Beyond the Box Score Podcast

Coach Miles Lester shares his journey from growing up in Kansas to becoming a PWO who earned a scholarship at Rice before transferring as a PWO at Wake Forest who earned a scholarship during his senior year - and now is currently a Graduate Assistant for Coach Kelvin Sampson's Houston Cougars. Lester moved to Wilbraham, Massachusetts in high school where he was a stand out basketball player an...

Coach Molly Bachand shares her journey from growing up in Fairway, Kansas to becoming a Director of Basketball Operations for a NCAA Division I men's basketball program. She got her first experience working the Roy Williams Camp at Kansas while still in high school and eventually became a Student Manager while at Kansas under Coach Bill Self. After graduating she accepted a position at-then Bi...

Coach Ashley Howard shares his journey from growing up outside of Philadelphia to eventually being the Head Coach at Drexel from 2018 until 2022. Ashley was recruited to Drexel and played basketball until a heart condition wouldn't allow him to continue his playing career, he then transitioned into a Student Assistant. In 2004 Dr. John Giannini hired him to be an Assistant Coach on his coaching st...

Coach Ivan Thomas shares his journey from growing up in Norfolk, Virginia to becoming a highly successful high school basketball coach, and coaching at Providence College under Coach Ed Cooley. Thomas graduated from Norview High School and then went on to earn his Bachelor's Degree from VCU. He moved to Illinois and served as an Assistant Coach at Schaumburg High School where he aided their state...

Joel Justus shares his journey from growing up in North Carolina to becoming one of the most heralded Assistant Coaches in the nation. After growing up around college athletics, Joel went on to play college basketball at UNC Wilmington. He helped the Seahawks capture two Colonial Athletic Association titles, make three postseason appearances (NIT in 2001 and NCAA in 2002 and 2003) and was team cap...

Coach Will Jones shares his journey from growing up in Moncks Corner, South Carolina to being a Head Coach at the NCAA Division I level. After playing college basketball at South Carolina State he accepted a Graduate Assistant position at Tennessee State.  After earning his Master's Degree from Tennessee State, he accepted an Assistant Coach position at Lemoyne-Owen College during the 2005-06...

Coach Jordan Surenkamp shares his journey from growing up in the Hoosier state and playing NCAA Division III basketball to becoming the Head Coach of the Greensboro Swarm. After graduating from Wabash he served as a Graduate Assistant at South Alabama before being hired full-time as their Director of Basketball Operations. He was hired by the Long Island Nets in 2017 and later went on to join the...

Coach Jeff Strohm shares his journey from growing up in Marshall Illinois to becoming a highly successful men's basketball at the NCAA Division I level. After coaching two seasons at the high school level he spent the next six seasons at Northern Illinois. From there he landed an Assistant Coach position at Utah under the legendary Coach Rick Majerus. They helped transform Utah into a nation power...

Coach TJ Ryan shares his journey from growing up the son of a college coach who has made a name for himself as the Director of Scouting at Texas A&M under Coach Buzz Williams. TJ played one season at Franklin College in Indiana before deciding to transition to a Student Assistant. TJ has worked numerous camps across the country including Butler, Liberty, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Xavier (...

Coach Ryan Kardok shares his journey from growing up in Florida, playing JUCO then continuing his playing career at South Florida to eventually becoming the Director of Player Development for his alma mater. Kardok played at Broward Community College before transferring to South Florida. He became a Graduate Assistant at the University of Miami from 2013 to 2015 under Naismith Coach of the Year Ji...

Coach Joshua Heyliger shares his journey from being born in Delaware, moving to New York, and eventually becoming an Assistant Coach at Davidson College. After moving to New York at a young age he attended boarding school at The Hill School in Pennsylvania prior to attending Stonehill College, he was a four year letter winner and a member of team that reached the NCAA Division II Elite Eight durin...

Coach Bryan Bender shares his journey from growing up in Wisconsin to becoming the Head Coach at Ellsworth CC. He was a Student Manager under Tubby Smith at Minnesota and eventually worked his way up to the Video Coordinator before entering the JUCO ranks at Missouri State University-West Plains. After the season at West Plains he moved onto Boone, NC to be the Director of Basketball Operations at...

Coach Michael Fly shares his journey from growing up in Kentucky to becoming a NCAA Division I Head Coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. He got his first coaching experience under the living legend that is Happy Osbourne at Georgetown College during his undergraduate years at the University of Kentucky. From Georgetown College he moved onto the Charlotte Bobcats (now Charlotte Hornets) and work...

Coach Laura Harper shares her journey from growing up in Elkins Park, PA to becoming a Head Coach at the NCAA DI level. She led her high school team to a state championship as a freshman and then went on to lead Maryland to a NCAA National Championship in 2006 as well, she eventually was drafted eighth in the first round of the WNBA Draft and played professionally until 2013. After her playin...

Coach Jonas Hayes shares his journey from growing up in Atlanta and going to high school with TI to becoming a D1 Head Coach at Georgia State. Him and his twin brother [Jarvis] attended Western Carolina during their freshman season before transferring to the University of Georgia to play for the Bulldogs in their home state. Jarvis went on to play in the NBA and Jonas began his coaching career as...

Coach Alex Church shares his journey from growing up in Hedgesville, WV to coaching at Marshall and UAB. After playing for his father [Kelly Church] at Hedgesville High School, he became a Student Manager at Marshall University where he helped them advance to the NCAA Tournament - where they went on to upset Wichita State before falling to West Virginia in the Round of 32. Coach Church accepted a...

Coach Bob Williams talks about growing up in New York and being the son of a highly successful coach. He played for his father and then transferred to Ithaca College and after playing his junior season decided to transition into coaching. He served as a Student Assistant Coach at Ithaca and after graduating he was named the Head Coach at Indian River High School in New York prior to being hired as...

Coach Patrick Crarey shares his journey from growing up in the DMV to becoming a successful college basketball career who is currently the Head Coach at St. Thomas University (NAIA). After playing at Takoma Academy he went on to be a student athlete at La Sierra University in Riverside, California. He would eventually return to serve as the Head Coach at Takoma Academy before being named the Head...

Coach Carter Heston shares his journey from growing up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin to becoming the youngest Assistant Coach in the NCAA DI ranks. Coach Heston graduated from Alabama and quickly started his journey coaching at Texas A&M Texarkana (NAIA) and helped led them to the NAIA Tournament. He's worked with some high profile skills trainers before and after getting hired as the Director of Pl...

Coach Brian Johnson shares his journey from growing up in Annapolis to becoming a college basketball coach. After being one of the top players in the history of the University of Delaware he went on to start his coaching journey at nearby Goldey Beacom College (D2). After one season at GBC, Coach Johnson was hired at UMBC as their Director of Basketball Operations. He was promoted to Assistant Coa...

Coach Jamion Christian shares his journey from growing up in New Kent, Virginia to becoming a NCAA D1 Head Coach. He led his high school to an undefeated season culminating in a state championship before playing college basketball at Mount Saint Mary's under the late Jim Phelan. His senior year he played for Milan Brown, after graduating he started his coaching career at [then D3] Henry & Henr...

Coach John Thompson shares his journey from growing up in Durham, North Carolina to becoming a Hall of Famer who's won over 400 games at the college level. After finishing his playing career at UNC Greensboro he embarked on his coaching career. He's been the Head Coach at North Carolina Wesleyan since 1995 after previously serving as an Assistant Coach at St. Andrew's, St. Lawrence and Guilford Co...

Coach Travis Ponton shares his journey from growing up in Virginia to being the Head Coach at Bryn Athyn College. He shares how he got his start in coaching and how he landed his first college job. Coach Ponton has coach at the high school level as well as at the NCAA D1, D3 and NAIA levels. In addition to coaching, he's been involved with Blue Star for a number of years as well. The 2018 WBCA 30-...

Coach Austin Kidd shares his journey from growing up in Livermore, Kentucky to coaching at the NCAA D1 level. After growing up a Kentucky Wildcats fan, Austin attended UK and rather than being a manager he served as a Volunteer Coach at Transylvania University.  Once he finished up at Transylvania he landed a Graduate Assistant position at Kentucky under John Calipari. As a Graduate Assistant...

Coach Dennis Harrington shares his journey from growing up in New Jersey to becoming a college basketball coach at DePauw University. Upon graduating from Marquette University he coached at Southern Regional School District in Manahawkin, New Jersey before moving to Florida to serve as the Recruiting Coordinator and Operations Manager - and an Assistant Boys Varsity Coach, JV Head Coach and Skill...