Tigers bring Barron pride, laughter

Q and A with head coach Richard Barron of the women's basketball team, who will try to lead the Tigers to the first NCAA Tournament bid of his six-year tenure:

What, in your opinion, constitutes a good basketball team?

The truly successful teams are the ones who understand how to prepare for every game. It's very easy to get [excited for] the big games, that's what everybody does. I know we are going to be excited to play Dartmouth. Are we going to be equally excited to play Columbia and Yale? That's the big difference in the Ivy League because every game counts. You can't have one of those games where you have a letdown.

What has been the highlight of your career at Princeton?

There are a lot of them. Winning the league last year was certainly one of them. I think maybe from a basketball standpoint, sweeping Harvard and Dartmouth on the road last year, how well we played, how well we prepared for that [were all highlights]. Just to see everything come together, we were blowing both of those teams out. That was special. There are a lot of moments I'm proud of. When I see these kids doing community service or getting an A on a paper, whatever it is, [it makes me proud]. I really do enjoy those successes just as much as I do the wins. There are a lot of times off the court that are even more satisfying than what happens on the court.

What is the best part about coaching at Princeton?

[The best part] is the quality of the people that you get to coach — the quality of the people I work with. There's a lot of bells and whistles other places [might have], the biggest probably being scholarships. But all of that is for naught if you don't work with and coach people that you enjoy being around. Even the teams here that I coached that didn't seem to be as successful on the court, I enjoy that process. And I consider them every bit a part of our success that we had last year. I think back to kids like Mary Kate Opila ['04] who was a walk on and played four years, who never got to play [in a] championship here, but we never would have gotten to be a championship team without her. Those kind of people, the Allison Cahills ['03], the Maureen Lanes ['03], quality people you enjoy being around. I inherited a lot of good kids when I got here. I learned a lot from them. I'm a better coach with this group because of what I learned from them.

Which member of the team has the best sense of humor?

Other than me? I have the worst jokes on the team. I'm the one they "haw haw" at. [Junior center] Ariel Rogers is probably the funniest kid on the team. She's hysterical. [Sophomore forward] Whitney Downs is pretty funny. They have a little bit different personalities on the court than they might off it. But they are all a pretty funny group and they really do enjoy each other.

What are the challenges that your players face as student-athletes?

[Coming out of] exams is the hardest time of year here. You are [in] practice, you have games and you have exams. You go to exams in January, and you have nothing else going on for a month. That's cake compared to what you go through with midterms. Your workload [is tough]. We have exams in January, we come out of exams, right back into league play. We build a whole lot of momentum going into January, then we have to take three weeks off. How do you get that momentum back?

What are the greatest challenges of being a coach?

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

It depends on when you ask me. Sometimes it's recruiting, sometimes it's [the] hours, sometimes it's trying to be a coach, a husband and a father. Figuring all of those things out. Sometimes it's just dealing with different personalities and trying to figure out how to motivate people. Sometimes it's the strategies. All those things are challenging. Our jobs are so cyclical. We have our preseason, season [and] postseason. Our recruiting calendar goes all the way throughout [the year], so you are constantly wearing different hats. I think one of the biggest challenges is not to get burned out. It's a very intense profession, a very emotional profession. There's a lot riding on each recruit [and] each game. There [are] very few professions that keep track of your win-loss record. I don't know anybody else who puts that on their resume. You are accountable for your team's performance. But that's also where all the joy comes in. That's what makes it special.

What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you about basketball?

Maybe the best was the same advice that I also got from a doctor when I was thinking about whether I was going to go into medicine or coaching. [He said] "If there's anything else you can do in your life to make you happy, do it. If you can't live without being a coach, then be a coach." That's probably the best advice. I've gotten a lot of good advice from a lot of different people. Don Meyer, [the head coach at Northern State University], has been great. I get great advice from my assistants. Pete Carril [former head coach at Princeton] — I love sitting next to him watching practices, games, picking his brain. That's a hall of fame coach right there.