‘You have to be selfless’: Paul Mills focuses on team culture in Shocker basketball debut
Paul Mills is a man of routine on game days with some parts scripted down to the minute.
In his first game day at Koch Arena for Sunday’s exhibition, the new Wichita State men’s basketball coach discovered he will have to adjust to his new surroundings after perfecting his pregame routine the last six seasons at Oral Roberts.
“I was off by 47 seconds when I listen to a special song,” Mills said. “I’ve got to get back to game mode. I’m still in preseason, too.”
Shaking off the rust was the theme for everyone on WSU in Sunday’s game, as it took the Shockers well into the second half to fully pull away from a Division II team from Oklahoma for a 74-53 victory over Rogers State.
But Sunday’s debut was never likely to be a crisp performance from a team with so many newcomers trying to learn a new system under a new coaching staff.
Returning the program to national relevance, hanging championship banners and playing in a sold-out Koch Arena again will take time, and it is up to Mills, who signed a five-year contract worth upwards of $8.5 million to take on the job, to expedite that process as much as he can.
On Sunday, a new era began with humble beginnings inside a hardly-full (announced attendance of 4,674) Roundhouse.
“It was a great experience,” Mills said of his first game as Shocker coach. “Having been familiar with Shocker nation and how passionate this fan base is, I’m looking forward to a lot of full nights in Koch Arena and I’m thankful to the people who came out today.”
To the players, Mills has been a strict disciplinarian who has been a ball of energy from their experiences with him in practice. That wasn’t the version of Mills, dressed in slacks, a dress shirt, golden tie and gray WSU pullover, on the sidelines during Sunday’s exhibition, though.
Even when a sloppy turnover would allow Rogers State to whittle away at the lead on Sunday, Mills remained calm and composed.
“I was surprised,” WSU center Kenny Pohto said. “He was more calm than what I thought he would be.”
“In practice, he can get pretty hyped up at times,” WSU guard Xavier Bell added. “So seeing him more relaxed in this type of environment was kind of funny.”
When relayed his players’ thoughts on his sideline demeanor, Mills laughed and said he was reminded of a time when he was a Baylor assistant and his wife said something similar about legendary Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim when Syracuse topped Baylor in the championship game of the 2013 Maui Invitational.
“That’s because good coaches, in my opinion, they do their work in practice,” Mills said. “The game isn’t for you to be whatever. There’s time where you have to challenge players, but there’s a lot more challenging that goes on behind closed doors. I don’t think players should ever look over after a shot and say, ‘Did I do it right?’ They should already know that. I don’t need them paying attention to me and my reactions. That should have been handled in a film session or behind closed doors.
“The last thing I need to do is you go up to players, ‘Don’t be frustrated,’ and that’s not the right message because it’s obvious that (they) are. You have to be really clear on what you want out of your players, but it needs to be exhibited by me and our entire staff.”
Mills, the son of a pastor and former high school calculus instructor, is as much of a teacher as he is a basketball coach.
Before every game, he scribbles out a list of his favorite play calls on an index card. On the back, he writes: “Serve their hearts, not their talent!”
If a turnaround at WSU is going to happen, Mills believes the right culture must be in place. He was already trying to install that infrastructure on Sunday, beginning with positive energy on the bench to support teammates.
“You have to get over yourself. It takes a team in order to get things done,” Mills said. “You have to be selfless. I don’t care what organization that you’ll ever be in, you can’t make it about you. These guys understand that and that’s something that will be stressed. In order to see a connected team, you’ve got to have a communicative team. I thought we were okay, but our bench has got to be better than what we were tonight. It’s still preseason.”
