Remember Speedy Claxton? He's back! In head coaching form!
Thirteen days shy of the 25th anniversary of his first game with the Flying Dutchmen, Speedy Claxton will officially begin authoring the next chapter in one of the most remarkable stories in the history of Hofstra athletics tonight, when the Dutchmen visit Houston in Claxton’s first game as head coach.
Claxton took a few minutes Sunday to discuss what the first few months as head coach have been like, including the transition from sympathetic assistant coach to demanding head coach as well as the mindset heading into tonight and whether or not he’ll have any superstitions. Thanks to Claxton for his time.
On if there’s anything he’s experienced over the last few months he couldn’t have understood until becoming head coach:
Not really. The biggest thing is, I would say, managing different personalities. Now you’ve got to kind of have a relationship with everybody on the team when you’re the head coach, whereas when I was an assistant coach, I had a relationship with everybody, but not an in-depth one. For the most part, the guys that I recruited, I was closer with. Not saying I wasn’t close with the other guys, but obviously you’re going to have more of a relationship with the guys that you bring in, naturally. But now that I’m the head coach, I really have to have a really good relationship with everybody. And that’s the kind of head coach that I want to be. I want them to know that I love them first and I coach them second.
On adjusting to the change from the “good guy” assistant coach to the stern head coach:
It's true (laughs). Some days, they’re not going to like you and I’m not used to that. Because (when) I was an assistant coach, they loved me everyday (laughs). I’m the one they came to bitch to about the head coach. And it’s different now. Some days, they’re gonna hate me. They probably hated me on Thursday, because I kicked them out of practice. But some days, it's gonna be like that. You’ve just got to know that as a head coach, they’re not going to like you (everyday). But I think if they know they love you, they respect you more. They might hate you for the moment, but not overall.
On the difficulty of that transition:
To be honest, yes. It’s different for me. Jay Ray, for one. He used to always come to me when he had a problem with coach or whomever., Had to talk him off the ledge. And now, those problems turn to me. And we got into it last Thursday. We got face-to-face during practice, But this is where it’s different: When I got home, in the back of my mind, I was like ‘All right, now what can I do with this kid? We had a blowup in practice.’ But to his credit, he texted me and he apologized and that’s the thing. I think if they know that you love them first, then they know that you’ve really got their best interests at heart. And he knows that I really only jumped him to get him to play. And you know what? That next day at practice, he had a great practice. So he needed that moment to go forward, probably.
On trying to be more of a “CEO” type of coach, a la Joe Mihalich:
You have to approach it that way. You can’t be everywhere, or else you’re going to be all over the place. You have to have the confidence in your assistant coaches that they know what they’re doing and trust in them that they’re relaying your message. So you have to kind of have a overall view of the program in practice, because you can’t be involved in everything. So you’ve got to have trust in your coaching staff.
On learning that from Mihalich:
It’s definitely easier. That’s my mentor. I think he’s done a tremendous job of not only preparing me but all of his assistant coaches to one day be a head coach. He really knows how to prepare you for the moment.
On the rotation:
The rotation’s going to be based on performance. We’re a talented, very deep team. So one night it might be somebody’s night. The next night, it might be somebody else. It’s who’s playing well that night, that’s who we’re going to ride and that’s who we’re going to go with.
On the preparedness of the Dutchmen heading to Houston:
It’s definitely going to be different. It counts. It’s for real now. And I think these guys are locked in. They’re very eager to play. They’re ready. man. These last two days of practice have really, really been good — especially today. You know, in the preseason here, we had off yesterday. And that first day of practice after an off-day has been terrible. Like, aw-ful. (Claxton really did extend out the pronunciation of awful) And it’s every single one after an off-day. This was probably the first time after an off-day we had a really good practice. And I think it’s because they’re really locked in and they’re ready to play.
On his nerves tonight:
I’m sure I’ll be nervous, just like anything I do. When I was playing, if we played a team for the second time, we could have beat the team by 50 the first time, I’m still going to be nervous to come out. But once the game starts, I get into my element and I’m good. It’s just before — I’m a nervous person (laughs), so I get nervous before everything. But then it starts, I’m locked in and I’m good.
On any pregame rituals/superstitions:
I thought about that, but I don’t think I really need one. I’m just going to be all over the place. I’ll be focused, locked in, but all the work is in preparation leading up to the game, man. I’ll be fine. I don’t think I’m going to need a routine, per se. But who knows? Maybe I’ll get into one. For right now, I don’t have anything planned. Come out, watch warmup a little bit, kill some time. There’s no way — I would go crazy if I just sat in the damn locker room the whole warmups. Probably come out, spend some time on the court watching warmup and then get ready to go.
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