The month of March has always been a time of joy and sadness for me. Sometimes it had to do with my personal situation. Was I looking for a coaching job (sadness) or did I have a good job (joy)?

Many times I was doing well and was an observer of the frenzy of those friends that were looking for a job and still dealing with the sadness over the one they just lost. Of course, they never felt free to say how they really were feeling. I could feel their embarrassment and their disappointment even though they put on a “happy face.”

When I attended my first Final Four, everything was smaller and simpler. The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) was around 400 members made up of Division I head coaches, some assistant coaches, Junior College coaches and a few basketball-related business men. Just a big family and nothing like the thousands of members to date.

I was the assistant coach at Cal State, LA and in my second year as a college assistant. The previous year I assisted my college roommate, Jerry Tarkanian, at Riverside City College. We had cruised to a 37-0 record and a California State Championship on the broad shoulders of Bobby Rule who later plied his trade at Colorado State University and the Seattle Supersonics.

The final four that year was held in Portland, OR in the new Coliseum. It was the place where Bill Bradley put on a shooting exhibition (63) and UCLA beat the University of Michigan for the championship. Gail Goodrich put on a show of his own with 42 points that sent the Wolverines back to Ann Arbor.

The membership is so large now that it is questionable how many people anyone knows. For the most part, the coaches hang out with their buddies and that’s it. I had the privilege of spending time with basketball greats like Hank Iba, Pete Newell, Jack Hartman, Guy Lewis, Abe Lemons, Joe Dean, Gib Ford, John Bennington, John Wooden, Moe Iba, Charley Spoonauer, Bill Raftery, Billy Tubbs, Dave Gavitt, George Raveling, Bob Boyd, Tippy Dye, Norm Ellenberger, Marv Harshman, Dick Motta, Tex Winter, Dick Garibaldi, Carroll Williams, Jack Gardner, Jerry Pimm and a host of California JC coaches. I know I have missed some and I apologize for that.

I love you all.

And, don’t forget …

Go to our Bookstore and check out Coach Todd’s books. They will support whatever you are up to in your life.