Spoelstra Bolsters 'Championship Wednesday'

Aug 14, 2013

By Brian Rice
UTSports.com

Tennessee Players on Erik Spoelstra

"He said that the facilities were crazy and that was nothing like he had ever seen before and that he is just ready to learn from us and show us things. We are going to get ready at 2 o'clock (for the teambuilding session)."

Dontavis Sapp

"My first reaction was, he's taller than I thought. I guess when you're around 7-footers you don't look as tall as you really are. I'm excited for the meeting later today and excited to hear what he has to say to us. I'll think of something to ask him."

"Coach Jones says, `I talked to Erik Spoelstra today,' and everybody is like `you don't know Erik Spoelstra.' So I'm just excited he would come here and talk to us."

"I just want him to take me with him. I saw the picture of him in the tunnel at game 7... Not everybody gets to be there. You see celebrities on the floor seats, but they're not in the tunnel and in the locker room with the team. That's exciting to say you know this guy in the tunnel at the Heat game."

Jason Croom

"He gave us like a week notice. So we knew he was coming. I mean, but it's still nice to have him here."

"Everybody was excited. I mean, because he just won a championship. Everybody is just excited to see what he has to say. We're going to take a lot from him."

Devrin Young

"It's definitely an honor and I feel blessed just to get to hear from somebody who has won it all. I really appreciate Coach Jones for doing that. He's doing all he can to just get us prepared and show us what it takes mentally and physically to win a championship."

Jacob Carter

"That's crazy. I mean I've just seen him on TV you know. It's kind of a reality check. It's nice. That's the things we're able to do here at Tennessee. Coach Jones is able to do stuff like that. It's nice having him here. He'll talk to us later this afternoon. I'm looking forward to it."

"He talks about him fairly often. He's pretty good friends with him. I know he went down to the championship game and things like that and they've had a lot of success. Coach Jones said that they've learned a lot from Coach Jones himself. So, hopefully we can learn from Coach Spoelstra."

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Butch Jones termed the 11th day of fall camp as "Championship Wednesday." But that title wasn't just a motivational tagline or a phrase of the day.

Jones welcomed friend and NBA Championship-winning coach Erik Spoelstra to the morning session of practice, where he delivered a short speech to the team at the conclusion of the workout.

Spoelstra, who led the Miami Heat to its second-consecutive NBA title this season in his fifth season on the bench, will spend the day with the team, including an afternoon presentation on teambuilding and competing at a championship level.

"Anytime you can bring in an individual like Erik Spoelstra, the stature that he brings to come in and spend an entire day with your football team means everything," Jones said after the morning session. "First class individual, high character, loves college football and he is a winner. He has back to back NBA world championships. He is going to have a great message for a team."

Senior defensive lineman>Daniel McCullers said that having an NBA coach on campus was big, but having the opportunity to hear from a champion on how to get to that level was even bigger.

"It's a big thing for us," McCullers said. "We're going to take advantage of it however we can."

Wide receiver>Jason Croom was excited about the tine having Spoelstra on campus set.

"It's nice to have winners around here because that's what's about to happen here," Croom said of Jones creating a championship culture. "Having Spoelstra here is one of the examples."

Jones and Spoelstra met through their agent and formed a bond over shared coaching values. While at Cincinnati, Jones was courtside for the clinching fifth game of the 2012 NBA Finals, as Spoelstra claimed his first championship as a head coach.

With the NBA Title on the line in a deciding game seven this season, Jones was again courtside in Miami. And again, he was present in a champaign-soaked locker room as Spoelstra and the Heat basked in the glory of back-to-back championships. During the celebration, Jones and Spoelstra snapped a picture with the Larry O'Brien trophy, which Jones has up in his office at Tennessee.

The photo opp impressed junior running back>Devrin Young.

"I see it as bragging rights," Young said. "My coach is cooler than yours."

Though most think of the Heat's recent success under Spoelstra, he faced a sizable rebuilding project when he took over in Miami. Jones said the project Spoelstra inherited mirrors his own and that the experiences he can share with the team will be invaluable.

"Prior to his first year at the Miami Heat they had won 15 games," Jones said. "He is going to talk about the building process and building it brick by brick and that culture. Building that structure that it takes to be successful like they have in Miami."

According to McCullers, Tennessee left an impression on Spoelstra as well.

"He said the facilities were crazy," McCullers said summarizing the post-practice comments. "Like nothing he's ever seen before."

University of Tennessee Athletics

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