Over the past two weeks, the NCAA's leadership development team welcomed 10 coaches to the national office in Indianapolis for the Champion Forum on May 8-11 (women's basketball) and May 21-23 (men's basketball).
The Champion Forum provides assistant coaches with a unique and transformative professional development opportunity to gain a realistic view of what it takes to become a head coach at the collegiate level. Leadership development also hosts a Champion Forum for football.
During the program, participants take an introspective look at themselves that translates into being able to further articulate their "why." They also get to connect with industry leaders on a variety of subjects critical to leading a successful program as a head coach.
"I think just the opportunity to gather your thoughts, how to articulate your message better, grow in that, go through a mock interview and have instant feedback was awesome," said Neill Berry, assistant men's basketball coach at Marquette. "I'll be able to take a lot from this and grow and continue to sharpen the things that I need to do to take that next step in this profession."
The different exercises and challenges helped the group bond and grow professionally.
"Looking back on it, what they were asking us to do, and the positions that they were putting us in, was to ultimately think like a head coach," said Carla Morrow, associate head coach of the women's team at Ohio State. "I think that's where a lot of us had growth. We're assistant coaches, and we're not thinking like the leader of the team, like a head coach. We're thinking like an assistant coach, and this conference really put us in a position to where we, if we're going to be head coaches, we have to think like head coaches."
Women's basketball assistant coaches spent May 8-11 at the national office further articulating their "why."
High-performing, high-potential assistant coaches who have been identified as rising stars in the industry were selected for the program, which is geared toward ethnic minorities.
Kotie Kimble, men's basketball assistant coach at Miami (Florida), was invited to attend the program after his team played UConn in the Final Four this spring.
"Craig Littlepage (director of athletics emeritus at Virginia who contributes to leadership development programs) called me shortly after we lost in the Final Four this year and asked me if I would be interested in joining," Kimble said. "He explained the program, and I thought it was a great opportunity. Being a head coach is something that I aspire to do, so to sharpen some tools to help me get there was something that I was really looking forward to."
What sets this experience apart from other programs is the personalized nature of it, according to Berry.
"I've done a lot of leadership development as an assistant coach, but this by far has been the most in depth and most interactive," Berry said. "To be able to have the safe space to open up and share what we're going through, what we see and what we think has been great."
While the program was demanding, it was also rewarding for Morrow.
"This was something that I thought would be challenging, but I didn't know how challenging it would be," Morrow said. "It's definitely something that I feel that I've grown from, and I encourage others to do, as well."
