Advice For Newcomers

Megan Leuick and Kaitlyn Cresencia have created a website titled ‘The Coaching Assist.’  What they do is target various coaches and then do a comprehensive 30 minute interview via telephone and then put those thoughts their website.  They also include book reviews.

They recently interviewed Bob Starkey, the mastermind behind the popular blog Hoop Thoughts. Coach Starkey’s career began at the high school level and includes stints of time on both the men’s and women’s sides of the collegiate game.

For newcomers to the coaching world, Coach Starkey has the following pieces of advice:

1.  Seek multiple mentors

- Have 5-7 people you can go to at all times
- Inside and outside coaching

2.  Do the best you can and others will notice
- He never had to apply for a job; all of the job changes in his career he was recruited for
- Focus on being the best you can and the opportunities will come

3.  It’s a journey, you can never know enough
- Go out and seek knowledge from other coaches

4.  Have a system of organization
- Learn to categorize in a way that allows you to easily find your resources when you need to.

5.  Don’t allow ‘labels’ to define who you are as a coach or a professional
- Be more than a skill developer, recruiter, or offensive coordinator

6.  Be process-oriented rather than result-oriented
- Don’t stop learning when you get positive results
- Don’t play the scoreboard, play to your potential

7.  Relationships are as important as the X’s and O’s
- Make sure you are building relationships with all of your stakeholders – administrators, fans, other coaches, etc.