Feature of the Week

An Interview with Austin Parkinson

Feb. 18, 2005

How has your relationship with Coach Keady developed or changed since you turned from his player to his student assistant?

Since Coach relies on point guards to lead his team on the floor. And since I am one of his former point guards, he relies on me to help them. Now being a part of the team behind the team, I am learning from him, but at the same time he asks me what I think. It's great to be part of this.

Can you describe the relationship Coach Keady has with his players?

It's a great relationship. He wants what's best for his players. He wants them to be successful in life. For me, last summer I had an internship and it was really easy for me. All of the principles I learned from Coach and all the things he talks about every day really applied to the situation I was in. That's the biggest thing about Coach: he is concerned with more than the four years and the basketball part of your time here. He wants his guys to be successful in life.

What is it about Coach Keady and his style of coaching that is able to get the most out of his players?

He constantly pushes them. He never takes a day off, and you never see his players taking a day off. He is constantly pushing them and constantly coaching them to become better. His intensity rubs off on his players.

Is there anything that has come as a surprise to you since making the change from player to assistant and experiencing Coach Keady in a different perspective?

It's amazing the time that is put in not by only Coach Keady, but by all the coaches. It's misleading to the players and the fans. The players may be confused and think that the coaches show up for practice and are here in the mornings in their office, but what do they really do? It's an all-day, everyday job. Whether it's a win or a loss, after a game the players go home, the coaches meet and go over the game and discuss how we could be better. It really is an everyday, all-day job.

Do you want to coach in your future, and if so, what will you take from Coach Keady and his style of coaching?

I definitely want to coach, hopefully at the college level. The biggest thing I will take away from Coach is defense; he is always teaching defense. A lot of teams today sit back and keep their guys inside the arc, but Coach teaches his players to go after it, pressure the ball and take away the wing. I'll really take away his intensity and his mentality of always playing defense first.

How has Coach Keady impacted your life off the court? Are there any specific life lessons that you have taken from him?

He has really taught me to work hard, and I was able to use that this past summer during my internship. A few of the things that were really easy were being on time, having things expected of me and being expected to perform.

He has taught me many things by the way he goes about his life. Loyalty is a really big thing I have learned from him. The way he handles the media, whether after a win or a loss, he goes about it the same way.

Each day we have 'chalk talk' before we go out to practice, and usually there is a 'word of the day' or 'thought of the day.' A lot of times he talks about stuff that applies to life even though it may have nothing to do with basketball. Those lessons are evident when you get into the real world and get a job.

What is your favorite Coach Keady memory?

One of the things that will always stick out in my mind will be our first team meeting my freshman year. It was still one of the first times I'd ever met coach, so I was pretty intimate and I didn't know what to expect. Well, during this team meeting Coach talked about two things. The first was that he wanted us to tie our shoes with the laces in so we wouldn't turn our ankles. Then he passed out breath mints and started to talk about the importance of having good breath. I thought that it was kind of silly, but then later in the season I realized that half of our team couldn't tie their shoes, and the other half had bad breath. Coach was right on the money with that one!