Texas reveals why coach's 'soft' criticism sparked Women's Final Four run
· Yahoo Sports
PHOENIX ― In February, Texas coach Vic Schaefer questioned the "heart" of his players after a blowout loss to Vanderbilt.
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"We had no heart tonight. We had no toughness. No competitive spirit. We're soft," Schaefer said at the time. "We were whining. Complaining, but no toughness."
The Longhorns' coach's words cut deep for his players, and forward Madison Booker knows it won't happen anymore.
"Your immediate reaction is 'Like, dang.' You never want your coach to call you 'soft' ever again," Booker said. "We turned it around. We got together as a team. We made a little checklist, just things we needed to work on."
Booker says the team focused on becoming a better sisterhood, having more fun and not stressing as much and upholding Texas' standards. Guard Rori Harmon echoed Booker's sentiments, confirming that the team held a player-led meeting to hold everyone accountable.
Harmon admitted that she addressed the defeat and Schaefer's comments right away with the team, not letting anyone shower. The Texas guard also says she understands why many people are still asking about it over six weeks later, despite the Longhorns being undefeated since that moment and at the Final Four.
"It (will) probably always be (brought) up because, yes, it could be seen as a negative ... but you can take a lot from losing, especially if you're a great team that's looking forward to turning the page. But I think we focused on being a sisterhood," Harmon said. "I think after that moment, we truly started embracing how tough it's gonna be, but also how we need to lean on each other."
Schaefer says there's something else that was lost in his head-turning comments to the Longhorns.
"I think what everybody needs to understand about that night that nobody talks about, two things. One, I give Vanderbilt tremendous credit that night. ... Two, I said that night, and I say this all the time, you're either coaching it or allowing it," Schaefer said.
"So, I was as much disappointed in myself that night as anything, that my team would show up that night and play the way they played. I was disheartened. Was I disappointed in a lot of things? Absolutely. But here's the thing. I have the pleasure of knowing what you don't know. I see what you don't see every day. So in that moment, sure, y'all can take and run with whatever I said that night and turn it into however you want to, which you did, some of them did. That's OK. At the end of the day, they responded exactly like I thought they would."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas reveals how coach's 'soft' comment inspired Final Four run