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Angela Beck instructs her team.
'Attitude raising altitude'focus
helps Beck turn around team
By Steve Sipple
Staff Reporter
Nebraska women’s basketball
coach Angela Beck has used motiva
tion as a tool to rejuvenate the Corn
huskers, but Beck’s team isn’t the
only benefactor of her inspiring
speeches.
Beck recently addressed a group
of local political leaders, including
Lincoln Mayor Bill Harris, Waverly
Mayor Mary Applebec, and Omaha
Mayor Bemic Simon, on the topic of
motivation and the effects of positive
altitude.
Beck said she frequently gives
motivational speeches and saiu she
told the politicians the same thing she
instills in her players: A positive atti
tude can take you a long way.
“I always say attitude determines
altitude,” Beck said. “Turning from a
losing to a winning program is all
because of the attitude adjustment
we’ve had.”
Beck’s philosophies have helped
restore a Husker program that previ
ously hadn’t had a winning season
since 1983-84. She guided the Husk
ers to a 16-13 record in her first season
last year, which included an 8-6 Big
Eight record. It was Nebraska’s first
ever, upper-division finish and the
first w inning season ever in the con
ference.
This year, Beck said, could even
be better. She said improving players’
self-esteem has been a key factor in
the program’s turnaround.
“It’s important to feel good about
yourself as a person,” Beck said. “I
want my players to feel good about
themselves. A lot of players don’t feel
good about themselves away from
athletics.
‘I always say atti
tude determines alti
tude ..
Beck
“If wc can make them feel good
about that, they feel good about them
selves on the floor.
Along with the positive-attitude
approach, Beck brought to the pro
gram a work ethic that has manifested
itself in her intense practices and the
team’s uptempo style of play. Last
season Beck drove the hard-work
approach into her players by printing
the letters I-T-H-W-T-B-A-C (It takes
hard work to be a champion) on virtu
ally everything associated with Ne
braska women’s basketball
Apparently the motto has had
some impact. The Huskcrs set nine
team-records in pre-season condi
tioning drills.
Beck said she and assistant coach
Theresa Becker used the 1-T-H-W-T
B-A-C method during their tenure at
Bradley from 1981 to 1986. Becker
said they promptly decided to use the
angle again upon their move to Ne
braska.
“Thai’s the symbol within our
organization,” Beck said. “Every
body wants u> be a champion. It’s a
Nebraska theme. Nebraska has a very
hard-working ethic. They expect a lot
from their teams."
Beck said the program lacked a
positive and hard-working atmos
phere when she inherited it from
Kelly Hill prior to last season. Hill’s
contract was not renewed after the
1985-86 season and Hill is now the
coach at Western Illinois.
“I thought we had a losing atti
tude,” Beck said. ‘‘I just said, ‘Hey,
this is your motto.’ (The players)
adopted it and they work hard every
day.”
Beck said her penchant for hard
work comes from her collegiate ca
reer at Millikin University, which is a
Division III school in Decatur, III.
There Beck earned All-America
honors her senior season and estab
lished 17 career scoring and assist
records. Last year she was inducted
into the Millikin University Hall of
Famr>
‘Everybody wants to
be a champion. It’s a
Nebraska theme ...’
Beck
Bul Beck said when she looks back
at her playing days she regrets she
didn’t work harder in what she labels
a “laxcd” atmosphere. Not fulfilling
her true potential was frustrating and
Beck said she vowed after her colle
giate career she wouldn’t let this
happen to the players she would soon
be coaching.
“I’m the opposite of my coach at
Millikin,” Beck said. “I wanted a
coach as a person to get everybody
motivated. I wasn’t satisfied at a
Division III school. I wanted to get to
a Division I school and make players
the best they can be.”
Beck has proved she can get a lot
out of her players by resurrecting
programs at all three schools she has
coached. In 1980, she took over a
lackluster Southeast Missouri Stale
team as a 22-ycar old - which made
her the youngest college coach in the
nation. She finished 9-15 her first
season and went on to produce back
to-back 20-win seasons.
Beck then moved to Bradley in
1983 and inherited a team that had
finished last in the Gateway Confer
ence the previous year and turned
them into an upper division finisher.
They went 16-12 in 1985-86 before
Beck look the helm at Nebraska.
Beck said the Husker program will
continue its upswing this year, led by
a strong recruiting class and the pres
ence of pre-season All-America
Mauritice Ivy. She said the Huskers
have the talent to finish the season in
the nation’s lop 20.
Beck said “a lot of pride” and “a lot
of hard work” has helped during her
six years as a head coach. She said she
has enjoyed the challenge of taking
sub-par teams and turning them into
winners.
“Genuinely speaking, 1 love chal
lenges,” Beck said. “I like to be chal
lenged. When I came to Nebraska 1
knew they were nevci .5(X)(in the Big
Eight). There was only one way to go
- and that was up.
“I never wanted to lake a program
that won 20games. I wanted to instill
my reputation «n a program :