Day 30 - Sharpen the Saw

Yesterday was the final day of 30 Days to a Championship. I feel great about the foundation that has been established and progress that has been made so far in my first month at Concordia. I know that we are going to be champions here, but I also know that it takes a LOT longer than 30 days to build that. This was the only the beginning and there are still months -- and years -- of hard work left before we get to where we want to be. With all of that in mind I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to accomplish on the last day of my first month as a head coach. Almost everything I hoped to accomplish or address in the first month has happened, but there were still plenty of things I could have either tried to finish or get a head start on yesterday.

Ultimately, the best way I could think of to spend yesterday was to "Sharpen the Saw". I referenced a few of Dr. Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People earlier this month, which is probably the best book I've ever read, and I try to incorporate those habits into my life as often as possible. I made honest efforts to: Be Proactive, Begin With The End In Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood, and Synergize. Of the 7 Habits, Sharpen the Saw is the one I always struggle with. As college basketball coaches, we have a 24/7/365 job. There aren't any specific off-days and your phone rings at midnight when a player or recruit needs help. It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day responsibilities and recruiting calls and never take some time to make sure the work you are doing is efficient and that you're performing at your best. So yesterday, I worked on what I needed to in the morning and I took the rest of the afternoon to read some articles about coaching and leadership and take care of some personal things. Now, I feel refreshed and I'm ready for the next phase in building a championship program at Concordia.

I appreciate all of the coaches, players, recruits, friends, fans and alumni that read this and followed our team for the last month - Thank you!

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Day 29 - "No"

For some reason my Monday was filled with having to say "No" to a number of different people. As an assistant, you usually aren't the one to make final decisions on things so you are rarely the one delivering the news that people don't want to hear. There were some high school coaches that wanted to get into our shootout this weekend, but we had already reached our capacity. There were a couple of guys who had been interested in joining the staff here, that for one reason or another it was not going to work out here. There were some teams that were planning to play us next season, but we don't have room in our schedule anymore. And, there was even a kid who waited outside my office wanting to walk onto the team next year that I had to talk to about how large our current roster is and the reality of his chances of making the team. It's never easy telling people what they don't want to hear, but I think some of the best coaches I've been around have a way of giving people the honest truth without being condescending or belittling them. Hopefully I was able to do that today.

With our shootout camp this weekend. I have a long night still ahead of me to make sure everything runs smoothly on Saturday!

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Days 24-28 - Weekend Wrap-up

I wasn't able to post updates for the last couple days because I was in Wisconsin for one of my best friends' wedding. We went to school together every year from kindergarten all the way through college. It's hard to believe that we started school together as 5 year-olds in 1989 and were able to stay friends through almost 2 decades of school together. The trip gave me a great opportunity to make some phone calls to recruits and coaches as well as some of our current and incoming players.

Before I left for the wedding I was able to finalize our high school shootout camp, place some gear orders and work on wrapping up our coaching staff situation.

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Day 23 - "An Opportunity a lot of guys never got"

Over the last couple of weeks I have received a lot of texts, calls and e-mails congratulating me on this opportunity. I appreciate every person who has reached out to me, but there was one call in particular that really resonated with me. I returned a call yesterday from a high school coach I used to play against as a player. There are a number of coaches I played against, that without really knowing them well I always had a lot of respect for based on the way they carried themselves and how their teams played. This coach was definitely one of them.

In the message he left, there were two phrases he said that really meant a lot: "You have an opportunity a lot of guys never got" and then he ended the message saying to "work to make the job bigger than it really is". The way he ended the message was just so perfect and fitting, because as I have been saying (and doing) for the last 23 days, my goal is to run this program as if it were a Division I program and to "do more with less". Hopefully, the longer I am here, the bigger and better Concordia basketball becomes.

I also know just how many coaches are out there that have paid their dues longer than I did; have more experience than I do; and probably deserved to be a head coach more than I did. His message was a great reminder of just how lucky I am to have this opportunity and just how important timing and being in the right place at the right time is.

After that conversation I was ready to get to work for the day. One of the biggest things I had to was meet with our player development coach about one of the ideas we had, and I am thrilled to announce we will be having Concordia Elite Camp later this summer on Saturday August 24th. If you are a HS or AAU Coach in the area or know some one who would be interested in some high level instruction from our coaching staff and an opportunity to visit campus and get more information about our university, you should check out the flyer.

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Day 22 - The Last Week

It's hard to believe that this is the last full week of 30 Days to a Championship. I'll be going to one of my friends wedding this weekend, so there's only 7 days left that I'll be in the office of this. I've noticed that with each day I have less to say about what is being done to lay the foundation of this program. That's a great sign because the list of things I hoped to accomplish is getting shorter and shorter, so there is a little bit less to work on each day. A good portion of the foundation has been put in place so most of the days are spent on a lot of areas that have already been covered, and of course, recruiting!

One of the things I am most excited about is that the staff is starting to finally take shape. I had a great conversation with someone over the weekend and he has agreed to join our staff. There are still some things that need to be finalized before I can announce it and make it official, but I am really excited about having him join our program! He is originally from this area, played at the Division I and professional levels and has been coaching at an area high school for the last few years. Adding someone with his combination of playing and coaching experience that knows the local area and talent is a home run hire for us.

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Days 19-21 - Weekend Wrapup

This weekend was a busy one for a variety of reasons. I spent a lot of time on Friday making some adjustments to a lot projects that had been started earlier this month and the deadlines are quickly approaching such as our upcoming camps and finalizing our uniforms for next season. We've got a great field of teams that will be competing in our High School Shootout Camp on June 15th and there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that still needs finished up to make sure we have an excellent event. Over the weekend we had our first open gym of the summer so it was great to have some of our returning and incoming players back on campus and in the gym.

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Day 18 - Management by handshake

One of the best lessons I learned as an assistant coach was something my boss at Longwood, Coach Gillian, used to say quite a bit: "Management by Handshake". In today's digital age of cell phones, computers, e-mail and even skype it's really easy to avoid talking to people face to face, or even talking to them at all. Anytime you have an uncomfortable message to deliver or you are short on time you can just send an e-mail or text message. Don't get me wrong, the time-saving technology we have is a great resource; it just shouldn't be the only way we communicate with people.

When I was at Longwood, there were many times when I/we could have just sent someone an e-mail to relay whatever message needed to be passed on but Coach would come into the office and tell me we were going over to whatever department it was to tell them in person. Sometimes it might have honestly been something as simple as letting someone know we would see them at the soccer game that night. As an assistant, I really didn't understand why that was important and I am sure this won't be the only thing I didn't understand before becoming a head coach! But now I realize how important it is to take the time to be seen by people; how important it is to take the time to show people you care about them and what they have going on; and most importantly, that we're never too busy to give someone else a little bit of our time.

I spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon yesterday meeting with several people. I could have done all of this over the phone in probably half the amount of time. I could have just sent e-mails back and forth and used even less time. But for different reasons, it was important that I took the time yesterday to sit down across from those people and have real conversations with them. One of those people is actually the first person who is officially going to be a member of the coaching staff here at Concordia - Marv Fox, our Player Development Coach. Coach Fox is a former CUAA player and alum. He was on the staff last year, has a great relationship with our players and runs his own player development company Meticulous Basketball. I'm really excited that he is going to be on staff and can't wait to figure out the rest of the coaching staff in the near future!

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Day 17 - First Class Program

One of the biggest messages I wanted to convey to our team during the first time I met with them was that as of that moment, Concordia Basketball is a first class program. I don't believe in giving a half-hearted effort to anything, and won't accept my team to give a half-hearted effort. Anything I am in involved with or put my name on will either be done the right way or it won't be done at all, and the same goes for our team. Everything we do, we will do to the best of our ability; the uniforms, travel gear, practice gear, etc. that we wear will be of the best quality. I learned a long time ago that everything about you says something about you. So, if our entire program is going to be about excellence then we can't talk about being excellent at practice if we don't have excellent uniforms or we don't have excellent communication.

Having said that, there needs to be an understanding of "doing more with less" and the realization that some sacrifices will have to be made. If we are going to have the best travel gear, that might mean we have to eliminate something else that we could have gotten but it would have been below-average. I think a great parallel here is the classroom and academic load. Isn't it better to take 12 credits and get all A's instead of taking 18 credits and getting all Cs? Do more with less! Sure, we would all like to have everything AND have it all be the best; but that is usually not possible. Anytime I have to decide between a lot of average things or a few great things, it's a very easy decision for me.

The best part about us working towards being a first class program is that I'm at a University where the administration wants that as well. Many of the factors required to run an excellent program are out of my and the players' hands. A great example of this happened on Wednesday. Our entire athletic department spent the morning going through many of the offices, facilities, and storage spaces. We cleaned and organized some areas, we got rid of a lot of some stuff that is no longer needed, and we made notes of ways to improve and upgrade our facilities - both in the short and long term. Concordia is really committed to improving the university in variety of areas and it was an exciting reminder of the vision I get to be part of.

I spent the rest of the afternoon Wednesday on the same theme. I put together some notes and got pricing information on a variety of upgrades for the office, locker room and program in general. Nothing has been ordered just yet, but I am excited about some really great upgrades that will soon be added to Concordia Basketball!

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Day 16 - Camp Day!

Yesterday was Camp Day at the Concordia Basketball office. We finished up our Boys' Basketball Summer Camp brochure - click here if you are interested. We've got a great week planned for July 14-17 and I can't wait to meet some of the families and kids that support our program and University. It will also provide another opportunity for me to spend time with some of our players as many of them will be camp coaches.

I also reached out to a number of the high school coaches that have registered for our team camp. We are trying to finalize the last 2 spots right now, but we have a great field of 16 teams that will be here competing on June 15th. It will be a great opportunity for me to get to meet 16 area coaches and get to watch almost 200 high school basketball players in our gym. We're doing everything we can to make sure this is a first class event for the teams participating and have been working to ensure that we will have MHSAA referees for every game.

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Day 15 - There comes a time when winter will ask what you did all summer

It was great to be back in the office and able to work from a computer instead of an iPhone and iPad. I spent the majority of the day getting everything together for our summer workout packet. We sent a program to each guy on the team that was specifically altered to fit their position and emphasis of improvement this summer. Each packet included a strength, conditioning and skill development section. 

One thing that most players struggle with is realizing there is a major difference between wanting to be great, and wanting to pay the price to be great. Everyone answers "yes" if you ask them if they want to be a great player, but actions speak louder than words and not every player's actions show that they truly want to be great. The best part about summer as a coach is that you really find out who is serious about improving and who really loves the game. Our players won't have myself or assistant coaches checking on them daily to see if they are in the weight room; we won't able to push them on the court for skill development or conditioning.

In addition to the summer workout packet, I finished up budgeting our expenses for the year and started working on our summer recruiting schedule - two really important areas to help our program build for the future. Our future looks brighter and brighter each day!

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Days 6-14 - Moving Week!

The last week was a crazy one. I planned on doing an entry for each day, but I spent almost every day of the last week in a very similar way: balancing moving and Concordia basketball. Over the last week I had to fly back to Virginia to pack everything up there and get ready to move, then drive a Uhaul back to Michigan and unload everything - while working to build a championship program at Concordia! Needless to say, I am glad that is over.

I won't bore anyone with the details of the move, but there were a lot of exciting developments over the past week for our program:
- We are getting close to adding a couple of really talented recruits to our team.
- Our High School shootout camp only has a few spots left and the bracket is almost finalized.
- I spent some time figuring out some ideas to upgrade our gear selection - pictures coming soon!
- We finalized two really exciting games for our 2013-2014 schedule - can't say anything more just yet.

I'm exciting to be back in Ann Arbor and able to work out of my office again instead of a combination of working in a combination of airports/Uhaul/hotels. Today is the halfway point of "30 Days to a Championship" and I feel great about the foundation that's been laid so far, but I know there is still a LOT to accomplish over the final 15 days (and beyond).

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Day 5 - There is a time and place for everything

I spent most of the day handling some various administrative responsibilities. It wasn't the most exciting day, but it's a part of coaching that is often overlooked. Organization and efficiency are critical to a program reaching it's goals so it was great to have the opportunity yesterday to do some office-related work.

It was fitting that today was more of an "office" day since one of the all-time great TV Series "The Office" finale was last night. Our team had a series finale watch party on campus for the guys who hadn't gone home after finals already. It was great to take a break from focusing on our program and spend some time hanging out with our guys. The finale was phenomenal, one of the best and funniest episodes of the entire series in my opinion. It was a great way to end the semester. Great teams are made during practice in the fall, great players are made during workouts in the summer and I'm excited to see the improvement our team makes individually between now and August 26th!

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Day 4 - If You Build It, [They] Will Come

Yesterday was the first day where I was really able to focus on the future of our program. I wanted to make sure that I spent time on our current situation first . I am a big believer in the idea of "playing present" and a "next play" mentality. I want our guys to forget about the previous play after it happens - good or bad - and worry about the current play. The whole idea of playing present and moving on to the next play translates to a lot of areas in basketball and life. After a big win or a tough loss, you have to move on to the next game but you can't worry about the big rivalry game that is coming up next week either.

It was great talking to the current players about their experiences at Concordia, what they are studying and wheat they want to accomplish. But as important as the present is, we definitely have to build for the future. I had some great conversations with some impressive coaches that were interested in joining the staff here. It's been an incredibly humbling reminder of just how lucky I am to have a job in this business. I've been contacted by a number of former Division I players, current college assistant coaches, guys who are on staffs at BCS level programs and high school head coaches that are interested in being a part of our program. There are still some logistical question marks to figure out before finalizing the staff but I am really impressed with the caliber of people that want to be a part of what we are building here. I have to give a good friend of mine, Kent McBride (Head Coach at Concord University in WV) a lot of credit. He told me before I was hired that I would be surprised at the quality of people that will end up contacting me about being assistant coaches and he was more than right.

Another step towards building for the future is obviously recruiting. I was on the phone with several recruits and high school coaches yesterday and I am confident that we will be able to add some great pieces to our team in the future!

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Day 3 - Every Team is Different

The last two days have been very busy, so I'll be posting Day 3 & Day 4 back-to-back today. On Tuesday, I continued having individual meetings with the players and had the opportunity to talk to a few of my close friends in the coaching world. The one idea I kept coming back to was a quote I had heard and liked a few years ago: "Every Team is Different". For the last couple years, I always tried to envision how I would run a program if I ever got the opportunity to be a head coach. I would think about what I would emphasize, how I would handle certain issues, what offenses or defenses we would use. One of the things I believed to be true is that the best coaches develop an identity from the program, but are able to adjust based on their personnel and situation each season (and each game). As I continue to get advice and talk with our players that is something that is becoming clearer and clearer. There will be very clear expectations about what Concordia Basketball is all about; however, every team is different so I have to be able to adjust the approach to maximize our performance.

In addition to the conversations with our current players and coaching friends, I got a couple other really exciting calls on Tuesday. A couple of the players from Longwood called to congratulate me on getting the opportunity to be a Head Coach. It was great to hear from those guys and not getting to coach them next year was definitely the hardest part about making the decision to come to Concordia. Knowing that they are excited and happy for me made it a little bit easier. I also got a call about a possible game this year that would be a great experience for our guys. I can't say exactly what it is just yet - but stay tuned and check out the school's athletic website. Hopefully the game will get finalized and an official announcement can be made in the near future!

I also spent a good amount of time on Tuesday working on our High School Shootout Summer Team Camp we will be having at Concordia on June 15th. If any HS coaches are interested in signing up, you can get more information HERE. We've had a lot of interest so far and I'm really excited about having so many local programs on our campus and getting to meet some area coaches.

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Day 2 - Put First Things, First

Yesterday was another great day for our program and I am more excited everyday about this opportunity. Getting hired this late in the school year has presented quite a few early challenges since recruiting, summer camp, and other immediate issues need to be quickly addressed. However, as the late Dr. Stephen Covey addresses in the 3rd habit of highly successful people, it is important to "put first things, first". It's important to plan the day, week and month according to importance. Our program's foundation will be academics and relationships, so it was important to spend the first couple days focusing on those two areas. We have certainly done some work on recruiting and summer camps, but the majority of yesterday was spent getting information about the admissions process and continuing to get to know our players. Concordia also had our final student-athlete meeting of the year and I had the chance to talk with several of the other coaches in the athletic department.

The first two days provided a great opportunity to really show what our program is going to be about. I've been able to spend a lot of one on one time with each guy to really get to know them outside of basketball. In addition, the meetings and conditioning workout have been a great way to set the tone for everyone to know that we are going to be in great shape and give maximum effort every day!

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Day 1 - Begin With The End In Mind!

I am so excited to have this opportunity to lead the Men's Basketball program at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have been compiling notes, ideas, schemes and philosophies since I was a Junior in High School to make sure I was as prepared as possible to take over a program. One of the ideas I was sure I would use is something I picked up from an outstanding coach, Jim Boone (@CoachJimBoone) "30 Days to a Championship". Over the next 30 Days I will be posting everything we are doing to lay the foundation for Concordia to become a championship program. I know this will be an insightful place for our fans, families, alumni, supporters, recruits and fellow coaches.

I've already met a number of important people on campus, had individual meetings with our players, and had our first team meeting. We also had our last conditioning workout of the year and I was really pleased with the effort & mentality of our players. It's already been a humbling experience for me to see all of the different ideas and phrases I've picked up along the way from so many of the great coaches I've been around.

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