I was inspired by the story of the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie coach Matt Lynch this week. As Billy Witz reported in The New York Times, Lynch has been on the job for a little over a year and this season his record is 17-13.
Which doesn’t sound that remarkable except as Witz writes before Lynch took the job it was likely, “the worst college coaching job in the country. The school, a junior college at a rural outpost about an hour’s drive west of Charleston, had shut down its men’s basketball program before last season after going through four coaches in eight months. One quit before setting foot on campus.”
The job offered a salary of $38,000, no players, the school gym was seven feet short of regulation, showers didn’t have running water, and there were no toilets.
Witz writes, “The job would test career ambitions, which made it perfect for Matt Lynch… But what sets Lynch apart is that he is making the climb as an openly gay man.” And “according to Outsports, the website that chronicles L.G.B.T.Q. athletes, there had never been a publicly gay men’s head coach in any of the North American major professional leagues, nor in college football or men’s basketball until Lynch.”
Lynch”s story and success is inspiring, but what I also loved was his attitude towards coaching. As Lynch said in the article, “All I ever wanted was an opportunity…. You’ve got to make the big time where you are.”
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