Being a former athlete often leaves a lingering pull – toward structure, discipline, and the sense that sports once made life clear. Many stay connected long after their playing days end. For some, coaching becomes the way to reclaim that feeling, turning what they loved about competing into purpose and leadership.
Matt Cline, a former all-metro and all-conference basketball player (2005) at Seton Catholic Central, sat down with Press & Sun-Bulletin to recount his own journey from being a young player in the Binghamton area to now being on the men’s basketball coaching staff at the University of Missouri, a competitive Division I men’s basketball programs in the Southeastern Conference, one of the country’s most prominent groupings of schools.
For Cline, it started with letting go of the idea that he was bound to just his hometown. Encouragement from local coaches, like Maine-Endwell head coach Bill Ocker, was the catalyst for Cline to keep his hand at coaching, cold-calling hundreds of college basketball programs across the country, which helped land Cline his first role as a student manager at the University of South Alabama, fresh out of a season at Broome Community College and post-high school.
Cline credits bridging that gap between familiarity and personal growth to seeking discomfort.
“In order to get to where you want to go, you have to do something you’ve never done before,” Cline said. For him, that meant taking on every possible role related to leadership.
Amid the noise of the college basketball postseason, with fans voicing their opinions on which coaches have stood out in the playoffs this year–for good or for bad–Cline points out the importance of noticing players on an individual level and believes the college coaching scene is more complex than people might think.
Here’s a look at our conversation on pursuing passions, the player-to-coach pipeline, and what it takes to be a great leader:
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Mizzou assistant coach Matt Cline talks NCAA coaching, hometown growth
Reporting by Aniya Sumner, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
