Career Advice

From a guy who's rarely been employed

With the NCAA men’s season getting toward the end, I’ll have some more Triangle analysis coming your way. But first, something completely different.

I got a recent question from a reader:

This one is more career-oriented but wanted to hear your advice on what you would do if you were in my shoes. I currently coach at [a college] on a volunteer basis (though I'm listed as an assistant coach and a full part of the staff), I just don't get paid, along with coaching club and a day job. I love the gig at [the school], it's a great program and I love working with the athletes and everyone on staff. I do Volleystation/technical coordinator type tasks along with coaching the setters. I think I've realized in the last year or so that I want to pursue coaching full-time at some point, since it's something that I feel extremely passionate about. But that would probably have to be a gig at the d1 level for me to make that jump.

[some other details] It was a tough decision but I think the biggest piece is that I still want to coach athletes directly and not be pigeon-holed into the tech coordinator role. I think connecting with athletes is one of the most fulfilling aspects of coaching personally. If you were in my shoes, what would you be doing to a) prepare yourself for to succeed in an assistant position at the d1 level and b) somehow land a d1 assistant job?

Big question!

It was also relevant since I was at the recent Big South Qualifier in Atlanta catching up with friends in the club and college coaching worlds. In addition to growing a mustache, the other sign I must be approaching 40 is seeing former players who are now experienced coaches in their own right.

When I was at USA, I got questions like these a fair amount. There was also a tinge of, “how the heck did you pull that off?” Remember, I’m just a guy from Delaware. But also: I never had a plan to be involved with the NT. I didn’t network my way up strategically. I started off shagging balls and one thing led to another. But that also leads me to my main, perhaps not-so-helpful advice:

Just do what you enjoy and what makes you a better coach.

I am positive that this advice will not lead to income maximization. It will probably not build your resume or move you into a 4-bedroom house sooner. I’m still waiting on that second one myself. However, it’s what I’ve always done, and I can’t give advice that I haven’t followed myself.

Do What You Love But Call It Work

I dropped out of my PhD track to coach club volleyball. I’ve never regretted it. Who would want to work in financial engineering in 2009 anyway? The only problem was getting paid. The younger you are, the less this matters. It’s probably easier for men as well. It doesn’t need to be, but there’s a standard of living that young women are probably accustomed to. When I met my wife, my day-to-day diet consisted mostly of “meat bowl”. Alright, alright I’ll share the recipe:

1 pound pasta (cooked, I’m not a total savage)
1 jar sauce
1 pound ground beef (cooked!)

Cook it at night. Eat half for dinner. Put the other half into a container and eat the rest for breakfast. Skip lunch. Make another meat bowl at night.

In 2010, this cost about $5 per day.

When I was coaching at Pepp, I used to drop the pasta during the day and just eat the meat and sauce in a bowl. (aka true meat bowl) One time eating lunch the conversation went:

Dave: “Hey buddy, what you eating?”
Me: “Chili”
Dave: (peering at my bowl) “It… kind of looks like spaghetti and meat sauce, without the spaghetti.”
Me: “It’s Italian Chili”

The point is, if you eliminate what doesn’t really matter to you, you’d be surprised how easy it is to make a living coaching.

Some coaches have the opposite problem. This is especially true for coaches who have been in the club world for a while, but who have supported themselves with a day job. Sometimes they want to go full-time into coaching, whether it’s club or by getting into an entry-level college position, etc. The problem is, that if you’re 35 years old, that day job is almost certainly paying more than you’ll make as a volleyball coach- maybe ever. If you have a family, it gets even trickier.

But if you’re young? Just coach as much as you can and figure out a way to make the living situation work.

Love What You Do

The other piece to the puzzle is to enjoy what you do. This weekend, I got asked by more than one person, “so uh… why are you coaching club now?” I also got asked why I was coaching in small-town North Carolina rather than at some more famous mega-club. To answer that, let’s talk about David Lee Roth.

David Lee Roth was the first singer of Van Halen. He was super cool and famous and an incredibly talented musician. A real magnetic personality. Kind of the opposite of me. But there’s a quote (possibly apocryphal, because now I can’t find it) attributed to him, as his outsized ego was breaking up the band, that’s something like:

I don’t act this way because I’m the front man of Van Halen. I’m the front man of Van Halen because I act this way.

If it sounds like I’m comparing myself to somebody way more famous and wealthier than I’ll ever be, I’m not. But I have been fortunate enough to be in the gym with some of the world’s best volleyball players. I’m fortunate to be in a position where I’ve turned down 3 or 4 jobs in the past year that 23 year-old me would have killed to have. But the reason my coaching skills developed to that point is because I enjoy coaching club in small-town North Carolina.

Because I also liked coaching pros in Korea.
Because I also like coaching beach volleyball.
Because I also like doing stats and data.
Because I like coaching in the goofy AU pro format.
Because I also like doing USA HP stuff.
Because I also like working GMS camps.
Because I also like coaching middle schoolers and even younger players.
Because I also liked coaching pro and college guys.

Because… I like volleyball. I like coaching volleyball. I like doing other volleyball-related stuff that’s not coaching.

Happiness researchers have a concept called the Hedonic Treadmill. Let’s say you were happy driving an old Honda CRV with 200k miles on it. Your happiness driving that car was an 8/10. One day you take a coaching job in Korea that pays a lot of money. After returning home, you buy a nice new 4Runner with the off-road package that you can drive on the beach. You feel like a cool guy. Your happiness driving that car is a 9/10 or even 10/10. For a while. And then after a while it’s just your regular car. You’re back to an 8/10.

Many coaches get on a coaching hedonic treadmill. You coach middle schoolers and are happy doing so. Then you get hired as the varsity coach at a high school. Now the middle school games seem so boring and slow. Then you go coach in college. Now the thought of coaching high school seems like a step backward for a big fancy college coach like yourself. Then you get hired in the Big 10. You can’t imagine actually having the fly commercial to volleyball games or not having an army of student managers and DOVOs to attend to your every wishes. How do these plebs do it?

I exaggerate. A little.

Not every coach gets on this treadmill, but some do. You start out coaching because you love just getting in the gym and getting players better. Figuring out how to win matches. The stuff we all love. So do what you love, but also make sure to love what you do.

Networking

The best way to network is to get better at coaching. When I didn’t know what I was doing, I didn’t know anybody. When I started getting better at coaching, I started meeting other coaches who knew what they were doing. Actually, I probably met those people before but didn’t make an impact on them and they didn’t make an impact on me. At a certain point, I knew some stuff. Then, when I talked to big famous coaches, they could tell I know a little about what I was talking about. That made them want to talk to me more. Or at least be bothered by me less.

I got to a point in my coaching career where the only way to improve was to seek opportunities that involved travel or getting experience at different levels. When you’re ready for those opportunities, it’s amazing how they appear. Just get better as a coach. It’s also kind of amazing how little it matters. I got the chance to be part of a World Championship team. It’s one of my best memories. While everybody was celebrating, the thing that struck me most was how similar it was to my most memorable moments coaching club, high school, or middle school volleyball.

Actually, there’s probably better ways to network, but I don’t know them. Ask somebody else about that.

Also, read this book.