John Tauer, Ph.D.

As the head men’s basketball coach at the University of St. Thomas, I feel blessed and honored to work with an amazing group of players and coaches. This past season, we had a 30-2 record, tied a school record for wins, won an unprecedented 8th consecutive MIAC championship, and advanced to the Division III Final Four for the third time in school history. More important than the records and statistics are the life lessons we aim to teach our players. Some of these lessons include:

• How we respond to failure and mistakes helps us grow, prepares us for adversity, and defines who we are.
• Controlling our emotions is an important skill in life, particularly in frustrating situations.
• We win as a team and lose as a team.
• Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation. Approach-oriented motivation is better than avoidance motivation. Finding areas in life that allow us to be passionate and work well with others is invaluable.

In the Rutgers video footage, we see a coach showing his players that failure is not an option, and that mistakes will be punished both physically and verbally. Undoubtedly, players developed a fear of failure (and of their coach). Based on the video and interviews, it is clear Mike Rice’s behavior toward his players was consistently demeaning and aggressive toward his players. How and why were Mike Rice’s actions allowed to occur over time? Understanding the conditions which allowed this hostile environment to take place is important to prevent future situations similar to the one at Rutgers University. Let’s consider the situation from a number of different perspectives.

Why would a coach act like this? Learned Aggression
The research on aggression indicates there are both biological and environmental correlates of aggression. Without knowing Mike Rice’s DNA, it is a safe bet that he learned some of this behavior from other coaches. Rice was a longtime assistant coach, and it seems likely that at least one of his mentors engaged in similar behavior. In working to motivate his players, Coach Rice must have thought they required physical and mental abuse/fear in order to get them to play as hard as he wanted them to play. This approach flies in the face of the research on intrinsic motivation and long-term sustainable performance.

Why would players not turn on their coach? Obedience to Authority
Classic studies on obedience to authority conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale University in the 1960s demonstrated how quickly and easily average people will obey an authority figure. In one version of Milgram’s study, 65 percent of participants shocked a stranger to a level that could have been fatal (no shocks were actually administered as the stranger was in a different room). The takeaway from this study was that authority figures can abuse their power, yet rarely will others stand up to the person in power.

Players on the Rutgers team undoubtedly disliked how they were treated in practice. However, for non-New Jersey residents, tuition, room and board at Rutgers at a cost of $37,805 per year (or $151,220 over four years), would be a large incentive to stay quiet and avoid risking a scholarship. Furthermore, blowing the whistle on Mike Rice could have led to an ugly situation that, depending on the outcome, could have led to the player leaving Rutgers and struggling to find another school at which to play basketball.

Why would the athletic director not fire the coach immediately upon seeing the video?
Athletic Director Pernetti saw the video yet chose not to fire Mike Rice; rather, he chose to suspend him for three games, fine him and instruct him to attend anger management classes. Pernetti may have thought he could help rehabilitate Rice, but Pernetti also may have been avoiding conflict, hoping to resolve the issue quietly and not draw attention to an athletic program that had more than its share of issues recently.

Why was the public so outraged?
When the video of Mike Rice throwing basketballs at players in practice hit the internet, public outcry was quick to follow. We have an image of how we hope coaches treat players, yet all too often the “Win at all costs” mindset seems to trump all. Why did videos like this not surface 10+ years ago? In part, because videos such as this would be more difficult to obtain and even more difficult to distribute so readily. Mike Rice is not the first coach to treat his players poorly, nor is he the first coach to use fear, vulgar language, and physical abuse as tactics to motivate his players.

Read John Feinstein’s book, A Season on the Brink about Bobby Knight at Indiana University in the 1980s and it is clear Mike Rice is not the first coach to treat his players poorly. Had there been videos of Bobby Knight doing the things Feinstein reported in his book, and an internet to spread those videos like wildfire, my hunch is Coach Knight may have had a more difficult time keeping his job as long as he did in Indiana. Furthermore, I am certain that coaches across the country engage in questionable actions as they seek to motivate, compel and push the right buttons to get their players to play hard and excel. There is certainly a fine line, as athletics are an emotional endeavor, and many coaches walk a tightrope between controlled passion and aggression and uncontrolled physical and mental outbursts. That line can be the difference between an intense, fiery coach such as Rick Pitino winning a national championship with Louisville and an intense, fiery coach such as Mike Rice being fired from Rutgers.

What is the greatest danger stemming from the Rutgers saga? The Fundamental Attribution Error
After the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it was easy to think that if we captured Osama Bin Laden, the world would be safe again. The truly frightening reality was that there were likely thousands upon thousands of individuals who felt the same way Osama bin Laden did about America.

Along these same lines, it feels much cleaner if we believe that now that Mike Rice has been fired, we can go back to believing the “bad coach” is gone and only good ones remain. What is much more frightening is if there are hundreds, or thousands, of Mike Rices out there coaching college and high school sports. Mike Rice learned this behavior from somewhere. It seems unlikely that he is the only one of thousands of college coaches and tens of thousands of high school coaches to employ these types of coaching methods.

The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) occurs when we underestimate the power of a situation while simultaneously overestimating the role of one’s personality in discerning the causes of a behavior. In this case, we likely commit the FAE when we overlook the powerful win-at-all-costs mentality that, when combined with the ultracompetitive world of sports helps us understand that Mike Rice was likely innately aggressive as an individual, became more aggressive in part due to what he learned from other coaches , implemented an aggressive coaching style because he believed that behavior motivated players, and did all of this in part due to an environment that allowed and encouraged aggression.

The real shame of the Rutgers basketball saga will be if the public does not engage in a conversation that revisits the true goals of sports, the best practices for teaching and motivating student-athletes, and a broad view of the culture of sports, and why this culture may be a breeding ground for ultracompetitive fear-based motivation that undermines the very goals sports aims to teach. Until that time, unfortunately, the madness of sports will not be limited solely to the month of March.

John Tauer is an associate professor of psychology and head men’s basketball coach at St. Thomas. 

2008-09? Unselfish, he says. The undersized team with no starter over 6-foot-4 outscored opponents by an average of 19 points and went 30-0 before losing to eventual national champion Washington University of St. Louis. The core included seniors Al McCoy, Lonnie Robinson, B.J. Viau and Brett Tuma, the first three as starters.

2010-11? Unselfish, Tauer says again. The 30-3 team wasn’t as dominant statistically as two years earlier but got on a roll at the right time and won its last 12 games, including the 78-54 finale over Wooster in Salem to win the national championship. Four seniors – Tyler Nicolai, Alex Healy, Teddy Archer and Anders Halvorsen – started every game alongside junior Tommy Hannon, and senior Brady Ervin came off the bench for 19 minutes a game.

2012-13? Unselfish, Tauer says one more time. The 29-1 Tommies are led by seniors Hannon, John Nance, Will DeBerg, Noah Kaiser and Drew Mathews. They lead the country in scoring margin (21.1) and field goal percentage (.527), and are No. 3 in 3-point proficiency (.427), but no player finished among the top 15 in MIAC scoring average.

Tauer pauses to reflect on inevitable comparisons between the trio of Elite Eight teams and throws in an adverb to embellish his “unselfish” description.

“Three things characterized all three teams,” he said. “They had senior leaders who were incredibly unselfish and set an unbelievable example. Actions always speak louder than words. Tyler never said, ‘This is how we play.’ He just played that way. And it caught on.”

Tauer expects to see more of the same unselfish play beginning Friday, March 22, when the top-ranked Tommies face No. 8 Williams at 11 a.m. (Watch the game live.) The winner will meet the St. Mary’s (Md.) and Mary Hardin-Baylor survivor at 5 p.m. Saturday to advance to the title game April 7 in Atlanta.

Balance Comes Through

Unselfishness usually translates to balance when it comes to scoring, as do Tauer’s deep bench and the second-year coach’s penchant for an up-tempo game and pressure defense:

• DeBerg’s 12.5 points per game leads a team that has averaged 81.3 points a game, just 1.4 points off the school record of 82.7 set in 1973-74 by the legendary Terry Mikan-Bob Rosier team. Hannon follows at 11.4, Nance at 9.6 and junior Zach Riedeman at 9.1.
• The starters have combined for 47.3 points a game, meaning the bench scores 34. Starters averaged 48.3 in 2008-09 and 52.9 in 2010-11.
• Nance and DeBerg are the only players who have logged more than 700 minutes – or 28 per game – and 11 players average 10 or more minutes a game.
• Nationally, only one player ranks in the top 100 in any individual statistical category: DeBerg is No. 95 in 3-pointers per game at 2.38.

“It took until the final week for one of our guys (Hannon) to win MIAC Player of the Week, and then we got it because we won the playoffs,” Tauer said. “But they don’t care! It’s how we do as a team that concerns these guys. It’s pretty (here comes that word again…) unselfish.”

Stats Revealing

Holding records of 51-8 overall and 8-1 in the postseason during his two years as coach, Tauer exudes quiet confidence heading into the matchup against Williams. His team is riding a 13-game winning streak since losing its only game 54-52 to Concordia two months ago in Moorhead and has loads of playoff experience – 21-4 in MIAC and NCAA playoff games since 2009.

Coach pic“I like two statistics about this team,” he said. “We are No. 1 in Division III in field goal percentage (.527), meaning we are taking good shots, and we are No. 2 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.62). We play hard, we play smart and we play together.”

The men’s team took the MIAC Championship this year, earning them a place in the NCAA playoffs. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

The Tommies’ ranking and pursuit of a record eighth straight MIAC regular season title have left targets on their backs all year long. Tauer marvels at their maturity in handling both game-to-game expectations and tense moments such as last Saturday’s 63-62 Sweet Sixteen win when the Calvin player who had scored 31 points missed a shot before the buzzer.

“It’s how they handle physiological arousal,” said Tauer, who also is a psychology professor. “Guys laugh when I use those words, which have to do with how your nervous system responds and your heart beating faster. Some players thrive on it and some shy away from it.

“These guys like it! We talk all year about competing for a national championship, and that grows on them. It also helps that we recruit players from winning teams. They are used to playing in big games in the state tournament or sectional finals.”

One might think the emphasis on balance and knowing they have to wait their turn might dissuade star players from enrolling at St. Thomas, but Tauer hasn’t found that to be the case.

“We are up front with guys,” he said. “We recruit excellent players who we know will be good teammates, and we tell them that we expect to win a lot of games and that they’ll get a degree from a great university.”

Senior Influence

Tauer eventually turns the conversation back to one of his favorite topics – his five seniors – and extols their contributions:

• Kaiser, 6-foot-5 forward, Henry Sibley: He started the first 12 games but sat out eight games after a hand injury and hasn’t returned to the starting lineup. “He accepted that as being best for the team,” Tauer said. “It demonstrates what I mean when I say this team is unselfish.”
• Nance, 6-foot-4 forward, Cretin-Derham Hall: He has become the team’s best defender and an effective passer who leads the team in assists (75), steals (46) and blocks (12) while hitting 55 percent of his shots from the field.
• Hannon, 6-foot-8 center, Cretin-Derham Hall: A knee injury sidelined him for the 2011-12 season after nine games, and there were questions whether he could recover and be effective in his final year. He has responded with a season almost identical to 2010-11, when he averaged 12.2 points and 6.7 rebounds a game and won a spot on the All-Final Four Team.
• DeBerg, 6-foot guard, Edina: The two-year all-MIAC sharpshooter leads St. Thomas with 69 3-pointers, nearly twice as many as anyone else, and Tauer says he has played tougher defense.
• Mathews, 6-foot-4 forward, Faribault Bethlehem Academy: He has played 36 minutes in 11 games, with six points and four steals. After appearing in only 13 games last year and undergoing hip surgery over the summer, many didn’t expect him to return. “But he did,” Tauer said. “He couldn’t play right away, but he came to practice every day the first two months. Young guys see that and it makes an impression because it’s so unselfish.”

This story originally published at TommieSports.com.

The top-ranked Tommies (29-1) will face Williams College (Mass.) at noon (EDT) Friday, March 22, in the Elite Eight round. If they win on Friday, they will play in the semifinals at 6 p.m. (EDT) Saturday for the right to advance to the championship game April 7 in Atlanta.

Individuals who need travel assistance can call Creative Charters at (651) 748-0080. Game ticket packages for all sessions are available ($25 for adults and $12.50 for students) through the Department of Athletics and JoAnn Andregg at (651) 962-5902. Game tickets also can be purchased from the Salem Civic Center, (540-375-3004), or at the box office there.

If St. Thomas wins both games this weekend, the Tommie Club will attempt to schedule a charter flight for the Division III title game in Atlanta.

For more Division III playoff information, visit the NCAA or www.d3hoops.com.

Dr. John Tauer

During their four years, they have been a part of four MIAC championships, bringing our streak to a record of eight consecutive regular-season titles. They also were part of the program in 2011 when we won the national championship. Over the past four years, our overall record is 98-15 with an MIAC record of 70-9, giving St. Thomas more wins than any other team in the country during that time. This season, we are 23-1 and ranked No. 1 in Division III.

But as impressive as their team and individual records are, these five seniors are even better people.

Will DeBerg came to St. Thomas as a star shooting guard from Edina High School. Will worked diligently his first two years, playing on the national title team as a reserve. As a junior, Will was named all-conference and developed a reputation as a long-range marksman. This year, he has emerged as a leader and captain. A gym rat who can be found in the AARC at all hours, Will is a business major with an entrepreneurial spirit, starting his own basketball camps in Edina.

Noah Kaiser attended Henry Sibley High School, where he helped lead his team to the state finals in 2008. He transferred to St. Thomas from St. John’s and earned court time for his unselfish play. Over the past four years, Noah has been a steadying influence, dazzling fans with his passing and leading the MIAC in field goal percentage in 2011-12. Noah is an accounting major who will graduate with honors this spring.

John Nance is a Cretin-Derham Hall graduate. After playing football for the University of Minnesota for a year, he transferred to St. Thomas. He did not play a lot his freshman year but came on strong as a sophomore and led us in scoring in the national championship victory over Wooster. Last year, John was named all-conference and he has emerged as one of the top defenders in Division III. A business management major, John’s infectious energy and smile make him a great teammate.

Drew Mathews attended Faribault Bethlehem Academy, where he was an honors student. Drew played two years of junior varsity and has been on the varsity the past two seasons. He had hip surgery last summer, and his dedication and devotion to rehabilitation and the team make him an outstanding teammate, leader and role model for our younger players. He is a finance major.

Tommy Hannon also is from Cretin-Derham Hall, where he played junior varsity basketball as a senior. A wonderful example of hope and work ethic, Tommy played junior varsity his freshman season and was a backup center as a sophomore before becoming our starting center as a junior, when he was named to the All-Final Four team in Salem, Va. A finance major who will graduate with honors, Tommy has battled injuries and adversity his entire career.

Each of these five seniors came to St. Thomas to challenge himself on and off the court. I have been inspired by and blessed to coach them the past four seasons. Their teammates and coaches will miss them, but we are grateful for their contributions to UST Basketball and we are excited to see what they do to better their world when they leave St. Thomas.

Kelly Ring

I would be remiss if I did not pay tribute to another senior, Kellie Ring, the starting point guard on our women’s team. Kellie is from Somerset, Wis., and celebrated her “Senior Day” Saturday in our win over St. Benedict. She has started all 23 games this season. The day after her father’s funeral last month, Kellie led the Tommies to a 78-55 win over Augsburg with 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals – a truly inspirational performance. She is a biology major.

Let’s pack Schoenecker Arena tonight – 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13 – to cheer Will, Noah, John, Drew, Tommy and their teammates as we take on St. Olaf. Go Tommies!

Fans can watch the game live on KSTC-TV Channel 45. KSTC is an over-the-air station owned by Hubbard Broadcasting and is available to households throughout central and southern Minnesota, and western Wisconsin.

Tickets to the game also are available for purchase beginning at noon on Saturday and will be sold outside of the main arena doors. Adult tickets cost $8; student tickets are $4. All UST students, faculty or staff with a valid University of St. Thomas ID will receive free admission to the game.

For more information about TV advertising during this game or future Tommie games, contact Michelle Morgan, (651) 962-6186.

The live broadcasts from Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul and St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights will occur on these Saturdays:

• Dec. 1, 2:30 p.m., men’s hockey vs. Concordia-Moorhead.
• Jan. 12, 3 p.m., men’s basketball vs. St. John’s.
• Feb. 9, 1 p.m., women’s basketball vs. St. Benedict.
• Feb. 16, 2 p.m., women’s hockey vs. Augsburg.

Athletic Director Steve Fritz said the broadcasts represent an excellent opportunity to bring St. Thomas sports into homes throughout the region.

“We are excited about these broadcasts,” Fritz said. “They will provide great visibility for both St. Thomas and the MIAC and will give our alumni and sports fans another way to follow our teams.”

KSTC is locally owned and operated by Hubbard Broadcasting and is the only fully independent television station in the Twin Cities market. Home to 45 Local News, KSTC is the exclusive broadcast partner for Minnesota State High School League tournaments and can be watched in HD, over-the-air on 5-2 and on Comcast Channel 812.

St. Thomas will contract with CTN Studios of Coon Rapids to produce the broadcasts, including hiring announcers for play-by-play action and color commentary, said Michelle Morgan, marketing manager for the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex and Anderson Student Center. CTN already handles football game-day production for the new scoreboard in O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

“CTN has experience in all facets of producing sports broadcasts,” Morgan said. “We have an excellent working relationship with CTN with our football games and we expect they will provide first-rate broadcasts for basketball and hockey.”

Dan Terhaar will be the play-by-play announcer for all four games. He has 28 years of sports broadcast experience, including television for the Minnesota Wild and St. Cloud State hockey and radio for the University of Minnesota and University of North Dakota. He also has covered several high school sports.

Tori Holt will be a sideline reporter for the men’s and women’s basketball and women’s hockey games, with 10 years of pro and college experience. Andrew Brunette, an NHL free agent, will provide color commentary on the men’s hockey game if the lockout doesn’t end this month and a team doesn’t pick him up.

Morgan said the broadcasts are a “pilot project.” If they prove successful, she said, the university would be interested in additional broadcasts next year.

Business or organizations interested in purchasing advertising spots on the broadcasts can contact Morgan at (651) 962-6186 or morg7978@stthomas.edu.

St. Thomas football games already are broadcast, over WCCO Radio. WCCO broadcast its first St. Thomas game in December 2010, during the NCAA Division III playoffs, and subsequently signed contracts that extend through the 2013 season.

This is not merely a business network. It is comprised of powerful social bonds of friends and individuals who care deeply for their fellow Tommies.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, I immediately thought of my former basketball teammate at St. Thomas, Karnell James ’97. Karnell grew up in New Orleans and attended St. Augustine High School. Coming to St. Thomas presented a major transition for a young man who had never seen snow!

Karnell was successful immediately, and we played together in the 1994 NCAA Division III Final Four, and on the only 20-0 team in MIAC history in 1995. Karnell ended his career as an All-American, two-time MIAC MVP, and was inducted into our Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. He still holds a school record for scoring 47 points in one game.

When I connected with him at his home in Houston, where he works for Aim Investments, I learned that his parents had lost their home and were living with him. His brother Gerald, sister-in-law, and their two kids were living with him. Karnell also found two cousins at the Astrodome who moved in with him, too.

Karnell helped his family, of course, just as most people help others. In general, tragedies such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and terrorism make all of us feel more than a little helpless. The wonderful paradox of these tragedies is that they often bring about the best in humanity. After tragedies our instinct is to find ways to regain perceptions of control. One way we accomplish this is by helping others.

Steve Fritz, UST men’s basketball coach, and I talked about mentioning Karnell’s family’s plight to a few former teammates. I e-mailed about a dozen to see if they could help. What followed exemplified the strength of the St. Thomas network.

By the end of the day, I had received responses from several former teammates. Many also had forwarded the e-mail to other Tommies, so that I was hearing from dozens more. Those who donated included 20 of Karnell’s teammates, three of his former coaches, seven players who graduated long before Karnell arrived, five members of the current team, five alums of the women’s basketball program, and 10 relatives of alums. In all, 50 individuals or families mailed me checks totaling $7,500!

Here are some concrete examples of the UST network. I contacted Jon Strausburg ’91, who works at Microsoft Corp. and knows Karnell well. Jon passed along my e-mail to Damon Fitzgerald ’90, another Microsoft employee. Damon passed the message along to several basketball alumni from the 1980s and several donated. Jon’s wife, Laura Witte ’97, a former UST All-American, passed the message along to four of her former teammates who knew Karnell.

I e-mailed Tommy Fritz ’98, who is now the junior varsity coach at St. Thomas and played with Karnell. Tommy contacted teammate Thor Snilsberg ’98, and Thor proceeded to e-mail his parents and both sets of grandparents, all of whom donated.

Story after story like these emerged. What struck me is that while many of these individuals didn’t know Karnell, knowing that he is part of the St. Thomas community was enough.

As Damon Fitzgerald put it best in his e-mail to guys who played a decade before Karnell, “I saw Karnell play a time or two but never got to know him. He’s a Tommies hoop alum, though, and that makes him family.”

Karnell and his family were doing exactly what those of us who know Karnell would expect: bonding together and making the best of an overwhelming situation. They focused on regaining control and taking care of one another, even after having had to subsequently evacuate Houston due to Hurricane Rita.

When Karnell returned to New Orleans for the first time, he reported, “As I entered the city, you just had the feeling that something really bad happened here. My parents’ neighborhood was a ghost town. The only truck that passed while I was moving furniture out to the yard was a military Humvee with four soldiers with M-16 assault rifles visible. My St. Thomas and     St. Augustine letter jackets were destroyed along with the other clothes in the home. The water had reached the chandeliers and destroyed family photos on the wall. The scene was unreal. Homes have either their doors wide open or windows busted out in an attempt to let damp walls dry.”

Upon receiving the contributions, Karnell wrote me this note: “When I shared your letter and fellow alums’ contributions with my family, they were speechless. It actually brought my mother to tears.

“You have to understand that this is a humbling experience for New Orleanians, especially my parents who are more comfortable playing the role of hosts as opposed to guests. The donations have helped us tremendously. It allowed for the purchase of beds, air mattresses and clothes. I never quite grasped the phrase ‘starting over’ until now. Before Katrina, I was the only person living in a three-bedroom home and wasn’t equipped to take in six adults and two kids. A trip to the grocery store that would usually last me one week is now depleted in one serving.

“The benefits offered to evacuees expire in December. Shortly, they will be responsible for their living expenses as well as mortgage payments in New Orleans, even though their homes are not livable. The help received will aid with these expenses and essential furniture needed to begin a new life.

“I was certainly thankful and touched that so many thought enough about me and my family to lend a hand. That response was consistent with everything that St. Thomas is about. When I received my first St. Thomas basketball practice jersey, it was a picture of our school mascot with the words ‘A Class Act’ at the bottom of each jersey. Early on, I realized there was a standard of excellence at UST that transcended sports.”

Indeed, there is something special about St. Thomas, a place that brings people together for four years, facilitates the formation of friendships, and establishes a network of connections that last a lifetime.

Note: December update: Karnell James’ father is back at his job for the phone company but now in Slidell, La. His brother – an audiologist who started his own business, then had to close it when called up by the Army Reserve for a year, then re-opened it on his return, and then lost it in the flood – has a job in Houston.

Dr. John Tauer ’95 teaches in the Psychology Department and is assistant men’s basketball coach. If you would like to donate to the James Family Fund, contact jmtauer@stthomas.edu.