BYU basketball: Coaching is team effort

PROVO — When BYU coach Dave Rose looks down his bench, he sees two guys with a lot of coaching experience who might not always be there to help him.

But knowing that associate head coach Dave Rice and assistant John Wardenburg could someday land their own coaching gigs is not causing Rose too much stress.

"That's a problem you hope you have," Rose said. "Obviously, your No. 1 goal is to be successful, and when you are successful good things happen to everyone who is a part of that."

Rice, in his fourth season at BYU, has more than a dozen years of previous coaching experience at UNLV and Utah State but has never held a head coaching position. Wardenburg, in his eighth year at BYU, was a head coach at two Utah high schools (Payson and Pineview) for eight years and was an assistant at Dixie State College for four.

During their time at BYU, however, both have added to their basketball knowledge, coaching experience and coaching credentials — mainly because of the empowerment given to them by Rose.

"One of coach Rose's biggest strengths is his ability to delegate," Rice said.

When BYU is on the offensive attack, Rice is standing much of the time, calling plays and yelling out instructions. Wardenburg does the same when the Cougars are on defense.

"We all have responsibilities that we deal with," Wardenburg said. "But we are a tight-knit group of coaches, with a head coach who knows we'll do anything he asks and we know he has trust in us."

Not all head coaches give their assistants that kind of game-time responsibility, but it's a big part of Rose's philosophy. Rose said they're all team guys who want to help the Cougars play better.

"I know how many different things are going on in a game," Rose said. "That's why I think a coach can really use his assistants to help him manage a game.

"These are very intelligent guys and very capable guys, and I want to make sure I get the very most out of them that I can. They (each) have a good basketball mind. Their experience and their backgrounds are terrific. And when they present things to me, I know it's well thought out."

To Rose and his staff — which also includes Terry Nashif and Tim LaComb — the all-involved formula seems to create better chemistry for the entire program. All of the assistants help monitor offensive, defensive, substitution and officiating issues during games, then provide individual and team instruction during practices.