Whereas most coaches enter the profession only after they're unable to play basketball at a high level anymore, Butler guard Ronald Nored didn't have the patience to wait that long.
The senior-to-be has begun preparing to enter the college coaching ranks after graduation by spending part of the past two offseasons coaching an Indianapolis-based 17-and-under summer basketball team.
It might seem daunting for a Division I college athlete to balance academics, playing a sport and coaching a youth team, but Nored swears he's enjoying himself. He inherited the desire to help people from his pediatrician mother and his pastor father. And he fostered a lifelong passion for basketball playing for renowned Alabama high school coach Tim Shepler and for Butler coach Brad Stevens.
Nored's team won't be landing an invite to any of this week's prestigious AAU tournaments in Las Vegas since it only has one potential Division I player, but he's nonetheless excited about the progress his players have made under his tutelage. He joined me by phone this week to discuss how his team is faring, why he wants to go into coaching and what he's learned from Stevens about the profession.
JE: I know your team struggled in April but has surged lately. How gratifying is it to see their improvement?
RN: I was burnt out in April. We were losing pool games and getting knocked out in the first round of bracket play by 20. That was really hard to swallow. We got a new guy in May who has been really good for us and we started playing better. Earlier this month, we lost the first game in the Hoosier Shootout by seven, then won six in a row by 20 or more to win the Silver Bracket championship. It was the best we've played since I've been coaching. It was really good for me to see because I could see the growth my team has made since when I started.
JE: How did you get started coaching your team last spring?
RN: I contacted [Team Truth founder] Mark Schlafer on Facebook. I'd met him previously, so he had no hesitation in saying, "Let's get this done." We had to check with our compliance office here at Butler and with the NCAA to make sure it was OK. We didn't want to be in that gray area where there was a chance at a violation. They were fine with it as long as I don't promote Butler and I understand that because Butler employs me during the summer for a camp, none of my players could be recruited to Butler. Those were the stipulations to me being able to coach.
JE: Were the families receptive to having a coach who hadn't even graduated from college yet?
RN: The parents were actually really great about it. At the first practice I had last year, I sat the parents down and talked about my beliefs about the game and about how important it was to me to do my best to make their child better, to make their child understand what it was to be a part of a team. My goal was more to make them better for their high school years than to try to win every game over the summer. We don't have a team made up of eight Division I athletes. When I started, a lot of my guys were playing JV and one or two of them were playing varsity.
JE: You're already balancing basketball, school and a social life. Why add another huge responsibility to your plate rather than waiting until after you graduate?
RN: I want to be a college coach, so it was a no-brainer for me. I didn't really care how much time it took or if it was going to pull me away from that social life or from something else. I wanted to do this for myself and for other people. I coached a sixth-grade AAU team when I was in high school, so it was kind of something I'd already done and I wanted to get back into it.
JE: Where do you think your passion for helping people comes from?
RN: From my dad and mom for sure. My parents sacrifice anything at anytime for anyone. I grew up in that environment. My dad was a pastor. My mom works at a pediatric practice. But they were always doing stuff for other people and always finding ways to be positive influences on other people as well as my brother and I. So that's my foundation as well as my Christian background. We believe our gifts are not only our own but used to help other people. When you put that and my love of basketball together, you get coaching. The fact that I grew up with an awesome high school coach and played for an awesome college coach, it's a no-brainer that this is where I see my life going.
JE: What's the most difficult aspect of balancing coaching and everything else you do?
RN: We played during the NCAA tournament last year and this past year. I would play Thursday-Saturday, come home and run practice on Sunday. We were doing all our preparation for the AAU season during the NCAA tournament. But we didn't find the right combination of players during that time and I think I actually overloaded them with things to do. In July, we've simplified everything we're doing and made each players' role more specific. We've made it a lot easier and better for them in July.
JE: Who are your greatest influences as a coach?
RN: Coach Stevens and my high school coach, Tim Shepler. They're both Christians and live their lives the way I try to live mine. Their philosophies of coaching are pretty similar, and they've helped me grow up a lot as a person. I really enjoy the way coach Stevens goes about things. It's been fun to be able to grow up as a young man in this environment with him at the top.
JE: Do you ask coach Stevens and his staff for advice on how to run your team?
RN: They always want to know how we did at a tournament, but I actually really don't talk to them that much. It's pretty much all stuff that I've picked up from them as a player and I've retained.
JE: Specifically what have you learned from playing under coach Stevens that you can incorporate into your coaching?
RN: One thing we focus on here is winning a possession as opposed to winning the game. We focus on what can we do to win this possession. We take it one possession at a time, and that's kind of the mentality I've taken to my team. When you break it down like that, you're setting yourself up to do some good things later on in the game. Another thing I've picked up is his quote, "control what you can control." It sounds really easy, but when you think about it, there's so much stuff that goes on in a game and in life that we spend so much energy and time worrying about. But when you control what you can control, it makes it a lot easier and you worry a lot less.
JE: Did you consider that playing for coach Stevens could benefit your coaching career when you signed with Butler?
RN: I thought that more than anything I'd be able to play for an awesome guy and an awesome staff, and I really didn't think of it that way. I've just been blessed to be able to learn from him as I'm playing. It's been awesome. I think I've learned so much already, and I have at least another year to learn before I have to move on.
JE: How have you improved as a coach since you began your stint with your AAU team?
RN: I think understanding my players' strengths. That's not something I really focused on last year or early this year, but I think I've done a lot better job putting my players in positions where they have a lot better chance to be successful. That's been fun to see too -- how they're attacking offensively or guarding defensively based on the matchups.
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