An Interview with John Wooden February 25, 2006 Part 17

Q: With the fact that more good players more and more turn pro early, do you think any college team will dominate the sport like yours did, like UCLA did for so long?

W: Well, it had never been done before, but it happened. If I’d asked you, for example, a few years ago in baseball, do you think a middle infielder, or a catcher, perhaps, would ever break Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game records? Well, a shortstop did, and broke it by considerable margin. Took a long time. So I just say, it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, but I won’t say can’t happen. There’s some ways -- this may startle you to hear me say this -- but if freshmen had been eligible, one particular year, I think we would have had another one.

And now, there is so much talent now. So much talent. You might remember a few years ago, Duke lost several players that were returning. [Elton] Brand, who was great, and had a great game last night against the Lakers. And they lost two other starters, and they’re decimated. They’re gonna be terrible the next year. So next year, all they did was be the number one team in the country. So there’s so much talent available now.

It’s just one of those things that’s going to be very, very difficult to happen again. But I don’t like to think that was the only time it could happen. Why didn’t it happen before? Was it easier then than it was before? I don’t think -- you know, it’s a good thing for argue about and talk about.

Q: Let’s talk a little bit about coaching against your alma mater? Do you prepare differently in that type of situation? Or is there anything different about that from coaching against any other team?

W: Well, there certainly shouldn’t be, you know, in a regular game, not counting in like a dedication game; that’s a little bit different situation. That would be true wherever it is. But, well, it’s a little different. You may have a little more self-imposed pressure on playing a game of that type. For example, let’s say, while I was at UCLA, would it be more of [that pressure in] my playing against Purdue, my alma mater, or playing USC, a cross-town rival? I believe it would be more playing against a cross-town rival. Or some other team in your conference. I believe so.

Q: Talk a little bit about the Purdue program from your vantage point. The success of the Purdue program, and your recollections of any of the Purdue coaches or players that you’re familiar with.

W: I’m not real familiar with ’em. And I really can’t talk with any, you know, degree of validity about too much. I came out here in ’48, and that’s a long ago. And I haven’t been able to follow ’em too close. Just what I read about ‘em. And so I really can’t say.

I’m always pulling for 'em. And I always watch Purdue in all sports, not just in basketball. And I’m happy when I read an astronaut from Purdue, and this and that. And that’s my alma mater, you know? And I think about that, but as far as the program, I don’t know it. I can’t really say too much. I followed it more when Lambert was still the coach there, but that even, that’s, I know he wasn’t there after I came out here, I don’t believe. Maybe it was just about that time, I’m not sure. [Lambert’s last coaching year was 1945-46.]

Q: I know we touched on this a little bit, but I want to get it clarified. What happened with your career, after Purdue, and then you enlisted in the army.

W: Well, I taught school for 10 years.

Q: You taught for a while. And then when the war started, you enlisted.

W: I enlisted, in ’42.

Q: Then, how did you get back into basketball?

W: Well, when I came back, when I was discharged, I came back to the high school, South Bend Central High School, where I’d been teaching, for that semester. But I wasn’t happy when I came back, and there are various reasons. I hadn’t been able to keep up payments on my home. We’d just had a new home, our first one we’d ever had, and I lost it. I was in the service, and I wasn’t happy about the way the school system was treating some of the returning servicemen. There were coaches, friends of mine.

There were in some instances where the person had been replaced while they were in the service -- and I was particularly disappointed at the high school, our football coach, who was in the invasion in the Army. But the coach while he was away had a better record, and they weren’t gonna give him [his coaching position] back. They’d give him a teaching job back, but he wanted to coach. And that happened to another one of my basketball friends too at one of the other high schools. They gave me back exactly the same. I didn’t like the way they were treating some, and I just told ’em, I won’t work for ’em. I was gonna leave.

And just by chance there were two great high schools, as far as basketball or baseball’s concerned, in Indiana -- Kokomo and Marion. And both offered me the job. And while I was debating on which of those positions to take, the president of Indiana State called me, and just offered me the job over the phone because Glenn Curtis, who had been my high school and was their coach, was leaving, and he recommended me. And he offered me the job.

And I talked it over with Nellie, and I said, ‘Why not? We’ll try it. And if things work out, and I want to continue this, I mean, if we can do well, maybe I’ll get a chance in the Big Ten, which I would like. If we don’t work out, I’ve got a lifetime teacher’s license and degree and I’ll always have a job, and we won’t go hungry.’

And so I decided to take it. And after the two years, we did pretty well, and I had several offers. But you may or may not know, if I hadn’t insisted on a three-year contract in coming to UCLA, after my second year, I would have gone to Purdue.

Wooden interview: part 18