FORT COLLINS
— When a man takes the job as basketball coach at Colorado, he gets a contract, but absolutely no guarantees.
Jeff Bzdelik could do everything right and it might not be enough to succeed. Change the culture of a program with zero expectations? Alter the power structure of the mighty Big 12 Conference? Where do you start?
It all could drive a patient coach stark, raving mad.
“The draw to Colorado was people telling me: ‘You can’t win there.’ But let’s see. I’m going to give my best effort. And I might fail.
“But I’m not afraid of failing. I’m going to try,” Bzdelik said Saturday night, after the Buffaloes beat Colorado State 73-70 at Moby Arena.
Where does a CU coach begin? Not by beating Kansas. Not by earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In a bad basketball program, the devil resides in the details. And Bzdelik is a detail man. So he began by sweating the small stuff.
“On our first road trip, I started by teaching them how to dress professionally,” Bzdelik said. “I actually went behind a player in the airport, unbeknownst to him, and pulled up his baggy pants. I think I gave him a wedgie.”
There is nothing subtle about this coach. Bzdelik employs a firm hand when instructing the Buffaloes on the complex brush strokes required to make the Princeton offense look like art rather than five guys staring dumbfounded at an abstract painting.
And, in return, the Buffs are teaching Bzdelik how not to pull every last strand of hair from his head.
Sound like a fair deal?
“I had a very difficult time learning to balance teaching and changing the culture with results on the court,” admitted Bzdelik, whose team broke a three-game losing streak to improve its record to 6-5. “To be very honest with you, two or three weeks ago, I wasn’t handling it very well.
“And I had to really take a step back and say: ‘OK, Jeff, what did you think? You dummy.’ Now, I just want to see progress being made, because that’s what this is all about.”
To suggest this is a learning curve underestimates the size of bumps on the road for Colorado. There’s nothing smooth about this long, hard climb.
For example: The Buffs raced to a 16-4 lead against CSU in seven fun-filled minutes after the opening tip, but closing the deal was far from simple.
It was a one-point game in the final 11 seconds of the second half, when Marcus Hall made two free throws, finally allowing the grimace on Bzdelik’s face to relax.
“We’ve got to learn how to put teams away when we’ve got ’em by the throat,” said CU senior Richard Roby, who scored 18 points against the Rams.
There was a moment late in the game, when the 5,377 fans in Moby were screaming, as Bzdelik got up from his seat on the CU bench. He adamantly twirled an index finger in the air, ordering the motion offense.
When the coach gazed at the court, there was point guard Marcus Hall, with the basketball on a yo-yo near half court, looking as if he were waiting on a bus.
A relationship does not take hold with a snap of a finger or the magic wave of a hand.
Hall insists he loves the intensity the new CU coach brings to the task.
“We’re a work in progress,” Bzdelik said.
In two years at the Air Force Academy, Bzdelik won 50 times. If he can win five times in the Big 12 this season, he deserves to be named coach of the year.
When an entire basketball program is learning everything from how to practice to how to dress, it takes time for a coach and his players to become of one mind.
After walking in the CU locker room Saturday night, what were the first words Bzdelik wrote on the board?
Great achievements require great effort.
Victories will have to wait. Effort cannot afford patience.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
