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Damon Stoudamire mirrors his former coach Lute Olson in the way he approaches coaching. Stoudamire is in his first year as head coach of the Pacific Tigers.

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Damon Stoudamire’s first college basketball head coaching gig has not been without its challenges. He stepped into a Pacific Tigers program that is coming off a disappointing 8-23 season, and was rocked by NCAA violations – the latter leading to the termination of former head coach Ron Verlin. Throw in the fact that two of the nation’s top teams – Gonzaga and St. Mary’s – reside in the West Coast Conference, and the degree of difficulty is certainly apparent.

Fortunately for Stoudamire, he possesses a well of resources to pull from. In the NBA he played under one of the game’s greatest coaches ever, Gregg Popovich. And as an assistant coach he shared the bench with the likes of Arizona head coach Sean Miller and former Memphis head coach (now with Georgia Tech) Josh Pastner. He also played college for the legendary Lute Olson – of whom Pastner is also a coaching disciple. In discussing the way Olson has shaped his coaching philosophy, Stoudamire honed in on one major aspect of his mentor’s demeanor: consistency.

“Honestly, I try to consistently be the same,” Stoudamire told The Seth Davis Show. “I thought he was the same all the time. That was the thing that made him a great coach to me.

“He was consistent. He was consistent in his approach. He was consistent in his practice plan. He was consistent on the things that needed to be taught in order for the team to be good, and he touched on those every day.”

As the old axiom goes: consistency is key. And while Pacific certainly has room to grow, the seeds for success have been sewn in Year 1 for Stoudamire. As of post, the Tigers have already equaled their win total from the previous year and will certainly exceed it. With a young nucleus, the team should compete for a tournament berth within the next few seasons.

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