The Modest Roots of the Final Four Coaches

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The men’s Final Four will be played in front of more than 75,000 fans in Arizona on Saturday — but the seeds of the coaches’ success were sown in relative anonymity roughly a decade ago.

Before guiding their respective programs to the pinnacle of college basketball, UConn’s Dan Hurley, North Carolina State’s Kevin Keatts and Alabama’s Nate Oats were developing their coaching philosophies and convictions at the high school level.

Hurley coached St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey for nine seasons, Keatts was at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia for 12 years, and Oats was at Romulus High School outside of Detroit for 11.

The modest roots of the Final Four coaches have some key lessons for leaders:

1. There are talented people working at all levels

We often look for traditional pedigrees when making hires and believe those we appoint to positions should have impressive degrees or experience under top leaders in their field.

But the truth is that there are capable people at all levels with boundless potential who often just need the right opportunity to prove themselves.

Don’t typecast simply because someone has perhaps taken the road less traveled.

2. Don’t be scared off by an untraditional past

We often look at lower-level experience as a detriment when appointing people to various positions. But often, the blue-collar experiences of the past have provided some sort of edge that will serve them in the long term.

We may want to rethink how we view outliers on a resume and view humble roots as a positive rather than a negative.

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3. The grunt work of today can serve us long term

Hurley, Keatts and Oats have at one point or another likely fundraised, driven a bus, washed uniforms or performed some other menial task they certainly no longer need to.

But those chores likely made them more organized, more disciplined and a bit grittier.

The jobs we currently perform may be a nuisance, but they could also be sharpening different skills and adding layers of resolve, thus setting us up for greater success down the road.

When America watches the Final Four this weekend, it’ll see the glitz and glamour of college basketball on the sport’s biggest stage.

But the pomp and pageantry of the present for these coaches likely wouldn’t be possible without the grit and grind of the past — and that wasn’t forged in front of a national audience.  

It was cultivated a decade ago in obscurity — high school coaches working tirelessly with no one else looking on.  

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