Behind The Scenes With The Huskies -

Lyddy Brings Readers Into UConn Locker Room In His Book ‘From My Seat’

By: ANDY HUTCHISON, SPORTS EDITOR

NEWTOWN BEE Friday, December 18th, 2009

During the last four seasons, Kyle Lyddy got to see a lot of the behind-the-scenes activity surrounding the University of Connecticut men's basketball team — from what goes on in preseason workouts and practices all the way to the nationally televised courtside action in the NCAA Tournament six months later.

Lyddy, of Newtown, was a student manager for the Huskies for all four years of his collegiate career, and was a traveling manager for his final two seasons at UConn.

"There were some funny things that went on that I would die to read if I was a UConn fan," Lyddy said.

So, Lyddy, now 22, decided to make it possible for UConn fans to have the opportunity to read about the things they otherwise would not know about the Huskies. Lyddy wrote and self-published a book chronicling the 2008-09 season, his final year at UConn, in which the Huskies went to the Final Four. From My Seat, a 15-chapter, 185-page softcover book, brings the fan/reader into the UConn locker room for a look at the team that they could never get on television — or even from their seat at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, for that matter.

Lyddy, a lifetime Husky fan, wanted to be a part of the action and learned that high level college basketball goes much deeper than the glitz and glamour of the games as we know it to be on nationally televised games.

He spent 35 or so hours each week living, basically breathing, everything UConn basketball and much of what goes into the "business" of college basketball is covered in the book.

"That's one of the first things I realized when I walked in, is how much of a business it is," he said.

His responsibilities as a team manager included carrying bags at the airport during road trips and passing balls to players during fast-moving practice shooting drills.

"I always joke — I actually say this in the book — that I'm probably the number one assist man in UConn history because I'm giving so many passes to these guys in practice," he said.

Managers basically hung around the team and did what was needed to help make practices, games, and road trips go as smoothly as possible.

"We were the unnoticed ones of the whole program," said Lyddy, likening the team managers to flies on the wall. "It's important for us to make sure we are where we're supposed to be at the right time."

Lyddy kept a journal on the day-to-day UConn basketball scene without intention of writing the book, he said.

"I wasn't expecting to do anything with it," Lyddy explained.

But Lyddy went through his journals this past summer and had the idea to expose fans to Huskies from his eyes as a team manager. He contacted UConn Coach Jim Calhoun to let Calhoun know he was moving forward with a book, hoping his revelation of behind-the-scenes Husky activity would not close any doors at UConn.

Lyddy, who majored in sociology, discovered he wanted to get into sports management, marketing or media for his career. He is hopeful the book will open some career doors.

The book does not detail any of the controversy surrounding recruiting violation issues that arose during his tenure. In fact, Lyddy said, the managers were not privy to what was happening. But there were plenty of things he did witness that are covered in the book, including some fan-interest topics that make for an eye-opening account of the team. Lyddy recounts backup players not getting to play in games and getting caught by Calhoun looking at the cheerleaders instead of remaining focused on the game action as Calhoun expected. He recreates how Calhoun deals with his players, team-bonding moments, how the coaches chewed out referees during games, and the demands put on team members and managers alike.

After attempting to contact about 150 agents, hearing back from ten and finding out it would take a year or more to get a book published, Lyddy turned to Option B: self-publishing. He contacted Lulu Publishing and, this fall, got the book published. He wanted to do whatever it took to get the book out there as soon as possible.

"The objective is to allow college basketball fans to live behind the scenes of a top-notch college basketball program," he said. "The whole point of this book was to keep fresh in mind this past season."

Lyddy, who currently works at the Newtown Youth Academy and runs an after school program, Home Field Advantage, for middle school students, enjoyed his student career as a team manager.

"It was such a great experience to kind of live behind the scenes of these high-profile players and high-profile coaches," he said pointing out that Calhoun is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and many of his players go on to play professionally.

From My Seat, which sells for $20, may be purchased through www.frommyseatbook.com. Newtown residents may contact Lyddy via email at kylefms@gmail.com to order a book directly and without shipping costs.

One day, the two managers who normally worked the scoreboard missed practice. Lyddy was next in line. During an intra-squad scrimmage, Calhoun, as he's notorious for doing, awarded random points -- "rebound, that's two points for that team" -- and sent Lyddy into a confused, button-pressing frenzy. Somewhere in that mess, Lyddy accidentally hit the buzzer. Everyone stopped. Lyddy panicked and ducked under the scorer's table.

"(Calhoun) knew it was me, I was the only one at the table," Lyddy said. "Looking back, it's funny, but at the time, it really wasn't. You don't want to interrupt Coach's practice like that."

Calhoun has earned a "no-nonsense" reputation for a reason. Even though he has a lighter side, Lyddy concedes that Calhoun takes everything -- even the smallest details -- extremely seriously. He is a perfectionist in every sense of the word. To him, UConn basketball is a business.

And that's what made Lyddy's decision this summer even more difficult.

The recent UConn grad was reviewing his journal entries -- laughing, reminiscing, showing them to friends -- when he got the idea to turn the journal into a book. Before he went ahead with it, however, Lyddy needed Calhoun's blessing. So, he sent the original manuscript to Calhoun's house with a note attached.

"I told him `You can either look at this or toss it aside,'" Lyddy said. "But I'm going to go ahead with it anyway."

He immediately second-guessed his choice of words.

"Uh, oh. Was that bad?" he chuckled.

Luckily, it wasn't.

Calhoun called Lyddy the next day and was supportive of the idea. Since then, turning his one-time keepsake journal into a book has become a full-time job for Lyddy. He spent the remainder of the summer editing his manuscript, staying up until 4 a.m. to make sure every paragraph and every sentence was perfect -- just as Calhoun likes it.

After he finished editing, Lyddy designed the front and back cover and shipped the book off to LuLu Publishing. He also designed the Web site, FromMySeatBook.com, a task that he was familiar with.

As a sophomore in high school, Lyddy designed NighthawkNation.com, a site devoted entirely to Newtown High athletics, complete with player profiles, feature stories, schedules, rosters and pictures. Lyddy won the 2005 Newtown Bee Sportsman of the Year for his work.

He doesn't expect to win any awards for "From My Seat." He doesn't know how many copies he'll sell or how many people will attend his book signing at Madison Square Garden when UConn faces Kentucky on Dec. 9.

But, still, he's eager to receive feedback from UConn fans. He's eager to see what doors the book will open for his future. And most of all, he's eager to share his unique experience with one person in particular: Mrs. Smith from The Hawley School.

"I haven't even seen her once since first grade," Lyddy said. "I'm just excited to give her a book."