Austin Vincent walked into a perfect situation at Cato-Meridian.
“All four basketball coaching jobs were vacant between varsity and J.V. on both the boys and the girls side," Vincent said of the opportunity to get into coaching. "So I put my name in, and I got lucky.”
He’s right in the middle of his first season as the girl's varsity head basketball coach, not long after playing his varsity career just a few years ago on the same court.
What You Need To Know
- The Cato-Meridian girls basketball team is led by first-year head coach Austin Vincent
- He's a recent college graduate who said he fell into a perfect situation
- He said his ability to relate to players gives him an advantage
“When we had our first home game, being on the same court that I'd played so many games on in front of the same people, it was definitely surreal," Vincent said. "It took me back. The national anthem came on. I'm just looking around like, 'wow, I'm really I'm really here.'”
The 21-year-old recent college graduate admits the first half of the season was tough between balancing his final semester at Oswego State and coaching.
He was able to help guide the team to a 3-4 record prior to the new year, proving to the players there’s no limit to what they can achieve.
“It was definitely nerve-racking to go into it, especially senior year," Kaydence Morrissette said. "It's like you want everything to go as well as possible. And I think, so far has gone pretty well. But it was definitely nerve-racking with him being so young. But he's had coaching experience, coaching travel and AAU. So that's always good."
Some might think being young is an obstacle. But Austin uses it to his advantage.
“He went to school here; he played basketball here; he played under a lot of the coaching staff that we know, a lot of the teachers that we know," Morrissette said. "So, it was a lot better to know that he knows all our teachers. If we're struggling with something, he knows what he can do to help us.”
“Little things, from the way that they talk to the words that they use. All that stuff is really easy for me to relate,” Vincent added. “Keep on pursuing what you want to do. If you don't advocate for yourself, then no one's going to advocate for you. So you've got to make sure that you're your number one supporter. From substituting throughout the day to working with the girls after school for the basketball team, it feels nice to be able to give back to a school that gave so much to me.”