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Assistants stir, relax Lady Vols

By: Darren Epps

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TAMPA, Fla. — Just before the Tennessee Lady Vols appear before 22,000 fans in tonight’s basketball national championship game against Stanford, they will not look at the chalkboard for final reminders. They will not hear a speech about defense and rebounding or watch one last piece of video on Stanford star Candice Wiggins.

If previous NCAA tournament games are any indication, Tennessee’s assistant coaches might perform a step show. They will almost certainly wear military attire. Nikki Caldwell could read a poem. But assistant Dean Lockwood, almost 50 years old, says he will not perform the “Soulja Boy” dance.

Well, at least not for a second time.

“Dean has no rhythm,” Tennessee All-American Candace Parker said.

Asked to assess Lockwood’s dancing skills, fellow assistant Holly Warlick burst out laughing.

“He’s got room for improvement,” she said.

These are the antics that occur in Tennessee’s locker room right before NCAA tournament games, the contests that define the legacies of players and coaches wearing orange.

The pressure on Tennessee to repeat as national champion with Parker, Nicky Anosike, Alexis Hornbuckle, Shannon Bobbitt and Alberta Auguste in their final seasons can be overwhelming. Tennessee is favored to win the program’s eighth national title tonight. Any other outcome will mean failure.

So Tennessee’s assistants — the buffers between the players and stern head coach Pat Summitt — decided to ease the pressure just before the ball is tipped. They adopted a military theme this season, with each site a different phase. The Lady Vols are currently in Phase 3 and the assistants still wear military outfits before the game. They are on a mission.

“The first time they actually did a skit was in the first round and we were caught off guard, like, ‘What in the world is going on?’” Hornbuckle said. “I was cracking up. I was on the floor rolling around on the ground cracking up.

“But you know what? We saw a different side of them. We saw a fun side, a side that says, ‘I’m going to step outside my comfort zone.’ With Dean, we’re going to have to get him some dance lessons. But just to see him go along with it and do whatever, that really spoke to me personally. Everybody is not willing to step outside their comfort zone, even players on the court. But now, how can you not do what they ask?”

Some skits are intended to personify a critical detail in the scouting report. Others are for motivation. The dances are employed to lighten the mood.

Before Tennessee’s national semifinal showdown against SEC rival LSU, Caldwell found a poem on the Internet entitled “Who Am I?” Caldwell revised the poem to incorporate every Tennessee player and coach.

The poem was a reminder of what the Lady Vols needed to accomplish individually and the collective result if they did their jobs.

“It was very inspirational,” Parker said. “I was almost in tears before the game. I was so ready to play.”

Tennessee, of course, edged the Lady Tigers 47-46 and advanced to tonight’s title game against Stanford. But the poems and skits and dances serve a purpose other than inspiring the Lady Vols. The assistants — and Summitt often heaps praise on her staff — need to relate with the players to increase their comfort level.

“As the head coach, you can’t get as close to the players because you have to make hard decisions,” Lockwood said. “That’s where it’s important as assistant coaches that we are that buffer. We are completely supportive of Pat, but at the same time we all need to be a listening ear. You’ve got to have that balance.”

Even if it means dancing to a rap song. Lockwood says he grew up listening to music like Earth, Wind & Fire and the O’Jays, so learning the “Soulja Boy” wasn’t easy. Dancing with a bat was not, Lockwood admitted, what he envisioned when he joined Summitt’s staff in 2004.

“Hey, Dean, did you ever think you’d be doing dance moves before the game?” Summitt asked him earlier in the tournament.

Lockwood, reflecting on Summitt’s question and Parker’s critique, shook his head.

“Let me tell you something,” he said, smiling, “I could say some things about Candace’s rhythm as well. What do they say about people who live in glass houses? And that was a quick study. I had to learn that thing in about five-seven minutes, and I’ll say it was very comparable to my cheerleading debut. Never again. Two words — never again.”

But as players relax and smile and keep winning, Lockwood is fine with the potential result and two more words he could utter tonight.

Champions again.

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