I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Hi, my name is Gary Winston, sometimes known as The Barracuda. I'll keep my background information short, because there really isn't much to tell.

I was born in Nevada, but was raised by my mother in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I don't know anything at all about my father. My mother eventually told me that I was the product of a brief fling in Las Vegas, and that was that.

Was a starting guard on my high school basketball team my last 2 years, and we advanced to the state finals my senior year. After high school went to juco for a couple of years and played for them, although we didn't amount to much. I transfered to State to finish my degree, and was fortunate enough to make it as a walk-on for the Aggies. I think I played a total of 10 minutes in my 2 years there, but I loved being part of it. Coach always called me a great practice player because I was tenacious on defense and didn't back down. He liked my basketball knowledge enough he gave me a low-level job on his staff for a year after I graduated. After that I coached a high school team for a few years, and even won the state small school championship. When the head coaching job at my old Juco opened up, I was fortunate enough to be hired there and we've made a decent showing in the NJCAA tournament the last 2 years.

A couple of months ago my old college coach called me up and told me there was an opening for a head coach at Gardner-Webb. He said the AD was an old friend of his, and he had dropped my name and they seemed interested. I thanked him and decided to take a chance. Apparently they liked the way my interview went, and after all there wasn't a lot of interest in coaching at a school in NC surrounded by giants like Duke and North Carolina, so they hired me. I'm not intimidated by the big guys, and I have no problem with doing whatever it takes to make inroads against the old boy network.

My coaching style has always been to try to find some shooters and get off shots early in the offense and then badger the opposition into do the same or risk coughing up the basketball so we can get back to offense. I have to admit coaching defense has never been my forte, but my top assistant here Kevin Culoko is a defensive prodigy and recently introduced me to something called the Amoeba defense that he thinks will work well with my system. I have no idea where he came up with this, but I like it, and with Kevin's help I think we'll try incorporating it here.

Our system is going to take some time for players to learn and buy into it, but looking over the kids I've inherited, I was pleased to see they are a surprisingly athletic bunch capable of running up and down the floor. We've also got a bunch of guys that can shoot...convincing them to take the shot may be the hard part because they've been used to playing a deliberate offense here. Our best players are a trio of talented post players. If I can find a few perimeter guys who aren't afraid to shoot, they may do reasonably well. Expectations are definitely low here. The AD is just hoping the team doesn't finish last in the conference again and maybe, just maybe can manage to put up double digit wins for once. We'll see.

We definitely are going to try to put together a soft schedule this season, because there is going to be a high learning curve for these guys with our system, and I don't need them getting blown out and discouraged every night while they try to learn it.

We have about $55,000 for our recruiting budget, and since we only have two graduating seniors, that's a surprisingly ample amount, especially since It's doubtful we'll be travelling outside the region this year in our efforts to recruit. I'll probably splurge and buy the Gold Report for the region to give us the best chance at catching a big fish in our little net.

Oh, by the way, in case you are wondering, most people assume I got my nickname The Barracuda because of the aggressive way I used to play defense, but in reality it was a name given to me by my mother as a small child because of the way I always chewed the crap out of my security blanket. I still have that raggedy old thing, and even took it with me to the NJCAA tournament last year for good luck. During once particularly intense game I resorted to chomping down on the blanket to keep from yelling at the officials. We wound up winning the game, so I'll probably drag that thing with me to every game I coach from now on, at least til it completely falls apart.

[Wayne23]

Loving it already.

[CoachC]

Recruiting in North Carolina is definitely going to be difficult. So far there have been exactly 3 kids who didn't hang up on me sometimes after saying "Gardner Who?" Only one of the kids that visited campus actually thought he might see himself playing here if nothing better comes up. We'll keep plugging away.

[CoachC]

July 17

Recruiting continues to be a bowl of ice cream with onions on top. Fewer kids hanging up on me, but not a lot of success either. Called one kid the other day and his mother answered the phone all excited. I hear her in the distance saying "Hurry boy! There's a guy from NC State on the phone for you! Says his name is Gardner Webb." sigh..lost that kid before I even had a chance to make a pitch. Even though there are kids that will talk to me, it's a lot harder to get them here to campus. I've had to spend money I can't afford to go see a few of their games out of state, just to let them know I'm serious. Did get a top 50 kid to come here last week and I was very hopeful! That balloon broke when the kid arrived on campus, looked around and said, "wait... this isn't Duke!"

[Wayne23]

Hilarious!

No, I'm Duke, send him my way. He might make walk on status.

[CoachC]

August 21

Fall semester began today. I've got no less than 7 kids on this team in imminent danger of becoming academically ineligible in the spring if things don't change. I'm not a stickler for academic greatness from my players, but I do need them to be able to change. I've instituted manditory study hall and have hired a grad student in English to monitor studies and to be a tutor. The kids really seem to like her and have started calling her Coach Vicky. I just hope she has some success. A mnd is a terrible thing to waste if you aren't playing basketball for me.

On the recruiting front, the list has become pretty short pretty fast. There is one kid on the list I really want, but landing him is going to be hard.

[CoachC]

Sept. 11
It's been been a busy couple of weeks traveling around visiting recruits. Have one recruit who has largely been overlooked that I think can help us. I get the feeling he may be willing to commit soon.

The AD did a great job helping me finalize our schedule. We have a good balance of home and road games against schools similar to what we will face in conference. We certainly won't get any RPI boost from the schedule, but that is the last thing I'm concerned with at the moment. Hopefully we'll be able to get a few wins and get these kids some confidence.

[CoachC]

Sept. 25

A month into the semester and "Coach Vicky" is doing wonders. Most of the kids are back on track academically, but there are still a few we need to push a bit harder.

[CoachC]

October 2

Great news. Announced to the press today (basically the student newspaper because nobody else cares...yet) the oral commitment of 6'10 286 lb. center Josh O'Conner a high school senior out of Goffstown, NH. He received some attention from bigger schools late but we were able to win out over Virginia Tech in the end. Take that ACC! He can run the floor VERY well for such a big man and he has a nice touch around the basket. He should fit into our system very nicely. Whether we'll be able to fill our other scholarship opening before spring remains uncertain.

Practice began to day as well. Eyes bulged when Kevin began going over the basics of the Amoeba defense. The kids seem excited about it and that's a start.

[CoachC]

November 6
Am very busy and anxious preparing for our first exhibition game of the season vs Grand Valley State. Don't know much about them, I've had more than enough on my plate just trying to get to know OUR team!

Through the scouting service I see that Josh O'Connor's stock continues to rise. My staff did a great job finding him and recommending him to me. He has the potential to be a very good player for us in the future.