KERRY KEATING (SANTA CLARA) GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH JERRY
WAINWRIGHT
(DEPAUL)
December
15, 2008
Jerry
Wainwright was one of the biggest influences on me, as a
young assistant coach. Today he remains a great mentor and
a great friend. Jerry has always done an outstanding job
wherever he has been, but beyond his abilities as a coach
he has always been a guy willing to help his fellow
coaches. I often hear analysts talk about the good guys in
coaching and how the profession needs more people like
them. Jerry Wainwright is one of them.
Prior to his arrival at DePaul University, Jerry had three
outstanding seasons at Richmond, which included the
program’s second-ever at-large berth in the NCAA
Tournament. In his eight seasons at UNC-Wilmington, the
Seahawks averaged 17 wins per season. That is a pretty
impressive number when you consider that UNCW did not have
the luxury of the proverbial “buy games.” Jerry led the
program to its’ first post-season berth, first 20-win
season (1998) and the first win in the NCAA Tournament, a
stunning 93-89 triumph over Southern California. He went
to the postseason four times in eight seasons (2 NCAA, 2
NIT).
I worked with Jerry at Wake Forest (1993-94). During his
time in Winston-Salem, Jerry helped Wake Forest collect a
school-record four straight NCAA Tournament berths and
register back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in
a decade. He also assisted in recruiting NBA draft picks
Chris King (Seattle), Rodney Rogers (Denver), Randolph
Childress (Detroit) and Tim Duncan (San Antonio).
Recently I had a chance to catch up with my good friend.
JERRY WAINWRIGHT: First let me tell you that when I heard
you had five questions for me I thought back to the day
when you arrived at Wake Forest to work for Coach Dave
Odom. The five questions you had for me that day were…
1. Where can I do my laundry?
2. Is there a good Italian restaurant in town?
3. Do the New York Yankees ever come to town?
4. Where can I meet a nice Italian girl?
5. Is the movie “A Bronx Tale” still playing in theatres
in Winston Salem?
I hope you have some better questions for me this time
around (laughing).
KERRY KEATING: It’s good to see you are ready to go coach.
What has been your biggest challenge either on or off the
court in coaching?
JERRY WAINWRIGHT: Keeping up with technology, both
personally and professionally. I remember the days before
cell phones and black berries when correspondences were
hand written and meetings took place face to face. Nothing
is more important than the human element and to some
degree technology has replaced that.
A long time ago I would stand online to use a pay phone.
And GPS, well that was just three letters from the
alphabet. We used flashlights, maps and sketchy directions
to find our way to a home visit. I remember one time
standing in the rain on a pay phone and being told, “Go as
far as you can and then make a right and then just keep
driving until you see lights.”
I fought it for years. I refused to have a computer in my
office when I was coaching at UNC-Wilmington. Today I am
seemingly always fifteen text-messages behind. It’s tough
to keep up with the changes in communication. There are
obviously a lot of benefits, but in some ways it has
really taken the human element out of the equation.
KERRY KEATING: Over the course of your Head Coaching
career, what has been something you have tweaked or
changed that you feel has helped your programs?
JERRY WAINWRIGHT: I have been very fortunate to be
involved with USA Basketball. It has given me an
opportunity to see how the game is played around the world
and it’s helped to change my approach to offense. Cutting
and spacing is such a key part of the international game
and it’s got me to put more emphasis on the dribble drive,
as opposed to screening.
Over the years the kids have gotten bigger and more
athletic, but the size of the court has not changed so
creating space is more important than ever before. Now
everybody has big guys that can shoot the basketball. The
Europeans were way ahead of us with this concept.
KERRY KEATING: Who would you say your closest friend in
coaching is?
JERRY WAINWRIGHT: Wow. That’s impossible to say. I have
been a part of so many eras. I could name guys, mentors to
me at the high school level, which even the most avid
followers of the game would not recognize. I have really
been privileged to see the entire scope, from the early
days of the 5-Star Camp to the international experiences I
have had. It would be hard to pin point one guy. It would
be tough to have a top 100 list. This will sound sappy to
a lot of guys, but my best friend is my wife, Debbie. She
deals with all the ups and downs of my profession and she
puts up with me. And Kerry, you know that’s not easy.
KERRY KEATING: I know you to be extremely organized as the
recruiting coordinator at Wake Forest, how much do you
feel your organizational skills have contributed to your
success in coaching?
JERRY WAINWRIGHT: With the new NCAA regulations, time
management is more important than ever. It wasn’t that
long ago that we had nine months of recruiting. Now we
have three. Back then I would enjoy going to a town,
meeting the people and spending time there. Today you
simply don’t have the time to do that, which is a shame.
It takes away the personal element.
I have had coaches tell me that that they don’t know their
teams. They know about their basketball abilities, but
they don’t know them as people and that is a shame. I have
tried very hard to make sure that I make the most of the
time that I have to afforded to me. That’s true both
professionally and personally. It’s about quality and not
quantity. One hour of quality time is a lot better than
four hours of time. One of my rules has always been that,
everyday, each player needs to stop by my office and talk
for a little while. Not about basketball, but about
anything that he may have going on his life.
As coaches, on the court we want what is best for the
team. Off the court we want what is best for the
individual. Unfortunately the time constraints do not lend
themselves to developing those relationships, with
players, their families and their communities. Would you
want to get married and then get to know your bride? It’s
too bad, but it’s taken the human element out of the game.
I know I took your question in a different direction.
KERRY KEATING: What do you feel besides recruiting, is the
most important thing in building a successful program?
JERRY WAINWRIGHT: Part of it we just touched on with
personal relationships. I think it’s also important, as a
coach, to build morale within the athletic department, the
faculty, the student body and the community. That sounds
like sales but it’s really about building good will. Not
everyone on campus is an athlete or a fan, but I want to
make them feel that what we are doing is part of the
educational process. Come Monday morning I want everyone
to be happy if we won or sad if we lost.
As you know Kerry, it’s easy to coach. It’s tough to run a
program.
Jerry
Wainwright was one of the biggest influences on me, as a
young assistant coach. Today he remains a great mentor and
a great friend. Jerry has always done an outstanding job
wherever he has been, but beyond his abilities as a coach
he has always been a guy willing to help his fellow
coaches. I often hear analysts talk about the good guys in
coaching and how the profession needs more people like
them. Jerry Wainwright is one of them. 