New Team, New Beginnings

Change is something that is hard for most of us to accept.  Change is even more difficult when there is a level of comfort and routine involved.  My change came over the summer when I applied, got offered and accepted the job to become the head coach for the Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track and Field Programs at Wayne State University.

In New York, I was more than comfortable:  We had our daughter Norah, I received a really good salary for an assistant coach, we finally got married, and we bought our first home.  Things were going great!  Not only that, I was feeling really positive about the future of the track and field teams at Army West Point.  This year is also the year that my first recruiting class at Army West Point will graduate.  I truly cherish the relationship that was built during my time spent at Army West Point (btw it's BEAT navy week, Hooah!).

The decision to come to Wayne State is the most difficult decision that I've ever made in my life.  Going from something that I helped establish to a complete unknown is very unsettling.  Before accepting the job I looked over the roster and felt okay about the decision because I say that there was some talent on the team.  What I didn't know about the talent was how would they compete.

The athlete coach dynamic is a very special relationship.  Most athletes, when they compete, take on the persona of their coach.  Without tooting my own horn, I believe that the athletes that I coached competed hard and competed with passion (ok I lied ... toot toot).  I believe that they competed to the max potential because not only did I train them to do so, but I believed in them so much that they had no choice but to believe in themselves.

That's my coaching style.  I want to be astute in my knowledge as I coach but I also like to "over sell" my athletes potential to them.  I don't like to put limits on an athletes potential all the time based on what the numbers say.  I'm an intangible type of guy.  My athletes at Army West Point knew that and liked that about me; my athletes here at Wayne State don't know that about me yet.

I haven't realized how hard I've been on the girls I coached this year until this weekend.  At the meet one of the multi-events athletes had a PB in the high jump and I said, "good job."  The girls that directly coached looked astonished that those two words together are apart of my vocabulary.  Now, the remarks were tongue in cheek but many jokes have some truth behind them.  What my current athletes are going to realize is that I look at them as family.  In public, we have to support each other to no end.  In private we're going to hold each other accountable; we're going to get mad at each other, we're going to laugh together, they're going to cry together (I don't cry), we're going to work hard together so that we can accomplish our goals (Division II National Champions).

After this weekend, the great unknown of how the girls compete, has been answered.  While it wasn't perfect, the attention of detail far exceeded my expectations.  I thought their was going to be a lot more rust with two new coaches and two new coaching styles.  The girls really performed well.  Being in the fourth year of a program, school records are bound to happen in bunches.  What I am most impressed with is the fact that most of the girls either completed a personal best or a seasonal opener personal best.  To me that means we are on schedule for almost the entire team to have their best season ever, which hopefully translates into us having our best team performance either.

At the team dinner, I addressed the team and expressed to them that I am proud to be their coach and I thanked them for embracing the new coach staff and in turn, embracing change.  This past weekend's success is just a precursor of the many great things that we will accomplish as a team.  Be on the watch for more blogs about the season and information about me:  Saginaw Valley Holiday Invite.

Go Warriors!

All Hands: Community Service and WSU Cross Country/Track and Field

When I was offered the job to become the Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach/Women's Track and Field Coach at Wayne State University back in July; there was a lot for me to consider.  My family, my career, my goals and aspirations in the sport, and so many other details:  the team I was leaving, the team that I was inheriting.  How was I going to adjust to the scholarship system?  Can I sell my love and passion for the city of Detroit to possible recruits of Wayne State?

During my interview the athletic director, Rob Fournier, described his vision for Wayne State Athletics:  Great Academics, Great Athletics, and a major involvement in the community.  Every athletic department has to say the first two and as an educator and coach they are automatic priorities.  The talk about community service is the point that really perked my ears and got me into thinking about the possibilities of being an actual part of the rebuild of Detroit.

In our profession it is easy to get lost as an individual and get engulfed in the institution that employs us.  That was especially true for me at Army West Point.  The brand is so big at Army West Point that I didn't feel as though I could make an impact in my community how I truly wanted to.  After accepting the job at Wayne State University, I took a look at what the team has done in the past.  While many of the commitments were good and things that we will continue to do, none of them stuck out to me as "community" service.

Wayne State University is a unique higher educational institution.  We are located in midtown Detroit in the heart of the rebuild and centrally located around some of the coolest places the city has to offer (DIA, African American Muesum, Science Center, Public Library, M1 line, etc).  When our distance runners run, they not only see all the great things that Detroit has to offer but they get the opportunity to look at the lows of the city and how that effects the population.  When I think of community service, I think of the place of where I grew up, where "outsiders" would hardly come in help out.  That's not what I want from our program.  I want us to be involved to the point where we aren't considered "outsiders" and are viewed as members of the community in which we learn and compete.
We have been involved in a few "community" service opportunities, Detroit Marathon, since I've been employed, but nothing that I feel I could really put our stamp on.

Last month during a staff meeting Coach LeRon Williams informed us about an organization, All Hands.  All Hands is a disaster relief organization that arranges for volunteers to make an impact on communities hurt by natural disasters.  In August of 2014 there was a flood in the Detroit area that affected hundreds of families.  Combined with the economic distress of the city and the people of the city, Detroit was/is in need of some help.

Instead of practice, on Friday, November 20, 2015, members of the men's and women's cross country team and women's track and field team, drove to the Detroit home base of All Hands to get trained and then taken to different homes across Detroit.  The job was simple, repair (remove mold and mildew) from the homes most impacted so that the health hazard of the occupants can be minimized.

It was a very humbling and rewarding opportunity that we will do again in January.  For now Enjoy some of the pics: