Coaches,

Today I’m going to give you something you may want to use to motivate your players. I’m going to tell you how Phil Forte, a “not quick enough, not tall enough, not athletic enough” 5’10” shooting guard, in our win over Arkansas on Saturday, became the 6th player in Big 12 history to make 300 threes, and in doing so he broke Keiton Page’s OSU Basketball record of 299 career threes.

When Phil was in 8th grade he started a daily regime of 600 made threes a day. When I became his high school coach his sophomore year I was amazed at his dedication on not only making the 600 every single day, but also with the intensity of which he shot them. In three years of coaching him in high school and now one year of college, I have never once seen him stand in one spot and shoot. He always does his shooting routine on the move and at game speed.And in addition to the 600 made threes, he always works at game speed on floaters, pull up jumpers, ball handling and free throws as well. It is simply awe inspiring to watch Phil work on his craft.

The best story I can share to illustrate his dedication happened after the state championship game his junior year. We were 38-1 and ranked #2 in the country by Maxpreps and we played Lakeview Centennial who was also 38-1 and ranked #1 in the country by Maxpreps. The game was on a Saturday night and televised on Fox Sports. It was as big as it gets for a bunch of high school kids. We were fortunate to win on a defensive stop at the buzzer. The celebration that night at the hotel with our fans was very emotional to say the least. Then we had another community celebration in Flower Mound on Sunday. Then spring break started on Monday. That Monday night Phil’s dad called me and said, “Hey, you’re not gonna believe this but Phil did not make his 600 threes today, or yesterday.” Of course, I replied, “Well, that’s understandable, I’m sure he’s emotionally drained after Saturday night’s game and the big celebration on Sunday.” Then his dad told me something I will always share with my players – he said, “Did you know that Sunday was the first day Phil has missed making his 600 threes SINCE TWO CHRISTMAS’S AGO.”

That’s how a “not quick enough, not tall enough, not athletic enough” 5’10 shooting guard becomes only the 6th player to make 300 threes in the Big 12 history.

And by the way – Phil made his 600 threes on that Tuesday.

Best of luck to you the rest of the way in district play. We have been on a roll the past three games with big wins over Tech, TCU and Arkansas. We are playing great defense and we are 2nd in the country in offensive efficiency.Hopefully we can keep it going against Oklahoma Monday night.

Let us know if we can help you in any way.

Danny Henderson

Assistant men’s basketball coach

Oklahoma State Univesity