Ross Hodge focuses team on task at hand

Ross Hodge has always felt the need to prove himself every time he’s stepped on the floor.

That’s as a player, an assistant, a head coach or any other asset. And that largely stems from his competitive nature and having the ability to prove himself on the basketball court.

In fact, the thing that Hodge loves most about sports is that, regardless of how anybody thinks about a certain school or the matchup against anothe,r it has to be settled on the floor.

“You actually get to step in between the lines, you know, with officials and figure out who’s better that night,” Hodge said. 

Hodge has been on both sides of that coin where he was the underdog that knocked off a favored opponent or lost when he was expected to win.

In fact, during his junior college days, he was the No. 1 team in the country and had to keep his team focused, while other experiences at Southern Mississippi and North Texas saw him playing the role of spoiler.

“That’s the other beauty of being part of teams, you know, everybody’s role is equally important. We all have different roles, but nobody’s more important than the next person,” he said.

The biggest hurdle is not getting caught believing just because certain schools are at certain levels it will dictate the outcome of any game. It’s earned on the floor.

It’s a message he has to talk to his team about as well. 

“I fight tooth and nail against that and we don’t prepare any differently,” he said. “We don’t allow ourselves to think any different. And then it’s going to be the same way if we’re preparing for some other team that anyone outside of that locker room thinks that they’re supposed to beat us.”

That means putting his team’s mind squarely on the game plan and the execution in order to go out and play on the floor with a clear focus on the task at hand.

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