I started my basketball coaching career in 1983, with a goal of becoming a head coach at the DI level. As a 22 year old kid, I was fortunate to have George Raveling as my first boss. As I reflect back on the lessons he taught each one of his players, assistant coaches, managers and all of the people who surrounded our program, I realize how lucky I was!
In 2000 my career changed paths, and I had the good fortune to move into the NBA as a scout for the Washington Wizards. I have another great mentor, Leonard Hamilton, to thank for taking me with him when he left the University of Miami to go to the Wizards.
As I have traversed the world scouting, I have seen many of my contemporaries I came up with in college become outstanding coaches in the high school, junior college, college and professional ranks. I admire them greatly, because I know how hard it is to win and succeed for long periods of time in the game of basketball.
I, like many others, wanted to climb the coaching ladder. At times I thought I was making a great move to take a new job, when in fact it was a bad one for me and my career.
I have also seen a lot of coaches, some of them good friends of mine; make similar mistakes by taking bad coaching jobs, or jobs that were not good fits for them. They were, or are, great coaches but the job they took was ill-advised for them.
One of the things Coach Raveling taught us was to see the whole picture over the long haul, not just a small part of it in the short term. Knowing that the time of year where coaches are applying for new positions, changing jobs, and wanting to climb that latter is rapidly approaching, I wanted to write today about some thoughts in relation to changing jobs or climbing the ladder. I’m hopeful that these thoughts will help you avoid some of the pitfalls that I experienced; and add some observations that I have seen from afar now that I am no longer in coaching,
1. Don’t Be In Too Big Of a Hurry to Leave A Great Situation / Program
There is nothing wrong with being an assistant in a successful program, or being a head coach at a lower level for a long time. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
2. Why Are You Leaving?
A. For Money?
That doesn’t always work either! I have seen plenty of coaches who left a good head coaching job, making “decent money” in order to go to a job doubling their pay…only to see them get fired in three years. A couple of years later, they are assistant coaches at a college, making half the money they were making when they were making “decent money.” Granted, money drives most of us in uncommon ways, but I have learned that, again, it’s what you do over the length of your
career that makes the difference. Be careful of that jump in pay for a short time that leads to further problems!
B. Out of Emotion?
Many of us have worked for, or with, people we don’t like working with. However, when changing jobs don’t make the move due to emotions, make the move out of intelligence. I have done it myself, so I learned the hard way. But many times there are people who wanted to get out of a great situation so badly that they went running for the first job available – and it was a worse job than they had.
If it is a toxic relationship you are dealing with, try to work it out first before running away, and hurting your career in the long run.
C. For a “Better” Job?
What makes the job “better?” More pay? A bigger conference? A more attractive place to live? I truly believe the personality and philosophy of the coach have to fit the personality of the president / principal of the school; the AD; and the mission of the school. I have seen many coaches who were “rising stars” at mid-major schools move to a bigger, better job, only to lose their job within a relatively short time. They weren’t bad coaches – they couldn’t be, or they
could not have won at the mid-major school. However, they took a job that did not fit them.
I look at a good friend, Kevin Eastman, who is currently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics. I first met Kevin when he was the coach at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. He did a sensational job there. He left there to become the head coach at Washington State. It didn’t work for him in Pullman, but not because he was a bad coach. The move didn’t fit Kevin. He left his breadbasket in recruiting to go to an area of the country he knew nothing about, in a
great league! Kevin is a GREAT coach that took a job that did not enable him to succeed.
Kevin went on to become an assistant for the Celtics, winning a world championship ring in 2008. He would be a great head coach again, too!
3. What Promises Do You Have That Make This a Better Job?
There are so many examples of people being promised things when changing jobs,
only to have them fall through once they get there. If there are financial commitments made, or promises given to ensure that you get the things you need to win, get them in writing before you accept the job and leave a great situation for someone else.
In today’s athletic world, things change quickly. One of the things I have seen change is that if a new university president comes in, or a new A.D. is hired, those people want to make changes, regardless of whether the coach is a good coach or not. A great contract, and effective language to protect you over the long haul, is imperative today.
Before leaving a good situation for a better situation, it is worth asking the President / A.D. / Search Committee, “What happens to me if you leave?” It would be a great thing to automatically get time added to your deal if your president or athletic director leaves. You need time to prove to them you are good – and you need financial protection if the new person already has their mind made up they are going to make a change to bring in their own coach.
Another issue staring college coaches in the face is the never ending saga of conference realignment. I have good friends who would have never taken a head coaching job if they knew the program they were getting ready to take over was going to change leagues. There are times the program went from having one of the better programs in a league, only to move on to a bigger, stronger league. However, they went into the new league with a much tougher opportunity to win, because increased budgets / facility needs did not keep pace with the demands of the new conference. Should an athletic department move into a new conference that would be viewed as a step up, they should reward their coaches with extensions on their contracts to give them time to recruit quality talent to compete in the new league.
I know several coaches who left one job to go to another, only to find out what they had was better than the new situation. They failed to look into all of the “little things” at the new place. They were making a snap-decision over the course of 24 hours whether or not to take a new job, and did not ask all of the right questions they needed to make an intelligent decision. They failed to find out how the job compared to other schools in their league, or how other programs at that same level operate. They only wanted a pay raise, or to get away from a boss they did not like.
A few of the things that college coaches don’t investigate, only to have it come back to make them miserable are:
A. Pay for assistant coaches / support staff – I personally find it interesting when a head coach gets more money for himself in a move, takes a staff with him, but doesn’t get them a raise, too. I have also heard of coaches taking jobs in states that don’t allow multi-year contracts for assistant coaches, but don’t find that out until it is too late, causing assistants to unknowingly leave a secure job for one that does not give multi-year deals.
B. Academics – This is a wide encompassing area that would almost take an entire article because it is so important. However, three of the areas that stand out to me under this category are:
a.) Can you get kids in school? What are the commitments by the university, as a whole, to help get “at risk” kids into school that can help a program win; and
b.) What commitments is the school making to ensure that ALL athletes graduate – not just good students, but the “at risk” ones, too?
c.) What APR issues the school may have, and if they do have them, how serious is it in the long run for building a consistent program?
C. Housing / Living accommodations for players and managers. The quality of living arrangements is increasingly important today. Dorms and apartments on campuses are getting a lot better, and many schools have top-notch athletic dorms. When showing a recruit and his parents bad living arrangements, you can lose them in a hurry if the places your players are living are old, unclean, and poorly managed.
D. Quality of travel. Many programs in today’s college basketball world use a lot of charter planes for both team travel and recruiting. But not all do, especially at big schools. I have heard of coaches taking “better” jobs only to find they are not allowed to charter; or to stay in the kind of hotels they are used to staying in; or have less per diem meal money; or other things that are standard practice for most schools in their league. Most of the time this is due to financial reasons, and athletic departments holding down costs because they don’ want to have to do those things for other programs in the athletic department. So, the coach makes more money for himself, but can’t run his program the way he wants.
E. Ability to hire coaches / staff on their own, without interference from the A.D. or President.
F. An effective compliance office and an assurance before you take the job that there are no looming compliance issues, in any sport, that could have an effect on your ability to recruit, without sanctions.
Use the University of Miami as an example. Their two flagship sports, football and men’s basketball, have had to deal with NCAA issues for TWO full recruiting classes, with no end in sight. Most schools don’t even let a coach let two full recruiting classes finish their eligibility before deciding if they are going to give their coach a chance to stay for another contract. The head coaches of each of those sports were not responsible for any of the possible violations – they weren’t even working at Miami at the time. The school actually knew of pending problems before hiring each of the coaches.
A coach taking a new job at an NCAA school would be wise to inquire whether there is any indication of impending investigations and / or sanctions. If there is, and the coach decides to take the job anyway, he should ask for additional time on his contract should probation penalties be levied. For example, Bill O’Brien, Head Football Coach at Penn State, received a four year extension on his contract after the NCAA placed heavy sanctions on Penn State. The new coach, and his staff, should not have to pay a heavy price for the violations of others, when they were not even employed at the school.
Make sure you look into not only these things, but all of the things that are important to you and your ability to be successful, and that you make your decisions to take a new job with a lot of thought and intelligence. Take the emotion out, and make sure what you are doing is for the right reasons. Once you make a decision, get everything you asked for (and more!) in writing.
Lastly, pour yourself into your new opportunity, and look quickly to find all of the things you need to win that were not covered in your initial fact finding mission. Ask for everything you need quickly. You are rarely more powerful in a new job than in the first month. The person that hired you will want you to succeed. But after you lose your first game, things won’t be as easy!
Good luck. But be careful what you wish for as you climb. As Coach Raveling used to tell us, “The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain.”
