• Enters his first season on the bench at GW after
spending the previous eight seasons at Montverde Academy in
Florida.
• An excellent teacher of the game, Sutton has been coaching
nearly 25 years and has also had prior Division I coaching stops at
his alma mater, James Madison, and at Old Dominion
University.
• Sutton has helped develop standouts such as George
Lynch (North Carolina), Arron Bain (Villanova), Randolph Childress
(Wake Forest), Cory Alexander (Virginia), Exree Hipp (Maryland),
Serge Zwikker (North Carolina), Cameron Dollar (UCLA), Nate James
(Duke), Jason Capel (North Carolina) during his time on the
sidelines.
Diary Series: Kevin Sutton, Asst. Coach - George Washington ("Challenges of the new staff")
As our coaching staff - under the leadership of Mike Lonergan -
begins our first season here at George Washington University, many
of the challenges that we faced are very similar to those
challenges that all new staffs have to deal with. With the
success that Coach Lonergan has had on and off the court in his 24
year coaching career at Catholic University and the University
of Vermont, I think that it is safe to say that he has a
philosophy on how he has built those two programs and how he plans
to build his program here at George Washington.
The implementation of a new philosophy always brings about the natural feelings of uncertainty. Whenever are changes made, both the players and the coaches have to make the adjustment to those changes. Some of the changes are easy to adjust to and some of the changes take more time.
In all walks of life, whenever changes are made, it is important that you get ‘BUY IN’! However, before you have “buy in” you must have ‘BELIEVE IN’. BELIEVE IN comes with trust and trust is built over time. Once “BELIEVE IN” and “BUY IN” occur, you have the opportunity to achieve success.
The new philosophy and expectations our coaching staff is implementing at GW revolve around the ABC’s:
I. Academic Expectations:
- Attend Class regularly
- Meet with Academic Advisor daily
- Attend tutoring sessions daily
- Meet with Professors
II. Basketball Expectations:
- Strength Training – Improve overall conditions and strength
- Nutrition – Education to improve diet
- Skill Development – learn to become a “gym rat”
- Improve basketball IQ – become a student of the game
III. Community Service Expectations:
- Participate in Leadership Academy – Development of leaders
- Participate in “Freshman Move-in” – Connect with student body
- Attend & Support sport events on campus – Connect with students-athletes
- Perform Community Service outside of campus – connect with community
At George Washington University, we have implemented a philosophy that is built on accountability for our student-athletes to do your best whenever it is asked of you for the betterment of the team versus the individual. Don’t be the guy that is not accountable, responsible or dependable. This high level of accountability starts at the top – with our coaching staff - and filters throughout our program in all areas of our program.
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