Last night Coach Tad Bolton invited me to sit immediately behind him during his team’s hosting of the Texas Southern Tigers, a team entering the fray with a 1-2 record.
It was a great seat from which to view the action, but it also afforded me the opportunity to carefully observe Coach Bolton’s actions during a game. While I had often watch games from a much higher vantage point, it was the first time I was able to see what happens on and near the bench during a game.
I was surprised by how active Coach Bolton was throughout the game, out of his seat far more than he was in it. He was calling out plays to his players, working the refs, providing advice, encouragement, and praise to his players, talking with his assistant coaches and bench players continuously, and frequently displaying a variety of emotions. When seated, he kept one eye on the action while beckoning various bench players to sit next to him to prepare them for entering the game and going over strategy with his assistants. Timeouts were highly charged periods of intense direction to his team. In the few hours the players were warming up and playing the game, Coach Bolton probably expended more energy that most people have ever done in any job they have held.
Oh yeah, and a game was played as well. Bolton’s team never got untracked in the first half and trailed 29-25 at the break. I've gotta believe there were some hot words from Coach Bolton directed at his players in the locker room during the intermission. Sub Ed Doss led their scoring at that point with 6 points.
While the Bison made a couple runs in the 2nd half which gave them small leads, it wasn’t until the final 4 minutes of play that they finally took over the game and pulled away to pull off a 70-57 victory. It was a game with 10 lead changes and 8 ties.
The biggest difference in the game was in turnovers...13 for the Bison as compared with 23 for the Tigers. PG David Miller led the scoring for North Dakota State with 14 points. Reserve PF/C Ed Doss added 11. The Tigers’ SG Willie Walker led all scorers with 17 points, but that was 7 points below his average coming into the game.
The win improved the Bison record to 6-1, far better than the 2nd best team thus far in the Summit League...Western Illinois which holds an anemic 3-4 record.