Defense, preparation, integrity, teaching, and leadership, the pillars of a program that won without shortcuts.
"It was all about defense. He was very demanding of his players, and he got guys to buy into his philosophy." (Jim Warren)
His teams pressed end to end for the entire game and "never came out of press." Undersized lineups used speed and relentlessness to overwhelm bigger opponents.
A pressing team has to be the fittest team on the floor. McCool's players were trained to keep attacking when others tired.
Practice staple: one-on-one, full court, to 11. "There is nowhere to hide in those games, you have to be tougher than the other guy." (Brian Metress)
"Surround yourself with guys who all have the same goal. They all want to win that last game." Shared purpose over individual stats.
Meticulous scouting and study, including annual trips to Chapel Hill to learn from Dean Smith, turned into game plans players could execute.
He won without shortcuts. Amid recruiting accusations that follow successful programs, he insisted on doing it the right way.
The people who played for McCool describe a coach who was demanding but never demeaning. By the accounts gathered in the articles about him, he never cursed his players and never belittled them. He treated them fairly and taught life lessons through basketball, the kind of leadership that explains why so many of his assistants became head coaches themselves, and why some later invited him back to help them.
McCool learned the game in the hoop-happy foothills of West Virginia, playing at Parkersburg High School and then starring at Marietta College as point guard of the "Firehouse Five." His attacking, pressure-first identity was set early, "I was exposed to full-court pressure very early", and he never abandoned it, even when rivals razzed him for pressing late in lopsided games.
He sharpened that philosophy by studying the best. For years he made the trip to Chapel Hill to watch Dean Smith run practice, bringing the four-corners spread offense back to Northern Virginia and pairing it with his own full-court pressure. Read more about the Dean Smith connection →