'You Have To Work on the Things You Have Weaknesses In'

She had played point guard her entire life — and had always been vocal on the court.  

But when Kara Lawson arrived at the University of Tennessee, Coach Pat Summitt was determined to make her even more confident in her voice.

“She had me go to press conferences a lot and just gave me lots of different opportunities to practice and tell me how important it was,” Lawson said.  

“Just because I was weak in that area didn’t mean I could avoid it or bury it. You have to work on the things you have weaknesses in.”

More than two decades later, Lawson is now the Duke women’s basketball coach and is considered one of the more thoughtful and charismatic leaders in college sports.

Her pre- and post-practice addresses to her players have drawn millions of views on social media, even earning her an appearance on the TODAY show.  

The Daily Coach spoke to Lawson recently about Summitt’s lasting influence on her, the value of an effective message and keys to earning trust with players.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Coach, thanks a lot for doing this. I know you grew up in Northern Virginia. Who were your role models as a kid?

My parents, first and foremost. I have two sisters and am the middle of three girls. My dad was really active in putting us in sports. Our rule in our house was you had to play a sport every season. It could be whatever you picked, but you had to do something active. I tried almost everything growing up. By the time I was in fourth or fifth grade, I figured out basketball and soccer were the two I enjoyed the most. I also figured out that team sports were what I enjoyed the most. It became a matter of figuring out what sport I wanted to pursue in college, but I picked basketball by the end of my sophomore year of high school.

There wasn’t the WNBA at the time, so most of the people I looked up to were either NBA players or female track athletes like Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence Griffith Joyner, just other women I would see competing on the world stage. Someone my age would like Michael Jordan. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, he was the No. 1 athlete in the world.

You have a great high school career and end up going to Tennessee. I know you get asked all the time about Coach Summitt, but in what ways do you think she helped you the most?

I was fortunate. Coming in as a point guard, she gave me a chance to start. It was a big, big responsibility. I wasn’t a finished product at all when I got there. She was really, really good at seeing where you were, and where you struggled, and where you could get better on and off the court.

One of the areas she identified for me to improve in was communication, explaining to me how important that is, not just as a point guard... This was really more off the court and getting me more comfortable in front of the group, speaking to not just our team but other people, media, going out to schools and talking, all the things that come with being a player at a big-time program…

Now, I’m really proud. I think communication is one of my greatest strengths as a coach. It's a perspective I keep in mind when my players come in at 18 and there are things they need to work on. I make sure I try to put them in positions to work on these. I know it made a big difference for me. 

Was there a moment where it just clicked for you and you felt more confident with your voice?

I don’t know if there was ever a moment where I thought, “This is great!” I still have those emotions when I have to speak in front of people. But the repetition really helped me. The more you do something, the more you know you can do it. Even if I feel some nerves or am a little bit anxious, I know I can do it well. I use that.

Being an effective communicator, you can inspire and motivate people to be their best. It’s a powerful tool to be able to utilize, and it’s a wonderful strength to have because you can change how someone’s feeling about themselves, how they’re feeling about their circumstance, about where they are and where they can get. 

That’s one of the best things you can do as a human if you think about it. It’s powerful, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be around people who have done that for me. Teachers, my parents, coaches. To be in a position where I can do that for other people is something I appreciate, and I don’t take the responsibility lightly. To be able to have people feel you when you’re speaking and be motivated by what you say, that’s an awesome feeling.

Want to shift a little to your early coaching tenure. You had a great WNBA career, then were with ESPN, before becoming a Boston Celtics assistant. What was the key for you to earning the trust of stars in a short time?

I don’t know if I had a game plan. If you’re going to build a relationship with anybody, a coach, a player, a friend, a co-worker, it’s really important that you be yourself and you observe, listen and then find ways to add value and make that person better. 

I try to look at it like this. If you’re in the presence of someone and are able to make them better with your presence — you make them feel better, or you make them able to do their job better, or you’re improving them — more often than not, people want you around more. More often than not, people trust you. More often than not, people will give you more of themselves.

I don’t know if I did anything special. I just tried to get to know the players as best as I could and build strong relationships with them and not do it for anything other than that relationship. 

The other thing was when I was in Boston, I didn’t do any interviews. One, I don’t know if assistant coaches should be doing a ton of media interviews. That might just be a philosophical thing.

Everyone wanted to write stories about a female coach, and they had good intentions — they weren’t bad — but I never wanted the players to think anything was ever about me. I must’ve turned down 100 (requests). I’m not exaggerating. I did one or two because I think the Celtics asked me to do one for the team, maybe one other one, but every time they’d come to me, I’d say no. I never wanted the players reading an article about me. The articles should be written about them, not me. 

I do a couple more now as a Duke head coach, but just being honest, I turn down about 99 percent of inquiries because the story is not me. The story is our players, our program, and I always want to keep that in the center.

Q&A Resources

Coach Kara Lawson ― Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

Part 2 of our interview with Coach Lawson will run next Saturday, Nov. 18. Click here to subscribe to The Daily Coach.