Pat Riley on the impact his wife had on the 'Showtime' Lakers: 'I gotta take care of the wives and families, and you take care of the players'

They say that behind every great man is a great woman. That statement holds true for Miami Heat President Pat Riley.

Riles is one of the most successful coaches and executives in the NBA's history. "The Godfather" couldn't have accomplished what he has without his wife. The former Chris Rodstorm has been Pat's rock for over five decades. The couple met in 1967 and married three years later.

During his recent appearance on "The OGs Show," Riley talked about how his wife gave him all-out support when he was named the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1981.

"It's like Mr. and Mrs. Coach," Pat said. "A lot of people don't know that about her, but when I got the head coaching job, she says, 'We got to do it together. I got to take care of the wives and families, and you take care of the players.'"

A source of guidance for the Lakers' families

Well, Chris was more than just a celebrity wife. She graduated with a degree in psychology and was a licensed therapist. Pat's wife worked as a very successful marriage counselor in the Los Angeles area.

During that time, Riles said she was counseling around 25 couples. However, Chris was okay with adding the entire Lakers roster to the long list of families to which she provided guidance and support. Not long enough, she enjoyed helping Pat mold "Showtime" into a champion team.

"You know, winning and losing and traveling," he added. "And so she really…she loved it. She got into it, you know, from that standpoint. But when you are a partnership and a marriage like that and you care so much about an organization, and she can handle one side of it, and you handle the other side of it."

She also helped Riles make his first speech to the team

But besides caring for the other side of the basketball team, Chris also helped Pat to do his job. During the same interview, "The Godfather" admitted that he was nervous the night before officially debuting as the Lakers head coach because he did not know what to say to stars like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamal Wilkes, and Norm Nixon.

"Because there's a lot of dissension going on with that team, she said, 'A house divided against itself is not going to stand, Pat. So you're going to have to get that house together. And you got to let them know that you're either with you or they're against you and that they're in or out. You got to make a decision.' That's Chris. She said, 'Clarify it real quick,'" continued Riley.

With the players rallying behind their new head coach, the Lakers went on to finish the 1981-82 season with a 57-25 record, the best in the West. The Purple & Gold beat the Philadelphia 76ers 4-2 in the NBA Finals and would go on to win three more championships in 1985, 1987, and 1988 before Riley stepped down in 1990.