Tough Love Approach Starting to Breakthrough for RMU

Even as Robert Morris began the season lagging behind, there was no let up from head coach Andy Toole and his tough love approach.

This year’s roster has its fair share of skill and talent, and it has shown at times. The Colonials have responded well to their earlier struggles and have won four of their last five.

However, there were some aspects of the Colonials’ game that were lacking. Whether that’s toughness or consistent efforts, the Colonials were not doing themselves any favors.

After a 4-11 start, Toole didn’t want his team to just accept where they were. He wanted to make sure they broke through that barrier.

“At this time of year, teams say this is kind of who we are. I’ve never really believed that. I believed if we have another practice or another game to play, there is some way we can improve on. That’s always been my goal. It takes some time for guys to understand that. What we are looking for is the attention to detail and the level of effort and focus it takes to win,” Toole said.

The ongoing mission for Toole is to pull out the Colonials’ maximum potential.

“I don’t want you 15 years from now to wake up in the middle of the night and say, ‘man, if somebody just would’ve told me to do this to get more out of my talent.’ That regret is terrible,” Toole said.

“I was fortunate to have some people around me that pushed me and told me the truth and demanded me to do better and I respect those people a great deal. I had people around me that let me get away with some [stuff] and you look back and you think, ‘I can’t believe those people didn’t fight that fight.’ When you really care about people, you hold them to that standard and level that you believe they can play at and that’s what we try and do here,” he added.

Toole doesn’t shy away from anything when it comes to coaching his team, and there is a method to all of the madness.

Robert Morris Colonials guard Ben Krystkowiak (42) January 10, 2024 David Hague/PSN

“A lot of it comes down to honesty,” Toole said. “When you’re team’s not doing well, what are you supposed to tell them? Lies? You have to tell them the truth. ‘Hey we’re not winning because of this. Hey, we need to get better at this.’ If we were 20-5, maybe the conversation is different. When you are not giving the effort that you are capable of, that’s my job as the coach to tell you that. That’s something that we take seriously.”

Leading up to the consecutive gutsy overtime victories for Robert Morris against Purdue Fort Wayne and Detroit Mercy, the Colonials did some soul-searching with one another as they knew they needed to turn things around.

It became a matter of whether or not the team was going to do what it needed to take for the Colonials to make the proper changes.

“I think there’s an understanding of what needs to be done, but I think there’s a gap sometimes of the willingness to do it,” Toole said. “When that becomes the driving force of, ‘hey we’re in this together and we’re willing to do whatever we can to win this game,’ you’re innately going to improve your chances of winning. That’s a decision that you make as an individual player sometimes.”

There’s no doubt that the message has been received as the Colonials have won three straight and played their most consistent basketball in their 80-63 road win at IUPUI.

The Colonials look like they found their rhythm and a key part of that has been the reassurance across the floor and on the bench from one another.

“We’ve come together more,” TJ Wainwright said. “We’ve trusted each other more. We don’t have as much pointing the fingers in the locker room anymore. We embrace our mistakes and we’ve gotten better at talking about where you need to be, where I need to be in a healthy communication. It’s been more mature conversations between teammates.”

Robert Morris Colonials forward Stephaun Walker (11) January 10, 2024 David Hague/PSN

In the win over the Jaguars, there was a significant moment where Robert Morris showed a completely different side than we’ve seen this year.

At the 5:50 mark of the first half, Wainwright went to pick the pocket of Vincent Brady II. The ball rolled away from Wainwright, but he tried to hustle over and save it with a diving play. The generated a thunderous reaction from the nearby Colonial bench as they all jumped up to support Wainwright and help him up.

“That’s how we want our team to behave and that’s how we are going to act. If somebody is going to be giving their body up for the betterment of the team, that’s supposed to be celebrated. That’s something at times this year, guys weren’t always comfortable doing,”

Plays like that makes Toole recount memories of his past teams who competed with similar ambitions and now, he wants to see more of that from this year’s team.

“Our program has been about guys making plays like that for a long time, whether it’s taking charges, diving on loose balls, scrapping out tough rebounds,” Toole said. “To me, that’s what separates winning and losing. When guys are exhibiting that level of effort or that level of hustle, it’s really got to be celebrated because it’s not common anymore.”

Not only did the effort improve for the Colonials against IUPUI, but that togetherness was noticeable throughout the contest and it translated over to the offensive success they had.

RMU made 16 threes in the contest, the most against a D-I opponent since March of 2019 against Cornell in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

The Colonials also assisted on 20 of 28 baskets against the Jaguars, which marks the highest percentage (71 percent) this season.

“When you have some trust within your team, you start to understand making the right play is more important than anything else,” Toole said. “Maybe we are starting to understand that everybody is going to have success if the ball is moved properly to the right places at the right time.”

As Robert Morris prepares for Cleveland State on Sunday, the Colonials had a week to continue to improve upon their recent successes with their newfound togetherness and effort.