Inside the Huddle with LaToya Howell

LaToya Howell knows leadership.  It's everywhere she goes and it's everywhere she's been.   

 

The Chicago, Ill., native is a senior point guard and team captain on the Nebraska women's basketball team so leadership is never far from Howell's thoughts.  While at the Air Force Academy, Howell learned the importance of discipline and teamwork and how to apply that to her life everyday, consequently taking it with her when she came to Nebraska as a redshirt during the 2003-04 season.  The learning didn't stop there.

 

Coach Connie Yori talks about leadership with her players everyday.  Her expectations for Howell, who is averaging 4.3 points and assists, and the other guards doesn't rely just on distributing the ball or scoring when the defense lets them, although those things are important.  It comes down to understanding everyone's role on both sides of the floor while thinking ahead to the next play.

 

“The point guards need to be on the same page as the head coach.  We need to think alike,” Yori said. “They need to understand everyone's role on the floor.  They need to understand everyone's role on offense and everyone's role on defense.  They need to be people who think ahead and think about the next play and not worry about what just happened, but about what's going to happen next.”

 

What Howell has learned is that the Huskers aren't the same when she isn't communicating at her best.  That was a lesson she took from Nebraska's season-opening loss.  Howell said the game was a “slip-up” for her and taught her how important it was to communicate to a team that has freshmen and sophomores making major contributions to the success of the team.

 

“I tried to lead by example, but that's not enough,” Howell said. “Losing a couple of seniors to injury, the communication has to be verbal because sometimes the younger players just need to know where to go and what the next step is.  I was told by the coaches that I have to already be on the next step. If we have five people out there thinking about the last play, then we can't move on.  That's why it has to be verbal for me.”

 

The learning doesn't just happen through basketball.  Yori and Howell agree that the learning happens on and off the court, with and without teammates.  Howell said her mother, Sandra, is someone she tries to pattern her leadership skills around.  As a teacher, Sandra Howell tries to develop personal relationships with people, so Howell tries to get to know her teammates on and off the court. 

 

Yori has helped Howell learn that it's important to be an energetic role-model for the younger players while also remaining focused.  Yori said Howell does a great job of being assertive in her leadership.  Yori also said Howell's position as a team captain is encouraging Howell to take ownership of the team while accepting responsibility for the Huskers' performances.  Howell's improvement was marked by a 12-point performance against No. 10 Minnesota and she has recorded seven steals on the season. 

 

“It's important for them to understand that this is their team,” Yori said. “We as coaches oversee the leadership, but they have a huge role on the floor and off the floor in directing our team in the right way.”