Episode 5 - Andrew Weber

-Wanted to get into coaching because of his father -Sat on the bench in 4th grade and had to wear sweater and khaki’s -Others he looked up to are Coach Steve Goers and Ryan Rebsom -Transferring from Ashford to Rockford -Becoming player, GA, Assistant, Interim and Head Coach -Original plan was to become high school math teacher and high school basketball coach -Had advantages in recruiting selling his playing experience and living the Rockford mission -Easy to stay at one place if everyones goals and vision lines up -Monday morning meeting at McDonald’s midway through 2014-15 season when he finds out he will be running the show -Whirlwind 48 hours in learning he was going to become the interim head coach -Was excited, nervous, made some tweaks on the floor and in the locker room -“It’s never what you expect it to be, in an opportunity like that” -Owes a lot to players for buying-in -Had a ton of players coming back after the interim season (only one senior on that previous roster) -First week in March got to interview and go through process to “officially” become the head coach -“When teams are full of upperclassmen, that is when teams are successful. Usually lends themselves to being conference champions.” -2015-16 was first winning season at Rockford since 2009-10 -Owes a lot to his staff with Taylor Stinson, Jordan Townsend, Charles Ruffing, Michael Murray and Nick Ramos -Liked hiring people who knew Rockford because they knew expectations and campus -Had positive disagreements in the office and went on the floor as a staff with shared vision -Proud of the guys under him who went on to other jobs -Surprised himself with decision to resign in summer of 2019 -Decision was based on family and being with his two daughters/wife -“You are going to spend a lot of time away from your family.” -Explains the difference between running his own college program to now being an assistant at the high school level -Biggest difference is not having to make the decisions -Lockport HS program “Uncommon” -Brings in speakers in different areas to talk to the players -Thinks there is a lot of benefits to high school players playing with the shot clock -Misses recruiting the most about not coaching college basketball because it is all about relationships -Energy on-campus -Would schedule a little differently if he got a head coaching job at the college level again -Been doing a lot of Zooms and clinics during the pandemic -Loves TWITTER! -Likes Kyle Brown’s tweets every single day! InTheGaps.com -CoachingU, Kevin Eastman and following other coaches on Twitter -Coaches are more accessible during the pandemic -E-mails coaches as well (better to ask than not) -Has three interests in life (family, friends and basketball) -48 hours after resigning, reached out to former players and coaches on staff about what they liked from him and what he didn’t like -Asked about suggestions for him moving forward -Thought it was the best way for him to grow and learn -“Got to ask tough questions if you want to get better.”