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.