Who Is Jim Valvano?
Jim Valvano was just some Italian kid from Queens New York who played college basketball for Rutgers University as a point guard from 1964-1967. In 1967 Valvano was able to lead his team to a third place finish in the NIT tournament, this is where Valvano’s leadership skills came to surface. Valvano then started his coaching career as the freshman head coach and an assistant coach on the varsity team. From there he became the head coach at John Hopkins University for 1 season, Arguably his greatest coaching stint was at North Carolina State University where he took over for Norm Sloan in 1980. Valvano led the Wolfpack to a National Championship in 1983 against Houston University. Although this was a huge milestone in his career, possibly his
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greatest accomplishment was taking his cancer diagnosis and turning it into a positive totally re-facing cancer research. When it came to Valvano’s leadership philosophy I would say he was in a way both a democratic leader as well as an autocratic leader, because he was able to delegate some of his duties to his coaching staff and his players knew that they could go to any of them. However they also knew that the buck stopped with him and that he was always available to them. Valvano knew how to use is staff to get the most out of his players, and with the creation of the Jimmy V foundation he was able to take the connections he made with ESPN to create a face for cancer research.
Valvano seemed to always know the right buttons to push with his players.
The first time Valvano ever addressed his first ever team, he had been trying to figure out what to say to them. He had read legendary football coach Vince Lombardi’s book where he described how he addressed his team. Valvano said he was going to do the same thing but instead of saying Green Bay Packers he would say Rutgers basketball, but Valvano slipped up and said Green Bay Packers instead of Rutgers. Valvano was able to connect to each and everyone of his players and develope a father-son relationship. Valvano always wanted to make the best of the world and leave it a better place. With basketball of course he wanted to win a national championship but he also just wanted to mold his players into incredible young members of society. After his coaching career with the founding of the Jimmy V foundation he wanted to bring awareness to a disease that was overshadowed by the AIDS research and funding that at the time was receiving 10 times more donations than cancer …show more content…
research.
One of the flaws of Valvano was that he would always try to take on everything himself and wouldn't always use his assistants that he had.
However his personality was big enough for him to take care of it. Valvano seemed to always have this weird calm uneasiness presence on the sideline. When they played UNLV who were the defending national champs in the round of 32, Valvano and the wolfpack were able to knock them off by one. In the final minutes of the game Valvano just told his guys that this game is theirs and just all we have to do is survive and advance. He was extremely passionate, but would never give up on his guys and that is part of the reason they were able to advance against the powerhouses of the NCAA. Valvano used the words he told his men in the huddle time and time again when it came to battling his
illness.
One of the most iconic moments of Valvano’s career was when he ran around like a little school boy. Valvano used that type of energy with everything he did, whether it was on the sideline or on the ESPY’s stage preaching to everyone how important it was to bring awareness to cancer research and the hardships it causes on families all over the world. Valvano took what his parents taught him as a young child. One of his many philosophies was he has a three things that you should do each day to get the most out of everyday. “Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears,” said Jim Valvano. Valvano only wants the best for his players, they were just like any coach they were like his sons.
On April 28th 1993 at the age of 47 Valvano passed away, thanks to him Cancer research now if the front runner in research. Valvano is honored every year with Jimmy V week that continues to bring attention to cancer. He truly has left the world a better place. Even though he is no longer alive Valvano continues to lead us towards a cure for cancer. Some people were just born to lead and Jim Valvano was one of those people. Valvano has left his mark on the world on and off the basketball court.
greatest accomplishment was taking his cancer diagnosis and turning it into a positive totally re-facing cancer research. When it came to Valvano’s leadership philosophy I would say he was in a way both a democratic leader as well as an autocratic leader, because he was able to delegate some of his duties to his coaching staff and his players knew that they could go to any of them. However they also knew that the buck stopped with him and that he was always available to them. Valvano knew how to use is staff to get the most out of his players, and with the creation of the Jimmy V foundation he was able to take the connections he made with ESPN to create a face for cancer research.
Valvano seemed to always know the right buttons to push with his players.
The first time Valvano ever addressed his first ever team, he had been trying to figure out what to say to them. He had read legendary football coach Vince Lombardi’s book where he described how he addressed his team. Valvano said he was going to do the same thing but instead of saying Green Bay Packers he would say Rutgers basketball, but Valvano slipped up and said Green Bay Packers instead of Rutgers. Valvano was able to connect to each and everyone of his players and develope a father-son relationship. Valvano always wanted to make the best of the world and leave it a better place. With basketball of course he wanted to win a national championship but he also just wanted to mold his players into incredible young members of society. After his coaching career with the founding of the Jimmy V foundation he wanted to bring awareness to a disease that was overshadowed by the AIDS research and funding that at the time was receiving 10 times more donations than cancer …show more content…
research.
One of the flaws of Valvano was that he would always try to take on everything himself and wouldn't always use his assistants that he had.
However his personality was big enough for him to take care of it. Valvano seemed to always have this weird calm uneasiness presence on the sideline. When they played UNLV who were the defending national champs in the round of 32, Valvano and the wolfpack were able to knock them off by one. In the final minutes of the game Valvano just told his guys that this game is theirs and just all we have to do is survive and advance. He was extremely passionate, but would never give up on his guys and that is part of the reason they were able to advance against the powerhouses of the NCAA. Valvano used the words he told his men in the huddle time and time again when it came to battling his
illness.
One of the most iconic moments of Valvano’s career was when he ran around like a little school boy. Valvano used that type of energy with everything he did, whether it was on the sideline or on the ESPY’s stage preaching to everyone how important it was to bring awareness to cancer research and the hardships it causes on families all over the world. Valvano took what his parents taught him as a young child. One of his many philosophies was he has a three things that you should do each day to get the most out of everyday. “Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears,” said Jim Valvano. Valvano only wants the best for his players, they were just like any coach they were like his sons.
On April 28th 1993 at the age of 47 Valvano passed away, thanks to him Cancer research now if the front runner in research. Valvano is honored every year with Jimmy V week that continues to bring attention to cancer. He truly has left the world a better place. Even though he is no longer alive Valvano continues to lead us towards a cure for cancer. Some people were just born to lead and Jim Valvano was one of those people. Valvano has left his mark on the world on and off the basketball court.