The Rising Coaches Podcast

On this episode of the Rising Coaches Podcast, we are joined with the Director of Recruiting Operations and Assistant Women’s Coach at the University of Kentucky, Coach Ciara Gregory. Coach Gregory has a short list of schools with a rather quick incline, starting as a Graduate Manager at Charlotte and working her way up to being an Assistant Coach. Following her 5 years in Charlotte as a coach she found herself recently joining the Wildcats staff. Coach Gregory talks to us on some of her day to day duties as the Director of Recruiting Operations as well as some things that make Kentucky basketball so unique. Coach Gregory also has a strong background in working with guard play at Charlotte and she dives into some unique things she liked to work on. Please welcome to the podcast, Coach Ciara Gregory.

Brian Pauga is the Director of College Scouting and Basketball Intelligence for the Utah Jazz, Brian Pauga. Brian started as a student manager at Michigan State University and took an immediate jump into the NBA holding various roles with the San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz. Brian Pauga has 15+ years of scouting at the NBA level and shares with us some insight on some of the best ways to assess a players ability to fit in a system, best practices to grow in the NBA as well as his belief on what best separates a good scout from a great one.

Jeff Capel is the Head Coach of the University of Pittsburgh. Coach Capel joins us today with a wide range of coaching and basketball knowledge starting from his career as a player at Duke University and leading into his various assistant positions at Old Dominion, VCU and Duke. Coach Capel also held Head Coaching Stints with an overall record of 259-202 as a head coach at VCU as well as Oklahoma and currently the University of Pittsburgh. On this episode Coach Capel talks about some of his big takeaways he learned while playing and coaching under Coach Krzyzewski at Duke, some major takeaways he learned as a first year head coach at the age of 27 as well as promoting accountability amongst your players.

Dave Love is a long time NBA shooting coach. Coach Love joins us with 8 years of experience working in the NBA as a shooting coach, but nearly 20+ years of being a shooting coach and consultant for people of all ages. Coach Love has experience working with the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, G-League Ignite and most recently the Dallas Mavericks. On this podcast we talk on Coach Love's journey in the industry as a shooting coach, proper shooting mechanics that anyone should look out for, as well as some best practices to improve jump shots of any age and some brand new research founded on periodization of skill training.

Corry Irvin is the current Head Women’s Coach at Chicago State University. Coach Irvin has 25+ years of coaching experience ranging from the High school ranks all the way to Division 1 basketball. She has held numerous positions at schools including Saint Xavier University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Mississippi State University and presently Chicago State University. In this episode we cover building a culture, a program as a head coach and takeaway some great advice for helping coaches grow in the industry, just as she has.

Gabe Lazo is the Assistant Women’s Coach at the University of Tennessee. Coach Lazo has made various stops after his playing career ended at Barry University in a variety of roles including Florida International University, Stony Brook, George Washington, Mississippi State and currently Tennessee. Coach Lazo has an extensive background at a variety of levels while working his way up in the industry. This episode we talk about building your coaching philosophy, a division 1 coaches tips on recruiting and best practices to move up in the industry.

Dave Saur is the current Head Women’s Coach at Chatham University. Coach Saur has a strong coaching background starting in the Division 3 ranks and working his way up the chain, holding roles at schools including Thiel College, California University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Stetson University, UMass Lowell, University Louisiana at Monroe and Chatham University, where he recently led his team to a PAC championship and Head Coach of the year award. In this episode we learn about some advice on moving up in the industry, utilizing your network to its fullest and creating a culture as a head coach.

Chad Boudreau is the current Head Coach at Western Illinois University. As a head coach, Boudreau holds an overall record of 97-33 holding 3 consecutive conference regular season titles in four years as well as recently earning a spot as a finalist for the Joe B. Hall award as being one of the top first year head coaches in Division 1. Prior to his head coaching career Boudreau started out at Hannibal-LaGrange as a women’s Graduate Assistant Coach. He would soon work his way to Indian Hills, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Whitewater and Western Illinois as an assistant. Soon to be the head coach of Highland Community College and where he stands now, Western Illinois University.

Jon Vanderwal is the current head coach at Marietta College. Coach Vanderwal has grown a strong history at Marietta college raising the program from the bottom of the conference to now being a Nationally ranked D3 powerhouse under his tenure. Vanderwal has a head coaching record of 313-126 with a 72% winning percentage over his 17 year reign at Marietta as well as being presented the Glenn Robinson Award as the top division III coach in the nation.Vanderwal has also been awarded 4 coach of the year awards in the OAC as well as 4 Region Coach of the year awards while averaging 23.3 wins and 5.5 losses from the 2011-2022 seasons.We are honored to chat with such a strong division 3 coach.

Ronnie Burrell is the current assistant coach with the Portland Trailblazers. Following an extensive 15 year professional playing career including France and Germany, Coach Burrell would step into a Graduate Assistant Role with Florida Atlantic University as his first role as a coach. Following FAU he would take on various positions at IMG Academy, Brooklyn Nets, Long Island Nets, Chicago Bulls, College Park Skyhawks, and currently the Portland Trail Blazers. Coach Burrell has a tremendous coaching background while continuously moving up the chain on top of winning the NBA G League coach of the year award in 2023 with the Long Island Nets.