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📌 What’s in Today’s Newsletter:

• 🎤 Coaches Speak Out: Top NCAA coaches share their thoughts on team-building in the NIL/Transfer Portal era.

• 🏀 Two Competing Philosophies: Rick Pitino vs. Kelvin Sampson—short-term projects vs. long-term development.

• 🔑 The Self-Awareness Factor: Why knowing your coaching identity is essential in today’s NCAA.

• 💡 Takeaways for Leaders: How coaches can adapt and thrive instead of resisting change.

🗣️ The Idea: Coaches Are Speaking Up!

Many longer-form interviews have been conducted with some of the premier names in NCAA basketball coaching in preparation for the conference tournaments.

This has led to interesting remarks on the current state of college sports, what it means to build a team today, and opinions on how to proceed.

Some of them, from high-profile names, even seem to contradict each other. So, we thought it would be a fun experiment to highlight these comments, give our take on what we see in the industry, and provide some thoughts on the question…

What does it even mean to build a team these days?

🧠 Here’s What They Said:

We’ll start with Rick Pitino. A few days ago, he joined Pardon My Take to talk about the current landscape of college athletics, and On3 summarized the largest talking points here.

Here’s the TL:DR:

He also spoke to the importance of keeping your young players and attracting players “for the right reasons,” which he describes as “I want to make sure we’re getting guys that just have that desire where they really, really inside, hate to lose.”

I think the point he makes about the Euroleague is quite interesting.

What a lot of coaches complain about is completely normal in other places. They aren’t used to anything else but have built their “best practices” around it. What are they doing in Europe? How do they think about team-building? Who’s considered the best?

All interesting questions for current coaches to ask.

But mostly, I like his acceptance of the circumstances as they are. He views his teams as short-term projects and coaches them accordingly.

I think it’s wise for Pitino because he clearly has that skill set. He also has an advantage over other coaches because he already has experience thinking that way (he spent a few seasons coaching in Greece).

Now - he may be right. He may be wrong. It’s not the only way. But I like that he’s accepting the circumstances and acting on them and operating around them.

🔨 What About The Other Side?

Then we have Kelvin Sampson, who has built an extremely successful program through more “traditional” NCAA routes. So successful they’re about to win their second straight Big 12 title outright. Here’s what he said about program-building this week.

“I bet on our garden. I bet on our ability to till the dirt, plant the seeds - go get it & prepare it, cook it, serve it & eat it. And these guys, our players, prefer it that way.”

“You’re allowed to really, really vet the guy you’re getting.”

“When you’re trying to get six or seven, that means that you’re probably recruiting double or triple that amount. And you don’t just have the time to a real comprehensive backgrounds on all of them and really get into the weeds and figure out if this is a good fit. When you only target a small number, you just get to ask the questions that sometimes you don’t want to know the answer to.”

A lot of coach-speak to start. But, there’s some gold in here.

First, you have to understand how he’s built the success. Long-term, around an identity with three and four-year guys which has supposedly “disappeared” in today’s NCAA.

Sampson is using almost the inverse strategy Pitino claims up above.

He’s keeping his guys. He’s developing over the long term. He has only had one portal entry each of the last two seasons, which is incredible when you think about who he is competing against.

And clearly, they do a lot of work to ensure the player they’re getting fits what they’re trying to do. They want players that want to come play in that environment. They may not be able to keep a premier blue-blood program from plucking one of their players. But, they can make it hard to leave because the players love being there.

And more of these programs are out there than the soundbites, headlines, and common-speak about “today’s NCAA” would lead you to believe.

Coaches (and ADs) talk often these days about the difficulty of “building a team” in the NIL/Transfer Portal era. My take on both the Pitino and Sampson quotes is that when you know who you are as a coach, you know how to build your team. Every coach is going to build a team differently, based on their personality, their values, their philosophy. It’s only difficult for the coaches who don’t know who they are. It’s cliche to say, but your why drives your how. Too many would rather complain about the current reality than say, “This is the world we are in today. I cannot control it. What I can control is how I lead within it. Based on who I am and how I operate, how can I leverage my strengths to build a winning program?” Again, that will look different for each coach but the best are the best for a reason. They don’t make excuses, they find a way.

At the end of the day, there are dozens of strategies for how to build a winning team. But if you don’t start with self-awareness, you become the blind trying to lead the blind.

📌 5 Takeaways for Coaches & Leaders:

1. Adapt or Fall Behind: The landscape of college sports is shifting. The most successful coaches accept this reality and adjust accordingly.

2. Know Who You Are – Pitino and Sampson prove that success isn’t about one strategy but aligning your approach with your core coaching identity.

3. Team Building is Still Possible – Despite NIL and the transfer portal, strong programs keep players through intentional recruiting, culture, and fit.

4. Learn from Other Systems – Europe’s approach to roster management offers insights that NCAA coaches can leverage.

5. Excuses Don’t Win Games – The best coaches don’t waste time complaining about the system. They use what’s in their control to build success.

💬 Closing Thought

Be careful what you read. Even though people will say, “Here’s the way you have to operate," there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building a winning program in today’s NCAA. Some, like Rick Pitino, embrace the short-term, year-to-year model. Others, like Kelvin Sampson, double down on long-term development and retention. The key? Self-awareness. The best leaders don’t resist reality—they adapt to it in ways that align with who they are. Whether coaching, leading a department, or running a team, success starts with knowing yourself and building from there.

BETTER’s Solution to Coach Development

As a part of our work, we lead cohorts of leaders. It’s just one meeting a month with a topic, some homework, and sharing about how it’s going. But it’s powerful. Many of the coaches and leaders in our cohort express the following sentiment:

“I wish every coach got to experience this on some level.”

So, we thought, why can’t they?

As a part of what’s next for BETTER.

We are launching a community around the Culture Playbook.

Until now, the Culture Playbook has been something you buy and then get. We wanted it to be so good and affordable that every coach in the country could access it.

From now on, leaders will receive the Culture Playbook as part of a guided community led by Kevin and Seth.

If you’ve enjoyed our newsletter, imagine a community where we will take you and others through a deeper level of how to install the systems for yourself, athletes, or other coaches. You can ask us questions directly. We can guide and share discussions, share ideas, and get feedback.

We will host monthly calls, and every coach will have direct access to us. We will lead guided discussions and encourage coaches and ADs to share best practices. We want it to become the absolute best resource for all things Culture Development, both at the program and department levels. Over time, we will continue to add content, resources, and offerings. You’ll get discounts on future products that the public won’t get. And no, the price is not changing.

We’re targeting a public launch in early January, offering newsletter readers early access and a 25% discount. Fill out the form using the link below, and we’ll send you a link to get started.