Dick Bennett: Pushing Through Failure towards Success

Former basketball coach Dick Bennett knows a thing or two about turning failures around. “I took very bad basketball programs, tried to build them into a level of respectability and then moved on,” Bennett told the Rawhide guys. Bennett’s success in doing so is nationally renowned. He has led various teams to a total of 489 college basketball wins and to numerous National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament appearances. Despite this success, Bennett’s message had a much different focus:

• Failure will happen in everyone’s life, yet it doesn’t have to define a person.
• A person is defined by facing their failures instead of staying down and accepting defeat.
• Learn from your mistakes and move forward from them.

Dwell on the Positive

During his talk, Bennett recited several Bible passages, his favorite being Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” While this verse has been the most influential throughout his life, he admitted it took him a while to fully understand the meaning behind it.

Bennett meant that whenever he experienced failure, he chose to learn from it. Instead of dwelling on the negative, he focused on what he could learn. He assessed what could be done differently next time and moved forward in a positive manner.

Show Me Your Friends and I Can Show You Your Future

During their time at Rawhide, the guys are often told: “Show me your friends and I can show you your future.” Bennett reiterated this, stressing how important it was for individuals to surround themselves with positive influences. He went on to say, “You and I will not experience genuine success on our own very often. But if you get the right people, you can touch greatness. If you’re going to achieve any success, you gotta hang with the right people. If you have the choice, be with people you trust.”

His basketball recruiting strategy reflected this philosophy. Bennett regularly passed on players that could fill the stat sheets in favor of those who would do the right thing. He recruited players filled with character and talent instead of talent alone. He believed this was a necessary sacrifice in order to go from good to great. Bennett coupled this with Jeremiah 12:5: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” Bennett stressed how important it was for an individual to leave their comfort zone, especially if it created a negative situation for them. “Everybody can stay comfortable, but it’s people that are willing to go beyond, to make sacrifices, that truly pursue excellence.

Getting Back Up

At a young age, Dick Bennett’s father taught him a valuable life lesson that has stuck with him since: “You’re going to get knocked down. It’s that simple,” Bennett said, his powerful voice filling the room “When you are knocked down, always get back up.”

He later told the guys: “If you want success, take a different approach. Take one that makes you stretch. You lose. The qualitative approach is built on failure. The real wisdom is hidden in that failure.”

He practiced the quality-based, qualitative approach throughout his coaching career, using the example of how his teams were constant underdogs and always faced challenges to get his message across. He understood his teams weren’t complete, but knew they could be competitive by focusing on what they could do well. He turned this message to the guys stating that they had to bounce back from failures and focus on the things that they were good at instead of what was getting them in trouble.

Casey at the Bat

At the end of the speech, Bennett recited, from memory, one of the most famous failure stories of all time, “Casey at the Bat.” In the story, the Mudville baseball team is losing by two runs in the last inning. The crowd believes that Mudville can win if their star player, Casey, can get to the plate, which he does. With the bases loaded and one out to give, the fans in Mudville are shocked as Casey strikes out in three pitches and the game ends.

Bennett explained that the guys are somewhat like Casey. They aren’t the most popular or in the best situation at the moment. Casey can’t go back and win that game for the team, and Rawhide guys can’t undo some poor choices in the past, but they can make better choices in the future. They have a chance to turn their lives around.

After blessing the guys, Bennett stepped off the stage; his message clear: Failures don’t define you, but how you handle adversity does. That is what restores another individual’s faith in you — how you bounce back and don’t let failure define you.

Background on Bennett

Dick Bennett spent 40 years coaching basketball. He coached Eau Claire Memorial High School to a state title game and then moved on to coach the UW-Stevens Point Pointers to a national runner-up finish in 1983–84.

Bennett moved up to the division one ranks, taking over the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball team.

• Bennett took the Phoenix to the second round of the National Invite Tournament five years after the team was 4–24.
• In 1990–91, Bennett led the Phoenix to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance
• In 1993–94, Bennett coached the Phoenix to another NCAA tournament appearance and an upset victory over the University of California Golden Bears.

After bringing the Phoenix into the national spotlight, Bennett took on the task of coaching the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team.

• In 1997, Bennett led the Badgers to their first winning Big Ten record in 23 years.
• In the 1999–2000 Bennett led the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament Final Four, their first appearance in 59 years.

This coaching experience has given Bennett the knowledge to handle failure, and to teach others to do so as well. His message was clear, and the guys heard it. Many asked Bennett several questions until the allotted time was up. Having the opportunity to hear Dick Bennett talk left a lasting impression on the Rawhide guys and is something they will certainly remember years down the road.

Originally published at www.rawhide.org