I was 15 years old playing varsity basketball for Eddie Talley at Wilson Hall when I decided I wanted to become a teacher and a coach. The "teacher" part came as a bit of a shock to some of my friends as school wasn't something I tried very hard at. I had endured the death of my best friend two years prior, was LOVING playing basketball for Coach Talley, realizing that I had a gift for remember X's and O's, and I decided that I wanted to be there for kids in the future just like coaches had been there for me in a very difficult and dark time.
I felt in alignment when I dreamed of being a teacher and a coach. I didn't know what "alignment" meant back then, but I knew it felt true for me when I dreamt of being on the sidelines and in the front of a classroom.
So, I did what any dreamer that had clarity would do when they went to college: I majored in Marketing and Management. (insert record scratch sound effect here) That's right. I studied in the School of Business at USC after I decided that those around me were right: get a general degree just incase I don't know what I want to do when I'm done with school. Sounds great, right? The only problem is that I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Through working with the Men's Basketball team at USC, working camps and just being around basketball in general, my clarity had never been higher about wanting to do what I had been so clear about as a 15 year old.
Thankfully, I heard that Calhoun Academy needed a girls basketball coach. I spoke with the AD, Adam Jarecki, and also the principal, Milly McLaughlin. They wanted me, and I was sold! And, they were going to pay me $14,000 a year to coach JV and Varsity Volleyball (a sport I had never played), JV and V Girls Basketball, and Boys Golf. I couldn't believe it! It was my dream setup and more money than I had ever heard of. For two years I poured my heart, soul, body.....all of me into those kids and that community. What a journey it was. We were truly a "family." (only those girls that played for me will really get the joke behind those quotation marks)
I love it so much that I decided I needed to go and get certified to teach. And to do that, I found a Master's program at USC that ended up being another DREAM for me. Between the years of 2004-2006 I was able to get my Master's of Arts in Teaching Business Education, build some of the best relationships of my life and two NIT rings with Men's Basketball at USC, this time as a Graduate Assistant.
It was time to search for a job, and thanks to the power of relationships, I was able to learn about the JV Boys Basketball job being open at Ridge View High School. I had worked with John Combs during my manager days with USC and he was building a program at Ridge View. I accepted the JV Boys job after a tough as nails interview with David Gordon (that's serious....not a joke.....hardest interview of my life and one that I felt like I completely blew). During that interview I also agreed to become the Boys Cross Country coach at Ridge View along with the Career Prep Job Coach for Ridge View and Blythewood High Schools. (side note: seeing all of this on paper is really interesting. Apparently I've never been one to just take "one" job. But, I digress.)
For 9 years I was living the dream AGAIN. I ended up coaching Boys Golf and Boys Track during those 9 years as well. And when I say I was as happy as I could have ever imagined I could be, I mean it.....and then some. I was busy all of the time, interacting with kids, interacting with parents, involved in athletics, traveling. It was incredible.
5 years ago David Gordon decided to step aside into an Assistant Principal's role. It was then that I needed to decide whether to try for the Athletic Director's job or not. I knew there was a large part of me that would love that job. And I also knew there was a large part of me that had just come off one of my favorite year's of coaching. If you're still reading this, I would be happy to tell you about the time I erroneously called out a player in front of the JV Basketball team AND also the time I learned the truth about "5 bad calls." Email me at brosefield@richland2.org and we can set up a time to talk about those transformational moments for me.
But, I decided to go for the job. And I got it. And very quickly I was asking myself, "what in the world were you THINKING?!!? You gave up your dream job to be busier than humanly possible, more tired than humanly possible all while NOT coaching?!?!?" You can tell that with thinking like that, it was a tough year for me.
It wasn't until probably halfway through year two as an AD that I realized that I had a great job, and I now had a chance to coach coaches. And by coaching coaches, my ideas on life and sports might reach more kids.
Let me be clear at this point in this post: As a young coach I wanted to WIN. I thought that was all there was to sports. X's, O's, hustle and WINS. I couldn't have been more wrong. It took several years, hundreds of special kids and many teams to teach me that sports is much more than wins and losses. Everyone loves a winner.....I get it. But, when I decided to be a coach at age 15, that had nothing to do with winning. It had everything to do with love. Loving kids. Helping kids. Letting kids know that they aren't alone. Letting them FEEL that someone had their back.
So it was in year two (I think) that we developed our Athletic Department Core Values (Ownership, Continuous Improvement, Truth, Unity and Service), our Mission Statement (#NextLevel - what are we doing to help our kids grow through the sport they are participating in at Ridge View) and our Athletic Department Vision (We want our kids to look back on their time with our Athletic Department as the most valuable time in their lives....we literally want them to look back and say, "my life was transformed through the experiences I had playing sports at Ridge View."). If we can, as coaches and administrators, make decisions through those filters then WOW can we have an impact. And the funny thing is, and I first realized this coaching Cross Country, that by truly living through the above filters, the winning takes care of itself. If we are truly trying to development young people on the field/court and off, the winning will happen. It's the most interesting paradox I've ever seen.
All of this takes me to year 5 in this job where I have truly come to an acceptance of what I get to do. I truly get excited because of the role I get to play in the development of our student-athletes, our coaches, our staff, administration, community and beyond.
Today I was recognized as the Region III-AAAA Athletic Director of the year. I'd like to thank Jason Powell for the nomination and the rest of the Region ADs for voting me for this honor. Those guys are first-class and I'll miss interacting with them on a weekly basis as I have for the past 5 years. It's been a real blast.
I realized several things this week while in Charleston for our annual AD's conference. The first is that I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have to be around kids, coaches, schools, athletics and community. I am also thankful to be a part of the fraternity/sorority of high school Athletic Directors. What a fun bunch they are. I really appreciate my connections with the ones that see the world as I do: that we're here to give kids a chance to grow.
I'm beginning to ramble. Maybe you'd say I started rambling at the conclusion of the title.
All I really want to say is this: I have come to an acceptance that I have a place in this world and that, once again, I have my dream job. Working with the kids, coaches, staff, administration, families, district, community and beyond at Ridge View has been an incredible experience for me. To be recognized today was nice, I'm not going to lie. But you know that's not why I'm doing this. I've never been more clear about my desire to love and accept others and to help them feel a little less alone than I am now. What else is there? The wins fade, but the experiences, the love.....they go on and on and on.
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