Coaching Merry-go-round

March and April for College Basketball Coaches is a time of year that many coaches find themselves, either looking for jobs because they got fired, or because they have had relative success and are being offered new jobs. It is a crazy time if you are on either side of the spectrum. In that spectrum there are coaches that are looking for jobs because they want to move "up" or move on from their current position. I have found myself in the position of looking to move up or move on two times in my coaching career. When I first started coaching at the college level I was a volunteer coach at Rochester College for 1 season. After that 1st season, I was looking to move up in the profession from a volunteer to a paid coaching position. I had the opportunity to move up and become a Graduate Assistant at Olivet Nazarene University. I took the job and enjoyed every minute I was there. Most Graduate Assistantships last for 2 years, as you are normally working on some sort of Master's degree. I had planned on staying at ONU for another season. Just after the season was over, my wife and I were in Chicago shopping with my mother who was visiting for the weekend. We were in the H&M store when I was offered a new position in Abilene, Texas at Abilene Christian University. I mentioned the spectrum of being in a spot where you had relative success and you are being offered new jobs. I wasn't in that spot, but I certainly wasn't looking for a new position, but found the offer intriguing. I took the job and stayed there for two seasons while completing my Master's Degree in Education. I was now in a position where I needed to move on because I had to. I wasn't being fired, but there was not a place to move up at ACU, so I was looking at various schools. During that time, the Assistant position opened up at Rochester College. It was my alma matre, and a place that I loved very much. I took the job, and have now completed my second season as the head assistant coach. I say all of that to say this.

Coaching Basketball is a CRAZY, CRAZY business. It is a business that makes grown men run around the country in search of the next best player, or next best position. It makes grown men move their families on an average of every 3-4 years, its just absolutely insane. I have several friends in the business and it seems like one of us is always looking at other coaching jobs or opportunities. I have moved from Michigan to Illinois, Illinois to Texas, Texas to Michigan all in the last 5 years. That puts me moving my family every 1.6 years. Now that's crazy.

Despite all of that, I love this profession and what it allows me to do. I am at a great school and work for one of the best coaches in the country at any level of college basketball. Nonetheless this business is like a merry-go-round in that it can be dizzy-ing at times. But again, I love it. Its just that time of year that it gets crazy.