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| WNBA Mercury Coach Corey Gaines |
The Phoenix Mercury, one of the WNBA's eight original teams, won its first league championship a year ago, rallying to defeat the Detroit Shock on the road. The Mercury will defend their title under new coach
COREY GAINES, who was promoted from the staff of the retired
PAUL WESTHEAD. Gaines helped implement a fast-paced offense -- one he first learned under
Westhead at Loyola Marymount -- that was both effective (the club led the WNBA in scoring and shooting percentage) and appealing (attendance was up nearly 3%). The Mercury opened the '08 WNBA season May 17 before almost 14,000 fans. It is the 12th season for the league, which now has 14 teams (including the expansion Atlanta Dream), a new eight-year TV contract with ESPN/ABC and a six-year CBA with the Women's National Basketball Players Association. Gaines spoke with SportsBusiness Journal N.Y. bureau chief
Jerry Kavanagh before the season.
Favorite vacation spot: Any place warm with a beach. Put me there, and I'm fine.
Favorite piece of music: I call it "lounge music." It's like a new type of jazz retro, very soft, like ENYA. You don't hear it much in America, but they play it everywhere in Europe.
Favorite movie: "The Shawshank Redemption."
Favorite athlete: TIGER WOODS. Just the way he controls himself, controls his inner peace, the way he uses his mind to his advantage to attack those he's playing against. He doesn't win every time, but he has a chance to win every time, even when he's five or six strokes back.
Superstitions: I always put my left sock on first. I'm right-handed, so everything left goes on first.
Q: You are in your first season as head coach of the Mercury. What was your first job?
Gaines: Painting the crew house at UCLA with REGGIE MILLER.
Q: What's the biggest risk you've taken?
Gaines: Transferring from UCLA to Loyola Marymount.
Q: That worked out for you.
Gaines: It worked perfect. It's funny how my biggest risk was my best decision ever.
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Gaines Recalls Playing With
Bo Kimble At Loyola Marymount |
Q: You played for Paul Westhead at Loyola Marymount with HANK GATHERS and BO KIMBLE. The team had such an inspirational run in the NCAA tournament in 1990 after Gathers passed away. What's your memory of that time?
Gaines: I started at UCLA, and Hank and Bo used to visit [UCLA's] POOH RICHARDSON. We played a lot of pickup games. What was different on the West Coast was they would play at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. You'd be sitting somewhere with them and they'd say, "You know what? Let's go play." And they would. They were serious! I loved basketball, but before then, I never played at midnight. So, I got close to Bo and Hank, and I transferred.
Q: You have a tough act to follow now in Westhead, who guided Phoenix to the WNBA title last season and then retired.
Gaines: People have been saying that, but I really don't. I've been with coach for 20 years, and he taught me a long time ago that you just have to have the team ready and you need a little luck. The first year we were here, we had some tough breaks and we missed the playoffs by one game. [Last year] we won the championship, but we were in the driver's seat because we took care of business earlier on.
Q: Do you feel any pressure taking over the WNBA champs?
Gaines: Nope. For me, it's just a matter of preparation and giving our players the chance to win games and make another run at the WNBA title.
Q: The Mercury get out and run the way the Phoenix Suns do and the way Loyola Marymount did. That's a crowd-pleasing style.
Gaines: We had to make an adjustment to that when we started to play here. It was a different style for the women players and it took a while for it to kick in. It was an advantage for us because, of course, other teams weren't used to it either, so they couldn't really prepare for it.
Q: I think most players enjoy that up-tempo offensive system.
Gaines: With any system, any style -- it can be the triangle, the Phoenix Suns' way, the BOBBY KNIGHT Indiana way or the old Boston Celtics' way -- everyone has to buy in. And winning helps people buy in. It's human nature. Winning brings people together. We had a couple of players here who weren't used to shooting the ball that fast. They had been taught their whole life to slow it down, use the shot clock, don't take that early shot because it leads to a fast break for the other team. Eventually, though, it all came together for us, and with a little luck. We didn't have home-court advantage. People had written us off. They said no team ever had won a championship on an opposing team's court. And we proved them wrong. It's funny how when you get a group of people together -- any organization, a business, a team -- and they all are clicking and they all believe, you can do wonders.
Q: What did that mean to the team's business side?
Gaines: I don't know the exact numbers, but I do remember seeing more of our fans on the road and I remember the other stadiums filling up to see our style of play. I went through that before with Coach Westhead at LMU. People were interested. Some said, "Oh, it's circus ball." But teams have changed because basketball has changed. It's an evolving system. The key is to get the right players in your style.
Q: Not every style works. Did you watch the Knicks this season?
Gaines: That is not a good style. When announcers are saying that people are quitting or giving up on a coach, that's the worst thing that could happen.
Q: You played one season (1993-94) for the Knicks.
Gaines: Yeah. And, believe me, with [coach PAT] RILEY there, that wasn't happening.
Q: There was no lack of effort from his teams.
Gaines: Oh, we had a couple of practices without basketballs, which is unheard of.
Q: What kept you occupied and busy during the past offseason?
Gaines: Watching the college players, mostly on TV. As it gets closer to the nitty-gritty time, I traveled to see the top teams. All the top WNBA players [in the offseason] are scattered around Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey. ... There are a lot of players around the world, and you've got to keep up on them because they start young.
Q: When you took over the Mercury, you said, "The bar is set very high now." But you also said, "All you need in life is the opportunity."
Gaines: Yes, and the opportunity for me is to coach the team because I've been learning my whole life for this position. I was always a point guard, and a point guard is really the coach on the court. You learn how to deal with your players -- any level, any team -- and if you get the opportunity to show what you've learned, as long as you've got everybody prepared, that's all you can ask for.
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Gaines Hopes To Replicate Mercury's
'07 Title Run Under Westhead |
Q: You quoted Westhead, who said, "Don't outthink yourself."
Gaines: I learned that from all the years I've been with him. Some coaches will call a time-out. Let's say you have a bread-and-butter play. You've been going with this play forever. And the other team knows you're going to use that play. So you outthink yourself and you change the play and use something you barely run. The other coach made you change, made you do something you didn't want to do. You outthought yourself and you just blew it.
Q: What's the most important lesson you've learned on the job?
Gaines: To listen to your players. I've been on a lot of teams, and I think you learn a lot by just listening to the players and letting them communicate something to you.
Q: Is it tough competing with the Diamondbacks, with outdoor activities in Phoenix during the WNBA season?
Gaines: There definitely is a lot to do here outside in the summertime, but winning solves a lot of problems. The organization puts on a nice show for the kids; they make it family-oriented. I think the kids feel closer to the players on the court because they are more accessible. That's a big thing. The WNBA has done a great job with that, and I think it's helped the fan base and the organization to bring in the crowd.
Q: You played in the NBA. What impresses you most about the WNBA organization?
Gaines: The WNBA is the same machine as the NBA. It is a sister prototype. The WNBA's attentiveness to their fans is something I admire.
Q: If you were granted three wishes, what would you wish to take from the NBA and import or see in the WNBA?
Gaines: Salaries for the players, an increase in TV coverage and respect.
Q: Is there anything the NBA could take from the WNBA?
Gaines: A closeness to the fans as far as player availability and outreach.
Q: What do you see five years from now in the WNBA?
Gaines: Bigger player salaries, more media coverage and more notoriety.
Q: What's the biggest challenge the WNBA faces?
Gaines: Probably expansion. When you expand too much, I think you lose the base of your good players.
Q: If you could change one thing about the game, what would it be?
Gaines: I would take away all those TV time-outs. In Europe, if you watch soccer [on television], at the bottom of the screen or on the field during the game is advertising -- commercials. It's done digitally. The game is nonstop.
Q: Wouldn't you love to see that in basketball? No stoppage of play. That would benefit your team.
Gaines: Oh, the time-outs kill me! Time-outs are not necessary if you practice hard enough and organize everything. The players should be able to work through everything themselves. If you have everything set, you just flow right into it.
Q: What's the biggest misperception the public and the media have about the WNBA?
Gaines: I think they think that the players are not talented or physical or athletic. If some of the regular Joe Blows came out [and competed], they would get killed. The players are some of the best shooters I've ever seen, and I've been around some great shooters.
Q: Are there any stories you are following closely in sports business right now?
Gaines: There are so many every day. Just pick one. It's not even on-the-court stuff; it's off the court.
