Jerry Bouma, the 1974 Villanova captain, has a book out on the legendary Villanova program of Jumbo Elliott which prodcued a ton of mid d stars. Marty Liquori, Eamonn Coghlan, Don Paige,Sydney Maree, and Marcus O’Sullivan to name a few.
We had Bouma on our podcast and you can listen to that 15 minute segment here:
A few highlights:
"We'd see him (Jumbo) three days a week. He'd show up at 3:30 and be gone by 4:30, 4:45 after the workout. But he created this expectation of winning...."
Life lessons he learned: 'Live like a clock' which was Jumbo's most famous adage. Doing everything the same time each day. So have having a schedule and being committed to a regular routine, both in your work life and your recreational life and your athletic life. But believing that excellence is possible and it can be achieved anywhere if you put the right ingredients together. I really believe there's talent everywhere. I believe that you can go into any high school of a 1000-10500 kids and you can find three or four potential (sub) 4 minute milers.
All you have to do is find them and then nurture them."
I'd love to hear what some of you from that era thought of the Villanova teams and Jumbo. Can't believe he had a 'real' job the entire time in addition to coaching.