Coaches Declare Character Counts

(St. Louis, MO) – In spite of college basketball’s investigations and controversies, character counts to the college coaches in the state of Missouri. At the first Monsanto Family YMCA Coaches Luncheon the coaches from Missouri, Saint Louis U, Missouri State, Southeast Missouri and UMKC each described the valuable values they follow.

The luncheon was hosted by YMCA director and  former Evansville and Missouri Valley Conference star Marcus Wilson. While Wilson acknowledged respect for all religions, he began the gathering by reminding attendees that the C in YMCA stood for ‘Christian’ and opened the meeting in prayer.

Missouri’s Cuonzo Martin talked about holding a fathering role in players’ lives. Southeast Missouri’s Rick Ray told coaches, media members and fans that the Redhawks’ number one rule, was to ‘tell the truth.’ It was UMKC’s Kareem Richardson who said that recruiting players with character is one of his highest priorities.

Two Fords

Both Travis Ford (Saint Louis U) and Dana Ford (Missouri State) discussed the value of a personal faith guiding their days and leading other men. SLU’s Ford is in his third year in St. Louis and has designs on winning the Atlantic 10 Conference title. MSU’s Ford is in his first year in Springfield after three at Tennessee State.

Both Fords believe character counts. Travis has implemented a ‘Team Blue’ mentality at SLU where players consistently speak of the team in terms of ‘family’ and a brotherhood. Dana wants to promote an atmosphere of integrity and honesty.

The coaches gathered on the eve of fall workouts and Missouri State’s Ford says supporting events like the St. Louis-based YMCA is an important opportunity to ‘give back’.

 

 

Wilson, one of Evansville’s all-time greats has become the director of the north St. Louis County YMCA. His goal in gathering Missouri’s D1 coaches together was to raise money, YMCA awareness and to bring a diverse community together.

Wilson was a two-time All-MVC performer and scored 2,053 collegiate points. He led the Purple Aces to a Valley championship while being named the Larry Bird – Player of the Year Award winner. After an eleven-year pro playing career he worked in the corporate world. Wilson was an assistant coach at SLU under Jim Crews.

Missouri State Connection

Martin coached at Dana Ford’s current location in Springfield, Missouri. He and Ford share a deep commitment to their players and to a personal faith in God. Martin consistently talks about his commitment to the long-term welfare of his players.

Martin compares love and discipline while Ford says the rigors of coaching only deepen his commitment to a prayer life and a deeper trust in God.

 

 

 

Character Counts

Ford has been strongly influenced by an organization called ‘Nations of Coaches’. It is an organization that provides ‘character coaches’ to college basketball programs. Ford says he owes a lot of his success to having one of those coaches on his staff.

 

 

Richardson strives for excellence on and off the court. He preaches to his team about doing the next right thing in every situation. He and SEMO’s Ray both worked under former Indiana State coach Royce Waltman. Richardson’s firs priority is the welfare of his players. He quotes Waltman who used to say ‘recruit players you’ll enjoy losing with.’

His acronym for coaching is CAT. Character, Academics and Talent. Placing ‘character’ at the front is critical for the UMKC mentor.

Ray says his most recent hire was assistant coach Keith Pickens.  He hired Pickens on the character reference of a former coach’s wife. She said Pickens had the highest character of anyone she knew.

Praying Coaches

If character counts, then where do those coaches find character? At least two of them talked about prayer. Martin and Travis Ford both discussed the need of daily times of prayer.

 

 

Four of the five coaches and Wilson have Missouri Valley connections. All five coaches referenced parents and former coaches as those that have shaped their values and vision for coaching.

Character counts for Kareem Richardson, Rick Ray, Dana Ford, Travis Ford and Cuonzo Martin.

Do Good