Learning to Be Pros in Life

      He said maybe it's time to buy a trailer.

      Now in his third year as coach for the local Division I college, Joe and his family live in Arroyo Grande and love it, finally finding out what sun is, after living in Seattle. Grover Beach is a lot like Seattle, he claimed. His wife is a cat captain for Woods Human Society here, and the Coach gave $50 in gratitude for club President-Elect Regina Sheldon adopting three kittens. He also claimed his daughter, an 8th grader at Paulding was the only kid there without a cell phone. She's going to a formal dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, and the prep for that further demonstrates his life in turmoil.

      He'd rather, he said, work with 15 basketball players bursting with testoserone. The season ahead has 18 Division I games, and Joe hopes that this team will be "knocking on the door of the NCAA Tournament" in March. Getting his players to make the right decisions off the court is his biggest challenge, but his is a program of student-athletes who were selected for their character and GPA.

      Last year's seniors, now gone, are living examples of lives that embraced the "regular guys doing regular things" on the court, and then going out and making life happen: One recruits players for the Australian Football League; one is studying criminal justice while working two part-time jobs; one, from the Dominican Republic, is playing pro ball there; one is now a med-school student; and one has been accepted into Stanford's doctorial professorship (his senior project was creating working limbs for amputees).

      "My job is not to teach basketball," Joe said. "My job is to create professionals, which is learning to be pros in life."

      Ahead of him this year is the toughest schedule ever, including five guaranteed games (which he said gather a paycheck for appearing and where officials are "not nice"). So they'll open against Texas Christian and play through a schedule that includes the University of Washington, Nevada, UCLA and St. Mary's.

      To succeed, the Coach prefers steady and productive to irratic and flashy. Like internet stock, no. Like Johnson & Johnson: teaching the new players in the program that the way to winning is consistency. At Poly, his players receive a world class degree, in a world class community with world class care.

      Coach Joe also runs basketball camps for youngsters, brought in through word of mouth. Ten scholarships were given at the last camp, and his goal is to gather support for 50. With his work with the kids, they recognize him to be part of the community.

      "This is my pro team," Joe said, of his college crew. "Come out and see them." He said any Rotarian interested going to a game should consider it during winter break, when they need bodies to fill the seats.

      "Then you can see some unbelievable kids doing believable things."