Diary Series: Jason Eaker, Asst. Coach - Liberty

Very excited to be a small part of College Chalktalk's National Coaches' Diary Series for this upcoming College Basketball season.  Our staff under Dale Layer's leadership is coming off our first full week of official practice like all the other Division 1 programs around the country.  Our players have a great work ethic and great character so it's always so refreshing to get back in the gym with them each day like we have been these past several days.  As we move forward into my seventh year on staff here at Liberty, I am looking forward to being helpful to another coach who reads my entries like I have learned from so many others over the last few years from this website.  Also it is always such an honor to write about Liberty University and educate others on how special this university truly is, which I will include in my entries over the course of this season.  

I have worked for four very successful and experienced Head Coaches in Dale Layer, Ritchie McKay, Bob Hoffman, and Kelvin Sampson who have amassed over 1,400 career wins and I have learned so much over these last eight seasons at the Division 1 level that I am confident that their wisdom not mine can help others who either are in coaching or aspire to be in the future.

One of our team verses for this years edition of Liberty Basketball is Matthew 7:24-27 which states: "Jesus said, whoever hears my words and does them is like a wise man who builds his house on a rock.  The rain came down and the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on rock.  But whoever hears my words and doesn't do them, is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand.  The same great came against that house and it fell with a great crash." 

Liberty Basketball under Head Coach Dale Layer's leadership has been built on a rock. Since he shared that this would be one of our team verses late in the summer as we prepared for our amazing Foreign Tour thru France, our program like many other teams at all levels has been rocked by season and career ending injuries.  As Christian coaches and players we truly believe in what James 1:2-4 states that God puts trials of many kinds in our paths to test our faith and develop perseverance so we tried our best as a program to thank the Lord for these several key injuries to some of our best players.  As Christian men we know God puts storms in our lives for good not bad and we have already seen so many in our program over these last 30 days grow in their character, toughness, and most important growth in our relationship with Christ. 

My challenge to myself along with anyone reading this entry who is in the coaching profession is to Invest the most you ever have in your current players lives in the gym and off the court.  When things gets tough during the course of this season use those opportunities to Invest with a full heart without Entitlement with your current team.  Having been in this business long enough and having been uncertain on four different occasions about where or if I would coach somewhere the following season, I am very aware of the demands we all face in needing to sign good players on the recruiting end and how important winning is to future employment... but my challenge is that.  Invest your personal time away from practice and the office into the lives of the players God has allowed you to coach.  That time you spend Investing in your current players will come at the expense of extra time on the recruiting and scouting end but it's worth it.  I am so passionate and convicted about Investing my time with our players that I feel like its your responsibility as a coach to do that.  You don't have to believe in every player's skill set or every decision your boss makes, but push that aside all day all season and make the decision to INVEST.

As to any insight into Liberty Basketball's upcoming season I know in my heart to be 100% fact. Any team with our senior leaders Jesse Sanders, David Minaya, and John Brown with Coach Dale Layer leading us has a chance to do something special.  When you surround yourself with players and a boss that have the type of character and toughness those four individuals have, you can't wait to go to work everyday to help them achieve their dreams in the game of basketball.

* * *