Francisco Bill Belichick is all about the history of the game and the history of our country.  When you go in the cafeteria and you see the great players on the wall, he expects you to know the history and the culture of your team. You should ask all coaches, "who assigns the jersey numbers?"  The coach should assign those numbers, not the equipment manager.  Your player needs to know the history of that number. Calipari -- Process on getting guys to want to play as a team: It all starts in recruiting.  "If you promise every kid 25 shots, good luck.  Because at some point, someone will be upset.  If the relationship starts with a lie, you'll never recover." "Whatever you do here is earned.  If you're good enough you'll start, but you'll decide that." "If you want them to be great teammates it starts immediately when you meet them.  They have to earn it." You can't oversell and under deliver.  People will not buy in to that. "Pat Riley gave me one of the best compliments ever, he said, 'Your players are some of the best teammates in the NBA.'" Marcus Camby -- "I said, what position do you want to play?"  he said, "Shooting guard."  I said, "Okay, but we do post up our shooting guards a lot." Lombardi -- Putting together a great roster -- Roster construction: The law of 3's Whenever you take over a team you have three groups of people One -- They'll do anything you want them to do Two -- They're unsure Three -- They are never happy Focus on the people in group one and you'll win the whole team. The Four areas of leadership Command of self -- Must be discipline Command of plan Command of meaning/message Command of trust -- You cannot lie.  If you lie, you'll lose the player forever