University of California Riverside Athletics Director Stan Morrison will answer selected questions from our online readers throughout the school year. To submit a question to "Ask Stan Morrison", click here.

Question:

"I have had the opportunity to read quite a bit regarding your sports background and found it interesting to note that you had worked personally with Shaq O'Neal. I was wondering in what capacity you did that...was it with his in famous free-throws, general play at center, conditioning, etc.? Also, I am interested to know if you still have a personal relationship with him and to what extent. thanks for your time... as a side note, can you please get me some lakes tix for the playoffs? We starving college students find it hard to afford the prices nowadays. LOL."
Submitted by Jason Davis

Stan's Reply :

"Dear Jason,
Thanks for your great email. Shaquille O'Neal's agent was Leonard Armato. Leonard is one of my former players, my attorney and a very close friend. He is the owner today of the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour and is married to one of the greatest beach volleyball players in history, Holly McPeak. I helped Leonard change his free throw style and he won the PCAA free throw title when I was his coach at the University of the Pacific back in the 1970's. Anyway, he phoned me about working with Shaquille on his free throw and other parts of his game. I did 10 two-hour sessions with Shaquille in Southern California and we made great progress that next week. We worked on everything. . .post moves, conditioning, ball handling, passing, rebounding, bank shots, defensive footwork, and lots of time on free throw shooting. Basically, I had him shooting free throws with one hand off of his shoulder. This eliminated any interference from his "guide hand" and caused him to get some lift or arch on his shot instead of shooting the ball with a flat trajectory. The emphasis was on becoming a "wrist shooter" instead of an arm shooter. The wrist never gets tired. We changed his target from the front rim to the back rim and got some "daylight" on his shooting hand so the ball was not resting on his palm, but it was resting on the pads of his fingers for more "touch". The success was immediate and Laker General Manager, Jerry West, and Assistant General Manager, Mitch Kupchak and all of Shaquille's advisors were thrilled.

Around two weeks later, I got a call from Leonard and Shaquille asked that I accompany him for one month as he was going to the east coast to debut his new rap CD. I refused to be a backup singer!! Anyway, I went with the entourage and we toured to New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago and Dallas. Again, I worked him out for two hours each day. He worked incredibly hard and was around 20 to 30 pounds lighter than he is today. His agility, quickness, strength and coachability were incredible. I became very fond of this bright and hard working athlete. The trip was "the Bataan Death March" for him as his schedule daily was incredible. I worked him out from 9 to 11:00 AM every day. No matter how tired he was, he always worked hard and responded to the challenges I set for each day.

During each workout, I would blow the whistle like an official and announce to an imaginary sideline bench "that was a foul on number 22 green" or something like that. Shaquille would step to the free throw line and I would enact the exact actions of NBA officials in speaking to imaginary players on the lane lines and then bounce the ball to Shaquille for his free throw attempts. He would then do his routine and deliver the ball... always with one hand, as he had learned to do in Los Angeles. He would shoot two and then move off the line to return and re-establish his spot and routine. He would be breathing hard and sweating each time as is the case in a game. He would shoot a total of 10 free throws, 2 at a time. After each set of 10, he would look over my shoulder at a chart I made daily with groups of 10 circles. If he made it, I would put an X in the circle. If the shot hit part of the rim, on a make or miss, I always made a mark on the circle that corresponded to the touched rim. . .on the front, back, or side. Looking at each set of 10 shots, Shaquille could readily see that when he was hitting the back rim, his percentage increased. Most of his misses hit the front rim. The lesson was then deeply seeded - aim for the back rim! 150 free throws were charted in each two-hour session. Only 10 were shot at any one time. After each 10, we would return to the workout.

No one else was allowed to be working out when we were in session. Hundreds of people would want to watch, including television crews. The television people were not allowed to film. Lots of his professional NBA friends would show up. They could not believe how hard he worked and they were stunned with the new found free throw success. Eric Snow, of the Philadelphia 76ers, told Jerome Crawford (Shaquille's ever present body guard) that "the hack-a-Shaq is over!!" when he saw the one handed free throw success. Shaquille shot 72% for the entire month!! I gave him all of the charted free throw records. I thought the mission was accomplished. When the subsequent NBA season began, I was living in northern California and I saw the first Laker game of the season on television. Shaquille was shooting free throws his old way and not the way we had practiced for over a month. I was astounded and phoned Jerry West to ask what had happened. I am not at liberty to share his exact words but, like me, he was really disappointed because Jerry had already given the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" when we first began this process back in Southern California. Shaquille has tinkered with the free throw delivery considerably since our time together. You can see the "daylight" on his current style. I don't like his balance at all as he often is falling into the paint. His elbow on his shooting arm flies out instead of pointing straight at the rim. He is using his arm and not relying on his wrist for the fine delivery that separates shooters from throwers. He has frankly complicated the shot instead of fixing it. I am disappointed for him and the Lakers. I check his free throw stats daily in the box scores.

Yes, I have a limited personal relationship with Shaquille. It is obviously quite limited by distance and time availability for both of us. I work his Nestlé's Crunch Camp each summer and conduct clinics for him and the 10 kids he flies in from all over America, who have made the most amazing shots at "Crunch Time" that have been captured on film/tape. We do cameos on court of each kid with Shaquille for ESPN and FOX and they are sent back to the affiliates in the home town of each kid. Shaquille is unbelievably gracious and generous with these young people. In addition to the clinics, they play full-court and Shaquille plays the point guard for one of the two teams. He particularly likes to have the young ladies on his team and he gets them the ball. The parents, also flown in with their sons/daughters, take a hundred photos of their kids with Shaquille. He also poses for pictures with the parents. I have never known of any superstar who is so very willing to give so much of himself to youngsters. At one time in his life, he wanted to be the National Director for Boys and Girls Clubs. He was ostensibly raised in the Boys Club of Newark, New Jersey.

Sorry I can't get Lakers tickets for you. I do not abuse my friendship with the "big fella" by asking. I know you understand. Thanks again for your email. I look forward to seeing you at Highlander sports events. All the best.

Braveheart is Alive!

-Stan Morrison