Sean Damaska is the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at the University of Dayton. Coach Damaska had started right into his coaching career following his playing career wrapping up at Northern Illinois University. His first coaching role would be with the Dallas Mavericks as a Player Development Intern and soon leading him to Dayton where he worked his way up from a Graduate Assistant into now as an assistant coach. On this episode Coach Damaska talks about identifying and developing young talent at Dayton, some typical duties of a recruiting coordinator and what he has built on his own coaching philosophy so far.

We take a unique turn and get to learn from not only a coach with 10 years of coaching experience but also someone with nearly 20 years of experience in team building and growing leaders, Coach Sean Glaze. Coach Glaze has coached two different high school programs including Cobb County Schools and Cherokee County, where he brought both programs from single digits wins to individual school record breaking programs. On top of this Coach Glaze has spoken in front of large corporations as well helping to motivate and build their teams programs as well as their cultures. This episode we talk about how a coach can help build their program's culture over time, how to build leaders out of your players and some of the best practices to motivate your team.

On this episode of the Rising Coaches Podcast, we are continuing the second half of our previous conversation with a legend in the industry as a former NBA Head and Assistant Coach and most recent assistant coach for the University of Arkansas. Please welcome the second half of our conversation with coach Keith Smart.

Keith Smart is a former NBA Head and assistant coach and most recently former Assistant Coach with the University of Arkansas. Coach Smart is a legendary coach and player as he hit arguably one of the biggest shots in NCAA history, has a 20 year professional career and 27 year coaching career. Coach Smart has been the Head Coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings as well as holding assist positions with those same programs, also including the Fort Wayne Fury, Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks and Arkansas. This episode we talk about some of the takeaways he has learned playing under Legendary Coach Bobby Knight, some major things NBA coaches look for when recruiting and some of the biggest challenges he has faced as a coach at various levels and do not forget to check out Part 2 on Monday!

Kelby Jones is the assistant Women’s coach at Oklahoma State University. Coach Jones has worked his way through the industry starting as a student manager at North Texas and growing into various roles at schools including the University of Texas, Mississippi State and now Oklahoma State University. Coach Jones talks about some takeaways he has learned while growing in the industry, utilizing analytics as a team and some of the most important elements to growing a strong basketball team.

Desond Oliver is the Assistant Men’s Coach at The University of South Florida. Coach Oliver has nearly 30 years of coaching experience including a head coaching stint at East Tennessee State and held assistant roles with Niagara, Texas A&M, Cornell, St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island, Georgia, Canisius, Charlotte, Tennessee and currently South Florida. In this episode Coach Oliver enlightens us on some takeaways he learned as a head coach, how his coaching philosophy has grown over the years and some common threads amongst the successful teams he has been a part of.

Jeff Battle is the Associate Head Coach at Georgetown University. Coach Battle has truly grown in the industry starting as a Graduate Assistant at Delaware and making stops in various roles at Caesar Rodney High School, Delaware State University, Loyola, Xavier University, Wake Forest, Providence and currently Georgetown University. Coach Battle has coached a wide range of tenured players, some including Chris Paul, Jeff Teague and Ish Smith. Coach Battle talks with us on rising in the industry starting as a High School coach, how his approach to coaching developed over the years and the ups and downs of the transfer portal.

On this episode of the Rising Coaches Podcast, we are joined with the Director of Recruiting Operations and Assistant Women’s Coach at the University of Kentucky, Coach Ciara Gregory. Coach Gregory has a short list of schools with a rather quick incline, starting as a Graduate Manager at Charlotte and working her way up to being an Assistant Coach. Following her 5 years in Charlotte as a coach she found herself recently joining the Wildcats staff. Coach Gregory talks to us on some of her day to day duties as the Director of Recruiting Operations as well as some things that make Kentucky basketball so unique. Coach Gregory also has a strong background in working with guard play at Charlotte and she dives into some unique things she liked to work on. Please welcome to the podcast, Coach Ciara Gregory.

Brian Pauga is the Director of College Scouting and Basketball Intelligence for the Utah Jazz, Brian Pauga. Brian started as a student manager at Michigan State University and took an immediate jump into the NBA holding various roles with the San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz. Brian Pauga has 15+ years of scouting at the NBA level and shares with us some insight on some of the best ways to assess a players ability to fit in a system, best practices to grow in the NBA as well as his belief on what best separates a good scout from a great one.

Jeff Capel is the Head Coach of the University of Pittsburgh. Coach Capel joins us today with a wide range of coaching and basketball knowledge starting from his career as a player at Duke University and leading into his various assistant positions at Old Dominion, VCU and Duke. Coach Capel also held Head Coaching Stints with an overall record of 259-202 as a head coach at VCU as well as Oklahoma and currently the University of Pittsburgh. On this episode Coach Capel talks about some of his big takeaways he learned while playing and coaching under Coach Krzyzewski at Duke, some major takeaways he learned as a first year head coach at the age of 27 as well as promoting accountability amongst your players.