Driving with Doc

By Gary Larrabee

Glenn “Doc” Rivers became the 16th head coach of the Boston Celtics in April of 2004 and four years later helped bring an unprecedented 17th NBA championship trophy to Causeway Street.

Doc Rivers

A long-time Celtics opponent during a 13-year NBA career spent primarily with the Atlanta Hawks, Rivers later tested his wits against the C’s as the head coach of the Orlando Magic for four-plus seasons, one of which earned the former Marquette University star NBA Coach of the Year honors.

At the end of his first year as analyst for ABC Sports’ coverage of the NBA, he accepted General Manager Danny Ainge’s offer to become coach of the Celtics. Soon after his hiring in 2004 Rivers became a member of The Golf Club at Turner Hill in Ipswich where he can often be found when not on the parquet.

North Shore Golf Magazine columnist Gary Larrabee recently visited Rivers, a six handicap, at the club’s HealthSouth training and practice facility in Waltham to talk hoops, birdies and bogies.

1. As a kid growing up in Illinois, did you ever imagine yourself becoming an NBA star and coach of the world champion Boston Celtics?

You dream about becoming a player, but not a coach. That comes later as your career as a player is ending. In my case, I started thinking late in my NBA career how I could stay in the game I love. When I played for Mike Fratello with the Hawks, he always said I was going to be a coach. As I finished my playing career with the Spurs, I started picking up coaching tips from Bob Hill, an assistant. I took some separation time from the NBA after retiring – a good decision – got refreshed and came back as an assistant with Greg Popovich and the Spurs. From there I got hired to coach Orlando, did TV, and then heard from Danny (Ainge).

2. What was your perception of the Celtics before you became head coach here?

As a kid growing up outside Chicago, they were “THE” NBA franchise, almost the evil franchise. What I always loved about them was their indifference as an organization to everyone else in the league. They had a little bit of that swagger, something I guess we have a little of these days. It’s us we have to take care of. We don’t care about anyone else. We take care of each other.

3. What was the most gratifying aspect of coaching your first world championship team a year ago?

The perseverance the players and coaching staff showed throughout the regular season and playoffs. We believed in ourselves and each other. That and the joy the players experienced after we won that final game with the Lakers at home. I never experienced that joy as a player, so I lived much of the whole year through them. But I also felt that special joy as an NBA champion coach. Coach of the Year was nice, but nothing tops coaching the champions and seeing how well they responded to me and my coaching staff. The way the players did the little things we impressed upon them day after day; the way Paul Pierce out-dove Lebron James for a loose ball, the way we did the little things to come back from 18 down against Detroit and 24 against the Lakers.

4. As an avid golfer, do you ever use golf situations as an example to spur on your players?

You better believe it. I often use Tiger Woods as an example, the way he always talks about how the little things helped him win the Masters or the U.S. Open, putting the ball in the right spot on the course. We like to think we play as a team in that respect.

5. Did you get a chance to play much last summer after winning the title?

Not at all. It was the first summer I didn’t play much. Time ran out on me. I didn’t take any golf trips. But I could live with it, since it was the result of our winning the championship and having more obligations. The prior summer I did Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Spyglass and Monterey Peninsula Country Club. Then I played Olympic and San Francisco Golf Club. We walked 36 holes four straight days. We were going to do the same trip last summer, but all those other great things happened. Then it was right into my kids’ AAU summer basketball. It was still a fun summer. The word “congratulations” never gets old.

6. How much does it mean to you to still share the NBA playoff record for most assists in a half (15, vs. Boston, Game 4, 1988)?

Funny you should bring that up today, because Rondo and Sam (Cassell) gave me a nudge about that during practice today. Fact is, Randy (Wittman) and Dominique (Wilkins) made a lot of shots. Rondo kidded how I could make all those good passes as a big point guard when maybe I should have been shooting the ball myself. But the record does mean a lot to me; it’s really cool that it’s still a record all these years later. That was a great series, but brutal to lose. Dominique and Larry (Bird) made that series historic with their Game 7 shootout. Until last spring, it was always hard for me to look back because it was all about failure or no championships.

7. How did you get your start in golf?

Caddying for my dad when I was a little kid at a course in Hillside, Ill. I loved running around the golf course. I didn’t get what the game was about in those days. Besides, I was playing baseball and basketball all the time. I didn’t see another club until I was maybe 28, while playing with Atlanta. Wittman and Scott Hastings took me out to play one day at Druid Hills. I was awful, but I loved it. That’s where my adult interest developed. Once I was traded to the Clippers I took a couple of lessons from a teaching pro at Riviera, got to play regularly and from that point I was hooked.

8. How did you become associated with Turner Hill?

Right after I had my introductory press conference as Boston’s new coach, Danny (Ainge) and (Celtics team physician and Turner Hill member) Brian McKeon asked me if I wanted to go out and play Turner Hill. I fell in love with the place that afternoon. I liked the club, the people. People like (current club president) Bob Talbot had such a passion for the property and the club. It was a great place to enjoy socially and for relaxation. No one cared that I was the Celtics’ coach. I love going there Sundays in the fall, playing, then watching football inside with the guys.

9. How well do you play?

My index is 6.1. My lowest has been 5.1. It’s hard playing to 6.1 these days. My best at Turner Hill is a 76. That day I eagled the (par-5 uphill) ninth. Had the wind behind, made a 15-footer. I had the ideal circumstances.

10. Play any with fellow Turner Hill sports celebs? Dennis Eckersley or Mark Bavaro?

Not yet with Mark. We tend to play at different times of the day, I guess. We’ll do it this year, I hope. I’ve played with Dennis three or four times. We’re about even, but Dennis is a little better. I beat him a couple of times when he shot 78 and he kept saying I was a sandbagger. It’s just that I can have really good days if I focus or I can play poorly. These days golf is more a mental health exercise for me. I play during the season on road trips and I encourage my players to play as well. Ray (Allen) and Eddie (House) get out there more than the others. I tell them that to have a great focus for game time you have to break that focus at other times. Golf does that for me.

11. Tell us about signing your most recent contract while playing golf with your boss at Turner Hill.

Danny had made me an offer for a contract extension that I’d passed on. I still had a year to go anyway. Then last summer we’d finished playing one afternoon at Turner Hill and he pulled a contract out of his car in the parking lot. Right there I decided I didn’t want this to be an issue down the road, so I signed it (for three more years and more money than originally offered). I love this job. But I’ve got two kids in high school, one in middle school and I want to watch them play sports and grow up more than I’ve been able to. (Rivers’s wife, Kris, and their four children live in Orlando.).

12. What are your other favorite courses after Turner Hill?

The Country Club tops my list, then Salem (CC). They both have such challenging greens. You keep the ball in the fairway, put it on the green, then you end up shooting 85 because the greens are so tough. You can add the Oaks course at International and Boston Golf Club to the group as well.

13. What are the strongest and weakest parts of your game?

I’m a hot and cold putter. When I’m hot, the game’s a lot of fun for me. And we all know putting is the most important part of the game. My long irons work pretty well and I drive the ball reasonably, maybe 250 to 275 yards if I catch it. I used to be long and wild, but more recently I’ve been long and often in the fairway. I try not to kill it. Short irons are my weakness.

14. What’s been your most unforgettable golfing experience?

As special as Turner Hill and Cypress Point and Pebble Beach have been, I had the chance to play Augusta National, Pine Valley and Cypress Point in a three-week period two years ago. Probably Pine Valley would be No. 1, but you can’t beat the beauty of Cypress Point. Augusta is beautiful, too, a great test of your golf ability and so historic. Every hole seems to have a history from the Masters. “This is where Tiger did this; this is where Nicklaus or Palmer did that.” And I made birdie on the 13th.

15. With your 50th birthday fast approaching (October, 2011), how do you look so youthful after all your basketball wars as player and coach?

Since you had to bring it up, I’ll tell you I’m really looking forward to my 50th. My wife and I plan to take a trip to celebrate my 50th to the Grand Canyon. We’ll rent a house boat, start at Lake Powell, take a week, stop along the way so she can shop and read and I’ll play golf on three different courses I’ve learned about. As for aging well, I’m not sure I am, but one thing is I’m not aging as a coach. I love the fray every day. The passion of Celtics fans at home and on the road. I even appreciated in our less successful years when 75-year-old ladies would walk up to me in a store and say I should play Al Jefferson more.

16. How long would you like to coach the Celtics as your fifth year winds down?

I have no idea. The only thing that could pull me away from this job is a family matter. I love it, love it, not so much the down times when some fans wanted my job and Danny’s, but right now we’ve got a good thing going. We understand each other because we’ve both been players and coaches. When we were losing, Danny always reminded me to keep laughing and smiling, because he knew I was doing the best I could with what I had. He kept telling me to keep improving the young guys and eventually we’d make some moves and get the right combination.

17. What are the keys for making a successful NBA title defense in the playoffs?

It’s all about the role players, our bench, and how they have improved during the season heading into the playoffs. Our starters can’t play much better. They give us a great effort virtually every night. But the bench will make the difference, as they did for much of the regular season. If they keep understanding their roles, we’ll be difficult to beat.

18. How would you characterize the state of affairs of our country’s race relations today when you, the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, Tiger Woods and President Obama stand as icons in your chosen fields of endeavor?

So many before me broke down those so-called “doors” as coach of an NBA champion: Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkens, K.C. Jones. But to see Mike lead Pittsburgh to the Super Bowl, Tiger climb to the top in golf and the President to do the same in American politics, well, it means a great deal to me as a man first, as a black man second. In my case, growing up in a tough Chicago suburb where we had our share of racial tension, my parents never made race an issue in my life growing up. I gather Mike’s, Tiger’s and the President’s parents did the same. As a result, none of us have used race as a crutch, something to hold onto. We’ve used our race only to make us stronger and better people, to help us strive for accomplishment in our lives. Still, I never imagined in my lifetime, when we’ve had only a few (four) African-American governors, that I would see an African-American president. It’s good for America. It shows America is ready to move on in a unified fashion like never before.