DOMINIC PARKER – ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MENS’ BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 1143

Website – https://ritathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball

Email – dopatl@rit.edu

Twitter – @CoachDomP

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Dominic Parker is entering his second season as the Men’s Basketball Head Coach at The Rochester Institute of Technology.  He took over the Tigers program after one season as the Assistant Head Coach at Christopher Newport University where he had previously coached two seasons from 2017-2019. Parker spent one year as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore after leaving Christopher Newport in 2019.  Next, he was an assistant coach at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina from 2020-2022.

He originally came to CNU following two seasons assisting the Shenandoah University men’s basketball program. He began his coaching career at Virginia State as a graduate assistant in the 2012-2013 season and later assisted the program at Richard Bland College from 2013-2015.

On this episode Mike & Dom discuss the foundational values that Parker is instilling within his program, encapsulated in the four pillars of gratitude, unity, preparation, and purpose. The conversation further explores the challenges Parker faced during his inaugural season, including fostering a cohesive team culture amidst a mix of seasoned players and newcomers. As Parker reflects on the lessons learned, he articulates a vision for the future that emphasizes defensive tenacity and rebounding prowess, aiming to position RIT as a competitive force in D3 collegiate basketball. This discussion provides valuable insights into the intricacies of coaching at the collegiate level, underscoring the importance of player development and leadership within a successful basketball program.

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Grab pen and paper before you listen to this episode with Dominic Parker, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at The Rochester Institute of Technology.

What We Discuss with Dominic Parker

• The four foundational pillars of his program at RIT are gratitude, unity, preparation, and purpose, which are emphasized daily
• Keys to developing a culture of toughness and accountability
• How player development leads to significant improvement in players’ skills and confidence
• Recruiting high-character individuals who excel academically and athletically
• The transition from assistant to head coach involves adapting to additional responsibilities, including fundraising and community engagement
• Effective leadership within a team is crucial; it involves not only vocal leaders but also those who lead by example
• Establishing a culture that aligns with the program’s values
• Building an identity on defense and rebounding
• Ways to improve individual skills in practice
  

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THANKS, DOMINIC PARKER

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TRANSCRIPT FOR DOMINIC PARKER – ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MENS’ BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 1143

[00:00:00] Narrator: The Hoop Heads Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball.

[00:00:20] Dominic Parker: We got three pillars, is gratitude, unity, and preparation. And the guys last year, they added a fourth was purpose. So those are our four pillars. That’s something that we focus on every day.

[00:00:34] Mike Klinzing: Dominic Parker is entering his second season as the men’s basketball head coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

He took over the Tigers program after one season as the assistant head coach at Christopher Newport University, where he had previously coached two seasons from 2017 to 2019. Parker spent one year as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore after leaving Christopher Newport in 2019.

He was an assistant coach at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina from 2020 to 2022. He originally came to CNU following two seasons, assisting the Shenandoah University Men’s Basketball program. He began his coaching career at Virginia State as a graduate assistant in the 2012 2013 season, and later assisted the program at Richard Bland College from 2013 to 2015.

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[00:02:09] Kip Ioane: This is Kip Ioane, founder of Teams of Men, and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast.

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Grab pen and paper before you listen to this episode with Dominic Parker. Head, men’s basketball coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight. But I am pleased to welcome back to the Hoop Heads Pod, Dom Parker head men’s basketball coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dom, welcome back my man.

[00:03:21] Dominic Parker: Thanks for having me, man. I’m looking forward to this.

[00:03:24] Mike Klinzing: Excited to have you back since we last talked. Got a new job, got a year under your belt, and when we last had a conversation with Dom, he was at Christopher Newport and now obviously takes over a program as the head coach for the first time.

So we’re going to dive into all that, but we’re going to work our way backwards to when you first become aware of the opening at our IT and your thought process. Obviously you’re in your first year there back at Christopher Newport for your second stint. So I don’t know how actively you were seeking head coaching jobs at the time, but just kind of walk us through the timeline of how you become aware of the opening and then what your steps were to try to pursue it.

[00:04:09] Dominic Parker: Yeah, so it, it was unique. One thing for me it was, it was pretty, pretty crazy at CNU. We went to the Elite eight, and we played Guilford College was the team that I was coaching before I left CNU. So that was unique in itself. But what happened was once the season ended I got a phone call from a, a search firm.

It was a representative from Parker. And he just reached out to me and said, Hey there’s an opening at a high academic school. Would you have any interest? He didn’t say the name of the school, I guess he was just trying to see people that may have been in interested.

So I said, sure.  talking with coach K at CU he, he told me, he said I think it’s it’s time for you to try to get some D three head jobs and put your name in the hat and  so that that pretty much happened and. Crazy thing about it. That same night, my, one of my mentors, another guy I worked for, Rob Pryor he called me and said, man, would you have any interest in RIT?

I said, . Yeah. It was different for me now too ’cause when I was at Christopher Newport, I just got married to my wife and she was also pregnant at the time. So it was a lot going on. But so I did my research. The unique thing about the job at RIT, there’s a kid that I recruited years ago when I was at Guilford, who that’s how I found out about RIT.

When I was at the, I was the assistant coach at Guilford. There was a kid who actually played for me this past year, his full circle moment, but his name was Brock Bowman, and he called me and said to tell me that he was going to go to RIT. So that was my first understanding of RIT. And that was four or five years ago.

And it’s, it’s crazy how it was a full circle moment just recruiting a kid and then actually being able to coach ’em. But, so basically I RITI saw at that time big institution, really good academics engineering, STEM type stuff, majors, computer science was their thing. So I knew about RIT.

So it was, it was pretty, pretty unique how this process happened. So what happened when I told the search firm that I was interested, he called me back this next day and said, okay. He kind of filled me out. He asked some questions, he said  why do you think you’ll be a good fit?  you haven’t been a head coach before.

How do you, why do you think you’re ready now?  just kind of gain, gaining some interest. And I’m sure he probably did that with several other guys as well. So that was kind of the first introduction of it. And then probably about a week later, I got a phone call from the ad.

Jackie Nicholson, she, she called me, he said, Hey can I schedule time for us to talk on the phone? Schedule it for like the next day. And I talked to her for about 25, 30 minutes. Just talked about the job I have to introduce myself and  who I am and what I could bring to the, to the program and the school.

And it was a lengthy process. So then probably another week and a half went by again. And she called me and said, Hey, would you be interested in doing a Zoom? And I said, of course. So I went through the Zoom process.  it was a committee. They had Brock, who a player was on a committee was the, like the intramural director, assistant athletic director.

It’s probably seven, eight people on the committee. Everybody asked a question and I told ’em, sold myself as best as possible. And then that was it.  I didn’t, I didn’t hear from them for probably another two weeks. So at the time. My wife was nine months pregnant, like we was about to have a kid.

So I was kind of scared. I’m like, man, like what if they call me? And she goes into labor. Like I, this is my first, it’s our first child. So I didn’t, I didn’t want to miss that. So it worked out. The timing was, was, was, was great. So I didn’t hear from them for about another, probably another week and a half, two weeks.

By that time my wife went into labor and my daughter was born on May 1st. Two days later I get a phone call from, from my ad Jackie Nicholson, and she said, Hey I was want to listen to, did you want to come on campus for on campus interview? I’m like, yeah, sure. So luckily my, my wife has several sisters.

So she, they, they came up ’cause  newly, newly dad, newly mom for my wife. And so I flew up to Rochester and did the on-campus interview. It was, I think I flew up on a Thursday night interview was on a Friday, and I mean, it was all day long. I met with so many different people. I met with the, the vice president.

I met with the president, I met with everybody in the athletic department. And the one thing I will say about the process, it was, it was very, I did my research, like most interviews, you, you do your research, you understand what the school is. But actually seeing it and walking around this place, I was like, wow, this place is unreal.

And to me, I was just like, this could be a gold mine.  you got 20,000 kids on campus. Top, top 100 academically.  we have a big student population, which kids, which kids a lot love. And for me, I just, I just saw the opportunity and fell in love with it. So I thought I had a great interview, went home didn’t think much of it.

I was in a great spot. I was a assistant head coach at CNU. We just came off of the Elite Eight run we had our all American coming back. So I told myself, Hey worst case scenario, we’re going to try to win the whole thing the next year. And  it’s, it was crazy.

Me and my wife was driving Jackie calls me.  I’m like, I pulled the car over. I’m thinking like, oh man, here we go. ? She would tell me I didn’t get it. And she said, Hey look, I just, I want to offer you the job immediately. My wife was ecstatic we had a little a two week old baby.

She didn’t know what was going on, but but it was awesome. It was awesome. She offered me the job I my wife was like, take it, take it, take it. I said, gimme some time. I think I called her back. I think I called her back probably like an hour and said, yeah, I want to do it. And then the rest was history.

So we, we had to move my I was married for a year, new two month, two week old baby, and having to move from Newport News, Virginia, all the way up to Rochester. So that’s kind of how the, did the story work with the, with the search firm? It was, it was unique with that too. Just that was my first time ever dealing with a search firm.

But It actually was, it was pretty cool. Got getting in to see kind of what they do.

[00:10:53] Mike Klinzing: When you think about just the conversations that you had with your wife and going through that process with her while she’s nine months pregnant and about to deliver you guys’ first baby how difficult was it to, to have the conversation where you see her and look, I’ve had a wife who’s been nine months pregnant three times, so I know what those conversations are like and what, what the focuses of a, of a, of them can be.

So how difficult was it to kind of have a, I mean, a realistic conversation about, I mean, it’s a pretty big move, right? I mean, you’re, you’re going from an assistant coach to a head coach. You’re moving, as you said, quite a distance. It’s not just, Hey, I’m going to take a new job. There’s a whole bunch of things that go along with it in terms of the responsibility and everything.

So how, how’d you manage to have those conversations despite the fact that, hey your, your wife’s about to deliver a baby.

[00:11:48] Dominic Parker:  one thing about it, me and my wife, my wife was a coach too. She was a junior college coach. While I was the coaching at Christopher Newport, she was the head coach at Virginia Peninsula Community College.

So she understands the coaching profession. She knows what she signed up for. And honestly, it’s, it I couldn’t, I couldn’t be with anybody else because she understands the landscape and how things work. So in the back of her mind, she knew that this is a chance that could happen.

And honestly, it’s, I probably, I’ve interviewed for nine different jobs and I think for the last six I was with her. So like, she would get real excited and I used to kind of feel bad. I’m like, I shouldn’t have told her I wouldn’t get a job. And she would, she would plan like, we’re going to move here and do this.

So actually getting this job and actually like having to plan and move, it was exciting.  we, we was been married for a year, so we was off going to upstate New York moving, what was it, 13 hours from home we’re from North Carolina. So we was three hours from home in Newport News.

So it was exciting. It was exciting, but it was also kind of, kind of scary in a sense. ’cause we’re going up to a place, don’t have any family.  but but one thing about it, she, she understood what I, what I’m, what I’m trying to do. And she’s, she’s a trooper. I mean, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am without her.

So she’s, she’s been along with me the, the last three jobs. And she loves it. She loves it. She really does.

[00:13:16] Mike Klinzing: Somebody who understands what it’s all about makes those conversations. Clearly much, much easier. And then, as you said, if you’ve been through that process a couple times and you’ve been excited about, Hey, maybe if we get this and life’s going to go a a a different direction, and then it stays the same, and now finally you get to boom, you get to make that, you get to make that pivot and have that transition and, and get that excitement.

I can see where, and you combine the, the new job, the new baby, the whole thing moving across the country, and man, all of a sudden, all of a sudden life gets a lot more, it gets a lot more exciting. So in the interview process  the, the standard question would be what kind of things did they ask you?

But I always like to flip that around and go, what kind of things did you want to know from them? So when you went into that interview, what did you want to know about what r it was all about that was important to you to make sure that not only was it a job that hey, they might want you, but is this a job that.

I can come into and have success. And you mentioned a couple of things already, right, in terms of the size and the academics and that kind of thing, but what questions did you have for them to help you to better understand the job and whether or not it was a good fit for you?

[00:14:24] Dominic Parker: Yeah one thing that, what I’ve learned, ’cause like I said, I’ve probably been through I think nine processes so the big question I always ask is, what’s the perception of this team on campus?

And honestly, that, that question gives you a lot of different answers in terms of like what they’re looking for.  at the time the team wasn’t really involved on campus with stuff it was it was, it was just, it was just in a different place. So for me, what it tell showed me, like, okay, they need somebody to come in here with some new ideas.

 my, my ad, she’s a, she wants to win. So I’ve come from winning. Final four at Christopher Newport. The year I got the job here, we went to the Elite Eight.  I’ve won a national championship and at, at Peter and at Richard Bland College. So I know I had a winning resume. And what I really wanted to figure out is, could you win at RIT and once I asked the questions and saw the place, I think you can, I think this place is a gold mine.

And  I think we’re going in the right direction in terms of what we’re doing and how we’re doing things. So for me it was really just asking, can you be successful here? But then also too, on the flip side, I’m looking at all the coaches at the school. School and the baseball coach Been here 30 plus years.

The men’s soccer coach been here 25 years. The women’s soccer coach has been here for 25 years. So it’s just like, wow. People are going here and having long careers, it’s just like it has to be something good. And, and that being here for a year, I mean, I get it. I mean, it’s, Rochester’s a a, a unique city to live in.

It’s just nice and it’s, it’s a great place to raise a family. You have good school systems and and  you’re like four or five hours from a lot of different places, which is being a coach, me, driving ain’t nothing. So it’s it’s a unique deal in terms of that.

But it’s, it’s a great, it’s a great institution and it, and I think it’s, it’s growing even more. Like, it’s so much, we just got a new president and some of the things that he’s trying to implement is going to just make this place even better. And I can’t wait.

[00:16:30] Mike Klinzing: The first person you called besides your wife, when you got the job?

[00:16:35] Dominic Parker: First person I called was my dad,  he’s, he’s, my dad’s like my hero, so like. I run everything by him and I told him, I said, dad, dad, I got the job. He said, you got, you got to go.  he, that’s, he said, you got to go. That said, you, that’s a good opportunity. So I called my dad, and then I think the next person I called was was, was Coach K.

Just to let him know  like, Hey coach, I got the job. And he, he told me the same thing. He said, do man, this is a good op. This is a good, this is a good opportunity. And and honestly, at the time the assistant at Christopher Newport, now Quentin, ay, he’s a, he’s a young star. And to be honest with you, I think I was stunting his growth, staying there, to be honest with you.

Like he, he’s, he’s really good. So I think it worked out for everybody, ? Coach Q at, that’s what we call him. He he got, he got bumped up to my spot. He’s doing a great job. And for me it was, it was my time to run my own program. So I just saw it was, it was just a, it was, it was a great fit for me, for my family.

And then also too, just my ad is, is awesome.  she’s trying to bring change here. And a a unique thing about it that I’m, is, I’m the first minority head coach ever at the school. So that was another thing that really appealed to me. Just,  being able to get an opportunity like this and something I really want to, to do well, and years after me, hopefully somebody else like me can have a chance to, to get this position as well.

So that’s, that that kind of fused me to, to, to do well. So.

[00:18:02] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. So clearly you’ve gone through the process to interview for other head coaching jobs, so, and I know you and I talked about this the last time that you were on. In terms of preparing for those interviews, preparing for the opportunity to be a head coach and kind of thinking about, Hey, if I eventually get my own program, what do I want that to look like?

But before you get the job, it’s more theoretical, right? It’s like, okay, I don’t know what school I’m going to be at. I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like. These are the ideas that I have. Now all of a sudden, boom, you got, you got a job, you have a specific job at a specific school that has a specific set of characteristics.

So after you get the job and you spend the next couple days looking through and thinking about, okay, what am I going to do? What is this going to look like? How am I going to start to build the program? What were some of those initial thoughts that you had in the first week or so about what you wanted to do and how you wanted to go about getting yourself off on the right foot to build the kind of program that you want to have at Rochester?

[00:19:12] Dominic Parker: Yeah, the, the first thing I did when I got the job was I reached out to all the current players. They was a, they were, they were an older team. And with COVID, I knew a lot of those guys had a fifth year. So the first thing I did was I had a real conversation and I, and I said, Hey, look, this is, this is who I am.

This is what I’m trying to do. And every last one of those guys was like, coach, I’m, I love what you’re saying. Like, I’m willing to come back. There was one guy who decided not to come back, and to be totally honest with you, he got a, he had a six figure job offer on the table. And I said, man, look, I can’t promise you that I can get you something like that afterwards, so you might need to go take that.

And he, he’s doing well. He actually came back for alumni weekend and he’s doing great. But it, the first thing I did was I wanted to, to re-recruit the guys that we had. ’cause being at the time it was it was like almost, it was the end of May so. A lot of guys were committed, so I knew that like, if I could keep some of these guys, maybe that could, could help us.

And they came off a 14 win season. They had a great season, had two, two guys all conference. And like I said, the kid Brock Bone, who was on the committee, he had a, had an, had another year. So I he was the first person I called and he said, coach, I’m in. Like you’re, you’re, you’re my, you’re the guy.

 I know you, we had a prior relationship. So that’s the first thing I did was that. And then the, the next thing I did was guys that I, that I recruited that was available, I wanted to kind of recruit somebody that fit RIT. A lot of guys didn’t fit a lot of guys just too far from home.

The academics, they didn’t want the majors that we had. So I was fortunate enough to bring in one guy. My first year. And  I called all my coaching buddies and they kind of I leaned on them for any names, any guys you think would fit. So we brought in one guy who was a freshman this past year, who was, who was actually, he was solid.

He was, he was, Danny was pretty good. So that was really the big thing was really trying to keep the guys that I currently had. And then the next thing was just trying to meet administration, trying to figure out what’s the best way to attack this thing in terms of, I called admissions ’cause I wanted to learn, okay, what does, what does that look like?

 what does the profile what kind of grades do they have to have? What kind of packaging do we do? ? So that was the next phase was just really learning what’s the best kid for RIT. And then lastly just talking to current coaches at the school.  like I said, there was a lot of coaches who’ve had longevity there, so, .

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, like talk to people who’s been there and had some success. So that was the three things that I really focused on when I got the job.

[00:22:01] Mike Klinzing: What were some of the things that the returning guys said to you in terms of, Hey, here’s what we liked about where we are at.

Maybe some things that, Hey, here’s what we can do differently. Or, here’s where we, some areas we need to work on. Did you try to get that kind of stuff from them about, Hey, here’s what we like about where the program is. Here’s maybe some things that we’d like to do differently that can take us to that next level.

Where, what was, what did the conversation go in that direction at all?

[00:22:27] Dominic Parker: Some, some guys talked about kind of what, what I wanted to do. The two things that I’m real big on, we’re going to defend and rebound. And  they, they liked that because they felt like they didn’t really have an identity.

 they felt like they were good players and like I said, they had, they won 14 games a year before one a game in the, in the conference tournament lost a Hobart who won the league. Like they had a good team and I think they just they wanted somebody I think honestly just wanted somebody that was a little bit closer in their age.

And then also too, just bringing some new ideas.  like I know people look at social media with plays and different things of that nature. So just, I talked to them about that stuff and  they, we, we, we all fit it. It was a good fit for that just, I think it was just time for somebody, somebody new to come, come in and with some new ideas.

And I think they all kind of enjoyed the conversations We.

[00:23:23] Mike Klinzing: As you got into that first month, six weeks of the job, going from an assistant coach to a head coach, right? All of a sudden there’s a lot more things on your plate that maybe aren’t directly basketball coaching related. So what were some of those things that came at you in the first month, six weeks of the job that, I don’t want to say that you weren’t expecting, but just things that you had to take care of that maybe as an assistant coach, you knew they were there, but they weren’t on your plate.

So how did you adapt and adjust to that?

[00:24:01] Dominic Parker: Yeah, I think the one big thing is as an assistant you do different fundraisers and stuff, team camps, golf outings, but being a head coach just a part of my job is to try to raise money so when I got the job, like I said, I, I met with the current players and things of that nature, but after that, I start meeting with alums and boosters, people who could help the program.

And once like a division that I was trying to give to them was basically like, look, this is I wanted to introduce myself to ’em and just, Hey, this is me. This is, this is what I’m trying to do. And like, anything, you, you need people behind you. So I wanted to try to get as much support as I could, and a lot of people that was that, that wanted to kind of get and help the program.

So that was another thing that was a little different for me, just being an assistant, you don’t, you don’t do a ton of that. You do some, some of that, but not, I do all of that now, ? So to be totally honest with you, like I, when I got the job, I probably, the first month I didn’t do no basketball stuff.

Like, no basketball. Like I ain’t look at a play, nothing. I just, it was all just,  fundraising, meeting with donors  admissions people, like, it was, I didn’t know basketball stuff. And then lastly, like the recruiting, I knew I had nine seniors, so I knew that like this 2025 class, we have to have a home run because it’s we have to replace a lot.

We have to replace a whole team, pretty much. So so I hit the ground running too. Once, once that first month, kind of all that stuff went the way I went, went on, went recruiting.

[00:25:34] Mike Klinzing: So from a recruiting standpoint, when you change areas of the country, you got a whole bunch of contacts right in the area of the country where you’re from, where you’re working before now suddenly you go to an area of the country where you haven’t been, you have to rebuild those contacts.

You have to rebuild that trust. You have to let people know who you are, what you’re all about. How do you do that? What’s that like? Is that just being present, being in places, showing up and just having as many conversations and talking to as many people as you can? Is is it as simple as that?

[00:26:06] Dominic Parker: Yeah, I think for me, the unique thing about RIT is we can recruit nationally and that was a big thing that I sold in my interview with, that if I was the head coach there, we’re going to recruit all across the country.

So that’s what I did. So of course I leaned on Virginia and North Carolina places I that I, that I’m I’m from and where I’ve been for a while, but also two, like, I coached division one and I did a lot of recruiting in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania’s four hours from us. So I, I really leaned on that.

And also too I worked a lot of camps, a lot of high academic camps.  one thing about a place like RIT is we have a niche. So like everybody can’t get into Harvard or Yale. So we, we got, we can get kids who. May not get into their dream school for that, but we can give you a similar education.

So I just hit the ground running and honestly, I mean, I, for probably the June and July, like, I was not home. I wasn’t home at all. Like I was on the road, I was living out, out my suitcase, like but I knew that we had nine seniors and I knew I had to, to hit, hit a home run with this recruiting class because it was going to be, it’s going to be key it’s kind of a, the rebuild

[00:27:13] Mike Klinzing: as you’re doing that, now we have to go back and talk to you about your family, right?

Your wife, your new baby, you’re moving, you’re getting that thing settled and now you have to get on the road, you have to recruit. So what was just the move? What was that like moving, just getting your family settled?

[00:27:27] Dominic Parker: Yeah, so, so honestly it was it was a tough decision that I had to make, but what we decided to do is, like I said, we’re from North Carolina.

So my wife went to North Carolina pretty much for the summer, and  I was recruiting in North Carolina, so I would go home.  I was see, see my daughter, see my wife. But pretty much they stayed in North Carolina. And for me, we just thought that was going to be beneficial. My wife was a new mom she could lean on her mom and her sisters and my dad’s lives in the same area, so I could really hit the ground running.

And to be totally honest with you, that was a game changer for me. It, it really was. We got a really good recruiting class, this this class. And a, a big, big part was because I was, I saw these guys live and I got the chance to have real conversations with ’em, get ’em on campus, and really hit the ground running.

And I thank my wife all the time for that because, I mean, like I said, it was, a lot of people might have not have done that.  I might would’ve had, I might didn’t go to as many events as I could, but the fact that we did that it really helped us.

[00:28:33] Mike Klinzing: When did you start sitting down with the film of the team from the year before?

Looking both collectively at what they did and then individually looking at what your guys were capable of doing from a skill position standpoint. And then figuring out, hey, I know that this is the style of play, talked about rebounding and defense and basing your philosophy around that. But when you, obviously eventually you’re going to be able to recruit and get guys in that fit the style of play that you want to play, the guys you inherit don’t necessarily fit directly into that.

So how did you start thinking about, Hey, how are we going to play in our first year? What did that process look like for you in terms of going through the film and evaluating there? And then once you get guys on campus, you get back into your practices and just how did it go? What you thought it was going to look like versus what it ended up looking like.

[00:29:34] Dominic Parker: One thing I knew watching the film is I had some guys that could really score. I brought back all the four top leading scores. Two, the guys were all league and I mean they like I said, they, they won 14 games, which is pretty impressive. That’s the most they’ve won in a while. So I knew that we were very skilled offensively.

Just watching film, I knew like the defense and the re the rebounding was going to be something that I had to emphasize daily. ’cause of just watching the film. That’s just not how they was wired. A lot of them guys was wired to score, like like some guys, it just I’m, I’m going to go score it.

So I knew that was going to be something that those guys had to kind of figure out, and I knew that was going to be our hurdle, ? And to be totally honest with you, just looking at it now it’s something that we, we struggled at this past season, ? We gave up 80 points a game, which isn’t great, but we could score, we scored 75 a game.

I think it was like tied for first in the Liberty League. So we would have practices, we would have five, five minute scrimmages and I mean, we’re scoring 30 points in five minutes. I’m like, wow, is that because we can score is our defense, ? But but, but at the end of the day, I mean, I had guys that was bought in and  it was, it’s we, we lost, I think I looked at it today, we probably lost six.

Six games by five or less that could have went either way.  get a stop here, get a stop there. So  one thing that I’m, I’m glad that I did is I stuck with what I want to do.  and in the one thing I would say that doing that, I had a bunch of sophomores and freshmen just my first year, and like, they understand what I’m trying to do.

And like, I think for them it’s like, okay, we know, we know what coach is about, ? And  of course you want to win. You’re like but this year we only won seven games. But one thing I would say it was so beneficial because, because my, my young guys who are now upperclassmen, kind of went through the fire a little bit.

So like, they, they kind of got something to prove now, ? ‘Cause when they win 14 games, a lot of those guys were freshmen and they didn’t play a lot.  they played a little bit this past year, so. It created kind of like, okay, like we going, we going to be better. So I got some motivated returners, which I’m so, so happy about.

[00:31:52] Mike Klinzing: What were the conversations like in your head as you’re going through the season and you’re not winning as much as maybe you would’ve liked? Right. So you have this idea of want to play this way, want to be a great defensive team, want to pound the glass. But our team’s kind of wired to be more of an offensive team, as you said, the ability to stick with your convictions, even when the scoreboard tells you that you’re not winning games.

And if you could take the scoreboard down. No problem. Right. Nobody, you just keep, you just keep going with what you’re doing and  you’re on the right track. But unfortunately, people outside the program are looking at, they’re looking at the scoreboard. So what were the conversations like in your own head as you’re going through the season in terms of, Hey, I know we’re doing the right thing.

It may not be demonstrated every night on the scoreboard, but I know we’re moving things in the right direction. How, how’d you have those conversations and what were the signs that you saw that you were, you were going in the, in the right, in, in the right direction?

[00:32:57] Dominic Parker: Yeah, I think it was, honestly when I really think about it is I’ve had some really good mentors.

 I worked for Coach K, who’s a hall of famer in my book, coach Tom Palumbo, and they’ve always told me is, go with your gut. Right? I could have easily we could have played zone and we probably would’ve won more games, but at the end of the day. It’s, I want to create a culture of we’re going to defend and rebound.

So like for me, it’s just like,  what, maybe this just isn’t our year, but I’m going to stick with what I want to do. And maybe the young guys can understand it and then they can kind of articulate it to the new guys coming in. Hey, look, this is what we’re all about. So I’m so glad I did that. And in all, in all honesty, it was, it was pretty much like after probably the fourth or fifth game, ’cause I was like, man, like we’re, we’re not defending like, I might want to, but, but at the end of the day, I said,  what?

And I, and we kind of morphed some stuff a little bit. We played faster just to try to create some more possessions. But, but  I’m, I’m not of course, like I said, we’re coaches and we, we want to win. I come from winning, but at the same time, I think about coach, coach K like Coach Ksky.

I mean, his first three seasons at Duke was subpar. I look at Jay Wright, similar they wasn’t like what they are. And those two guys are, are in the, in the hall of fame.  so good things take time. That’s something my dad always told me. He always said, Rome won’t built in a day, ?

And  I think this year I really wanted to lay a good foundation and play a be a tough team. And I think we, we accomplished that.

[00:34:33] Mike Klinzing: What was the most fun or enjoyable part of being a head coach rather than being an assistant? Was it planning a practice out exactly the way you wanted it?

Was it the end game decision making? Was it just being on the floor with your guys and being the main voice that they heard? Just what was the piece of being a head coach that you enjoyed the most compared to just your role as an assistant?

[00:35:01] Dominic Parker: I think really as a head coach, just having your imprint,  on kind of your program and running stuff and it’s so many things that I would, like, I would tell my, when I was assistant, Hey, we should do this, we should do that.

Like, like, I’m actually doing that I’m actually thinking and also tell, I’m doing like,  what? That, that didn’t go as planned. Like that wasn’t as good as I thought. ? So it was really kind of, it is really kind of trial and error and I could say this year and I’m, I’m fortunate and I had I got two really good assistants.

Coach Mick, who’s, he’s phenomenal, and Coach t who was from Hampton, they’re both phenomenal. So I had two guys with me that, that they trust the vision and  it was, it was all a learning experience for all of us, ? ’cause beforehand, like we all never worked together, so they’re, I’m learning them, they’re learning me.

So that was another factor too. But like, it’s, it’s funny that we’re talking now. So we actually had a staff meeting tonight, and to be honest with you, like. My wife text me and told me I need to come home, but if I probably would still be there talking to them so  these guys are, are super excited about what we got going on and the guys we got coming in and  like I said, last year was a, was a learning experience and for everybody and I mean we, we we’re in a good spot.

Now

[00:36:19] Mike Klinzing: think it back to your preparation for becoming a head coach and just the ideas that you had, the way that you hoped that things would go. What’s something that over the course of last season went pretty close to the way you envisioned it when you imagined getting a head coaching job?

[00:36:42] Dominic Parker: I think the one thing that that went well is I’m real big on player development and I can honestly say that’s something that we do every day.

I can honestly say that the guys on my team got better. For me that was validation to like, okay, like I know what I’m doing. Like I can get guys better.  everybody speaks it and says, Hey, I can get plays better, better. But like I look at the stuff that we’re doing and then like my young guys as the season progressed, they got more confident.

 we, they, they, they had some we didn’t win, but they had some good games. I saw there’s some bright spots and I think that’s something that they build on the summer.  we, we talk to those guys over the summertime. They continue to work and I’m just super, super pumped to see kind of how these, these returners we have, how they how they develop.

So I think the player development piece is something that I think every program needs it. Everybody they think differently about it. But I think one thing about me, and I said this in the interview process, is I don’t need better plays in March. I need better players. And I think getting your players at better every day, I think is something now that, that, that can, that can, that’s, that’s the changes from wins to losses.

 have a good player. So.

[00:37:54] Mike Klinzing: What does that look like on a day-to-day basis? When you say player development in your mind, what does that look like? How individualized does it get? Because when I think of player development, I think of somebody who’s taken the time to evaluate a player’s game, look at what they already do, doubling down on their strengths, figuring out a way to maybe turn something that’s a weakness into something that, maybe not as a strength, but something that they can sort of work to eliminate that weakness.

But to me, player development is always player specific. So just talk to me a little bit about how you think of player development and what that looks like day to day in practice for you and your team.

[00:38:36] Dominic Parker: Yeah. So coach Mick, he’s he’s six 10, so he works with the big guys and Coach t he works with the guard.

So one thing that we’re big on is. Being able to read the game and also to being able to get to spots where you’re going to get in the game and shoot from those areas.  one thing about it is people you’ll shoot a ton of shots, but it’s like you’re shooting a ton of corner threes, but you don’t, you don’t shoot corner threes so one thing that we’re real big on is we’re, we’re big on getting shots in the flow of our offense.

And there’s this one kid on my team named Zach. He was a sophomore last year, and we stuck with it. No, he, he started out it was, it was tough in the beginning, but then as the season progressed and his confidence in his game flourished, I mean, he had a game this season. He had scored 27 points.

I think it might be the third or fourth highest. Point total in our conference. This is a kid who wasn’t playing a ton, but he stuck with the player development and he really trust the process. And I’m looking forward to see Zach as his, as a junior. I think he’s going to be, he’s going to be a good player for us.

So just guys like him. Just seeing like the work that he put in and then this confidence.  the one thing about it, I played for coach Kevin Billman, he’s the head coach at Ravenscroft. He made me feel like I was the best player ever. He probably made me feel like I was better than I actually had was.

So that’s one thing that I’m, I’m real big on is, is giving my players confidence and  I’m going to be tough on them I’m going to be a truth teller, but also too, I’m going to, I’m going to put life into ’em and speak ’em up and make ’em feel like they can do whatever they want and also too, be the best player they can and just like I said, just, just put, I’m, I’m real big in my faith.

It, so the, it says in the power in the tongue, like you have to speak it into existence. So if I’m always, you’re such a bad player, like you are going to be a bad player. So I talk, I try to be positive and my assistants look at me crazy sometimes. They’re like, how could you be positive in this moment?

But I’m like, man positive, like it’s the universe. Like if you put out positive energy, like you’ll get it back and guys will start feeling that. If you’re negative all the time, they’re not going to want to be around you. So I try to remain positive at all times.

[00:40:43] Mike Klinzing: How do you build that player development into your practices when you’re putting together a practice plan?

Is player development. Always at the beginning. Is it always at the end? Do you weave it in throughout the team stuff during practice? Just where do you fit that in on a daily basis?

[00:41:01] Dominic Parker:  one thing about it, just the different programs I’ve been in. That’s, that’s a great question because some people do it at the end of practice.

Some people do it in the beginning, in my opinion. I think you have to do it kind of after you stretch. You might do some team, team stuff. I think you do it right after that because you got ’em, you, you got your guys. But every team’s different, . So the team that we had last year is, I noticed the first 20 minutes of practice, like after that 20 minutes, like you could get them going, ?

So like for us, we’d, we would stretch for 10 minutes, we’d do something for like another 10, and then we’d get into player development.  we do guards in big breakdown. We do three on o stuff. Like we would do stuff like that because guys are like feeling good, ? That’s the time where you ain’t do sprints yet.

 so you’re still kind of somewhat fresh. So I think that’s, that was a sweet spot for last year.

[00:41:56] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, it makes sense, right? You want to be able to get it in a moment where you got their attention. Clearly player development is something that players enjoy ’cause it helps them to get better and as you said, it helps to build their confidence.

So I think that’s a big piece, right, of having a successful team, is having your team be confident not only in themselves, but also in the teammates. And that transfers over to the coaching staff, right? They have to believe in you and what you’re doing and that you’re there to get them better and they, if they know that you can do that, it just kind of all ends up feeding on itself to some degree.

So I see exactly where you’re coming from with that one. Let me ask you the reverse of the last question. When you thought about. The process of being a head coach. When you thought about running a program, you told me about something that went kind of almost as you envisioned. Is there anything that was a lot different from what you envisioned?

Maybe not something that you did wrong necessarily, but just something that you thought it was going to be one way, ended up maybe being a little bit different than what you thought prior to becoming a head coach?

[00:43:02] Dominic Parker: Yeah, I think the one big thing that I thought would be a little different was really creating an atmosphere of like, it takes time to build like a culture.

 I was blessed to be at places that the culture was already in a, in a good spot, ? And not saying the culture was in a bad spot, it wasn’t at all, but it just, it wasn’t strong at the time, ? So, like one thing about it is, is. That was something that was like, whoa, like we, we need to do a lot more leadership stuff, a lot more team bonding stuff, ?

And it was unique because I had nine seniors who were fifth year seniors. So like, these guys are they’re going to the bar they’re doing stuff. And I had these young guys who were just on campus just kind of trying to figure it out. It was very tough to try to get those older guys and those young guys to kind of mesh, ?

’cause it’s just they’re in two different parts of their life the seniors are trying to figure out what’s next.  the freshmen are like, trying to figure out like, what are we eating tonight?  what I mean? So, right. Oh yeah. It’s just trying, just trying to mesh them. That was tough.

That was, that was, that was probably one of the toughest things about last year is just because everybody has a different walk and during different, during different times in their journey. So trying to get them to come together for a common goal that was very challenging.

[00:44:27] Mike Klinzing: When you think about how to do that, so not even looking at last year, but heading into this season, what are some things that you have in mind heading into your second year from a culture standpoint that you think is going to help to bridge that gap? Now, obviously as you said, you had a bunch of guys graduate that now are no longer part of the program, the active program I should say.

But how, what do you have in place? What do you have in mind for building culture here in year two?

[00:44:58] Dominic Parker: Yeah, so one thing about it, and that started in the recruiting process so one thing about it is that the eight guys that I have coming in, I will call them like, we’ll play Friday, Saturday. I would call them Sunday and just tell ’em like, Hey, this is, this is where we’re at.

 we and they, they, so they, it was like they was kind of already on the team. Without being on the team yet. So they was kind of understanding like what we were going through. So now full circle moment, now that they’re here now, like a lot of them feel like they was like in those locker rooms because I had those conversations with ’em and they kind of know what where we kind of struggled at and where we need to get better at.

And those guys have basically come together with our returners to like, alright, okay. Like, all right, we’re on the same page. And it’s, it’s funny ’cause  a lot of these guys they’re playing pickup right now. And then a lot of ’em called me afterwards just to check in and stuff. And they just said, coach, like these returners, like they came with, came to us with like open arms.

They, they make us feel like we’ve been here. And I think like the, like I said, the, the returners from last year saw that like, we have to buy into each other. And the sooner we can do that, the sooner we can start winning games. So it’s a, it’s a different world on campus. Like everybody’s talking about it.

And we got some, we got some different personalities.  we got some guys that I’m probably going to have to be like, Hey, look man, you need to go to class.  we going to have to, we got some guys that, that school,  they, they go, they going to challenge some people. But it’s just different it’s, it’s a different, it’s a different day and age and alsos a different type of kid.

And  I think me and my staff done a good job of seeing the guys we need and attacking those guys and getting those guys to come here and have them understand not just them, but also their families. Kind of what, where we see ’em fit and where we want to go. And the one thing I will say about my eight guys is.

They all are coming here because they see my vision for RIT. If you talk to any of those guys, they always say like, like we we’re going to make RIT special. Like that’s their goal. It’s not I’m going to come here and I’m going to be a thousand point scorer. All eight of them are like, we, we we’re trying to put this place on the map.

So I think that was something we did in the recruiting process and something that we’re going to reiterate all season long that we can’t go anywhere for all for not on the same page.

[00:47:18] Mike Klinzing: How do you plan to use your eight days of, outside of the regular practice schedule? Are you going to put all eight of those days ahead of the season?

Do you save one or two for after the season for maybe going through some player development stuff with guys or what’s your philosophy with those, those eight extra days that you get?

[00:47:36] Dominic Parker: Yeah, I mean my philosophy is to use the eight days beforehand just to, just to get a head start. Especially now I got eight new guys, so just trying to bridge the gap with them.

I think we’re actually going to do some different things defensively too. So just trying to get that in place and  I think I know some people kind of wait to use ’em, but honestly the way I think you should use all eight beforehand. ‘Cause  God forbid what if seven of those guys transfer, you going to save them for what?

Right. ? So I think, I think using them beforehand is something that is, is what I’m going to do, continue to do. I think it’s, I think it’s the best, best way

[00:48:13] Mike Klinzing: as a head coach. Do you put together a I dunno if curriculum is the right word, plan for, Hey, I want to try to have X, Y, and Z in by practice number six, or, my goal is to have all this stuff in by the second week of practice.

Do you go through and do you break it down by, by timeframes like that? Or are you more like, Hey. This is day one what we need to do. I know where we, I know where we need to get to, and then we go day by day based on what we accomplished the previous day. Just what’s your thought on the pacing of how you get stuff in and practice?

[00:48:51] Dominic Parker: I think, I think everything is based off your guys I think for me, I’m not going to move forward if my guys don’t feel comfortable about it, ? And just working for Coach Palumbo at, at at Guilford, he’s a firm believer and honestly I should have probably took his advice sooner. He was just like, he always would tell me, he is like, you, you can’t be good at everything.

You have to find two, maybe three things that you’re going to be elite at, and you’re going to have to emphasize that daily, because we’re not like division one where we can practice all summer long and it’s just a different day and age. So for me it’s just like really emphasizing, Hey, look like we’re going to be really good on this.

We’re going to hang our hat on this, and if it takes us all eight practices. Fine. Let’s, that’s, that’s how it is. So I think that’s, I think you have to kind of see where you want to hang your hat on and then just really emphasize that that’s what I’m doing in year two. But like, like you, the question you asked, I mean, I try to be, all right, I have to have this press break in, but at the end of the day, it’s just like I’m trying to do stuff and it’s like,  what, this league don’t even press like that.

? So it’s like I’m doing all this stuff to try to meet a timeframe, but it’s not even it’s not even like that. So and I think another thing too is the Liberty League seeing it on film is different than actually being in the league. This league. Is a beast. Like these coaches in this league are high level.

So that’s something that I didn’t, I didn’t you can’t really put an account for watching film, but like the adjustments that these guys make we play Friday and Saturday, so like you don’t have a a practicing between times. So just being in this league this first year really opened my eyes to like, we’re going to do some different things this, this upcoming year.

Just because I think that’ll help our team. And like I said, this, this league is, is, is high level. I know the, the Ithaca coach just got the NYU job.  it’s some rumblings that some other stuff is going to happen in our league too. So, I mean, these, these coaches are really good. So that’s something that film don’t really show you you see an adjustment and like so that’s something too that I had to learn.

[00:51:01] Mike Klinzing: How’d you handle that Friday, Saturday, back to back with no practice in between. And trying to prepare for, in essence, what you’re doing right, is you’re preparing for. Mostly that Friday night game. You got some prep for the Saturday game too. That’s have to be mixed in there, but how’d you find a rhythm to that over the course of that first season?

[00:51:21] Dominic Parker: Yeah, I mean for me we wasn’t in a place where we could overlook Friday’s game, so it was all hands on deck for Friday. And I’m fortunate enough to have really good assistants that one of them would kind of pretty much take the Saturday scout and and if it’s something that was unique that we would have to do in practice that week, I wouldn’t tell the guys that we’re we’re going through a zone.

 some of them kind of put it together like, okay, we might face a zone this week. ? So I think for me that was, that was challenging that that’s, that’s, that’s a tough part of our league. And that’s, that’s kind of what I’m hinting at too. Just a lot of teams in our league, they’ll go zone based on out of bounds.

I’m like, why is everybody going zone? But I get it because it’s like they’re going zone. ’cause they don’t want to have to go over all this stuff, this man to man stuff. They just going to go zone and just kind of deal with what happens, ? So little stuff like that is, is you don’t necessarily see that until you kind get in the league about why, why some of these coaches do some of the things that they do, but there’s not much, there’s not much time that you can, you play at seven and then you play the next day at four.

It’s not much you can do and you’re staying at a hotel most of the time. So, but it’s, it’s fun though. It’s fun and honestly, I tell my guys, I mean it’s, if you want to play in the NCAA tournament and that’s how it is in the NCAA tournament, play Friday, play Friday night, then you play Saturday night. So it’s just gearing us up for that.

[00:52:48] Mike Klinzing: What’s the game day schedule look like on Saturday for your players? Forget about you, but what does it look like for the players?

[00:52:55] Dominic Parker: Yeah. So for us, if we’re pa playing on the road  we usually wake up. Get breakfast. And then also after breakfast the guys probably go back to the rooms and then we’ll have like a, a, a walkthrough at the hotel.

And  the walkthrough might also consist of watching a little film, personnel film. If they have a set that that’s pretty unique that we need to walk over through the hotel, we’ll do that. And then we usually kind of get pre-game meal delivered or  one of the coaches go get on the bus and bring it in.

And then by that time guys go to their rooms, they rest, and then we go, we we’re travel partners with our women’s team, so we’ll go watch our girls play, they play at two and then we’ll play at four. So we’ll support them and then we get ready for our games. That’s pretty much kind of how it is.

The same thing for home games home games we might be able to go get a shoot around just because we’re at home, sleep in our own beds and stuff like that. But for the most part breakfast walk through, pre-game meal.

[00:53:56] Mike Klinzing: What about for you? Do you have something that has to be a part of your routine?

I wouldn’t call it a superstition, but do you have something that has to be a part of what you do to prepare yourself mentally and physically for, for a game?

[00:54:09] Dominic Parker: Yeah. I mean, I’m a, I’m a big, I like to workout, so I like to try to get a workout on game day if I can. That’s, that just kind of gets the my distress level down.

I can kind of just and also too, watching some film, one thing about it, you always, it’s always something you can see so it’s like, okay, we might can attack him a little better. So just watching film, working out and honestly, she, she doesn’t know it, but my daughter, she’s a she looks at me and smile all the time.

It don’t matter. Game win loss. So just spending some time with her has also been pretty good too. Just she, she takes it some, she don’t, she don’t know what’s going on. So hanging out with hers is, is is another cool little thing too, because she’s at the end of the day, win or lose, I’m still dad and she’s still yelling at me.

So,

[00:54:54] Mike Klinzing: So yeah. Yeah. Nothing better than relaxing, having your kid not worried about whether you won or lost a game. You’re just, you’re just, dad. What about, what about post-game, how quickly after a post game now, clearly on a Friday night, I don’t know how much you get to, but just what, how do you get to, how fast do you get to the film after a game?

Are you letting it sit and getting in a good night’s sleep and then waking up in the morning, getting back to it? What, what’s your post-game routine look like?

[00:55:18] Dominic Parker: Yeah. So, so the post game routine, so we play on Friday, and then what, we’ll, what I normally do, if we have a bus trip and we have to drive to the hotel, it’s maybe an hour, whoever scout it is from my, from my excuse me, from my staff.

We will kind of talk over the bus, like, what are you thinking? ? And they already kind of have the scout laid out,  they already got clips made do we need to guard this guy a certain way? Is there anything unique that we need to do? We’ll talk about it on the bus, and then once we get to the hotel, we get the guys situated, let them go to their rooms, give them water, and then me and my other coaches would get together and kind of we’ll talk it out.

We’ll kind of talk out the game and  I tell them to shut it down, but I don’t I kind of watch stuff. It’s been plenty of times this season I woke up and my computer’s dead and I’m like, oh, wow. It’s like 4:00 AM I fell asleep, ? So I probably need to do something different, but but I think that’s something that just trying to get up to speed just because you’ve been focused so much on this Friday game.

And then now you just have to flip the switch, win or lose you you have to flip the switch to try to try to win another one. So it’s unique. It’s tough. It’s, it’s, it’s, that’s one of the toughest things about our league is just these back to back games, but it’s fun. It’s fun.

[00:56:36] Mike Klinzing: Yeah. The good thing is everybody’s in the same boat, right?

You just I’m sure coaches that have been in the league, right? You figure out your routine, you get it, you’ll probably be much better at it in year two than you were in year one, just in terms of getting a feel for what you and your staff needs, and then also what your players need to be able to be at their best.

We talked a little bit ear earlier about some of the non basketball slash administrative stuff that you had to do in the off season. What are some of the things that somebody who’s maybe an assistant coach at the college level who hasn’t been a head coach, what are some of the administrative things that you have to take care of and handle either yourself or things that you have to delegate during the season that are.

Non basketball, non basketball tasks that again, maybe somebody wouldn’t be aware of.

[00:57:24] Dominic Parker: Yeah. I know here at RIT we have a couple initiatives to kind of raise money. One’s called getting in the Game. So just trying to make creative ideas to like reach out to our alumnis or some of our donors on some of the stuff we’re doing.

Our athletic director, she does a good job of of, of making some initiative of that stuff, but that’s something too that I think is a lot of people don’t talk about, but being able to raise money has value, especially now in NIn NIL era. So being able to raise money and also too just,  for me I really wanted to get involved with the community.

So,  we, my team does a lot. We’ve done Special Olympics. We do a lot of different things like that. So just being visible. That’s something that in the interviewing process, that they, they wasn’t really visible in the community. So being able to, to kind of make this place  hosting camps, setting stuff up like this, that’s something that we’ve done here.

These, the last, this past year just I’ve had shooting camp, which was a hit. We’ve had a, a team camp. We’ve had elite camps. So just, just trying to put the imprint all over this community and just trying to get the world out the brand. Like RIT is a brand, like my sister, she was in grad school at Harvard and I’m on the metro and I’m like, I see a big RIT billboard.

I’m like, oh, wow. ? So the coach from Tufts, Brandon, he sent me a picture a couple months ago, was like, man, y’all all over the place. ? So like we have a brand and just trying to get it out there so people can, we can get the best players that we can.

[00:58:59] Mike Klinzing: Yeah. Clearly the more name recognition that you have and the more people are aware of what you’re doing, both from a school and a basketball program standpoint, easier, it is to be able to have that initial conversation with the kid that you’re trying to recruit.

And they’re like, oh yeah, I know Rochester, I know, I know Rochester Institute of Technology. I’m, I’m well aware of what they’re all about. And clearly that’s an advantage than having to go in and just explain, Hey, here’s who we are, here’s where we’re at, here’s what our program is. If, if people are more aware of it, gives you a little bit more recognition and ability to go in there and have those conversations with recruits.

And clearly as you well know, getting the right players into your program. Like you talked about how important this first recruiting class is for you and just the quality of the guys that you were able to bring in, both in terms of their basketball and just who they are to, to build the kind of culture that you’re talking about.

So I already asked you about the culture heading into year two. And obviously at the division three level, you haven’t been able to be with your guys and, and do some of the things as you said that they can do at the division one level. But where are you from a standpoint of your own preparation for getting your team ready to look like more of what you want them to look like in year two from a basketball perspective and your preparation as a coach to, to get them in into that position?

[01:00:21] Dominic Parker: Yes. So we, we have something called a captain’s practice. So basically like I got a, I got 10 returners who, who’ve been through it so they kind of lead workouts and just for what they tell me, they’re, they’re doing the stuff that we would do in practice and  and to be honest with you, that’s awesome because the teams that I’ve been a part of that was successful.

Like it was player led. It wasn’t coach led. It was player led. So the fact that those returners are taking that initiative one of my, he’s probably going to be one of my captains, he came in today, he just moved in. He is a returner. He said, coach, he said, man, we’re, we’re going to be good. Like, they’re speaking it into existence.

And it’s just, like I said, it’s just a different aura. Like I said to my returners, they got something to prove. And like I said, I’m we won seven games in year one, but at the same time, I’m glad we did because now I got guys who are hungry and then now I got eight incoming guys who are like, okay, we’re going to put this place on the map.

So you got returners who hungry, and then you got guys who think like, all right, like, we’re going, we’re going to show people that we can be, we can be a national program. So putting those guys together and then of course you’re going to have to fix certain things, but like their mindset, I think is, is where it needs to be, which I think is perfect.

[01:01:38] Mike Klinzing: You talked a little bit earlier about leadership, right? And then what you just talked about, a captain’s practice being led by guys who are a part of the program in division three. So important right in the off season to be able to have guys who are holding other guys accountable and trying to get guys together to be able to play and do some of the things and make sure that everybody’s working towards being prepared when practice starts in the fall.

So how do you go about, in your mind, developing those kinds of leaders up and down your roster, what are some things that you do to give kids an opportunity to demonstrate leadership so that you can develop those guys into the types of leaders you need to create the program that you want?

[01:02:23] Dominic Parker: Yes. One thing about RIT is we have a lot of different programs.

With leadership, so all my freshmen will be in it. We’ve had several guys that were in it last year, and it just teaches you how to be a leader, but not just like a vocal leader. Like every, there’s different types of leaders that we talk about.  you can be a guy that leads by example.  you can be a guy who can be a truth teller,  you can be a guy who is a, who’s a, who’s kind of a rah rah guy.

He is, he talks, he talks a lot. Like so we, we talk about the different type of leaders and that everybody is different and everybody  it’s not just one leader that’s like, all right, this is how we’re going to go by. But everybody’s different and everybody leads by different, different things.

So we, we harp on that a lot. I know my returners, we talked about at the end of the season we talked about how we kind of lacked leadership and it’s, it wasn’t their fault. Like I had nine seniors who were basically looking at life after school.  they knew they’re not going to the NBA and they were probably probably a little ready for that so like.

Our returners, basically they said, coach, like we, we have to work on our leadership. And I said, well, that’s something that y’all have to figure it out. And one thing I will say is that they’ve done a great job this summer with, Hey look, you need to get your papers in. You have to do this, you have to do that.

I’m like, okay. Like we, these guys have it’s, it’s just a different, it’s a different, or which I think is good.

[01:03:46] Mike Klinzing: Yeah. To be able to have guys that’ll take that initiative on their own. I think that’s always a big part of what it means to be a leader, right? That it doesn’t always have to come from you saying to somebody, Hey, go do this, or Hey, you take care of that.

It’s them making sure that those things that need to get done are getting done. And when you have that, as you said, player led teams are going to be more successful than coach led teams. You have to have those players be able to take ownership and, and do those types of things in order for you to be able to have the kind of success that you want.

So another question heading into year two, as you look. What you’re going to need to be successful, and you can define success, whether that’s win-loss on the scoreboard, or whether that’s just reaching some of the internal goals and milestones that you’re setting for your team. In your mind, when you get through this next season and you look and you’re trying to evaluate what it looks like compared to where you sit today, evaluating last season, what are some of the things that you’re going to look for over the next six months?

They’re going to define whether or not year two is a successful season.

[01:04:57] Dominic Parker: I think the big thing that I’m going to look at is just playing a good brand of basketball, winning basketball, ? And one thing about it, you’re not going to win every game. We might, I don’t know. But if we don’t, I want to put a good group of guys on the floor who are playing winning basketball, and I think you do that.

You get them to buy into each other, you get we’ve, we’ve added some toughness and some athleticism and I think it, I think it’ll work itself out and sometimes you have to go through some things. And last year we, we went through a lot and I think my returners can talk to the new guys about what we went through and how they don’t want that to happen, and how we all have to be on the same page.

So I know that’s something that these guys I overheard some of them talking today, just like, look like we we we’re on a mission. I heard someone say we’re on a mission. So like, I think it’s, it’s, it’s slowly kind of it’s,  what we, what my assistant coaches and I are trying to kind of give these guys to just show them like, Hey, look like good things can happen here.

Like, I have a transfer. And he said, coach, I can get in the gym now. I said, yeah. He said, I can go see the trainer now. I said, yeah. He said, we got a gun. And I can, I said, yeah. He was just like, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be good.  what I mean? Like, so like, I think we have the resources. And I’m serious.

I didn’t make that up. Like, I’m so serious. The kid just, he was just like in awe, like, I can get in the gym right now. I said, yeah. He said, like, my old school, I couldn’t do that. I’m like, yeah, man. Like I can go see the strength. I can have a, I can work out with strength coach. I said, yeah. He said, oh my God, like this is, he’s like, these freshmen don’t know how good they have it.

So having guys with different experiences and they can articulate to my, my freshmen to know like, this ain’t how every place is. ? So I think that’s one thing too that we really harped on is diversity. We really wanted to bring guys with di diverse backgrounds and different things like that.

’cause we got three pillars is gratitude, unity, and preparation. And  and the guys last year they, they added a fourth was purpose.  so those are our four pillars. So that’s something that we kind of harp on every day and for me, it’s just like the kid he was he was expressing gratitude.

It’s like, I’m, he was just so thankful to. To just be able to just shoot something that you take for granted, just getting shots up a lot of places you can do that, but like, he was at a place that he couldn’t do that. He had to like either go real early or real late in his middle of the day. He was just like, I can go get shots up at two o’clock.

I said, yeah, man. Like, he just was just in awe. So  guys like that and that’s the one, the last thing I would say about the, the recruiting piece is like we, we got good character guys. Like, we have guys who are world class people and they’re going to be successful long after basketball court.

These people, these guys on my team are going to be CEOs presidents. They’re going, they’re going to be really successful. And that’s one thing too, is we really wanted to recruit high character guys that were tough and that was that come from winning.  so that’s, that’s the three things that we really wanted to harp into.

[01:07:57] Mike Klinzing: So when your roster is made up of guys who are coming back, who are hungry, want to have success. You got new guys coming in who clearly are motivated, want to get after it. Everybody’s moving to that. Everybody’s moving in the same direction, right? Everybody wants to build a program that’s going to be successful.

And yet you got a big roster and there are some guys inevitably, who aren’t going to get as much opportunity to play in games. But coming into fall practice, how do you think about giving every guy on your roster an opportunity to demonstrate where they stand on the practice floor? How do you do that with a roster as big as what most division three schools have?

So you got a roster of what, around 20 probably. How do you get all those guys an opportunity to be able to see them, evaluate them, make them feel like they got a fair chance to be able to show what they could do to be able to be a part of the group that’s going to play during games?

[01:09:04] Dominic Parker: Yeah. The, the one big thing about me, I’ve always been a kind of a player’s coach and for me it, I want what’s best for not just myself, but for the team.

So I have weekly meetings with everybody and I tell you exactly where you are and sometimes about it. Like, you may not like it, but you have to respect the truth, ? So it is going to be some tough conversations this season. But the one thing about it that I I got our roster’s 18. I can honestly say I got 18 guys.

That’s like, I mean, they can play like these guys can play. Like, we had a staff meeting tonight and I mean, we, we don’t, we certain things we got, have to see how it unfolds and   how it is, people get hurt things happen. But hopefully no one has nothing crazy season and injury.

But like, it, it kind of takes this, it, it kind of the season kind of, it kind of just happens. Things just happen and. You just have to be ready for it. I’ve yet to have a season where all the guys that I started with ended it with those guys, ? So things going to happen.  I know when I took this job, I had 21, but then when we got to our first game was I had 14 guys.

So a couple guys quit, couple guys that season in the injuries so but the unique thing about, I don’t think I have anybody that’s going to quit though. I think I got 10 returners who are like, okay, we got something to prove. And I got eight new guys that’s like, all right, we going to get this place in the right direction.

So I think it could be some beautiful stuff we can, we can mix it and get it, get it, get it meshed together. So,

[01:10:40] Mike Klinzing: alright, final two part question. Part one, we’ll be looking back. So what are you most proud of, of what you’ve accomplished so far? And then number two, I. What’s a goal that you have for the program over the next two or three years that you’re pointing towards?

So what are you happy with that you’ve accomplished so far? And then two, what do you hope to accomplish over the next two or three years?

[01:11:10] Dominic Parker: The one thing that I’m, I am super excited and glad is, is the culture. Where the culture is. We, we, we’re in a spot now where we got guys that want to get in the gym and get, get up shots and guys that want to get better.

 one thing about these high academic schools, they, they some people say it’s just people just want to go there just for the academics. But I can honestly say that we have a culture now that we got guys who want the academics and we got people that want to be really good at basketball.

We have both now. So I think that’s something that I’m very proud of. And and what’s the second part? Did you, you

[01:11:48] Mike Klinzing: second part is looking forward? Over the next two or three years, what’s a goal that you haven’t got there yet, but that you feel confident you’re going to get to?

[01:12:00] Dominic Parker: I think with the guys we have and the athletes that we have now, and it may not happen this year, it may not happen next year, but we’re going to be top 10 in defensive field goal percentage, and we’re going to be top 10 in the country in rebound margin.

And we, that’s, that’s, that’s kind of been ingrained with in me. That’s, that’s, that’s how I’m wired. Coach K at CU is like that. Coach K coach Palumbo at Guilford’s like that. We’re going to get there. We’re going to, we’re going to get there. And that’s something that we are going to, I will say this right now, I know we will be a lot better defensively next year and year two, it’s not saying a whole lot but, but, but year, but year two will be a lot better defensively, which I’m excited about ’cause I’m, that’s how I’m wired.

So we got guys who, who are bought in on that side of the ball and it’s going to be fun.

[01:12:46] Mike Klinzing: It’s a process of molding the team. Into the image that you want, right? When you recruit a roster, it looks different than when you inherit a roster. And so to be able to bring in guys that fit what you want to do, and obviously the longer they’re around you in practice in games, just as a personality guys get to see what’s important to you, and that starts to shape it in the direction that you want it to go.

So I will not be surprised if those goals are goals are all met this year. And clearly, I think you, you have our it headed in the right direction. Before we get out down, I want to give you a chance, share how people can get in touch with you, find out more about your programs, share social media, email, website, whatever you feel comfortable with.

And after you do that, I will jump back in and wrap things up.

[01:13:37] Dominic Parker: Yeah, so I think it’s called X now, which used to be Twitter. So my name or my hashtag is @CoachDomP. Same with Instagram. Also too, my email is DOPatl@rt.edu. And one thing about it, I’m a student of the game. I’ve actually, I got some stuffs lined up with the coach from Trinity.

I’m trying to learn from him.  They won a national title and he has one of the best defenses in the country every year.  a representative from Auburn, their offensive coordinator, I’m going to talk to him as well. So I’m a student of the game, so I’m always willing to learn and piggyback off others.

So like I said, I loved it. I love basketball, I love the process. So just looking forward to connecting with whoever.

[01:14:21] Mike Klinzing: You can always learn. Right before we did the interview with you, we had Ras Vanderloo, who’s a high school coach in Iowa, and he just retired. At the end of this past season, and he was down in Chile working with the USA basketball three on three FBA team.

And he was just talking about, here’s a guy who just retired and he was telling me about all the different things that he learned from coaching three on three. And he’s like, man, I wish I would’ve known this about the angle of the screen and all, just all these different things. And here’s a guy who’s retiring and he’s still learning the game of basketball.

And I told him, I said, I feel exactly the same way. Like I look at everything that I’ve learned Dom over the last, whatever, seven years of doing this podcast. And then the amount of knowledge that’s been poured into me by guys like yourself that are. In the profession, day in and day out that I’ve learned from.

I think if there’s no other lesson that somebody takes from what you and I talked about tonight, man, just that willingness to continue to learn there. There’s so many avenues for learning, whether it’s the internet, whether it’s mentors, whether it’s just picking up the phone and talking to somebody, whether it’s clinics, there’s just a million ways for you to grow and learn, listen to podcasts, and I think if we leave people with nothing else  clearly look to learn.

If you’re a young coach, keep learning. You can never, the more, the more  the more you realize that you, you still have, that you still have to learn. And then again, I wish you nothing but the best of success. It, I know you’re going to get that thing turned around and this year I’ll be excited to follow what you’re doing and, and see where you’re at with the, with the progress that you’ve made toward the goals that you talked about.

And it’s going to be exciting to watch your progress. So kudos to you. I know, good first year building towards an even better second year. And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks.

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[01:17:10] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.