With March Madness approaching, felt it was impt to touch on a story at the intersection of bball & MH. Enter Providence head coach, Ed Cooley.
3+ yrs ago, I’d not heard of Cooley. I’d been working in pro sports before my crash, not paying attn to college. Cooley was previously the head coach of Fairfield University, after a stint as an assistant at BC. He’d then began as head coach of Providence in 2011, a college in the backyard of the difficult neighborhood he’d grown up in.
In 2018, on our College Campus Tour, Providence would be one of the stops. For this particular visit, @jddowd from the Devils (who looks & has a bkgrnd similar to most students on campus) & boxer @erickellylife (who looks very diff than most on campus) were part of our team. That was coordinated purposely, the context being: we all face challenges, no matter where we’re from/what we look like.
After a nt time session w all the athletes, we were set to meet w all the coaches & ADs the next day- separate session.
I led most of the session talking abt the power of vulnerability as leaders & how we get our athletes to open up. We sat in round table format – the head coaches of each program at the tables, the ADs behind them, standing.
Abt 30 min into the talk- Jim to my left, Eric to my right…a room full of a pretty homogenous group of coaches as well, we’d each shared a little of our own personal stories of challenges.
Ed Cooley (looking diff than just abt every coach there), after Jim spoke, pounded his right hand, in a fist, on the table & got everyone’s attn! He said: “I grew up in poverty not far from here. Had to sleep on the coach at a neighbor’s house many stretches bc I didn’t know where my next meal would come from at my own home. My dad wasn’t arnd much & my mom struggled to make ends meet. I HAVE to share that w the kids I recruit. I HAVE to look in their parent’s eyes & tell them that. They need to know where I came from if we’re to work TOGETHER. That’s best for their health, our relationship & their performance.”
No surprise Cooley won the school’s first ever Big East title this yr & has them as a 4 seed in the Tournament!
