Winning It All: Building Champions w/ Coach Dan Hurley

0:04This is the Ed Milet Show. Welcome back to the show, everybody. I wanted to have this man on for a while. I've been, I guess, a fan and a studier of his for a very long time. I told him this when we were off camera. He's achieved things in his career and in his life that very, very few leaders have achieved. The more I've been around the sports world, everyone, I have to tell you, these top-level collegiate coaches, particularly in college baseball, basketball, and football that I've been around, are not just some of the great coaches that I've been around. They're some of the great leaders in any enterprise that I've been around, in any enterprise, business, politics, or otherwise.

0:44To lead these elite programs and to do it in a way that they do it consistently takes a very unique leader, and this man right here is no exception to that rule. He is the University of Connecticut's head basketball coach. They happen to be the 2023 national champs, and his name is Dan Hurley. Dan, it's really an honor to have you here today, brother. Thank you for being here. Yeah, Ed, man, it's awesome to be on. And your voice is real familiar. You know, every morning, I kind of start the day working out. But I'm used to hearing your voice on like speed in a quarter. You know, I'm trying to maximize my time in the morning when I'm on the Peloton or working out.

1:23But it's an honor to be on here, man. Oh, well, thank you for that. Yeah, when I meet people in person, I go, one, I thought you'd be taller. And two, I thought you talked a little bit faster. and I'm like the latter is because of the speed at which you listen to my podcast probably so and I'd be sick of me too I'd speed it up as well my kids are having on like five times speed so they're done in like so so listen congratulations on on the national championship but really on your entire career everywhere you've gone they were losing pretty bad before you got there and then within a pretty short window of time you've been able to turn things around I wonder when you take something over like that um let's just take UConn for the last job that you've had what is the first thing you start with is it culture is it the the the players themselves is there one thing you go this is where I'm going to begin to turn something around yeah I mean for for me Ed it's it's um it's it's before arrival it's when I kind of um torture myself over whether I should make the move or not you know when you're coaching it at Wagner and Rhode Island comes calling or you know when you're at Rhode Island and now it's a chance to go to UConn for me I you know I I'm very emotional when I with my work and I'm very emotional with the way that I coach and I become very attached to a place in my players so it's hard for me to leave you know so people think that all coaches, when they make moves up in the coaching ladder, that it's like an easy decision because it's more money and a bigger stage.

3:02But, you know, prior to taking a job, like I have to really believe in the place I'm going to that like I'm going to be able to do like historical success there. Or not just kind of, you know, hold on to the job, but like do incredible things. And, you know, so that goes on behind the scenes. And then, you know, obviously your press conference, man, you know, when you get the stage and you get introduced to the fan base and to the university organization for the first time, you know, you've got you've got to do a great job with that. I mean, you've got to get people excited. You've got to, you know, establish a vision and an identity of who you're going to be and, you know, generate that enthusiasm because you're taking over for a coach and a program that has bottomed out.

3:52right you know so the fan base has got to be fired up and then um you know the one thing that i've done when i've gone into these places that i think is important in terms of your people is i i don't um i don't go in there and and and get rid of get rid of any of the staff or move on from any of the players um you know i i give ample amount of time for you know for people to show value or show a commitment to changing habits, behavior. So I really evaluate things and not come in in a transactional way and try to show people that I'm more transformational and that I want to work with people. So I'm building a program, I think, on a solid foundation and a culture of trust with anyone that survives.

4:43Now, it becomes survival, Ed, because I set a much different tone and an energy and at a work rate. So not everyone's going to survive, but the people that do, they know what I'm all about. And then you hire the best staff you could hire and make sure you get that blue chip talent. That's about the right things. But really when you get in there, man, I think it's just like establish a work rate and a trust and a work ethic that's going to kind of blow people away and then obviously go get some talented people. I want to know what that looks like. I was thinking when you were describing that, with no criticism of anybody else, but in fact, this guy and I are repped by the same people.

5:26But I'm thinking a real prominent former NFL guy that's recently taken over a college football program, and he kind of just like, what I've heard, sort of gutted the place initially, right? I think you probably know what I'm talking about. And when I heard that, I thought, I get the standard thing, same time. I don't know that that's fair to the kids who had already made commitments to that school. and probably could have gone elsewhere at one time. So I really admire that you do it that way. What does it look like though? So you said, I want to establish a vision. We just get a little granular.

5:53So you come in, you have your press conference, took you a long time to decide to leave where you were because you love the kids. You built relationships with the community, the people, the boosters, I assume. But now you've moved, you've done your press conference. These kids are now used to losing probably a standard that's not what you're going to set. So is that like an initial like, hey, here's how things are going to change Or is it more like I'm going to show you rather than tell you? I'm just curious because a lot of people that are listening to this are entrepreneurs. They've got an organization right now that's functioning at, call it 60 % of its capacity.

6:27They're going to listen to you today who took a team that was literally losing and take them to a national championship. What does it look like to establish that vision and that work ethic, the standard, all that other stuff? Yeah. So, you know, Ed, for me, in terms of just the players, I think the first thing that I showed them in the first team meeting, you know, beyond making a commitment to them to, you know, to being the type of coach that can really develop on this, is I showed them one clip, one play from the last season before I had gotten to UConn. It was from the last season of the prior coach.

7:09And I think they were playing Villanova at home at the Hartford Civic Center here. And I think on the possession, I think Villanova might have missed four shots in one possession, but got four offensive rebounds. So just outworking them, hustling, superior talent, plus not giving the effort. right so Villanova's got better players and they're playing a thousand times harder than we're playing um and their ambition to win is far greater so I showed them that play um you know and I said that's that's going to change um you know and that's not that type of effort it will not be tolerated and I showed them just one possession from you know my Rhode Island team I didn't want to go in there and you know and talk about Rhode Island this Rhode Island that because that's not what I think potentially a returning player wants to hear.

8:08Not the stuff that you accomplished somewhere else. But I showed him one clip where I think our signature play for my last year at Rhodey was like a defensive stop, and then five different players touched the ball in transition to dunk the ball without any one player on the court dribbling. so it was beautiful teamwork it was beautiful aggression it was beautiful um you know just pace execution it was everything everything was on full display so i showed the team that and uh in that first meeting um a vision of how far we have to go and then um and then just model man model model who you want everyone in the organization to be you know first person in the building you know last one to to leave the building you know your coaches too in other words do your coaches still see you first in the building last to leave is that important with your staff as well or is that exclusive to the players or is it literally everybody around you well nowadays they they better be first okay yeah I mean I think I think early on um you know i've gotten a little bit smarter um i think my responsibilities at uconn are different than they were at roadie or wagner or as a high school coach so um you know and so so i i look i probably put more into um you know into sleep and rest uh within the last couple of years where I'm in pretty early, but I expect my staff to beat me in.

9:47And a lot of the stuff that I model is just everything that I believe. Like, you know, I keep myself in great shape. You know, I work, I work out every day. I'm meticulous with my diet. I'm always trying to read and learn. And, you know, I talk about my morning routine with my players and my staff. Oh, yeah. Yeah. you know observation coach i want to ask you about um we're talking about if someone meets me i should be taller and talk slower the other thing they often say to me and i'm noticing this with you um i think they're expecting an experience with like this super intense pumped up dude every single second of the day and if i almost feel like sometimes they they are uh disappointed that i am keeping energy and reserve and right when the camera went on with you today because i watched this is one of the most intense humans in sports that we're talking to right now.

10:44And it's one of the things I admire most about you. Yet today, I find you dialed down a gear or two. Have you learned to pace yourself like that? Is that an intentional thing? You can't be 100 miles an hour all the time. But I imagine the way in which you delivered those two videos probably had a little bit different energy or volume tone. Or am I wrong about that? Or are you or is this your normal tone with the players? Yeah, so I think, you know, when it's time to turn it up, I think, I mean, as a leader, I could turn it up in terms of the intensity and the electricity. You know, I am generally, like growing up, I was, you know, just I was always kind of like a lot less serious than my brother.

11:39a lot less serious than my dad I was probably always I don't want to say like the funny Hurley but the Hurley probably that you know didn't give a you know what yeah you know out of the group out of the three Hurley men in sports that was probably my deal um but generally throughout the day I mean I'm pretty relaxed I'm pretty laid back I mean my wife always says like her friends always ask her after we've gone to dinner like like he's or says like he's way different than what i thought he was right right um because i save it for you know in between the lines i save it for a team meeting i really i save it for when i come in the building and i've got to set a tone with with my people i mean when i come in here um you know my meetings are are intense you better have ideas you better you better add to conversation about players or tactics or ways that we can move this thing forward or else you're not going to be able to work for me i mean if you can't show up for when we're in between the lines uh with the absolute maximum maximum effort uh if you can't show up and play every possession like you're a total nobody for me like you can't play for me um so you know what i guess from when i pull in here uh you know at eight until when i leave here at whatever time in the night depending on time of year i mean i'm setting a tone that is hard to keep up with um yeah but when i'm not doing that business i'm a lot more chill and relaxed thanks to uh you know meditation and wanting to get home to my wife and chill well one thing i've noticed and by the way if those of you that don't know because there's probably 80 of my audience is not rabid college basketball fans right so those of you that don't know his brother's bobby hurley who is one of the great all-time college basketball players at duke i don't know two national championships i think when he was there if i'm right is that right your seventh pick in the draft seventh pick pick pick five eleven bob's probably five eleven one fifty 65, 16.

13:51Crazy. And had a, you know, an accident that happened, probably would have played a lot longer. And then his dad is one of the great at St. Anthony, one of the literally one of the great all time high school coaches, like all time, Naysweth award winner. So he comes from this insane basketball family. And I think it's probably accurate to say that if you went back 15 years ago and said, which one of these three is going to win a national championship, probably Dan would be third on that list of the three of them. Right. And that's, I don't, I think that's even what you're acknowledging but i think that energy thing's important i'm thinking about it when you were talking i didn't think i was going to ask you this but college basketball coaches are kind of unique like the great ones and one of the things that's unique about them is how long they actually stay in their craft i'm thinking about a guy like dean smith or boeheim um or williams you know john wood and all these guys i mean they coached a long time right so i gotta think part Part of that is, to some extent, pacing your energy.

14:49Do you have an intention of doing that, by the way? Are you going to be a 78-year-old guy coaching somewhere? Do you think you'll still be doing this at that age? I personally, well, that's a couple of things. I was a lunatic on the sideline probably midway through my time at Rhodey, maybe seven, eight years ago, I'd say, where the emotion and the passion was overwhelming, overwhelming, you know, my ability to manage the game and manage the team and think clearly. And back then, I think I really was kind of like out of control with officials, with road crowds. You know, just it was too much. And I had some moments, I think, moments with my wife, believe it or not who knows like nothing about sports i went to andrea like night after like night of a brutal loss at home at roadie and her telling me that you know i was embarrassing her with the way i was acting on the sidelines so uh it's a fine line uh between like coaching with that type of emotion and being able to to manage it i've grown a lot that way over the course of like the last several years.

16:10One of the keys to my coaching career has been like fired as an assistant coach at Rutgers looking like I'll never coach college, but then you get, you decide to become a head of high school coach. Yeah. You learn your craft at nine years, really experimenting a lot with, with leadership and tactics and player development. and then you get like a low division one job for two years which you know it's a lot easier to win at that level than it is to be jay right yeah so like you know you're you're learning your craft and you're making mistakes but you're learning and growing and you're not under that intense spotlight and then you go low major to mid-major at roadie and so i've been i've benefited in my career, man, from just having like to prove myself at every level.

17:03And I've had time to kind of like learn and grow, never taken a job that was too big for me.

17:13There's stuff I've always wanted to ask a great leader. Maybe you don't get asked this very often. So this might be stuff that it's in the core, but it's not asked a lot. And it's about criticism. um not that you how you face it that's the second question how you deliver it um i'd like to ask you about that how do you and have you done do you do it differently now how do you deliver criticism to a coach but mainly to your players and because you're dealing with you forget this i'll watch even college basketball this day i'm like this this kid's 18 he's 19 years old and at a school like UConn, man, the pressures of boosters and crowds and arenas and family back home, depending on you.

18:00How do you deliver criticism to players and coaches? Are you cognizant of the way you do it? Do you just fly off the handle? Is it different with certain players over others? I think it's one of the most important nuances as a leader is to be able to criticize somebody in a way that causes them to grow. I have to tell you, this comes because I had a coach criticize me in college when I played baseball. And I'm 52 years old to this day. And he recently came to a speech I gave, showed up out of the blue. And I turned and gave him this big hug. And I actually started crying because he was proud of me.

18:36But actually, the reason I was crying was I have never forgotten a particular criticism he gave me that just crushed me. And it wasn't delivered. It wasn't like, you know, lift your elbow or spread your legs out. It was personal. And to this day, I probably think about it 25 or 30 times a year. Is that nuts? So I think it's an important thing. I think it's a real relevant question. So what's your answer to that? I would say it, it just, it starts in like recruiting when like, before they even get here, you know, for me, I won't take a recruit at UConn where this is a pressure cooker. You coach here or play here, you know, you better have a stomach for, you know, because the standards are super high.

19:26You know, you have, you know, you've got the five national championships with coach Calhoun, one of the goats and then, and then Kevin Olley. and then you got Gino over there with 11. The women's coach, guys. Coach's women's basketball. 11. He's got 11. So it starts in recruiting. I need them to watch a practice. I need them to see us at work. I need them to see the pace, the tempo, the competitiveness, my entire coaching staff's attention to detail, the intensity of our work. I need them to understand that workload. And then in recruiting, you know, we don't cheat. I mean, we don't lie to them about what this is going to be.

20:13I mean, this is about us being allowed to coach them and get the most out of them. And sometimes it's going to hurt. It's going to be painful. There's a reason why they say the truth hurts, right? And I just feel like the way that we recruit them because of the substance with it. And then when they step foot on campus, the time investment, all these players talk throughout college basketball. And our players are on campus 11 months a year. A couple days for Christmas, different holidays, a little bit for summer, maybe a week here. But 11 months, our program is functioning and operating at a very intense level.

20:58I'm not out playing golf. You know, I'm not out, you know, writing a book on leadership or at my vacation home. Like, I'm on campus every day that they're on campus. Wow. Pushing, pulling, you know, running our program, practice, you know, whatever we're doing. Strength and conditioning, off the court player development. like I'm pushing for them every single day that they're here. So for me, I feel like, you know, the day after a game, you know, where they don't perform the things that we need them to perform for us all to succeed together. Yeah. Those film sessions are going to be tough. And I'm going to be honest about the things that you're not doing.

21:43But the foundation that the relationship is built on, the time investment, um my evidence of success at various levels as a coach it just it gives me i think that uh um you know the the ability to to be honest to be tough on them when i need to and also to to celebrate them when they're when they're successful um so coach do you i'm curious dan not to interrupt you but i'm curious do you have that kind of sensory acuity where it's been a rough film session and you know that potentially the kid is losing his confidence do you have that kind of that sensory thing where you'd pull a kid in if that's happened and i don't know love on him remind him of your belief in him i just think these are things that great leaders do almost intuitively that they don't even realize that other that is the separator oftentimes is these little nuances a guy tries to model you for example and he's intense and he's getting in their you know what's about their pants about film sessions but they miss the other thing and I've watched you enough I've actually watched you on the bench in a game walk over to a kid that you'd been hard on uh I watched it and then I watched you I watched the camera catch you walk over you put your hands on his knees and you got in front of him and I could tell you're like all right I gotta make a deposit in this kid because I've made a withdrawal that maybe went a little too far and I do think these are you're laughing right so I hope I'm right but so uh is that part of the job as a as a leader is to be looking for that and noticing those little subtleties no doubt I mean I listen I played I've been on the court at Seton Hall as a player you know your brothers at Duke you know really like living the dream right like national championships like living the fairy tale career but at the same time I'm at Seton Hall and I can't make a shot and I'm you know totally broken so I think I as a game night coach I think I really separate the two on game night game night I look at really myself really almost as like a boxing trainer or one of these UFC corner men where you know I put my athlete through really brutal preparation and training um up until the moment of competition but then you know once you guys see us you know at the anthem and when that game goes on i feel like my job is almost to be the hype man interesting you will never see me berate a player um on game night you know during a tv timeout after a bad shot i mean i am i know that my job like when those lights come on and it's time to perform is to protect their confidence enhance their confidence um but then on the flip side i think that's kind of the genius from my dad my dad was like a a very difficult taskmaster you know like he was he was mickey and rocky man like on the lead to the fight but then when he jumped in the corner on game night you know he built his fighter up and I feel like you know kind of like that's that's the perfect role as a coach you try to make the practices and the preparation so difficult that the game feels easier is that part of the slower less intense um the game is slower you're saying and less intense our practices are are at the pace and the competitiveness and at a tempo that is that not a lot of places.

25:28It's almost reminds you a little bit of when you watch teams play college football and they're offensively in terms of, yeah, and putting a tempo on the opponent. And I do all of my coaching and correcting on the lead up to the game. If I'm on the court screaming at guys about a cut they didn't make, you know, or not getting back on defense that I'm a shitty coach you know that should have been cleaned up before I got to Thursday night sold out arena well I I asked that because I think I always think sports is a perfect metaphor for business or any other thing even being a parent to some extent and I've been fortunate to be around a few I'd love to be around you more I told you that because I I do believe that these elite coaches are some of the best leaders I've ever met and I actually compare them to guys that I know and ladies I know that have run big countries.

26:18I'm not exaggerating when I say that. These jobs, Dan's job, you guys, I want you to picture this. And by the way, I don't pretend to know all of the roles, but it's not just strategy. It's not just preparation. It's not just recruiting. It's the boosters. It's the program's brand. It's their reputation. It's the energy level. It's the families that he's involved with. It's alumni of past players that are in his life that still text him and message him and have life problems. The bigness of this job is the role of a CEO of multiple companies at any given time. And I don't think most people appreciate that when they just see the basketball roll out there and your guys make some shots, right?

26:54And you're laughing when I say it. But based on all of that, I asked you this off camera, but I thought it was a really honest answer. Are you enjoying it? And is it what you thought it would be? Like, for example, you won. I'm curious, you win, that moment happens. I watched you when it happened. so there's that moment and then there's the after is this what you thought it would be is it is it as enjoyable as you thought it would be is it you know what i'm asking is it or isn't it you might have to ask a couple of follow-up questions on a number of directions um i mean that moment with uh the way that you feel about the group of people that you did that with right like the memories you'll have with that team the players the staff right that right there i mean that is like stuff that you give you goosebumps and you'll see a picture or you get together with the group and and think about you know the seasons you know and and just how hard it is to do what we did and then the manner in which we do did it the way we dominated yeah but i mean a lot of the other parts of it no yeah like uh i mean that there becomes uh in a way that overall feeling becomes now something that you're probably putting greater pressure on yourself right experience was so incredible that you you have you you're dying to feel that again with another a group of people and experience that whole incredible like you know mission accomplished feeling for for that lot for that group i mean for this group of men that uh work so hard for it you know so like that becomes like this almost feels like a like an addiction to try to get that feeling back almost like a like a drug you want back um and then um you know i love the work man like my mom my father and like our family and the city that we grew up in was just like super blue collar and like uh we're best when we're busy and working and so like there was a time period where we weren't practicing and we're doing like a bunch of events and like all that which is great i mean you're getting honored and white house and all these different things but i had a couple like panic attacks that my wife had to kind of hey get your breathing under control because i was getting kind of tired of all that shit and i wanted to go back on the next mission so i've been a lot happier since i've been back in practice with like next year's team i feel like my mood's been better and I fell into a little valley like once we got like a week past winning it and before we've got started on this next mission I found myself in some some weird emotional places I relate to that by the way the wins in my life have uh they were as good as I thought they didn't last as long as I thought they didn't last as long and I have found that they even last short that drug analogy is pretty good.

30:14Like at some point the high, I, uh, I want to go back and get it again, but I enjoy the work part of it more than anything. I wish I could figure that out about myself. You probably could too. Like I actually enjoy the work more than I do the celebrating of the work after it's done. And you seem to be that exact same way to me. Do you, the, the secret sauce of you, if you could brag, cause you just, I don't think it's even possible to get you to do this, but I'd like you to try someone said hey what's the secret for you that makes your secret sauce you've turned everywhere you went around um it was not easy to do what he did in this day and age with the way recruiting works and guys leaving it's just it's i think it's as difficult as it's ever been to build a consistent winner in college sports and is there someone said your secret is it's your preparation it's your work ethic it's your energy level it's the x's and o's it's your ability to recruit if someone said what is yours and you were willing to brag a little bit what would it be i would say the the the chase or of the mastery of all the things that go into being being a coach right like that you said it before i mean most people think i mean that this is phys ed class you know that it's just like you know hey fellows it's uh you know it's very complex i mean it's uh You have the culture of your organization that you're looking to absolutely perfect and you're looking for any crack of it in any behavior or any habit of all of your people on a daily basis.

31:51Right. So, you know, you've got the cultural, you've better, you know, your recruiting practices and your ability to attract elite talent. Right. Your your ability as a coach to help your players develop and acquire and develop new actual basketball skills. You're also trying to develop, you know, tremendous personal habits. Right. So you're you're chasing the best way to really help develop better men, to help develop better people. You know, you're constantly, you know, trying to learn and grow as a tactical coach. Right. Offensive strategy, the defensive strategy is all these different ways that you can attack your opponent tactically during a game.

32:37You know, the marketing and branding of your of your program. Are you creating the excitement in terms of selling tickets and big social media presence? So I think it's the chase, man, of becoming like the absolute best in every aspect of being a head coach. And my foundation is super strong. And I mean, my foundation starts with my faith, my faith in Jesus Christ. And then, you know, in my foundation at home with my home team, I mean, my wife is absolutely the perfect person on planet Earth for me. I was incredibly fortunate to meet her at Seton Hall at the end of my career there when I was a mess or I wasn't in a great place.

33:26the mess may be too strong but um you know and my sons danny and andrew i mean i uh obviously a lot of credit goes to my brother and my dad and my mom in jersey city and just that family as athletes but that foundation that i have at home and my faith like i can handle anything that comes with this job, the criticism, the losing, the going through tough stretches. I mean, I am built, you know, to handle everything that comes with this job because of, you know, my background, man, my foundation. I'm impressed. I did not know that your faith was that strong, nor that you professed it. And by the way, you don't need me to be impressed with you, but I am impressed with that.

34:15Do you share that when you recruit? Do the kids know that as part of coming there that, Hey, FYI, this is where I stand on these things. Or is that sort of, you know, found out later? No, we, um, I mean, I share, you know, the, the most important thing for me, I think, um, it was probably midway through my, my Rhode Island tenure and, you know, and I'm, I'm struggling emotionally. Um, you know, I'm, I'm just not, I'm not the best version of myself. I'm not at my maximum, you know, my maximum abilities as a coach. So, you know, I'm not sure. I think it was maybe a conversation with Billy Donovan, former head coach and incredible coaches, one of the best coaches of my generation.

35:00You just start talking to me about like my morning routine and I had none. You know, it was pancakes. It was pancakes. It was maybe not eat it was maybe um you know show my toughness by starving myself you know it's just you know like just immature approach to like being at my absolute you know highest level of like human performance and and highest energy and clarity of thought so i i you know billy got me on like morning routine man and and you know started by getting to bed early prioritizing sleep as much as possible and then um you know but just getting up by at least being up by six at the latest you know your prayer uh you know your spiritual readings and your prayer you know your meditation practice um you know for me my journaling you know whether it's free writing or gratitude journaling you know and then i get right to an hour of you know of hard physical training and then you know boom i'm in the office by you know 8 8 30 i think then ready to attack the day and set a tempo and a pace and an energy and you know just deal with whatever comes my way when i come in the building when you do your meditation do you uh focus on your breath i'm just curious is there anything particularly you do when you meditate for me it's my breath work it's the easiest way for me to get out of my head yeah um and uh you know for me i needed the guided um you know because I will find myself I need to be reminded by someone.

36:37So I use that Calm app and we make sure that we get everyone in the program has like free subscription to that or any meditation app that they're comfortable with because I just I believe that it's changed a lot of my career. That and that morning routine and that meditation time. I do it in the morning. I do it at night. If I'm having trouble sleeping, I'll play one of the sleep stories. So do I. Yeah. Yeah, I use Calm app every day. I'm not here to endorse it because they don't sponsor the show, but I do use Calm every day. And I got to tell you guys, it was so amazing to me, that people will listen to my show week after week, and almost every elite performer at whatever they do has changed their life with their morning routine, whether that's a cold plunge or their workout, their prayer, their meditation.

37:26I'm really surprised to hear that you journal and do gratitude journaling as well. I'm just surprised that, you know, a man's man coach does that because I do it too. But I have to tell you that, and then yet so many of you still have not established a consistent morning routine. and the one thing I will say and I want to take coach's time up but no matter what that routine is and I mine resembles yours is that what it does is it gives a predictability to the rest of your life if the beginning of your day starts out willy-nilly responding to text messages and everything else you're just sort of a reactor you just react through your entire life and at least if you have something you do for 30 minutes or an hour or two hours to start your day the probability of you having some measure control over the rest of your day is increased and I just don't know how you're going to compete in business or life against people who are routine like this when you're not I just I don't think you can compete against them I'm competing against I'm competing against killers you know like yeah I mean yeah the big east conference which I coach in I mean it's a bunch of unbelievable coaches you know it's when you get to this level of sport.

38:36I mean, this is the best of the best, the sharpest in every aspect. I mean, they're ruthless. They're sharp and ruthless, you know, and they have very few holes in their game. And I want to put myself to start the day at an advantage on people that I'm competing with that aren't doing that, that aren't sharpening their tools, that aren't taking advantage of the ability to think clearer. I mean, we're in the decision-making business, and a lot of the decisions that we've got to make that will define your career and your level of success, they've got to happen so quickly. And I always say to people, too, I'd be long gone from this level of coaching if I didn't have these things.

39:32I mean, people see me on game night. I mean, I got thrown out of a game of one of our most important games last year. I've been ejected from games twice since I've been at UConn. I have just a history of sparring with officials. I become the ire of most opposing teams fan base because of the energy that I coach with I had our GA Ed do camera time machine at Fox you know like how much more camera time am I getting than the opposing head coach just because of my antics and my energy and the way that I show up on game night I was getting twice as much time so I should have had some patches man someone like a race car driver or a tennis player yeah right so and if I wasn't doing these things to kind of calm myself and me to like go beyond that line I probably would have melted down by now had that incident because you know my my engine runs high well that's the thing I was just going to say coach is that one one of the things that you have to know yourself as a human being.

40:48And if you have a propensity to run hot, which you and I both do, I run hot. So I have, I don't really have to worry. Some people have to worry about something else. So if you're listening to this, it may be different, but if you're wired like the two of us, to the extent that I don't have to worry about getting cranked up, I have to worry about emotional control. I have to worry about not letting it get away from me. I have to worry about when I'm in criticism mode of going a little bit too hard not not I don't I don't lack candor and so you have to know yourself and what coach is saying is and here's the other element I'm gonna brag about you if I were a kid I want to play for a guy like you I think more and more it is elite he is competing against killers if I were a kid I want to look at what this dude's fitness looks like what's his routine look like what's his emotional control look like right what's his faith look like what are his disciplines I don't want to be coached by a guy that's not got that stuff together I want to be coached by a guy that I can model a real role model.

41:47And when I watched you the last few years, that's the number one thing that dawned upon me about you. And I'm just, I know you don't want a bunch of calls. I'm like, look, and I don't mean this to be criticism against your peers, but I just mean, look at him and look at that other guy. Like just visually, one of these dudes is up earlier and hitting the gym. One of these dudes is working on himself. One of these dudes models what he's telling his kids to do. When I went to, I've been to some football practices and watching Dabo or Coach Saban even run full freaking speed at practice themselves they're running full speed right they're running full speed with the players in between the drills their coaches move at full speed I'm like I want to play for that guy not the guy sitting on the freaking golf cart going go go go I want that guy and I think that's true in business everybody listening to I will I want that as a dad.