Getting to know Rodney Watson

Rodney Watson, USI's Men's basketball coach, began his career at USI in 2009. Accepting the position meant some major sacrifices for Watson and his family. His wife, Carol remains in their hometown, Carterville, Illinois, where she is continuing her career as a junior high school counselor. Watson travels each week to spend the weekend with his wife and high school-aged twins, Olivia and Blake. He takes comfort in having two of his children, Zach and Ashley, close by - both USI students. Watson's home away from home is on campus in Baker Hall.

Let's find out what makes this coach tick.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I like that every day is different and I like being around young people in a university setting.

What do you find the most challenging?

The academic side is really a challenge with student athletes. We tend to have a very diverse group, not in race or religion, but in their educational background.

I saw this with my children in third grade, which was a test year. Teachers had been sending a lot of homework home for students to work on. What educators discovered was that each child's home life was very different, so they shifted the work load to more work being completed within school hours to bridge the gap in students' grades.

I see that same struggle in higher education; I see it on our basketball team. Jamar Smith was an All-American here. He's as fine a basketball player as I've ever coached. He put time in at the gym on his own. He has tremendous skill. The ones that are tougher to coach are the ones that aren't at that level [academically], but they're still on our team and deserve to be on our team. I see the A students are doing great here, but those C students - we've got to coach them just like we coach the A students.

Everyone deserves to be taught here and everyone deserves to be coached on our team. Just because a guy doesn't make three-pointers doesn't mean we just sit him on the bench and don't talk to him. They need help, they need to be taught and they need extra time. For us to continue to be successful at this University, whether it's in athletics or academics, we have to coach and teach them as individuals and that can be hard work.

Academics and athletics are often viewed as two separate parts of the university. How do you bridge that gap?

Every one of our student athletes, regardless of the sport, knows why they're here. It's something we discuss - if you're not serious about school, this is not the place for you. The term we use is it's "no joke" here - it's an excellent school. There's not a kid on campus who wants to be the bottom half of the bell curve.

Obviously our kids have the chance for an activity - they get to play basketball and they like to perform and entertain, but that's just a piece of it. That's no different than living in the dorm or going to the Loft and eating. It's a piece of why they're here. And if for any reason someone loses that concept, they are quickly brought back into the fold as to what their real purpose is. We have never in our five and a half years had a student that said "I'm not here to get a degree, I'm here to play basketball." It's just like theatre. Those kids don't come here just to be actors, they come here to be students who act. It's the same thing with athletics.

Watson in high school

How do you motivate your players?

Everyone learns differently, has a different learning style and is motivated differently. Pushing a button and using a stern word with someone to get them going might really melt someone else's confidence. The big thing, in terms of motivation, is understanding your team. The one commonality I've found is that everyone likes individual attention. I find that giving them individual attention and giving them some individual work where you're just watching them specifically is a really good method.

Text messaging is a very good method used in the right way. Just letting guys know at certain times,  "hey you really played a great game," without hearing a four-minute speech from the coach. If I do it in the right way especially a positive way even if it's a negative turned into a positive, it's a really good method because these kids don't want to be lectured.

What do you hope to see for the future of University Athletics?

We're excited about the renovation of the Physical Activities Center (PAC). When you see bricks and mortar, and new paint and carpet, there's something about that that helps your confidence and motivates you.

What I also hope to see is that we continue to be a link in the chain. So often whether it's Athletics or one of the four colleges, people can think you're bigger than just a link in the chain. We need to understand we are a piece of the chain and not the chain itself.

The tail doesn't wag the dog at this school. It seems like the people who are the decision makers, make decisions. It seems like there's plenty of input into those decisions, and there are plenty of schools out there where that's not the model.

Let's continue to be a link in the chain of campus life here, and be a part of the entertainment value for our community. Let's be an entity where, along the way, we are educating 265 to 300 student athletes, so they can continue to carry that torch for future generations.

What do you like to do outside of work?

This might sound kind of weird, but I like to mow grass. I like to care for our lawn. It's a really cool release. It's not too much and it's not too little. It doesn't consume me every day. It's a once a week thing.

I like being with my family. Being away from my wife five days a week for the last 5 and a half years has made that even more of an appreciation. I love going to see my kids doing their activities.

What's it like living on campus?

My very first summer; summer of 2009, I lived in Baker Hall and no one was on campus. It was a Sunday, right before the semester started, and I thought "hey you dummy, this place is about to be invaded by about 3,000 students - what are you doing? You're not going to get any sleep." That night went by, I didn't hear anything. The next night goes by, I hear nothing. I felt like I was the noisiest guy on campus. It's an easy place to live.

It's very convenient to be so close. If somebody needs to get some extra shots up I can be there in less than two minutes to open up the gym doors. I like feeling connected and having a feel for what's happening on campus.

What's one thing about you that you think people would be surprised to learn?

You might be surprised to know that a basketball coach doesn't watch much basketball on television. You might think at home that I'm just killing ESPN and the Fox channels, but I really don't do that. I watch enough film of our teams and our opponents and I recruit enough and see it live. I don't really get a big kick out of watching college basketball on ESPN. Occasionally I like to watch some of the guys I've worked with. I'd prefer to watch baseball probably over any other sport, but other than that, I watch too much of the news channels. I really enjoy the Food Channel and the History Channel and A&E.

If you had one extra hour of free time in a day, how would you use it?

I'd need to exercise more, and would also use it to become a little more spiritually clean.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Treat people the way you want to be treated. That's the golden rule, whether it's about being a basketball coach, a father, a brother, a husband or a friend. That pretty much covers the gamut.

If you could retire tomorrow, what would you do?

At one time I thought I would run a lawn service, but you're too married to that. It's too demanding. As I get older, I know there are places that my wife Carol and I want to go see. She has some Irish background and we want to go to Ireland someday. I know that as our kids get older, and hopefully will have families, that we will want to be around their families. But immediately, if I were to retire tomorrow, I think a little bit of travel would be on our minds, maybe a little snow skiing.