TicketsJune 21, 2011
By Shawn Sell
GoBEARCATS.com
UC head women's basketball coach Jamelle Elliott has attended her fair share of coaching clinics, but none quite like the recently completed Center for Coaching Excellence (CCE). The first-year program, formed as result of a partnership between the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and Columbia University, was an elite, invitation-only event that proved to be a great experience for the Bearcats' third-year coach.
The original idea for the program was to invite the "coach captain" of each Division I conference in the country, but when scheduling conflicts arose and slots for the event were left open, Elliott contacted WBCA president (and University of Connecticut head coach) Geno Auriemma and WBCA CEO Beth Bass about her interest. From there, she, along with 27 other head coaches from across the country, were locked in to the second of two three-day sessions.
"I had heard about it and contacted Geno and Beth to let them know that this was something I would be interested in if for some reason someone wasn't able to attend," she says. "As luck would have it, that was the case and I was able to go. Then, my SWA Robin Martin and AD Mike Thomas were kind enough to pay for my flight and hotel while I was out there."
One of the only pre-requisites for attending the CCE was to take the Myers-Briggs Personality Test which would allow the participants to get a better grasp of how their personality traits could benefit their coaching.
"I now understand my "type" and am self-aware of what they are and how I can use them to better communicate, manage, and interact with the people that I encounter every day," Elliott says of taking the Myers-Briggs.
Once on Columbia's campus, CCE participants discussed much more than the X's and O's reserved for most coaching clinics. Instead, attendees listened to talks from guest speakers and guest panels on topics such as ethics, compliance, working with administrators, conflict management and how to manage not only players, but assistant coaches as well. Some of the notable speakers during the sessions included Julie Roe Lach, vice president of enforcement, NCAA (compliance); Dick Baddour, athletics director, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Ceal Barry, associate athletics director, University of Colorado and Dr. Jon Steinbrecher, commissioner, Mid-American Conference (Administrator's Panel), Jim Delany, commissioner, Big Ten Conference (state of women's basketball); Jody Conradt, head women's basketball coach emerita, University of Texas; Marsha Sharp, head women's basketball coach emerita, Texas Tech; Doug Bruno, head women's basketball coach, DePaul University and Brian Giorgis, head women's basketball coach, Marist College (Ethics Panel).
"The conference was different than anything I've been to before because most that I had attended was based on a lot of X's and O's," Elliott says. "They touched a little on leadership and management styles that you can use to be a better coach, but this is the first one I have attended that was about self-assessment as well as specific ways to lead your players and run a program from a leadership position. With that being the case, it definitely separated itself from any other conference that I had attended."
Throughout the three days, Elliott and her coaching colleagues were asked to put together a "scouting report" on each of the speakers and activities. Near the conclusion, the coaches each developed a "game plan" as to how they would take what they had learned during the sessions back to their respective campuses. All in all, Elliott returned to Cincinnati with nothing but positive things to say about the three-day program.
"It was a great experience," she says. "I walked away from there not only with some leadership things that I can do differently for my players and staff, but also (with) the self-assessment and ways I can use my personality traits in order to better as a head coach. I was also in a room with 27 other head coaches and just to be able to pick their brains for three days was invaluable. I realized whether you are winning the conference championship or finishing last in the league, we are all dealing with the same issues and there are a lot of different ways to address them."