Recruiting

Monday, March 17, gave me my first experience as a basketball recruiter at Methodist University. I got the pleasure of eating lunch with two recruits and parents from Sanford, NC. Recruiting isn't hard, but the hardest thing about face to face recruiting is trying to get a feel for what type of personalities the recruits have. Lunch took about a hour and honestly it was more like the recruits and parents where trying to feel me and the school out. I just asked a lot of questions to provoke any conversation or questions that they might have. Being that it was there first official visit to Methodist I think that they might have been a little overwhelmed by the whole process. After lunch I walked them to the gym to meet with Assistant Coach Ryerson. He took it from there taking them on a personal tour of the locker room and facilities used by the basketball program. The tour ended with a meeting with Head Coach David Smith and by about 2:30 there tour was over. I learned a lot from my experience and I really look forward to my next recruiting adventure.

Saturday, March 22, Coach Ryerson and I took a road trip to Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. Guilford College held its annual Prep All-Star Basketball Camp which consisted of players from the NC region. Some players came from places as far as Maryland just to get their name out there to coaches. We got to Guilford at 12 p.m. just on time for the first 3 games to begin. Coach Ryerson normally attends this event by himself, but with me tagging along we were able to get double the work done in half the time it normally takes him to evaluate players at this event. I learned a lot from Coach Ryerson at this event. He showed me how to categorize players and evaluate them successfully for recruiting purposes. This event was not just for Senior athletes there were players from all grades (9-12) and of course we couldn't do too much with the non-seniors, but it still gave us a chance to add stand-out players to our database. There was a decent turn out with well over 100 players in attendance. The MU program has had some success at this event even though it is a very competitive recruiting spot. It was a very fun experience and interacting with other coaches might have been the best thing about it. I was inside the "coaches circle" were networking is essential and business deals happen. Coaching is a very social job and I've learned that if you don't interact with your peers it's harder to advance in the coaching world.

Recruiting

Now that the season has come to an end. We are entering what may be the most exhausting part of the year. This week we had a meeting to determine what days of the week each coach would take because we have recruits coming until the end of the school year. I was given Monday and Wednesdays, and my responsibilities would be to take recruits to lunch, introduce them around and try to get a feel for what type of personality each player has. After lunch I would then take the recruits to meet the Asst. Coach, Tim Ryerson, and he would take it from there. Once he was done he would take the recruits to see our Head Coach, David Smith. So I'm getting my first experience in recruiting and this is not the traditional type of recruiting most schools may do. Our philosophy, or approach, is different then what most people would think. As a recruiter I'm not trying to "sale" the school, or give recruits the history of each building their first time visiting us. I am letting the experience speak for itself. First impression is everything and as a former recruit I know that most people know, after about 5 minutes, if this is a place they could be or not. Since most coaches are trying to "sale" their school to recruits their first visit, we have decided to take another approach and be different from other programs. If a recruit enjoys themselves and wants to come back for another visit, then we start to tell them more about the technical things their second time around. I can't wait to get started! Like I said many times before, "a coaches job is never over." Even if the basketball season has come to an end there is still more work for a coach to do.

...And it's over!!

Well, staying with the trend, after a #1 ranking we lost Fri. to Averett University in the semi-finals of the conference tournament. It was a tough loss to what looked to be a promising season. We fought hard pushing the game to overtime only to end up losing by 2 points! It's always hard when you know that you've played your last game of the season. As a coach you hate it especially when you have a very good team. But losing is all apart of the game and once your done there are no "do overs". Coaches can't dwell on a loss even if it's the last one, but it really hurts especially for the seniors on the team. The seniors don't get another chance. Coaches and underclassmen get their payback next year. After all this I have learned that no position is safe, to be successful you have to work hard every single day and never get lethargic. Once a team thinks that they are the best and they have everything in control, that team is in trouble. Anyone can beat on any occasion and as a coach you have to instill that thinking in your players from day one! Although the season is over, my coaching career is an ongoing process. Now is the time to recruit hard and work on getting your players better for next year. We will be arranging individual workouts for all returning players and entertaining recruits visiting the school. For a stable coach there's always next year, even though I hate to go out the way we did.

We're # 1

After a rough 2 game weekend, we received the #1 seed in the conference tournament. Well we finally showed some heart. I've found out it takes a lot of work to get a group of young men from different places, races and backgrounds to work together. When that group is pushed and prepared they can will themselves to success when they face both, internal and external challenges. I've waited all year for this, for the time we grind it out and continue playing together. We didn't have it in the 2ND go round with Ferrum, but we found it this weekend. It's nice to be successful your first time coaching on the collegiate level. We're 8-4 and the great thing about it is we still have a long ways to go. As a coach you always have room for improvement so your job never gets boring. I've learned that now is the time to work that much harder, because one loss in the conference tournament and your done. As a coach you want success but you have to take it a day at a time. A coach can't let up, everyone has to be focused, he has to motivate and manage himself and the team. I truly believe the things I've experienced here will stay with me the rest of my life. Right now I'm doing a lot of job searching and coaching is one niche I know I can get into.

Intense

Wow, it has been a hectic two weeks. We took our longest road trip to SU and CNU two weeks ago. This trip is known to be very brutal, one, because it takes about 6 hours to get to one school and another 3 hours to get to the other from there. It was a Sat. and Sun. trip and we got back Mon. morning about 2 a.m. Here at MU the women's and men's basketball teams travel together during conference time. Sometimes it can be some what of a distraction to our team but, we were focused and eager to play. That whole weekend was coaches for cancer weekend, so all the coaches around the nation were wearing sneakers in support of Jimmy Valvino a famous coach whose life was taken by cancer. I have learned as a coach your appearance is very important. Not only should you carry yourself in a different manner but you have to look like a coach as well. It's all about a respect thing, of course some coaches demand your respect no matter if they're on the sideline with shorts and a t-shirt on. Everyone can't pull that off, most coaches I have encountered wear a nice suit or shirt and tie. The CNU game was a good one we played magnificent, it was one of our best yet. So after we took care of business we were on the road again, watching movies, eating pizza that the other Student Asst. Coach and I ordered, and celebrating just a little bit. We had a game against SU the next day that we had to be mentally prepared for. We hadn't gone 2-0 on this road trip in a very long time and we knew that this next game was going to be a tough one. We had one day to prepare the team, we did the scouting report that night in the breakfast room of the hotel. As a coach you have to be flexible ready for the curve balls that are thrown your way, you have to be able to keep a group of young men from being distracted and staying focused on the task at hand. The next day after breakfast we took off to the school, the guys were going to be eating subway so we had to get all orders written down and to the women's coach so that they would put the order in for us. SU provided us with drinks and ice just like CNU so we were covered there. I'm learning in D III athletics if a coach can afford it, it pays to have a good staff. Head Coaches shouldn't be worried about the little tedious things like, ordering food, getting drinks, towels, game tape and other misc. things before a game. But in D III, I have learned that coaches wear a lot of hats. So after a true battle we came out on top, we beat SU and for the 1st time I can remember we won both games! Road trips are fun but they take a lot out of you, and of course if something big is happening, like the Super Bowl, you're going to miss it. And of course we did, we did get to listen to the end of it on the radio though. Coaches have to sacrifice so much, you can't do the normal things everyone else does anymore. For the moment, and maybe their whole career, a coaches life is taking up by their sport. Coaching is a very intense job and the very successful coaches are always working. It gets so competitive that it's so easy to get caught up in it. After the weekend our record was moved to 4-2 and we were on our way to being 1st in the conference, all the hard work was paying off but, this was only the midway point. All the teams we played earlier we now had to play a 2ND time and it is always much harder to beat teams a 2ND time after you've already beating once in the season.

The life

Right now the Methodist basketball program is in a transitional period. After the win Tuesday against rival N.C. Wesleyan we could finally see some life within the student body. The students were rowdy with face paint and catchy chants to help set the atmosphere. This was the first time we have ever had the students get so involved. Methodist is on its way to becoming a dominant player in DIII sports and I'm happy to be a part of the movement. With a record of now 2-2 we begin, what may be, the most important tour of the season. Saturday we travel to Christopher Newport University for a 4'o clock showdown. That same night we travel to Shenandoah University to get prepared for Sunday's game. Unfortunately we will miss the Superbowl Sunday because we will be traveling back from Virgina. As I learned, the life of a coach is one of dedication and sacrifice.

Conference Play

Tuesday was the 3rd conference game played by our Varsity team against Averett. The team played a tough, close game that went all the way to the end. We lost the game making the conference record 1-2 with a ranking of 5Th in the conference. There are lots of reasons or excuses we could have had for losing but, the reality is that Averett just worked harder than we did. We only had one day to prepare and as coaches we felt that we did not prepare our team well enough. I have learned that preparation is a big key in any sports, but what it really comes down to is execution in the end. As a coach I have learned that you learn a lot more about yourself and your team when a lost is experienced. Many teaching points come from losses, of course no coach wants to lose but the loses make a team stronger in the end. We might of thought that we were ready for the game but one thing you learn about a team is that everyone has to be on the same page, people have to stay focused and one can never assume that a person is going to "show up". Motivation plays a big role on any team and one of a successful coaches job is to keep the players motivated. I think that coaches are just like managers because in a job setting managers have to do the same thing to get their employees to work at the best of their ability. We have a lot more time to prepare for our next game Monday, we will see what we have learned from our loses and if we are able to get the best production from the players.

Holiday Weekend

Well it has been a long weekend for me with the celebration of MLK day on Monday and all. Saturday started things off for me and I had a varsity game to attend. This would be varsity's 2ND conference game, we played Ferrum College and we played well. During varsity games my main job is to keep track of what the other team is running, this is the 1st time that the basketball program has had the luxury of having 4 coaches on the staff, so it has been nice to have extra pairs of eyes around and people to lighten some of the load. Like you can imagine game time is hectic, but that is why we practice, to prepare for the game. Basically I scout what the teams do against us to help the team better prepare for them the next time. When conference play starts we play everyone at least twice we will play some schools a third time as well, so the more we scout, the better prepared we are. We were very prepared for Ferrum and I am happy to say that we won the game moving Methodist to 1-1 in the USA South Conference. This was just the start of my weekend we took Sunday off to enjoy the playoff games, but by Monday we were back to work. Varsity practice in the morning and my last home Junior Varsity game at 7 p.m. against Louisburg Junior College. The Junior Varsity team and I both had to pull double duty. We had to be at the Varsity practice at 9:30 a.m. to go over the scouting report for Tuesdays game against Averett University. I told the JV's to use that opportunity to warm-up for their game later on that day. The JV's have been helping with the scouting report since the spring semester began, so as a coach I adapted and used the scouting to our advantage. Junior Varsity had gotten used to running other teams plays so, before our game against Louisburg I told them that we would be running all the plays that we had been learning from the beginning of the semester. Needless to say the JV's were just fine with that idea and they showed it with their play. We played so well, you could see the progress we made as a team from the beginning to now our last game together. We won the game and improved our record to 4-6, 2-0 in 2008. That would be my last game as a Head Coach but the experience will always stay with me.

MU Basketball

Wednesday, Jan. 16 was the first conference game of the men's varsity season. The atmosphere was just as electric as I remember from my playing days. The transition from player to coach has taken a lot to get used to. The coaches and staff have made the transition very comfortable, since the beginning of the 2007 academic year I was no longer a fellow teammate, I was introduced as one of the men's basketball coaches. As a member of the coaching staff my duties where clearly defined. I was put in charge of coordinating the study hall program by monitoring student-athletes and receiving progress reports from instructors every other week. I was also put in charge of coordinating all junior varsity practices. I designed all JV practices and implemented all drills under the supervision of my coordinator, Assistant Head Coach, Tim Ryerson.
For the fall semester I was strictly the JV coach, I attended some varsity home games and was on call if they needed a van driver. I was given the opportunity to head coach my own team. The JV season started on October 24, 2007 in a exhibition game against the Army travel team, I was finally put in the position that I looked up to all my basketball career. Now I was the one the players came to, the one they wanted attention from and the one who controlled all their hoop dreams in the palm of my hand. Of course my supervisors Coach Ryerson and Head Coach, David Smith prepared me before I took on such a task. We would meet every Monday and Wednesday at 11am to talk basketball and discuss the things that the MU basketball program were trying to accomplish for the up and coming year and beyond.
The JV team had 8 games scheduled for the fall, 3 of those games away. Such intense coaching and going to school was indeed difficult, but it taught me many lessons in the importance of time management, player/people management, organization, communication, discipline and preparation. I learned that in coaching much like everything else a person never stops learning and a coach has to be able to control their emotions because the team takes on the personality of their coach. By the end of the fall season my team which consisted of mostly freshman and players needing more development ended 2-6. Some would look at the record and think that was bad but, my team overcame many obstacles and grew as I grew, ultimately becoming much better players and even better people. The fall JV season was over but my coaching experience was only just beginning.
I was now required to attend varsity practices and games. Since the fall JV season ended on December 5, 2007 I had the whole Christmas break to jump right into the varsity swing of things. Varsity is a lot more fast paced the JV of course but being a former player I adjusted very well. Again meetings with Coach Ryerson helped me adjust and stay on page with what was going on with varsity and I also talked with Coach Smith on a daily basis. Although this is Division III sports, I have learned that the major schools have some of the same issues that any other school may have, their is just a lot more money involved.
Now, I am not completely done with the JV, one of the issues we have been dealing with is retention in the program. To help with the problem Coach Ryerson added 2 more games at the beginning of the Spring semester. The first game scheduled was Future Academy on January 12, 2008 and the next game Louisburg was scheduled for January 21. We won the game against Future Academy and we have been preparing for Louisburg coming up this MLK day (Monday). I will definitely be posting soon to talk about that one, but right now varsity has another conference game Saturday @ 4 pm against Ferrum College, so we have been focusing on that game but I still have to prepare myself and the JV team for their game on Monday. Stay tuned because the ball is just beginning to bounce and I will return with a lot more exciting things to talk about after this very busy weekend.