July/August 2020 - 18

Advice on Balancing Coaching While Continuing Education
By Nick Friar, Contributing Writer
Scouting, game planning, recruiting, fundraising,
running practices - there are far more responsibilities
college coaches have to handle besides what happens
on the court or field. Coaching staffs, much like their
teams, have to work as a unit to cover all the bases, but
the job entails a full-time commitment; even for those just
starting their career.
In order to advance in the field, coaches also need
to further their education beyond their undergraduate
experience. So on top of the duties they already have as a
coach, assistants have to find a way to make time for their
pursuit of a master's degree in sports management.
And for those like Amherst College assistant baseball
coach Mike Odenwaelder, who played in the Baltimore
Orioles organization before returning to his alma mater
to coach while going for his master's at UMass Amherst,
the experience presents another challenge.
" It was tough taking basically a year off of school and
then having baseball be your full-time job, and then
coming back and going to school, " he said. " It's a little
bit like being a college baseball player. But still, I wanted
to put more focus, effort, and energy into developing my
game and getting it to where I needed to be.
" After I finished pro ball and then hopped on the
coaching staff, I did an entire year of coaching before
applying to UMass Amherst. So I then, again, basically
took a full-time job, took another year off of school, and
then decided that coaching is something that I wanted
to pursue, and nowadays, it's not enough to just have pro
ball experience. If you want to be a college [head] coach,
18 JULY/AUGUST 2020
you also need to get that higher education degree. "
A full-time job takes up enough time in the day, but
adding in a full course load requires advanced time
management skills. That's where experience as a studentathlete
kicks in.
Regardless of the division these student-coaches
played while studying for their undergrad degree, time
management is one thing everyone needs to grasp.
" In my first eight weeks [at Liberty University], I
kind of started out slow and just took three credits,
and then the second eight weeks I did six credits, and
that was tougher, " Liberty volleyball graduate assistant
Kori Adams said. " I think when I was getting my
undergraduate I got a lot better at time management
and setting aside time for school, then practice and
everything. I definitely think playing a sport in college
[at Wingate University] has helped me have good time
management. "
Mastery of time management has been especially
important for UMass Amherst lacrosse assistant coach
Zoe Ochoa. Once she realized she wanted to move away
from coaching and take a different avenue in the sports
world, she found a way to balance the role of volunteer
coach while taking on an internship in New York and still
studying for her master's.
" In the fall, I predominantly was around for a couple
days a week, working mostly with the goalies because I
upped my course load because, in the spring, I ended up
taking an internship in New York at Wasserman [Media
Group], " she said. " So I was working there three days a
July/August 2020

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