Like many others, I received the news early this morning of the passing of Hall of Fame basketball coach, George Raveling. It has put me at a bit of a loss of words. I was in the process of putting together my yearly post about the day I had met with Coach when I heard the news. As I study the notes I took during that meeting I had with George in his office in El Segundo nine years ago, I can’t help but think of the countless number of lives he touched. If you were lucky enough to have spent time around Coach, some of these questions and leadership points will ring familiar. If not, I hope these lessons and takeaways shared here today will have an impact on you the same way they did for me on Tuesday, August 30th, 2016.

It’s now been nine years since I met with Coach Rav. To this day, I can recall the massive pit I had in my stomach as I woke up early to iron my clothes before our meeting, something I learned from reading about Coach before this meeting. As I ironed my clothes, stressing about potentially getting stuck in Los Angeles traffic and barely able to say a word because of how nervous I was, I continued to think back to the question I often get – how did I, a 24 year old graduate school student from Idaho, end up in a Hall of Fame basketball coaches office?

After being treated to dinner by my grandpa and grandma as a college student, along with my brother and sister-in-law, we began rummaging through my grandma’s basement looking for a game to play. My brother found one of Coach Rav’s camp notebooks from the 1970’s, during his time as the Head Coach at Washington State University. I messaged coach on Twitter, and quickly received a reply about his interest in receiving this camp booklet from me. If you know anything about Coach, you’ll know why he wanted this gem! I agreed to send it his way, in exchange for a phone conversation. That one phone call turned into the meeting of a lifetime.

This seemingly random find and unique journey eventually led me to the office of Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, George Raveling. Now I just call him Coach. He’s my friend, my mentor and an educator. He’s my reference, my pen pal and my teacher. He inspired the development of Coach To Lead, which has been up and running for 6.5 years now. He inspired my choice to accept my coaching calling. Ironically, it was made official on this special day, I was named Assistant Coach at Benedictine University Mesa in 2023. I’m entering my ninth year of fulfilling what I refer to as my burden, which is, to serve others through basketball. Coach has inspired me to become a better leader of myself and of those around me.

Coach Rav asked me what my 5-year plan was that day. I took time to carefully pencil out my plan for the upcoming five years and how I was going to achieve it. Being 9 years removed from the conversation, I’ve enjoyed looking back at how that plan has worked, failed, and been amplified into more than I ever thought all at the same time. This comes from a place of gratitude. I’ve also had the chance to dive into planning my next 5-years. One question I had asked him was what happens if my 5-year plan runs into a roadblock in year 1 or 2? “You make adjustments to your life plan, just as you would your game plan during halftime.”

As I run my player development business, I ask a lot of questions and try to listen as much as I can to the dreams, desires, fears and concerns of these young men. As I have these conversations, I’m constantly reminded of a conversation I had with Coach Rav. He said, “we spend more time planning trips than we do planning our lives.” Imagine if we had the amount of detail in planning our life as we do when taking a trip. One thing I have learned from another mentor, Phil Beckner, is that “high clarity = high performance.” Be clear. Be concise. Determine what you really want and tell people about it. I was recently challenged by Phil in our mentorship meeting to tell people what I want. That has led to life changing opportunities, some of which have come, and some of which I believe are still to come.

I’ve shared these in the past, but I think they are worth re-sharing again. 

Here are some thought provoking and inspiring questions Coach Rav asked me. I encourage you to ask yourself the same questions.

• What’s most important to me right now?
• What do you really want to do with your life?
• What are you willing to sacrifice?
• How do I get above average?
• Who can help me see what I don’t see?
• What do I need to know? What don’t I know?
• How will I acquire unique knowledge to set myself apart?
• Who do I listen to?
• Where, when, and how do I want to get there?
• Is success material to me?

Here’s some advice Coach Rav shared. He taught me to continually pursue and acquire knowledge, particularly through books. Coach gifted me a handful of books that day, and encouraged me to always bring a book to give away during a meeting, which is something I have always tried to remember to do.

• Secure transferrable skills (communication, leadership, problem solving) – pick a skill and study everything you can about it for a year
• Create a 5-year plan and take smart risks to make it happen
• Make adjustments to your plan, just like you would if coaching a game
• Be simplistic and realistic
• Never take a job for the money, take it for the opportunity
• If you’re as good as you think you are, you’ll get paid
• Growth habits leads you to a destination
• Be committed and disciplined to your plan
• Once you commit, walk the walk
• Surround yourself with amazingly intelligent people
• Build good habits to grow – They’ll compete against your other interests
• Commit to growth and success – acquire and master skills
• Be authentic because you’ll be more relatable
• Sustain success, learn lessons, fortify experience
• Hold yourself accountable to the responsibility you have to be yourself
• Lead yourself – If you can’t lead yourself you can’t lead someone else
• Control what you can control, particularly how you think
• Take charge of your life and you’ll be more productive
• Validate yourself or you won’t be who you really are

I had decided to make Coach Rav a mentor of mine before I met him. When I was able to meet him face to face, he made the comment that he had mentors that he had never met in person. Coach inspired me that day like he’s inspired so many before me. My hope is you’ll leave feeling inspired as well.

“If there’s going to be a positive difference in my life, I have to initiate it.” Coach George Raveling