He was a standout basketball player at Stanford, assistant coach, and now two decades as the head basketball coach at Concordia University Irvine with a pair of national championships under his belt; he is Ken Ammann.
Show Highlights
- He has two degrees in Psychology, was an assistant coach at Azusa Pacific University and has spent 21 years as a head coach of Concordia University Irvine with two national championships, one in his second year of coaching, 2003, and also in 2012; he also helped guide the basketball program from NAIA to now NCAA Division II
- How the marine philosophy “adapt and improvise” helped his program survive COVID-19
- How coaching JC and Division I as well as his desire for a balanced lifestyle, influenced his decision to start coaching at smaller schools
- What was the breakthrough to having outstanding national success before Concordia University Irvine was recognized as a National School
- How coaching Azusa Pacific’s team to be the first to win the California NAIA since their previous win in 1942, San Diego State University had won the year before that, helped shape his coaching career
- How playing four title games in ten years has improved his program, and winning has become a byproduct of the level of effort of the court
- How culture has impacted his program’s goal of winning after a challenging season
- The ultimate goal of the team is to win the conference title every year
- How even though the team finished at 500 last year, the team gave 100% and the seniors walked away with a positive attitude
- How Menlo College’s defensive coach, Bud Presley, a winning defensive coach for the UNLV team that won in 1990 and 1991, inspired him to read The Catcher in the Rye to understand how to become a great coach for his team
- How cultivating trust within your team increases their success on and off the court
- How his mentors, previous high school coaches, JC coaches like Dana Pagett and Mike Legarza, and Coach Mike Montgomery from Stanford, helped cultivate his coaching style
- Legarza made a significant impact on how he would develop team culture during the short two years he was working for him
- Lorenzo Romar, the head men's basketball coach at Pepperdine University, was a tremendous role model as a Christian leader
- He reflects on a words of wisdom from Bill Walsh and how it helped him prepare for his coaching career
- What he has experienced after shifting from the court to the classroom for the Master's in Coaching and Athletic Administration classes he teaches
- How he worked with Tom White to pioneer the MCAA program designed to help cultivate Servant Leadership coaches
- What are the core philosophies of the program and how do they impact his team's offensive and defensive basketball skills
Tags: Masters in Coaching, Coaching, MCAA Podcast, Basketball, NCAA