I recently saw a post featuring a viral clip from University of Maryland women’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament second-round preparations on 22 March 2026, capturing University of Maryland women’s coach Brenda Frese intensely motivating star guard Oluchi Okananwa during a timeout, lip-read as “I believe in you, but you’ve got to want this moment.” Okananwa, a standout Duke University transfer averaging 18.7 points and earning AP All-America Honorable Mention honors, later praised Frese’s tough-love approach in a follow-up interview, stating she “loves to be coached hard” daily, which has fueled Maryland’s 22nd tournament run under Frese.
Some people will agree with this approach and some may not. Regardless of the approach, it is the 4 words of ‘I believe in you’ that has stuck with me. I then asked myself, how many times have I told my teammate or a person that reports to me that I believe in them … and I do not mean during good times, but more importantly and more critically, during the bad times he/she/we are having.
We all have our bad times and as managers and leaders, our people will have their bad times. If you cannot support or encourage your people by saying ‘I believe in you’, then maybe it is time for a dialogue to understand the root cause of the ‘why not’, or it is time for a change.
thought for the week 