Big 12 Conference Best Practices: K State's Philosophy

This blog is all about inspiration. We're spending 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Big 12. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far we've seen how Kansas Gets You Ready for the NBA (here).

Let's keep moving...

I love Kansas State Coach Frank Martin's website, linked here and shown below. This is another site that will get discussed in greater detail later, as (though I'll try) today's post won't do justice to the magic that's inside...

Take a look at the home page below. The upper right side is fantastic. "Who We Are and How We Win." Wow. Talk about bold confidence. I love it. There's no headline of "Our Philosophy", or "About Us." It's in the voice of a passionate believer of the program. And I'm kind of frothing at the bit to click in.

Check this image and feel the energy.

Clicking in, there's a wealth of content, but what I want to focus in on is their philosophy, linked here. (Ironic that the philosophy is the gem but it isn't called out as philosophy on the home page, huh?)

You'll see the image below and get it immediately via images and words.

Then you can read at a deeper level. Because my ability to screen grab and paste isn't perfect for you to read, I've elevated the voice here. Check Coach Martin's words and feel the power.

"We pressure our opponents for 40 straight minutes, offensively and defensively. Pressure makes people break. The more pressure you apply on people every opportunity you get, the more difficult you make it for your opponent. You have to be intense about what you're doing. In order to have intensity about what you're doing you have to have tremendous passion. Those three things are the things that I'm all about. I'm about pressuring people. I'm about intensity, and I'm about passion."

Then, scroll to the bottom. You see the type at the bottom: 24 NCAA Tournaments. 17 Sweet Sixteens. 12 Elite Eights. 4 Final Fours. 19 Conference Championships. 36 All Americans. 50 NBA Draft Picks.

Or, as I interpret this, SUCCESS. SUCCESS. SUCCESS.

Well done Wildcats.

How could this be better? Coach Martin is passionate. He's almost scary intense, but I imagine that creates something fantastic. I'd love to hear what this style of play feels like to be a part of, from the players' points of view. Interviewing the players and including this, in words or in video could offer another dimension!

That's it.

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Big 12! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy