The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Doug Bruno about winning a pair of gold medals in 2012/2016. Today marks the 4th anniversary of team USA beating Spain 101-72 to clinch a gold medal in 2016.
You played for Hall of Fame coach Ray Meyer at DePaul: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He gave me an opportunity to play and I am so blessed. He was an unbelievable competitor and just good to/for people. I was never 1 of the best players but he said that I was 1 of the hardest workers he ever had and I am very proud of that. Back then the Bulls practiced right after we did and 1 of their players who befriended me was Jerry Sloan, who just passed away. He would stick around and play 2-on-2 with the college kids. After I became a coach we did camps together: he was such a giving person that it was his idea to call it the Bruno-Sloan camp. Everything I have in basketball I got from Ray. Jerry is in the Hall of Fame as a coach but was also a really really good player and great defender. He would not shave and eat a raw onion before every game so that it would give him an edge over his opponent! He was unbelievably competitive and if they kept stats for on-the-ball charges he would have led the league every season.
On December 9, 1978, you were coach of the Chicago Hustle when you beat the Milwaukee Does 92-87 in the very 1st women’s professional basketball game in the United States: how big a deal was it at the time, and were you ready to be a pro basketball coach at the tender age of 27? When you are 27 you feel that you can do anything but in hindsight I probably was not even close to being ready. I do not know about the impact but we played at the old Milwaukee Arena that Al McGuire would sell out when he was coaching at Marquette. I had played there before so I knew the arena. My 5 starters were pioneers in their own right: it was not like the WNBA.
You later spent 8 years as associate men’s head coach at Loyola-Chicago: what is the biggest difference between coaching men and coaching women? When you talk about strength up the middle of an athlete (head/heart/guts), there is no difference because it transcends gender. There are some physical differences on the court that allow you to do things a little differently but from a pure coaching perspective I always treated my women’s team the same as a men’s team: preparation/workload/etc. Some men’s players have the misconception that athleticism means you do not need to learn the fundamentals. The best ones understand that you need to build the foundation from the ground up, even though fans/media watch the game from the rim down. I remember watching the “Last Dance”: all of Michael Jordan’s movements were grounded in well-executed/fundamental footwork. Women do not think “I am athletic: therefore I am”.
In November of 2011 your alma mater named the court at McGrath-Phillips Arena after you: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? I was really touched/honored but I tried to give it back so they could do it again when my career was done. There were 4-5 boosters who put some substantial dollars into our program to make that happen because they wanted to do something for me. I do not want a car/house: I would rather have something go into the program so I am prouder that these generous benefactors helped out our program.
Take me through the 2014 NCAA tourney as coach at DePaul:
You had a 104-100 win over Oklahoma: how was your blood pressure doing by the end of the highest-scoring regulation game in NCAA women’s tourney history? Coach Sherri Coale and I have a similar philosophy so it was 1 of those games where we both just let it rip. Tourney games tend to be lower-scoring but it was a great ballgame.
Your team made a season-high 14 threes in a 9-PT upset of #2-seed Duke: where does getting your 600th career win at Cameron Indoor Stadium rank among the highlights of your career? I do not keep track of such things as they are happening but will appreciate it after the fact. To beat a storied program like Duke on their home court as a lower seed was my only concern: you are really in survive-and-advance mode. I just remember being excited for my players in the moment: that is what I remember about that game.
You were an assistant to Geno Auriemma with team USA at the 2012/2016 Olympics: how did you like working for Geno, and what did it mean to you to win a pair of gold medals? It is an honor to work for USA Basketball. As a young coach I felt that I would do anything to join the staff. In February of 2006 I got a call in my office from Carol Callan at USA Basketball, who has been there for a long time. She said she would like me to be head coach of the U-18/U-19 teams and would give me a couple of days to think about it because it was a 2-year commitment. I told her that I only needed 3 seconds to agree to take the job! We had some great players like Tina Charles/Maya Moore and we won a pair of gold medals. A few years later I got a call from Geno asking if I would be interested in working for him. At the time the bylaws stated that the USA coaching staffs were made up of 3 pro coaches and 1 college coach but they eventually changed it to 2 from the WNBA and 2 from college. It was great to work with all of our staff members at every stage of the process. Jen Rizzotti/Chris Dailey also helped out with the program all the way through. The Olympics are the most celebrated athletic event in the world with something like 10,000 athletes from 200 countries. The World Championships are just basketball so they are a bigger deal inside FIBA, just as the World Cup is bigger within FIFA. The media has not celebrated the World Championships as much as they have celebrated the World Cup but FIBA has now changed the nomenclature to call it the World Cup. Geno was great to work with, as was Jerry Colangelo/Martin Dempsey. All of the men’s players like Kobe Bryant/LeBron James and the coaches like Mike Krzyzewski/Jim Boeheim treated us very well so it was fun. We also had some special players who made it worthwhile.
Your team has earned the BIG EAST Team Academic Award in 9 of the past 10 seasons for having the top GPA in the conference: how much importance do you place on academics? It is vitally important: we choose to coach college basketball because they are student-athletes. In the modern-day discussion about whether athletes should get paid the only way we can currently pay them is in the form of getting an education, so we need to maximize the opportunity that is offered to them.
You are 1 of 5 schools to have appeared in 17 straight NCAA Tournaments and with a 28-5 record this past season you were looking to make it 18 in a row before everything was cancelled in March due to the coronavirus: what was your reaction when you heard the news, and how has it affected your life either on or off the court? There were 8-9 schools who had already qualified by earning their way in, including us after winning our conference tourney on March 9th. You have to feel bad for all of your players who put their blood/guts into playing for a championship, especially our 2 special seniors in Kelly Campbell/Chante Stonewall who worked really hard to get there. We had a heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M a couple of years ago so we were really on a mission this year. We thought that we would be a top-4 seed in 1 of the regions and were really excited about getting the 1st 2 rounds at home. We would eventually have to play 1 of the juggernauts but were in a good place to win a tourney game. I also feel bad for the schools that would have been making the NCAA tourney for the very 1st time. As a coach you have to pull yourself together and explain to your team that a pandemic is bigger than sports. I had to help them put it in perspective during that infamous 24-48 hour window. After we won we ran out the door to recruit on March 10th/11th while our players were off and were getting ready for our 1st practice on the 12th when the news came out, so we just sat there as a team and talked about trying to manage our grief. It hurt to lose a game…but you have to truly grasp the bigger picture of families losing loved ones. Like everyone else I am spending more time with my family but I really miss the interaction with my players. Some people say that relationship-building occurs off the floor but it is interconnected to coaching them on the floor.
You ran a girls basketball camp every summer for the past 40 years: what makes your camp different from other camps? I have done camps for 43 years total: Coach Sloan and I did day camps for 3 years. My name is still on the brand but this is the 1st year I am not working the camp myself. I tried to coach every drill and work on the court with my players every day. We have been successful due to a curriculum that maximizes the girls’ growth not just in basketball but also emotionally/socially. Our camp staff does a great job of teaching girls how to grow into independent young women who learn how to achieve goals outside of basketball, which is what I am proudest of. Camps are dying because parents’ discretionary dollars are going to travel basketball. It does not have to be an either-or situation but some athletes choose to spend money on their own personal trainers. I am proud that our numbers have sustained us throughout the years while other great camps across the country are no longer in existence. I have had great women on my staff that helped young girls to stand on their own and try to achieve their personal/professional goals.
You are already a member of the DePaul Athletics Hall of Fame, the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, and in January you were named 1 of the 12 finalists for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: what makes you such a great coach, and are we going to see you on the podium at Knoxville 1 day? I sincerely believe that you go into sports for the opportunities to compete/achieve, either as a player/coach. I do not think that you should get into sports to make a Hall of Fame. I am honored to have made some Halls of Fame and to have been named a Finalist for the Women’s Hall of Fame but I am a coach because I like the day-to-day work. There are plenty of women’s coaches who are not in the Naismith Hall of Fame even though their achievements have far surpassed some of the men’s coaches who are already in there. I believe that your time needs to be consumed with the achievement of that day, and when it is all said and done if the celebrity happens then I will not throw it back but it is not why I coach and it is not my philosophy. We are also trying to grow the game and get people to come watch us, but if women’s sports are not covered as much as men’s sports then it is not easy to compete sociologically. I watched the Bulls before the Jordan years when they were bad and nobody showed up back then: the coverage precedes the viewing. As a Cubs fan I remember for years when they did not open the upper deck…but the team was still covered by the media.