For NU assistant Jim Molinari, the turning point might have been “the blood bath.”
That wasn’t the Gardner-Webb game. That was the day after the game.
That was the day Molinari said Miles changed his wardrobe.
“My favorite quote of Miles is, ‘I know when to take off the clown nose,’ ” Molinari said. “That’s what people don’t see about him.”
That Monday after the Gardner-Webb loss, and one day before the final nonconference game against Southern, Miles held boot camp.
“It was brutal,” Molinari said. “All we did was toughness drills. Roll the ball, guys diving on the floor. Rebounding, fighting each other. Then we played three-on-three half-court defense.
“It wasn’t as demeaning as it was demanding. It was a risky action by Tim. A lot of coaches wouldn’t do that. Football coaches would be afraid to get people hurt in the middle of a season.