I’ve always loved basketball. I think anyone reading this newsletter knows that. Basketball is what led me to journalism, and what made me declare to my parents at age 10, that I wanted to be a sports writer. But because of my love of the game, and a basketball IQ that far (and I mean far) outweighed my talents on the court, my dad would often ask if I had any interest in coaching.
I’d always say the same thing: “No, because there is too much pressure in coaching.”
I wasn’t talking about the pressure to win. I was talking about the pressure of being responsible for shaping the minds of young people. That’s a responsibility to be taken seriously. Growing up, I had OK coaches, I had bad coaches and I had one great coach. I was lucky enough to have my great coach during my senior year of high school. He coached just that one season, but helped me rediscover my love of the game.
He erased the power trips and mind games that I had been subjected to by my previous coach. He gave me the confidence that other coaches had taken away. And because of that, my senior season was fun again. But if he hadn’t come along, my relationship with basketball could have been forever changed, and that would have been a shame.
Which is why I take the title of “coach” so seriously. And why I have immense respect for those in the coaching field who feel the same way, which brings me to Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack and the video above.
In 2023, Legette-Jack had brain surgery. A massive event, which of course changed her. She didn’t have the same spark she had in previous years, and because of that, Legette-Jack thought about doing something different. She wasn’t sure she could be that positive force anymore, so instead of giving anything less than her best to her players, Legette-Jack was willing to give it all up. That’s a real coach. The exact kind of person who shouldn’t hang it up.
In that same video clip, Legette-Jack speaks highly of the players she brought in this season – Dominique Darius, Uche Izoje, Oyindamola Akinbolawa and Laila Phelia – for bringing her energy back.
She says she got lucky to land them. But the thing about great coaches is they make their own luck. Legette-Jack landed those players because she’s the kind of coach who will always put them first, who will meet them where they are at, and who will love them for the players and the people they are. And in turn, they are able to bring joy to the court. The same joy that my coach gave me my senior year.
The same joy that Legette-Jack now feels once again. Legette-Jack got her spark back, but only because she was willing to go out, get the wood and build the fire.