Bucks head coach Scott Skiles always demands maximum effort from his players.

The look on his face at any point in the game always translates to "we're trying to win and I need your best effort, if not, have a seat over there".

In a nutshell, that is Milwaukee Bucks head coach Scott Skiles. Known in his playing days as a tough hard nosed competitor, he has maintained that same personality as a coach. Skiles squeezes the maximum out of his teams at every stop along the way regardless of the bench he's managed. Eventually, his act wears thin and his players tune him out but not until he's satisfied in his own uncompromising way that he has done all he could to produce a winning team.

But make no mistake, some general managers are all for a disciplined coach that holds players accountable and works to teach young players how to play the game correctly. It's for those reasons Skiles has had three NBA head coaching jobs and why Bucks general manager Jon Hammond hired him.

"In hiring a guy like Scott Skiles we know that he's willing to lead," said Hammond, who was Joe Dumars' understudy with successful teams in Detroit. Hammond said that one of the things he learned from Dumars was that if you were going to lead, you could not be afraid.

"One thing I know about Scott Skiles, is that he is not afraid," Hammond remarked with conviction.

When you watch Skiles work the sideline there is no mistaking his competitiveness and passion for the game.

"He loves the game and he loves the tradition of the game," said his long time and trusted assistant Jim Boylan who has been on the bench with Skiles in Phoenix, Chicago and now in Milwaukee. "He's got a great system that he instills in the players and he's consistent with that. He drills it, he works on it and he wants to perfect it and he demands excellence in his players."

Boylan feels Skiles uncompromising and demanding nature sometimes causes friction because he expects maximum effort every night as effort is the foundation for success in any Skiles system.

"That's what he (Skiles) demands from his players. Sometimes in this day and age it's hard to get players to do that on a daily basis, but he feels that the public, the ownership, and the franchise should get a player's maximum effort every night," smiled Boylan. "He's consistent with all the players and treats them fairly and is up front with that so everyone knows right from the start."

Skiles capitalizes on the place where effort is best used and that is on the defensive end of the floor. With the exception of this season, his first in Milwaukee, his teams are consistently near the top of the league in holding opponents in check when examining opponent's field goal percentage. But having been a point guard himself, Skiles knows a thing or two about offence. He still owns the NBA record for assists in a game as a member of the Orlando Magic, racking up 30 back in December, 1990. He insists that players share the ball and his undermanned Milwaukee team is ninth in the NBA in assists and third in field goal percentage.

Skiles is also respected for his keen eye and attention to detail. The story goes that back in his playing days he was defending an opposing point guard who looked over to the sideline for a play call. The coach yelled out a play that had his own ball handler looking back at him with perplexed expression. It was at that instant Skiles bellowed "you don't have one of those". He had studied the other team so intently that he knew all their plays. The plucky point guard realized the other team had no such play and let the coach know.

"One of his (Skiles) greatest attributes is mind," remarked Boylan. "He's got excellent retention and has a great library to go back to and he uses all those as examples to players right in the heat of the battle."

The point guard in him always instills confidence in his team according to Boylan.

"I've been around and worked with a lot of different coaches and when the game is on the line and it's in the last minute of the game, there is nobody else you want in the huddle than Scott," stated Boylan. "The players can feel his confidence and they feed off that. He knows what he's doing he puts guys in the right place, and under pressure, he never panics."

Milwaukee is struggling right now and watching its playoff hopes slip away. The Bucks have lost five in a row and eight of their last 10 as injuries have robbed them of two of top players in Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd. But if Milwaukee misses the post season, it won't be due to lack of preparation, or effort. Skiles would rather play with his 11th or 12th man going all out than watch a player float around on the court.