I had just dropped two passes in a row and something had to be done about it. It's not like I wasn't trying to catch them, I just made two consecutive mistakes. There was no defense, there was no pressure, just a couple of mishandled passes. Still, two dropped passes in a row meant less to me than it did to coach. In all honesty, a dropped pass in an off-season workout was not really a big deal, but the point was to improve and to prevent dropped passes from occurring when it mattered.

Coach stopped the drill and pulled me aside. I stood there, about six feet away from him, listening to his words about focusing on the ball, getting low, and using both hands to make the catch. The assistant coach stood about six feet away from both of us, making us all look like a triangle of instruction. He too had words for me. It was about getting better, not berating the leading scorer, so I understood.

"The main thing you have to realize, Rod, is that you have to always have your hands ready," coach said to me. "How are you supposed to make a catch with your hands down? The balls could hit you in the-"

Right then he threw a quick no look pass, with some serious zip behind it. I barely had my hands passed my waist when it hit. The ball slammed our assistant coach right in the nose before either of us had a chance to react. The ball hit him in the face so hard that it bounced right back to the passer.  I would have guessed that the assistant coach had a broken nose. His face was flush and his eyes were watering. I couldn't hold back my laugh when I saw the Nike "Swoosh" imprinted across his face. The teaching moment had just taken a turn for the awesome.

"As you just saw Rod, you could get one right in the kisser if your hands aren't ready. I bet you that he won't have his hands down again, will he?"

I chuckled out my answer, "Probably not."

Coach then proceeded to fake about ten passes to the dazed assistant, who, in his state of shock flinched and jumped every single time.

"Now Rod, your turn."

He faked the ball at me a couple times and my hands were ready. Then he dropped a bounce pass to me, post entry style, and I caught it like I was protecting my life. Lesson learned.

Coach Ben Braun had that kind of off-beat instructional style at times. He knew that to get through to me, sometimes he had to be a bit funny. I'm not so sure that the assistant (now the head coach at the University of New Orleans, Joe Pasternack) found the whole ordeal so funny, but I think he can laugh about it now.

I bring this up because, in the wake of a crushing loss to Ohio State in the NIT (national championship), my college coach Ben Braun was fired by Cal. Next season the Bears will compete under the direction of somebody else for the first time in 12 years. Guys like Sean Marks, Francisco Elson, and Dominic McGuire all played for Braun during that time and we all have stories that we will never forget. I'm sure Leon Powe has his fair share as well.

When I thought about Braun being gone, it reminded me of that day he smacked Coach P in the face with that ball. Still, for other people he invoked thoughts of mediocrity and underachievement. I guess that's why he's now gone. I chose to remember how he always used to tell us that his Toyota was the same as a Lexus without such a pricey tag. I chose to remember the time a guy from the opposing team ran into to him during a game. Coach fell and hit the ground like he had been hit by Bob Sanders. Before he did anything else, Braun flicked his perfectly gelled hair back into place.

I still remember when we were in Trieste, Italy. Our team got into a fight with the Italian team were playing against. Later that night, everybody had their stories about what they did during the fight. There were only two stories that never added up once we saw the tape. The first was Leon Powe's story about "two of the biggest guys holding him back." Leon was the largest guy there by far, so we were all wondering who in the world could hold HIM back. When we saw the video, we saw that Leon was clearly free to hit whoever he wanted and just stood there. That was probably a smart move even though we did laugh at him for it. The second story with a hole in it was that coach Braun was breaking the fight up. The tape showed him by himself in the corner, doing what appeared to be the cha-cha slide. He kept sidestepping around by himself with his hands up.

Since the Cal coaching staff basically parented me for four years, I wish him and the rest of the staff the best of luck wherever the road of life now leads. Good luck to the Bears next season and good luck to Devon Hardin and his NBA journey this summer.

Rod Benson is a Cal grad who plays for the D-League's Dakota Wizards. He also blogs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Ball Don't Lie. Read his archive, pay a visit to TooMuchRodBenson.com and always support the Boom Tho movement.

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