Denny Crum's 'leadership manual' is still helping his former Louisville basketball players

Former Louisville basketball player Everick Sullivan made his first trip to the KFC Yum! Center last fall as the head coach at Lenoir–Rhyne, a Division II program that beat the Cardinals 57-47 in an Oct. 30 exhibition game.

At the opposite end of the court paced U of L coach Kenny Payne, Sullivan's teammate from 1988-89; and printed on the hardwood was the signature of Denny Crum, who was instrumental in getting both men to this point in their careers. It was a surreal experience, Sullivan said, in part because neither he nor Crum, who died Tuesday at age 86, saw this coming when he was admittedly challenging to coach at times as a teenager fresh out of Simpsonville, South Carolina.

Decades later, Sullivan finds himself copying the Hall of Famer's stoic demeanor on the sideline.

"I'm not a yeller and screamer, per se," said Sullivan, who played at Louisville from 1988-92. "I coach out of love, trying to figure out ways to get someone to be better than they think they can, and doing it in a positive way."

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Lancaster Gordon, who preceded Sullivan at Louisville, remembers being called into Crum's office one day to find the head coach joined by assistant Jerry Jones. They told him they thought he was a prime candidate to follow in their footsteps, and Crum offered a piece of advice when the future first-round NBA draft pick responded by saying he didn't know if the profession was for him: "If you coach, you're gonna have to do one thing. You're gonna have to relax a little bit."

Gordon didn't join the coaching ranks when his pro career ended, but the former Sporting News All-American still practices what Crum preached while helping students reach their full potential as the director of Doss High School's Family Resource and Youth Services Center.

"I know that you want everybody to pull themselves up by their bootstraps," said Gordon, whose college career spanned from 1980-84, "but sometimes I see myself pulling back and allowing kids to kind of find their own way."

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Gordon and Sullivan are just two of Crum's former players across his 30-year tenure who assumed leadership positions after leaving U of L. Payne, of course, has been a successful assistant coach at the college and professional level and heads into Year 2 at the helm of his alma mater looking to improve upon last season's 4-28 record. But there's also Junior Bridgeman (1972-75), who's amassed a fortune as an entrepreneur, Derwin Webb (1989-93), who in 2017 became the commonwealth's first Black family court judge, and many others.

Gordon and Sullivan said what they have achieved was made possible by Crum giving players the freedom to be themselves while holding them accountable to one another and the program they represented.

"If a lot of people today would take Coach Crum's leadership manual and just work off of that," Gordon said, "we'd be a safer society, we'd be a more compassionate society and we'd still get things done."

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'It's a lot different when you're on the sidelines'

Sullivan began entertaining the idea of becoming a coach while playing professionally for eight years in Finland, Portugal, Slovenia, Poland, Puerto Rico, Cyprus and Lebanon. He took it upon himself to help the few American teammates he had overseas adjust to the international game, relaying feedback to coaches and working through language barriers.

When he returned to the United States, he started in the high-school and junior-college ranks before landing at Wabash Valley (Ill.) College from 2002-04 and then taking a head-coaching job at Vincennes (Ind.) University. Crum, he said, was surprised to learn the player who once brushed aside an analytical breakdown of his shooting percentages at various spots on the court by saying, "What does it matter if I'm wide open?" had decided to enter the profession but supported him every step of the way.

The summer after he was hired by Vincennes, Sullivan went to see his former coach in his office. Crum pulled out binders containing his practice plans and notes and let Sullivan stay there for hours photocopying as many pages as he pleased.

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"I just tried to soak in everything I could," Sullivan said. "It was an awesome experience."

Sullivan said he knew Crum was the coach for him having grown up watching the Cardinals reach six Final Fours and win two national championships under the California native's guidance. Although they at times butted heads, he praised Crum's ability to hold confident, strong-willed players accountable and handle the criticism that comes with leading a top-flight program.

"It's easy to sit back and give all your opinions on what you should do, and what you would have done, as you just sit back in the stands or at home watching TV, but it's a lot different when you're on the sidelines, and I grew to respect him a lot more," Sullivan said. "Once I started coaching, I could see a lot of things Coach Crum did and I know why he did a lot of things. It makes total sense to me now.

"I think that's the thing about coaching: you can touch so many lives, but it's not always going to pay off immediately."

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'He challenged me'

Gordon's most formative conversation with Crum as a player came during the 1982-83 season, when as a junior he injured his shooting arm while bowling with the heaviest ball he could find at a Louisville alley. He thought he would be benched, but Crum had other plans.

"He brought me into the office, and he said, 'Lancaster, you had scored well early, but what I really need for you is to be more of a leader,'" Gordon said. "He challenged me, and I have since challenged players, to be dominant without scoring."

Gordon stayed in the starting lineup and finished the season averaging 13.7 points on 52% shooting with 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He said he grew into a better all-around player and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1983 NCAA Tournament's Mideast Region after dropping 24 points in an overtime victory against Kentucky, in the game still known as the "Dream Game," to send the Cardinals to their second straight Final Four.

"That was really significant for (our) relationship," Gordon said, "for us to come to a common understanding."

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Gordon and Crum's relationship deepened when he returned to Louisville after stints in the NBA and the Continental Basketball Association. Although he didn't get into coaching like Crum wanted, Gordon continues to use some of the lessons he learned at U of L in working to improve the lives of the city's youth with both Court Appointed Special Advocates and Jefferson County Public Schools.

As was the case when Crum recruited him out of Jackson, Mississippi, Gordon insists on visiting Doss students' homes to better understand how he can help them succeed academically. He uses a saying Crum learned from John Wooden at UCLA, "Be quick but don't hurry," to instill patience. He shows up to the school every day ready to work as hard as he did on the court, sharing his journey as motivation for those who stop by his office in between classes. Those were the kinds of chats he cherished most with his Hall of Fame coach.

"The thing that he said to me was, 'Be compassionate and understand what the ultimate goal is — not just yours, but the other person involved,'" Gordon said. "That's what I've tried to do: understand where people come from and what their goal is and what your goal is and how you can help them to reach that goal and how you want to reach your own goals."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Denny Crum's impact on two of his former Louisville basketball players