Winthrop Eagles’ Assistant Coach Tony Rack joins A Quick Timeout: The Next Move, presented by Coach-Portal.com, to provide suggestions for how to stand out as an assistant basketball coach. He shares invaluable insights on thriving where you are, from proactively taking responsibilities off the head coach’s plate to genuinely caring for your players and the program. Tune in for a candid conversation that offers a clear roadmap for making a significant impact and building a successful coaching career.
Major takeaways from the show:
- Build Trust Quickly: The most crucial first step for an assistant coach is to build trust, which takes time and consistency.
- Prioritize Serving and Caring for Others: True joy and standing out as an assistant come from constantly serving the head coach and players, focusing on their success. Players and coaches want to know that you care about them and that you are consistent in your approach and effort.
- Focus on Your Job, Not Just Being Noticed: Rather than worrying about being noticed, title, or future opportunities, an assistant coach should focus on doing the best job they possibly can in their current role.
- Aggressively Take Tasks Off the Head Coach’s Plate: A key role of an assistant is to proactively find and handle non-basketball related tasks to free up the head coach, being aggressive in finding things to do and making mistakes if necessary.
- Dominate Assigned Responsibilities: To earn more responsibilities and stand out, an assistant must “crush” their core assigned duties (their “one through five responsibilities”), no matter how small or seemingly unimportant.
- “Crush It Where You’re At”: The most important piece of advice for an assistant coach looking to stand out or advance is to excel in their current role without constantly worrying about what’s next or making connections for other jobs. Your current boss’s advocacy is key.
Listen to the full podcast episode now…
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