Well, JSF, I've only had time to read one of your links so far. While it shows he was good at game and practice psychology, it didn't support the concept that he was a big ref baiter. I'll read the others later.
One example? Wooden’s poor reputation among referees.
“At one point, the Southern California basketball writers talked about censuring him due to his behavior toward referees, as well as opposing players,” said Davis, who interviewed roughly 200 for Wooden: A Coach’s Life. “He had a very unflattering habit of talking to opposing players.”
You assumed I read the first one first, I didn't. I was reading it at a meeting on my iPhone and I think I read the last one. I did not read the one with the quote you posted. That quote certainly paints a different picture than I ever got of him from watching him on TV and reading contemporary articles about him and his teams.
I just now found the following quote from a
Sports Illustrated article from 1969 that does support some of your implications but perhaps with slightly different nuances:
"I've seen him so mad that I've been afraid he'd pop that big blood vessel in his forehead," says a Pacific Coast official, "but I've never heard him curse."
"Dadburn it, you saw him double dribble down there!" hollers Wooden, now about as soft-spoken as an electric guitar. "Goodness gracious sakes alive! Everybody in the place saw that."
Eddie Powell, a former assistant who moved with him from Indiana State to UCLA in 1948, learned some psychological tricks from the past master.
"Usually sometime during the first half he would choose one incident, a close call, and jump all over the referee," said Powell. "Just chew him out in a gentlemanly manner, if there is such a thing. But let him know that there was that side of Wooden. During the half he'd seek out the referee and apologize to him. He'd say, 'I know I should have known it was a close call. I was wrong. It's just a job and you're doing the best you can.'
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1148073/index.htm
Last Edited: 4/5/2014 10:23:16 PM by OhioCatFan