The role of experience and the "sicko" trait in coaching success (2024)

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, since JJ Redick was hired to lead the Los Angeles Lakers with no real coaching resume, just a year-plus of coaching his son Knox’s travel team based out of Brooklyn. After a 15-year professional playing career and so much success in college at Duke (where I vehemently disliked him), he’s now getting the chance to lead one of most storied NBA franchises ever... and coach former Mizzou Tigers Sean East II and Mohammed Diarra. So, what makes JJ “qualified?” A few recent pieces at The Ringer (a great website) talked about this, and essentially said it was the skillset he showed in the media, both working as an NBA analyst and in the podcasting space for both the Old Man and the Three and Mind the Game — IMHO, VERY good podcasts — that helped get him the role and showed his immense potential.

“I am a believer in JJ Redick’s potential as a head coach. There are few people I’ve met who are as meticulous as he is in his attention to detail,” Kevin O’Connor writes. “He is an obsessive worker. And he is fueled by competition, which is why he left a cozy media job for the pressure of coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. But no matter how much X’s-and-O’s intelligence he displays hosting a podcast or broadcasting a game, being a good coach is about implementing it all on the fly, incorporating lineups and adjustments all while managing egos and developing players.”

A quick backstory— my brother, Alex, who now works in the finance sector trading and doing all this Beautiful Mind type of sh*t that I cannot even pretend to comprehend— used to be a swim coach. But first, he was a mediocre swimmer. That’s no shade, I promise; he will tell you he was not good. And so, he got into coaching. He coached club swimming (mostly high-level age-groupers) in St. Louis, Charlotte, Raleigh, Portland, Austin and Clearwater. He was awarded a prestigious year-long fellowship from the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) in 2001. The coolest stop of all the stops on his whirlwind coaching tour that started when he was just a teen was working as a volunteer coach at the University of Texas at Austin alongside the certified swimming G.O.A.T., Eddie Reese. When I was in the coaching ranks myself — I was good at my job, but I was no Alex Steger, that’s for damn sure— I wanted to be just like him. Volunteering at Texas was, however, the only college job by brother ever got. He interviewed for countless positions around the country at D1 schools but was passed over again and again. Why? He had perhaps the best reference in all of swimming. Not enough relevant coaching experience, though. He didn’t get the benefit of the doubt that Redick did.

What we have here is two ends of the spectrum— 1) a hyper-talented former college and professional player in JJ Redick, who, while he has basically no coaching experience, clearly knows and understands and breathes the game of basketball at a visceral level and has the respect of the League; and 2) a lower-level athlete in my brother who had a ton of higher level coaching experience and a year-plus in the college ranks as an assistant, but also understood and breathed swimming and very well-regarded. It cannot be argued that #2 is qualified and would have been a tremendous coach at the next level (no bias, I swear). As for #1, well, we’ll just have to see.

Larissa Anderson— Softball— Career record 347-188-1 — Mizzou Record 217-115 (7th season)

Playing Career: Gannon University (4 years, DII Regional All-American in 1997)
Coaching Career: Assistant Coach, Gannon University (1998) | Assistant Coach, LIU (1999-2000); Assistant & Assoc. Head Coach, Hofstra (2002-14) | Head Coach, Hofstra (2015-18)
Other Accolades/Honors: NFCA President (2022-pres) | NFCA Board of Directors (2023-26) | Chair of NFCA Ethics Committee (2009-13) | Part of 8 NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year award winners (7 as asst or assoc. HC, one as HC)
Random Facts: Married to Patrick Anderson, who manages the St. Louis Cardinals’ Class A affiliate in Peoria, Ill. | Per a 2019 PowerMizzou interview, Anderson chose to go to school at DII Gannon in Erie, Penn. because it had an automatic Master’s program in Physical Therapy that would allow her to play ball all four years while getting her degree | Besides being a very good softball player, she also was a competitive skier through high school and went to school in the mornings so she could head to the mountain to train in the afternoons
Sicko Status: - I wafted back and forth on this one before deciding that ultimately, yes, she is a sicko. She hired a performance coach for herself. And not much more than 24 hours goes by without a LA nugget of wisdom hitting my twitter notifications. There’s also this, from the aforementioned PM interview:

New Yorkers are very, very passionate and we’re urgent in everything we do. People just think it’s rude, but we’re always on a mission. There’s times I’ve said to my team when we need to be a little bit more urgent, I’ve said, “you need to pretend you’re a New Yorker right now. Let’s go. We need a little urgent in our giddy-up.’ Just because everything is a little bit more laid back than my mentality sometimes.”

Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Eliah Drinkwitz—Football— Career record 40-22 — Mizzou Record 28-21 (5th season)

Playing Career: All-Conference and All-State selection at Alma High School
Coaching Career: Assistant Coach, Alma HS (2005) | Offensive Coordinator, Springdale HS (2006-09) | Assistant Coach, Auburn (2010-11) | Assistant Coach, Arkansas State (2012-13) | Assistant Coach, Boise State (2014-15) | Assistant Coach, NC State (2016-18) | Head Coach, Appalachian State (2019)
Other Accolades/Honors: 2023 AP & Coaches SEC Coach of the Year | Eddie Robinson Award finalist (2019) | North State Journal NC Coach of the Year (2019) | Broyles Award nominee (2018)
Random Facts: Drink was the student body president at Arkansas Tech
Sicko status: HA! There is no doubt; Eli Drinkwitz screams sicko.
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- NO | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- NO

Dennis Gates— Men’s Hoops— Career record 83-74 — Mizzou Record 33-24 (3rd season)

Playing Career: California (1998-02, 2x First Team All-Academic)
Coaching Career: GA, Marquette (2003-04) | GA, Florida State (2004-05) | Assistant Coach, Cal (2005-07) | Assistant Coach, N. Illinois (2007-09) | Assistant Coach, Nevada (2009-11), Assistant Coach, FSU (2011-19) | Head Coach, Cleveland State (2019-22)
Other Accolades/Honors: USA Today SEC Coach of the Year 2022 | Horizon League Coach of the Year (2020, 2021)
Sicko status: One billion percent; I’m not even sure an explanation is warranted. He is a basketball psycho, and I LOVE it.
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Stefanie Golan— Soccer— Career record 142-109-41 — Mizzou Record 17-27-7 (4th season)

Playing Career: Duke (1997-2001)
Coaching Career: Head Coach, Minnesota (2012-20, 4 NCAA Tourneys, Big Ten title, two Big Ten Tournament championships, 8 winning seasons) | Head Coach, Army West Point (2009-11) | Assistant Coach & Assoc. Head Coach, Army (2007-08) | Assistant Coach, Pitt | Assistant Coach, Evansville
Other Accolades: Big Ten Coach of the Year (2016)
Random Facts: In the 2018 Big Ten tournament, Golan’s squad, a 7-seed, ran through the tournament without allowing a single goal | Earned her 100th career win against Utah State in Sept. 2017
Sicko Status: I feel like we, as Mizzou fans, just haven’t gotten to know Stefanie well enough to determine this about her, so I’m leaving this undetermined. She seems like just a super nice person.
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Andrew Grevers—Swimming & Diving—6th season as Head Coach

Playing Career: Northern Illinois University (three years, cut program senior year)
Coaching Career: Head Coach— NASA Wildcat Aquatics, based out of Northwestern (started as NU club coach, then age group assistant, then head coach) | Volunteer Assistant— Northwestern University (multiple years) | Assistant Coach, Mizzou (2010-19) | Associate Head Coach, Mizzou (2017-19) | Interim Head Coach, Mizzou (2019)
Random Facts: Grevers comes from a swim fam— Sister made Olympic trials and is a high school & club head coach, mom was a coach and made the Dutch Olympic training team, brother is former World Record holder and four-time Olympic medalist, Matt Grevers
Sicko Status: Andy is just a really nice guy (I used to work with his wife), and given his long coaching career, I’d say he probably is a sicko, but ultimately, it’s undetermined. We just don’t know him well enough to make this determination.
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES, but not at a collegiate level (his path reminds me a lot of my brother’s)

Brett Halter— Track & Field, Cross Country— 12th season as Head Coach

Playing Career: Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Division II)
Coaching Career: Assistant Coach at Mizzou (throws)- 16 seasons | Volunteer coach at Mizzou- 3-4 seasons
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: USTFCCCA Midwest Assistant Coach of the Year (2008) | USTFCCCA Mideast Region Throws Coach of the Year (2006) | USATF Level III Certified Throws Coach | IAAF Level V Certified: Master Coach- Throws | Author of multiple instructional booklets on throwing events
Sicko Status: After reading this 2019 Power Mizzou interview, I can say for sure Halter is definitely a sicko. He even wrote a book on throws! The man is obsessed and has such little ego that he knew that when he took over as head coach at Mizzou, it was not in his athletes’ best interests to continue to be the Throws Coach and that he had to find an assistant to take over (he still coaches javelin, FWIW).
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- technically, NO

Kerrick Jackson— Baseball— Career record 99-127 — Mizzou Record 23-32 (2nd season as Head Coach)

Playing Career: St. Louis Community College-Meramec (JUCO World Series, 1995) | Bethune-Cookman (first ever conference championship, NCAA Regional, 1996) | Nebraska (1997-99)
Coaching Career: Head Coach— Memphis (2023, 29 wins- most since 2017) Southern (2018-20, 9-win team to 32 wins, conference title, NCAA tournament | Assistant Coach— Mizzou (2011-15; SLCC-Meramec (2008); Nicholls State (2006-07); Jefferson College (04-05); Coffeyville Community College (2003); Emporia State (2002); Fairfield (2001) | Cape Cod League & New England Collegiate Baseball League
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: SWAC Coach of the Year (2019) | Midwest Area Scouting Supervisor for Washington Nationals (2008-10) | President of MLB Draft League (2020-22) | ABCA Board of Directors | ABCA Chair of Diversity in Baseball Committee (since 2018) | Player Agent, Boras Corporation (2016-17) LA Sports Writer Association Coach of the Year (2018) | Baseball America Trailblazer of the Year (2023) | fourth Black collegiate coach to guide in P5 program
Sicko Status: I’m going to go with yes, because he has such a focus on growing the game and increasing the diversity in baseball, which makes him a sicko in the best way. He’s also stuck with baseball at so many levels, trying out all sorts of different roles so he’s obsessed for sure.
Checklist: Collegiate player at both low and high major- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Glen Millican— Men’s Golf— Second season

Playing Career: Three-year letterwinner at UNM (1994-98, 7 top-10 finishes in 27 collegiate tournaments)
Coaching Career: Head Coach, University of New Mexico (22 years, 8 MW titles, 8 NCAA finals appearances) | Assistant Coach, UNM (1998-2001)
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: 5-time Mountain West Coach of the Year (2003, 2005, 2013-14, 2019 | 3-time GCAA Southwest Regional Coach of the Year (2003-05 | GCAA National Coach of the Year Award finalist (2013) | New Mexico’s all-time winningest head coach | two Regional crowns (2002, 2013) | Two-time UNM Hall of Honor Coach of the Year
Sicko status: While undetermined, it seems like he might be given his very long coaching career at UNM where he was very successful, which he then left to come to Missouri
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Robin Pingeton— Women’s Hoops—Career record 571-357 — Mizzou Record 236-200 (15th season)

Playing Career: St. Ambrose (all-time leading scorer- 2,502 points) | Three seasons Women’s Basketball Association (professional)
Coaching Career: Assistant Coach, St. Ambrose (1 season) | Head Coach, St. Ambrose (8 seasons, 1992-2000, 5 NAIA tournaments, two Elite 8 appearances) | Assistant Coach, Iowa State (2000-2003) | Head Coach, Illinois State (2005-10)
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year National Semifinalist (2017-18) | WBCA National Coach of the Year finalist (2017-18) | SEC Coach of the year (2016-17) MVC Coach of the Year (2006, 2009) | Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 6 Coach of Year (2009*10) |
Other Facts: One of 36 active Division-I head coaches with 500+ career wins (just 1 of 16 at the helm of a P5 program) | Led 45 All-Conference honoree, 9 All-Americans, 7 Academic All-Americans, 5 Conference POY | Sister is Lisa Porter (mom of Cierra, Bri, Michael & Jontay, all of whom played at Mizzou) | She worked alongside recently retired coaching Iowa coaching legend Lisa Bluder at St. Ambrose after playing under her | Pingeton would have played overseas if not for a major health issue with her mother | RP became a head coach at 23 (!!!) | She calls herself a bad loser, saying she wasn’t at 23 and she’s not now | Had lots of opportunities present itself when she was at IL State— UCLA, NW, Cincy, NC State, etc.
Sicko Status: On first glance, I’d say no, despite her long coaching career. She clearly loves coaching with all her heart, but with limited access to her and not having a big social media presence, it’s hard to tell how much she breathes basketball. But then I read this, which is true sicko behavior, and her career arc has been frankly, insane:

“Honestly, the moment I knew I wanted to be a coach was when the final horn sounded at the end of my senior season of basketball,” she told PowerMizzou in 2019. “I ended up sleeping in my jersey that night. I couldn’t even take it off, which I know is kind of disgusting, but basketball had been such a big part of my life, not only for the sport, but just for so many reasons, I couldn’t imagine not continuing to have that be a part of me. It was in my DNA.”

Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Brian Smith— Wrestling— Career record 328-124-5— Mizzou Record 326-116-4 (26th season)

Playing Career: two-time state champion in high school | four-year letterman at Michigan State (1986-90)
Coaching Career: HS head wrestling coach— Western High School (his alma mater, 1991-92) | Assistant Coach— Cornell (1992-97) | Head Coach— Syracuse (1997-98)
Other Accolades/Honors: Three-Time All-Big 10 wrestler | Big 12 Coach of the Coach | Two-time National Coach of the Year | Wrestling Commissioner for Show-Me State Games | NCAA Wrestling Championships Committee member| President of NWCA (2010-12)
Other Facts: Led 29 All-Americans, 9 Individual national champions | His dad was a high school football coach in upstate New York, and he wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a football coach from a very young age | appreciation post from Rock M’s Matthew Smith
Sicko Status: YES, definitely, and he’s built a whole team culture around creating new sickos
Checklist: Collegiate athlete— YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- NO

Dawn Sullivan—Volleyball—Career record 127-51 — Mizzou Record 18-13 (2nd season)

Playing Career: Kansas State (1996-99) | Grand Rapids Force (US Pro VB League)
Coaching Career: Assistant/Associate Head Coach, Iowa State (2005-18) | Head Coach, UNLV (2018-22)
Other Accolades/Honors: Mountain West Coach of the Year (2022) | Fastest coach in UNLV program history to reach 50 wins | Second Team All-American (1999) | AVCA All-American (1999) | All-Big 12 (1999) | Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame inductee (2016)
Other Facts: Totaled 1,611 kills and 1,258 digs, which rank as 3rd & 4th most in KSU history | One of only five KSU players to record 1K kills and 1K digs in a career
Sicko Status: Odds seem better than average, yes. She told Matthew in an interview after the season that she has the personality that is “All in, no matter what... I live to breathe everything volleyball.”
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Bianca Turati— Tennis— Mizzou Record 5-22 (2nd season)

Playing Career: ITA All-American in singles at University of Texas-Austin (2018, 2020) | no. 259 in WTA singles rankings, no. 382 in doubles | Former pro tennis player (2020-22) |
Coaching Career: Assistant Coach, Mizzou (2022) | Interim Head Coach, Mizzou (2023)
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: Spent three months ranked no. 1 in ITA women’s singles rankings (2018) | Big 12 Conference Player of the Year (2018) | Big 12 Freshman of the Year (2017) | Four-time All-Big 12 honors
Sicko status: She’s just steps into her coaching career, so I’m going to say no for now. We really don’t know anything about her. Even her bio was less filled in on MUTigers than anyone else.
Checklist: Collegiate athlete-YES | Extensive coaching experience prior to MU HC job- NO

Shannon Welker— Gymnastics— Career & Mizzou Record 87-79-1 (12th season)

Playing Career: Diving—1 year at Illinois-Chicago | 4 years Gymnastics at UIC | All-American (1996), team captain (3 years)
Coaching Career: Assistant Coach, IUC (1997) | Head Coach & Program Director, St. Louis Gymnastics Center (9 years, 1998-07) | | Assistant Coach, Bowling Green State (2008)| Assistant Coach, University of Michigan (2009-14)
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: UIC Athlete of the Year (1996) | University of Illinois Chicago Athletics Hall of Fame inductee (2005) | SEC Coach of the Year (2022)
Sicko Status: I actually talked to a friend in the industry about this, and based on this discussion, I’ve determined he’s a sicko. Shannon is an incredibly strategic thinker in everything he does, from training to lineups to recruiting. To be able to identify under-the-radar talent in the portal and what was described to me as finding “Ninja Level 10s” takes some sort of deep obsession with the sport.
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive coaching experience prior to MU HC job- YES

Caroline Westrup— Women’s Golf— 3rd season

Playing Career: Member of Swedish national team (started at age 14, 9 years) | LPGA/LET/Symetra Tour player, winning two professional events | Florida State (2005-09)
Coaching Career: IMG Academy (three years) | Assistant Coach, Univ. of Georgia (2021-22)
Other Accolades/Honors/Facts: Part of three European team championships | Four-time All-American and 4-time All-ACC at Florida State | FSU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee (2019)
Sicko Status: Undetermined. I know nothing about her so it’s hard to know
Checklist: Collegiate athlete- YES | Extensive head coaching experience prior to MU HC job- NO

Conclusion

Before I separate Mizzou’s coaches in tiers, let’s examine what this research tells us. For me at least, it didn’t change my mind all that much about Missouri’s coaches, though it has given me a newfound appreciation for some. Really, it’s hard to determine “success” for some of Mizzou’s coaches, as some sports don’t really have win-loss records — track, golf, and swimming, for instance, regularly compete in invitationals against multiple teams. They’re very much individual results based. You’re not comparing apples to apples in terms of teams, rather apples to say... bananas— that is, both sports, but remarkably different in all aspects.

As I hypothesized, there doesn’t really appear to be any correlation between a coach’s individual athletic prowess and their success as a coach, and the only Mizzou HC without collegiate playing experience is Eli Drinkwitz. Nor does being a head coach previously seem to determine success. Technically, Brett Halter (none) and Brian Smith (1 season) had little to no head coaching experience, and you cannot argue their level of success.

Being committed— a true sicko à la JJ— I find to be a tremendous advantage if you don’t lose it. Fans and players alike want a coach who is a tireless worker, super engaged, a real sports nerd, and always wanting to get better. Sicko coaches oftentimes breed sicko players, and I for one LOVE to see that. While a few I wasn’t really sure about, there are many likely sickos at the helm of Mizzou’s sports teams. REJOICE! It’s a good thing.

Top Tier: Larissa Anderson, Shannon Welker and Brian Smith have asserted their dominance as upper tier Olympic Sports coaches. They regularly are in the Top 25 and have long postseason runs.

Trending Upward: Eli Drinkwitz— he’s recruiting very well but has had only one really good year thus far in 2023; Brett Halter might deserve to be up in the top tier given the continued success of the throwers and jumpers specifically, but I’d like to see sustained success in more events; Glen Millican— in his first year with the black & gold, he helped the team earn its third best score at NCAAs in 17 tourney performances; Dawn Sullivan— another first year Tiger coach who is off to a great start

Holding Steady: Andrew Grevers— Swim & Dive can be counted on to be ranked somewhere in the Top 25 throughout the season and consistently puts up qualifiers for NCAAs and finalists at SEC Championships, but they aren’t going to be up there with Florida, Auburn, Georgia and newbie Texas anytime soon.

To Be Determined: Dennis Gates— one tremendous season behind him (2022), but last year’s result was the most un-tremendous ever; Stefanie Golan— while she hasn’t been successful at Mizzou thus far, you can’t argue her success at the high major level. We just need to see that level of success HERE in CoMo; Kerrick Jackson— not off to a great start in his first season, but he needs time to get things going and I’m interested in the growth; Robin Pingeton— not sure how I can put her here when she’s entering her 15th season, but here we are. I just have no idea what to expect in what is likely her last year and with a lot of newbies and I question whether she’s lost some of her sicko-ness; Caroline Westrup— she had a young team this season so I’m intrigued to see more improvement; Bianca Turati— with just one season coaching under her belt, it’s kind of hard to determine what Mizzou’s youngest head coach’s impact will be at this point, though she does have what looks to be some pretty good transfers and international recruits coming in.