SB Nation: Dawn Staley Explains How to Coach and Play

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https://www.sbnation.com/college-ba...ndsay-whalen-wnba-coach-minnesota-dawn-staley

Okay, I don't like this part. It's a good article nevertheless:

Staley: My advice is just to compartmentalize your life. I told Lindsay today that she needs to be a player as long as she can.


Who did you first go to for advice at Temple, and when you coached Lindsay did you see her becoming a coach one day?

Staley: I’m not afraid to ask for help, but I like to try things on my own first. Just because I want to shape it myself. I did have coaching friends, Lisa Boyer was a coaching friend for me. The first two years I ran everything by her because she was a really good friend of mine and I valued her thought process. She wasn’t telling me what to do, she was just kind of guiding me. Once I figured out I need someone like her, I started recruiting her from the WNBA. I was sharpening my recruiting skills on her, because when you come into this business, you need people who have your back.

Lindsay decided to do this because she wants to coach and make her mark on young people. I hope I can be that person for her. We’ve made it an easy task to do because we were organized and we had all the right people in the right places guiding me the six years I did both


With so much of the offseason spent recruiting, how did you find time to recruit while playing?

Staley: It becomes fairly simple when you’re able to prioritize. Your day has to be incredibly organized. Once you get into a groove and a routine it’s easy. ‘I’ve got to call X, Y, Z.’ half the time they’re not home anyway or won’t answer the phone. If you have three phone calls to make, you’ve got to add six on the list because somebody’s not going to be available to you.

I think it’s really important that you have somebody back at the office that’s reminding you of what you need to do. When you’re playing, things come upon throughout your day. ‘Hey come visit a community center here. Can you talk to a sponsor at this time?’ And you automatically say yes without thinking, ‘Hey i’ve got these phone calls i can make.’ Knowing that if you’re calling a kid on the West Coast or the East Coast, you’re taking advantage of the hours that you have. Putting those West Coast calls a little later and not having them be the first call. Making sure people know the nuance of what it is to recruit.

It’s much easier to recruit now than it was 18 years ago where there wasn’t a whole lot of text messages. Now you can hit them up, text message them, see what time is a good time for them to call. The communication is a lot better and you have a lot more access to them.
 




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