#284 Steve Gomez, 3x NCAA Champion Women's Basketball Coach at Lubbock Christian University, on Selflessness, Sacrifice, Coaching Males vs Females, and Building a Sustainable Championship Culture

Steve Gomez is the 3x NCAA Champion women's basketball coach at Lubbock Christian University. He graduated from LCU in 1988 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mathematics, and played on the mens basketball team where he is still in the top of many categories in the record books. He then taught math and coached at Lubbock Monterey High School where he served as an assistant coach in the men’s basketball program from 1988 to 1995.  In 1996, Gomez accepted the men’s basketball head coaching position at Lubbock Cooper High School, where he remained until returning to Lubbock Christian University to take over the reins of the Lady Chaps in 2003. He led the Lady Chaps to 10 straight NAIA tournament appearances and oversaw their transition to NCAA Division II. Since then, the Lady Chaps have won the NCAA II National Championship in 2016, 2019 and 2021, He also served with USA Basketball as an assistant coach for the U16 and U17 girls National Team, winning the FIBA America’s Cup in 2017 and the FIBA World Cup in 2018.

In our talk today, we discuss having a higher purpose than winning, the difference between coaching male and female athletes, selflessness, sacrifice, and how to recruit athletes into your program that fit your values and team culture. It is a great conversation.

This week’s podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sprocket Sports.  Sprocket Sports is a new software platform for youth sports clubs.  Yeah, there are a lot of these systems out there, but Sprocket provides the full enchilada. They give you all the cool front-end stuff to make your club look good– like websites and marketing tools – AND all the back-end transactions and services to run your business better so you can focus on what really matters – your players and your teams. 

Sprocket is built for those clubs looking to thrive, not just survive, in the competitive world of youth sports clubs.  So if you’ve been looking for a true business partner – not just another app – check them out today at sprocketsports.com.

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