Ryan Butt

Honored to be inducted into the Susquehanna Valley chapter of the PA Sports Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all the inductees! It was a great evening to catch up with so many legends who have positively impacted athletics.

Most people are getting this wrong. It's not being coached hard or soft...it's a coach saying the right thing at the right time to get them out of a spiral. And focus them on what matters. When you're in that spiral, your attention scatters. You're replaying mistakes, drifting into the future, losing the moment. Frese disrupted it in two ways. First, she walked directly to Okanawa, locked eyes, and forced her to focus and connect with her in the present. Second, she gave confidence AND agency. "I believe in you...But you've got to want this moment." This isn't my story..." She didn't say, "What are you doing...get your head in the game." Those feed the spiral, giving your brain evidence that it's all going wrong. Akin to telling a nervous person to "just relax." In our lowest moments, we need a signal that someone still sees what we're capable of. And then gives us the agency and challenge to go get it. She scored 7 points in the third quarter after that exchange, added 6 more in the fourth, and finished with a team-high 21. Maryland still lost. But Okananwa showed up. It was a brilliant display of snapping a player out of everything scattering towards catastrophe: "Really what that was, was a regroup moment for myself and her telling me she believed in me. Sometimes that's really all you need to hear." Research backs this up. Psychologists at the University of Amsterdam found that whatever emotional state coaches expressed predicted their players' emotional state and subsequent performance. Angry coaches produced frustrated players who made more errors. Another study of basketball players found that low to moderate anger targeted at a specific problem could improve performance. Raw, undirected intensity made things worse. Targeted intensity that was aimed at something solvable worked. Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko put it this way: "My job is to be calm and collected when they're frantic. My job is to create intensity when they're not intense. My job is to always be opposite the moment." The leader's job is the counterbalance. Frese saw her star's attention drifting when the moment called for focus and controlled fire. So she brought the intensity Okananwa wasn't generating on her own. Most people see the intensity and think that's the important takeaway. It's not. It's just one tool used in a specific moment. Frese said it herself after the game: "You can't have those conversations if you don't have a relationship with them." It's the relationship underneath that gives you the ability to use the right tool at the right time. Sometimes that tool is direct eye contact and I believe in you. Other times, it's taking a calm breath with and a reminder that I value you as a human, not just an athlete. Or, as I had one athlete request one time, "Just cuss me out in the last 400. Tell me it's worth dying for..." Sometimes you pull out the crazy if that disrupts the cycle. Know your athlete. Build the relationship. Then know when to disrupt the cycle and focus them on the work at hand.

Congrats @HannahButt2030 !! Big days ahead - keep putting in that work!! @PRJCTandPRFCT

MBB: #BU is headed to the Patriot League title game at Lehigh on Wednesday thanks to Gladden's 3FG with 0.6s left on the clock. Terriers stun reg. season champ Navy, 73-72. #GoBU

Boston University knocks off top-seed Navy on a last-second three pointer in the Patriot semifinals. What a win for BU. Brutal loss for Navy, who had a tremendous season. Lehigh v Boston University for the Patriot conference tournament title on Wednesday night in Bethlehem.

Let's go @TerrierMBB !!! One more!! #MarchMadness

The journey continues ... keep working hard @HannahButt2030 🏀💪❤️

That. Was. Awesome!!! 🇺🇸

Connor Hellenbuyck right now 🇺🇸

@T3Bracketology Bryant "Big Country" Reeves

The timeline on here is rough lately, no getting around that. Please just take a second and share a random college basketball player that made you happy

Proud of you!! ♥️💪🔥

The best 💪

Thankful for our adventures together ♥️

Jay Wright shares the advice he gives to young athletes. "Run your own race. Be the best that you can be every day and don't compare yourself to someone ahead of you or even someone behind you." Your goal is to stay humble and hungry every day. • Ego is the enemy. • Comparison kills progress. You control two things every single day: your effort and your attitude. He poses 2 questions that you should ask yourself at the end of every day. 1. Did I give my best effort? 2. Did I have a great attitude? If you didn't, be honest. Then wake up and control what you can. Best effort. Best attitude. Complete Ownership. (🎥 Tipping the Scales Podcast)

Proud of you @HannahButt2030 🔥🔥🔥 looking forward to a big season ahead!! This is just the beginning of your journey💪💪💪

Such an amazing experience! Thankful for our adventures. Excited for what's ahead. Keep working hard 💪

🚨2030 6'1 D1 Prospect HANNAH BUTT is ready to have another year of putting the nation on notice 😮‍💨 Elite Defender, College ready frame & can stretch the floor from deep‼️Yeah she's 🔒'd IN! #webetonus #teampa #theintellegentchoice

Always love watching you play!! 💪♥️🏀

S HE E L 1 T 3 Girls Basketball League Please make no mistake about it...the NOVAS (who went undefeated in regular season play) are easily 1 of the most poised, confident, talented, disciplined, well Coached Middle School teams to compete in our league...and the same can most definitely be said about the RecruitMeTV Middle School Division team who survived a 2nd half run by the NOVAS to secure the win! BIG CONGRATULATIONS to the @recruitmetv Middle School Division team, the 2025 SHE ELITE SEASON 6 Middle School Division Champions!!! 🥇🥇🥇🏆🏆🏆 Middle School Championship Recap brought to you by: @jaydoefilms #SEMSCHIP #SE6 #ON3CULTUR3

🏀 Huge shoutout to my Dad (@Coach_Butt) and the ‘98-99 Hempfield basketball team for their well-deserved induction into the Hall of Fame last night! 🙌🔥 So proud! ❤️

Congratulations to our 1998-99 @HBBTOGETHER team that was inducted into the @HSDSportsScores hall of fame. Honored to have played for such great coaches and alongside a special group of teammates. So much fun to reconnect and reminisce on our time together! @CoachGassist12