“One day I was home in my office,” Carroll told the group. “I was reading one of coach John Wooden’s books. Of course I knew his story about UCLA, the great basketball program, and all that stuff, but I was reading it to confirm — well, I don’t know why exactly I was reading it. Let’s face it, I’d just been fired. I had plenty of time on my hands.
“I got to the point in the book where he said that he was in his sixteenth year at UCLA before he won his first national championship. He’d coached other places before; he’d won Pac-10 championships, he had a great winning record. But as soon as I saw that, I smacked the book closed.” He clapped his hands together; the loud sound had a startling effect on the rapt crowd. “Shit. It hit me just like I got punched right in the forehead!
“Once he got it, he just nailed it. Once he figured out what was right for him, how to engineer his program in the way that best exemplified his philosophy, nobody could touch him. He wins nine of the next eleven championships, and then he retires, just goes off into basketball heaven. How beautiful is that?
“And then I thought, Oh, crap, it took him sixteen years. And I don’t even have a job. I better get my act together. I started working that moment. I got a notebook out and started writing. I asked myself: What is my philosophy, what is my approach? And I came up with the thought that if I was going to describe me, the first thing I’d say is I’m a competitor. Just one simple line. I’m a competitor. That’s my whole life since I was three, four years old. I tried to beat my big brother in every game we played. All of his friends would just laugh at how hard I’d try. I’d be fighting and scratching and crying and whatever it took, from the time I was a little kid. Reading Wooden, I realized: If I’m gonna be a competitor, if I’m ever going to do great things, I’m going to have to carry a message that’s strong and clear and nobody’s going to miss the point ever about what I’m all about.
“From there, the next thought that came to mind was Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.”
Carroll stopped at the podium again. He surveyed the crowd. Everyone was expecting a joke… but none came.
“Jerry Garcia said that he didn’t want his band to be the best ones doing something,” Carroll explained slowly, wanting the words to sink in. “He wanted them to be the only ones doing it. To be all by yourself out there doing something that nobody else can touch — that’s the thought that guides me, that guides this program: We’re going to do things better than it’s ever been done before in everything we do, and we’re going to compete our ass off. And we’re gonna see how far that takes us.”

- Via Esquire (via tanya77:dangerghost:)