JOHN MARGARITIS: ON LOYALTY AND OTHER TRAITS FOR GOOD ASSSISTANTS

There are many components I love about the Assistant Coaching Symposium but one is the ability to meet and get to know new people in our profession. One person I greatly enjoyed was John Margaritis, the head coach at UC Riverside. After he did his presentation and I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with him and it doesn’t take long to see why he has been so successful. He’s a really genuine person that obviously cares about his student-athletes and our sport.

Probably the most important thing that I took from John was this very simple thought:

     “Loyalty above all except honor.”

It had a resounding impact on me because of elements of my past. Loyalty has always been extremely important to me and I had always found it to be easy until I had to choose whether to be loyal to someone or be loyal to my core values. I chose my core values but I have revisited it on several occasions. John’s simple message was very powerful.

Here is some more advice that John had for assistant coaches:

1. Have knowledge of your subject — be a student of the game.

2. Become a great teacher — affect behavior.

3. Stay on task — don’t confuse the issue.

4. Make coaching your #1 priority — minor input will not yield major outcome.

5. Learn to evaluate talent — know what you are looking for.

6. Be attune with today’s technology — stay current.

7. Get involved with the “student” — must care as much about their academics as you do their jump shot.

8. Be a head coach — take ownership of your responsibilities.