Howdy - and thanks for stopping by to hear about my journey. I had just joined the coaching staff of the Lamar University Cardinals in the Summer of 2018 as a Defensive Graduate Assistant , which meant I had to pick a Graduate Program at Lamar in a very short amount of time. Coming from A&M Consolidated High School as a defensive assistant with my undergraduate degree in education, Lamar’s college of education seemed like the perfect place to begin. Knowing that I would not be going back to the public school level, I searched for something that could help me at the college level.
The Digital Learning and Leading program looked good, but I was apprehensive, as many of the courses seemed geared toward K-12. Like every other professional position, coaching has also entered the age of technology. From breaking down films for player improvement to game planning to recruiting - every aspect of my job depends on technology.
In the summer of 2018, everything was new - my job with a brand new coaching staff, my position - going from the varsity high school level to an FCS D-1 college program, and my town - moving from College Station to the Golden Triangle, Beaumont, Texas. No sooner had I moved in to my new apartment then we were evacuated out with Hurricane Harvey. Little did I know how important my first course would be at this particular moment in my life - EDLD 5302 and the Power of the Growth Mindset. Embracing the word “Yet” was critical in my transition, for many reasons.
And so my DLL journey began - transitioning a group of young high school and college athletes from a program with very low expectations with strength and conditioning and a low win-loss percentage to a program that would eventually break records at Lamar. And transitioning myself from the high school to college level. Little did I know how important embracing the word “Yet” would become.