Career/Teaching:
Which teachers/coaches do you remember most fondly from growing up in
From a coaching standpoint – Coaches K and G and Mr. Baker; they all helped foster a love for competing. For Mr. Baker it was about the number of kids he’s done it for and continues to this day. In terms of teachers, I went to
Mr Sedek at
Why did you decide to go in to teaching?
I went through college at Indiana and was really unsure about what I wanted to do. I was so focused on the Little 500 at
My mom was an elementary school teacher for some of the kids you taught at the high school level, and I have tremendous respect for the work you guys do with special needs students. What drew you towards working with students with special needs?
I wasn't passionate about any one subject area and was really interested in just helping kids with their overall development/learning instead of one specific subject. I also helped special needs kids for years as a volunteer, and was always comfortable. But coaching ultimately steered me towards education more than the other way around.
What is it like teaching in the high school you attended? When you first started did you find yourself looking for your buddies in the hallways or cafeteria?
It’s great; at first it was easy because there was a comfort level. I already had relationships with so many faculty, because my mom was a teacher and administrator in the social studies department. The hardest thing I had to get used to was calling fellow teachers by their first name; some I still can't call by their first names 'til this day, but I've gotten more comfortable with it.
Fill in the blank with three different occupations/industries. If you weren’t teaching you’d be _______________.
- Working for something like the Elias sports bureau
- Working as an anchor or sports journalist
- Something working with kids
Family:
How long have you and your wife been married?
We've been married for eight years, and originally met through mutual friends.
How many kids and what ages?
Three kids, ages 10, 7 and 5. They’re all at the same school for now which is great; we get a kick out of hearing them talking about seeing each other in the hallways...but we’ll see what happens as they get older or in to high school
What is the family’s favorite vacation spot? (or a recent trip)
If you asked my wife, she’d say a road trip we took to
Which of your children reminds you most of yourself as a kid and why?
They each do in their own way. The oldest is very hard on himself and he’s all effort, he never goes easy, always has grass stains from head to toe when he comes inside. The middle one is a little of a free spirit/experimenter type of kid, who doesn’t do it for attention but the curiosity. The youngest can make his own fun without a ton of technology or other kids, and has a great time doing it
Having your summers off as a teacher has to be awesome. What are some of the things you and your kids do when you’ve got the time? On the flipside, what do you do during the school year (particularly basketball season) to make sure you’re spending enough time with all of them?
My days in the summers are actually incredibly busy. I run three sessions of camps for basketball, and I’m at the high school for seven hours a day, along with summer league games and shootouts our varisity team plays in.
But when we have time we have a lot of fun taking the kids to games; whether its college or pro.
I coached my son’s baseball team this summer, which was a lot of fun.
Do you find yourself coaching your son different from other kids or treating him any differently?
I've learned from other coaches with kids that the most important thing is to be supportive before anything else and to plant a seed in their heads that sports and competition should be fun. Reinforcing the fun, celebrating little accomplishments these are the things that are important to make time for.
Coaching:
You’ve been coaching Boys Golf and Basketball at
Golf is much more hands off, whereas basketball you have much more control. Golf is about coaching kids to be confident and making what is normally an individual sport in to a team sport--playing for each other rather than themselves. The two experiences have helped me in the other—the golf experience helps me be less hands on with basketball and vice versa.
They say the best teachers are the ones that continue to learn, how do you continue to expand your knowledge/technique as a coach? Are there specific coaches or teachers you’ve learned from? What have they shared that has been so influential?
Lots of reading about athletics and leadership. Different kids aren’t going to respond to my style, so I've spent time trying to learn ways or coaching styles that are lower key but still help me connect with kids.
We’ve had some introductions to other coaches, and observing college coaches in how they run practice, prepare, etc. is always helpful.
I also have a group of high school coaches who I have round tables with and its a peer group that gets together to throw out topics that all of us deal with. Things like tryouts, awards nights, defending ball screens, we'll talk about anything we all deal with or have to figure out. Most coaches are willing to help anybody out; and once in awhile you’ll get a guy who isn’t as trusting but the majority are open and honest. I’ve been lucky that I’ve had a group of peers I’ve grown up with as well as an older group of guys I can call on if I'm in need of some guidance/experience.
One of the better suggestions I got was the idea of a home visit--we basically visit with each kid and their family at their home before the start of the season to make sure we're all on the same page. I try and be open with the kid and the parents about the role I can see them playing, so that all of our expectations are on the same page. I also make it clear to parents that we won't talk about things like playing time, strategy, or other kids, but that I'm always available to talk and that we're in this together.
As a coach of 7th grade boys one of my biggest challenges was the pre-game pep talk. I did my best to dig deep for motivational speeches, but it was never easy. And since there was always like 10 minutes between the big rah rah speech and tipoff I felt like my message got lost whenever kids got their eyes on fans, cheerleaders, and the other team. So how much of a “pep talk” do you have to give to get kids up to play at the high school level?
I think if a coach has to rely on pregame speeches chances are you don’t have a good team. I do think a good pregame talk can help get guys focused, but you have to guard against it being too much to where they use up energy and get too hyped up. We try to get very consistent with what we do before games and the length of the pregame is the same every time, but the message can change.
As far as topics I never want the kids to feel like one game is more important than the other, so I try and keep them focused on the present. The core message is lets be the best we can be tonight; playing a complete game; being good at the things we pride ourselves on. Occasionally we’ll talk about our opponent, but its mostly focused on internal stuff.
I don’t think it’s a problem per say. The challenges are sometimes the guys who run the programs. If there are coaches who are teaching kids the right thing it can be a great thing. There are some bad seeds out there who give it a bad name, and its unfair to criticize AAU in a negative way. The focus sometime is more on showcasing individual abilities through team basketball instead of a ‘team’ focus. It (AAU) probably has helped make basketball better in
Basketball:
Do you still play pickup basketball when you have a chance? If so, how would you describe your game? How has your game changed since your days as a high school player?
I did up until this past spring when I decided I’m done. We used to play on Sundays and Wednesdays and a friend of ours passed away playing hoops, which really shook me up. I had a really good night last spring and I decided that was enough--I had stayed relatively healthy, never gotten seriously injured, and it just isn't worth it.
Moneyball was one of my favorite books, and it highlights how the A’s went about selecting and developing talent (when they were good). The premise was that baseball has a ton of productivity statistics that really don’t translate to winning, and that the true value of a player is whether he helps the team score more runs than the opposition. After I read it, I thought a lot about basketball, and my theory is that offensive trips can have four possible good outcomes: drawing a foul, scoring one point, scoring two points, or scoring three points. If teams got good at dissecting ‘empty trips’ and understanding/addressing root causes they could be much more productive. Without having data in front of you, what do you think is the most common reason teams fail to produce on the offensive end?
Its tough to say one is more important than another, and we talk about wasted trips being when we have guys who aren’t in ‘unison’ working together which can lead to a bad shot, a turnover, guys running the wrong play. We track lots of data about us and our opponents that help us be more efficient. When we scout, we track who is shooting, whether they are shooting off the dribble, where they like to score from, mainly so we know the things they're comfortable with. Then we create game plans or ways to take guys out of their comfort zone.
This may be an “unfair” question, but at ADW we ask the tough stuff. If you had to pick a starting five of kids you’ve coached at HPHS who would you pick for each position:
I’d rather not rank kids that way. There are kids like Joey, Chris, and Scott who really brought the program to a new level and they’ve done it in the most visible way with their play. Joey was the face of our team when we went downstate. Scott was the most winning player in
But we’ve also had some great guys who have done some great things for our program that weren’t necessarily the most talented but contributed a ton to our team and our program's reputation. Many kids took what they were doing very seriously and their commitment helped develop a standard of excellence that we hope to continue.
Now, if you had to pick a starting five of kids you’ve coached against, how would that lineup look:
PG Jon Scheyer (played at Duke)
SG Ryan Hogan (played at Kentucky, Iowa)
F Joey Range (played at Iowa?)
F Pete Mickeal, who played at Cincinnnati
C Kevin Frye, played at Xavier
That kid
How many NBA games do you watch a year? Are there things you can learn as a coach from watching NBA teams?
A little bit, probably 20 games total but most of them are in the playoffs--I just don’t have the time for it. When I watch I try to look at how teams get guys in positions where they can be successful, also in terms of similar types of players and how they can be successful. For example, we have a kid who is big but a great perimeter shooter, so I'll watch a guy like Dirk Nowitzki.
Are you able to watch basketball as a fan rather than a coach? Who do you root/pull for?
I don’t think I can anymore. I wouldn’t consider myself a “fan” of one program, I just tend to pull for kids I’ve coached and the schools they go to. I don’t get angry if the Bears lose like I used to.
You’re getting ready to begin a season at HPHS; other than a state championship, are there other goals you’ll set for your team?
We’re trying to get the program to where we “win even when we lose.” I know we’re not going to go downstate, win 20 games, undefeated, etc. every year, so we try to get our guys to measure themselves through concepts, and we have nine words that embody our program. The words are:
Unity
Passion
Excellence
Unselfishness
Discipline
Thankfulness
Loyalty
Humility
Accountability
And we’ve tried to push our guys on striving for reaching their best in each of these, whether we win all of our games or lose them.
What is the hardest thing to teach a high school basketball player?
Getting them to understand and appreciate how much time is needed to spend in the gym by themselves. Kids feel like what is done with us is enough, but getting kids to do more beyond just the practice is what really makes the difference and helps kids become much better.
What is the toughest thing about being a head coach? What is most gratifying?
Its like putting beads on a string with no knot at the bottom; that should tell you enough.
There’s always something to do. There are three really gratifying things:
1) former players coming back
2) seeing the athletes/students be successful in something other than the sport I coached them with/for—even the fact that they let me know when these things happen it says that I’ve played some role in their success
3) being a part of something bigger than me.
I’m sure the thought has crossed your mind or you’ve been approached, but what are your thoughts about coaching full-time?
I've never been approached, and while I’d never say never, the lifestyle of a high school coach is pretty appealing. College coaches are the road recruiting, travel, dealing with boosters/alums in a different way. Maybe after I retired I’d consider it, but not right now.
Golf:
How many rounds did you play this year?
I probably played 10 rounds; I play once in a while with the guys on the team to help change the dynamic. It’s a way for me to demonstrate how I go about things like rough shots or when things go bad, and just to show them that there's a lot of ways to get around a golf course to get the ball in the hole.
If you had a foursome at any course, with anyone to fill it out, who would it be and where would you play?
My three sons
Name your three favorite golf courses you’ve played:
Shore Acres in
Blackwolf Run (both were great, but they’ve combined)
Doral
“Playing smart” was never, and is still not my strength. I guess once a gambler always a gambler, but I subscribe to the ‘no risk, no reward’ philosophy in golf and in life. I’m not on the PGA tour, so I may want to re-think that, but I DO want to revisit my belief that driver on the first hole at
I’ve never told them not to; they just know for us a big number isn't going to help much in a 9 hole match our strategy. I just ask that they hit what they're comfortable with and avoid the big number.
Hobbies/Special Interest:
There has to be some non-sports activity in your life, so tell me either three movies or books you’ve enjoyed over the past year:
Tony Dungy’s book; it was a little preachy but I liked it.
Kids loved “UP”, especially the montage at the beginning, makes you realize how fast life really goes
Green Eggs and Ham, which we read every night.
If you had a friend visiting from out of town and had to take them out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner anywhere in
Breakfast: Sarki’s for a Loretta
Lunch: Manny’s in the city
Dinner: Charlie Beinlich’s for a good burger and feel at home
I believe that T-shirts (especially for men) tell our stories in a unique way, whether its what the shirt says on it, who we got it from, where we’ve worn it, etc. How many T-Shirts would you guess you own? If you had to pick a T-shirt to tell us something unique about yourself, which one would you choose? Why is it unique/important?
When I’m depressed, I wear my downstate T-shirt it reminds me that it really did happen back in 2002 and picks up my mood.
