A flimsy piece of rubber usually doesn’t hold much meaning.
Yet, for the men’s basketball team, winning nine more games than last season might not have been possible without a seemingly insignificant piece of wrist wear. And, despite being ousted from the Big West Conference Tournament in the semifinals, the Long Beach State players may have learned a valuable lesson about the mentality they need to be a competitive team.
A creation of head coach Dan Monson during his time at the University of Minnesota, the M-I-N-D-S-E-T bracelet became a fundamental element of the 49ers’ team philosophy this season. Each letter in the acronym stands for something that Monson believes the 2008-09 squad needed to have instilled in them to change the culture of the program from its 6-25 record of last year.
“I thought about doing bracelets with the word mindset on them,” Monson said. “But, I wanted it to be more than just a word. I wanted the players to understand a meaning for it, so I made every letter symbolize something. And I made the players memorize it.”
When Monson implemented his wristband idea with the Golden Gophers, some of the letters had different meanings but the overall message has remained the same for the Beach version.
M stands for meaningful, I for indivisible, N for no excuses, D for discipline, S for selflessness, E for excellence and T for toughness.
Monson saw many similarities between the 49ers and his team at Minnesota, including that both were picked to finish in the bottom of their respective conferences. Monson added that current Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith still wears a M-I-N-D-S-E-T bracelet that he found in Monson’s old office at the school.
A change in culture meant that the team had to scrap the losing mentality that had led to its poor showing last season.
“The first team meeting I gave them a bracelet and a card,” Monson recalled. “[I said,] ‘This is how we’re gonna win. We’re gonna change our mindset, and some of you guys that were here last year … that year’s over. And some of you new guys need to understand that this is the mindset you need to have.'”
The 49ers, both upperclassmen and freshmen players, admit that adjusting to this new philosophy did not come easy at the beginning.
“This is new to us, and all the freshmen had to buy into it,” T.J. Robinson, one of four freshmen on the team, said. “It took time. We had to believe in him [Monson] to make this program elite like he did at Gonzaga.”
Robinson can rattle off the meaning behind each letter without hesitation, as Monson has drilled this mentality into his team this season.
The more experienced players seemed to welcome this change, and it led to the team becoming a more cohesive unit.
“It’s the foundation of our team, and it is what we look to for our principles,” sophomore Greg Plater said. “I think it was a learning experience for everybody because last year was tough. We had new guys, but everybody came together as a new team. I think everybody handled it well together.”
But Monson explained that the team didn’t really have a choice whether to buy into his philosophy or not. To make his point even stronger, Monson set strict rules for wearing the bracelet.
“That’s the mindset that we took … I told them, ‘you can’t wear the bracelets during games but if I catch any of you without your bracelet on outside of practice, we’re all gonna get up in the morning and run,'” Monson said. “It’s not negotiable … there’s certain things in this program that they [the players] have input in, and this isn’t one of them. We’re still working on it, and we still talk about it everyday.”
Even though Monson won’t bend the rules, he believes his players can use this philosophy in life outside of basketball, as well. He also believes that having a focus is not confined only to basketball.
“I tell their parents and AAU coaches when I recruit them that my job is to take young men, and I get four years to turn them into men,” Monson said. “Sports has got so much of life built into it … from success to failure.”
While the 49ers may have not reached the NCAA Tournament this season, they will almost surely have the right mindset for years to come.