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USC coaches: Which way did they go?

Former USC men’s basketball coaches have taken divergent paths

Dave Odom lead vert

Dave Odom

Written by SETH EMERSON

semerson@thestate.com
Posted on 10.12.08
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Where are they now?

A look at USC men’s basketball coaching staff from last season.

Dave Odom

Then: Head coach retired after seven seasons at USC.

Now: Semi-retired, he consults with some college teams and works basketball camps. He recently put his Columbia house on the market and spends a lot of time at the beach.

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Rick Duckett

Then: Associate head coach

Now: Head coach at Grambling

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Barry Sanderson

Then: Assistant coach, specializing in offense

Now: Sanderson has taken a job as a sales rep with Waste Management, the Houston-based garbage and recycling company.

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Ken Potosnak

Then: Assistant coach, specializing in recruiting

Now: Potosnak lives in Atlanta; has had some offers but is waiting for a better opportunity.

In five days, the South Carolina men’s basketball team will start practice.

That morning, former assistant coach Barry Sanderson will put on a suit and tie, go to his Columbia sales office and sell waste-collection products.

As the Gamecocks begin learning offensive and defensive sets, former head coach Dave Odom will spend the day at his beach house, playing tennis and jogging on the sand.

As his peers hit the recruiting trail throughout the fall and winter, Ken Potosnak sits and waits in Atlanta, hoping spring will bring a new job.

Rick Duckett, on the other hand, will conduct a practice, but it will be away from the spotlight of South Carolina and the SEC as he tries to resurrect a moribund program in Louisiana.

Those four men comprised the South Carolina men’s basketball coaching staff most of the past seven seasons. The fact that three of them are out of the business shows what a difficult profession it can be.

“Unfortunately, I think all of those guys are good coaches,” Duckett said of his three former colleagues. “But it’s the nature of the beast that we’re in.”

LIVING THE LIFE

Odom said he decided around Christmas time last year that it would be his last season at South Carolina. He was tired of fan and media speculation about his future and the toll he believed it was taking on his team, his players and himself.

But Odom waited a month to make the announcement, struggling with the right way to handle it. Ultimately, he decided to do so midseason, in part so his assistants would have the chance to look for jobs.

As for Odom, he decided quickly to sit out the upcoming season, though he has not closed the door on coaching again.

He remains involved in the game. He has spent a few days each with coaching colleagues, helping them evaluate their teams. He has worked camps and will decide in the next few weeks whether to accept other offers, including opportunities in the media.

Otherwise, he spends most of his time at his beach house in North Carolina, where he gets up, hangs out at a corner store, jogs, eats breakfast, goes through the mail, goes out to lunch, walks on the beach, plays tennis, has dinner, then goes to sleep around 10.

“I have had absolutely the best summer,” Odom said. “I’ve kind of cleared the deck and awaken most mornings with no agenda, other than whatever I want to do. I haven’t had that in memory over a long period of time.”

There are aspects of coaching he will miss: day-to-day contact with players and staff, and practices. But he doesn’t miss the other stuff: worrying about the APR, the travel, making sure players are eligible and staying out of trouble.

“People ask me, How do you like retirement?” Odom said. “But I don’t feel like I’ve retired yet. I don’t think I’ll get the real sense of retirement until official basketball begins.”

But as Odom knew when he made his decision, it would have a profound effect on his three assistants.

STEPPING AWAY

Sanderson, 42, was the definition of a coaching lifer. His father, Wimp, was the longtime and colorful coach at Alabama. Barry Sanderson’s two brothers are both in the business: Scott, who played at USC, coaches Lipscomb, and Jim heads an NAIA program.

But when Odom announced in mid-January he was retiring, Sanderson thought it might be a good chance to get out of the profession. Family was a big consideration; he wanted to stay close to his three kids, and it would be hard to find a college coaching job in the area.

Sanderson talked briefly with new Gamecocks coach Darrin Horn but expected Horn to bring his staff from Western Kentucky.

But something else was at work in Sanderson’s mind. He was tiring of the grind, of the travel, of the headaches of coaching. He was ready to try something different.

“Coaching is a very demanding profession; it takes away a lot of time from family, from holidays. I’ve been doing that for 18 years, and it just seemed like the right time to step away,” Sanderson said. “I still love the game, I still plan to go to every game I can here. I love these guys here. I’m a huge fan, but I won’t have the pressures of the daily coaching.”

Through a contact in Birmingham, Ala., Sanderson heard Waste Management, a national garbage and recycling company, had an opening at its Columbia branch. Sanderson was hired as a sales rep, a job that allows him utilize his experience in basketball recruiting.

It might not be as glamorous as coaching, but Sanderson is happy. He likes the job and his co-workers, and even the challenge of being paid partly by commission.

Now, when Sanderson attends a game,, he can get in his car and go home when it ends, rather than “beat my head over what happened.” He does not plan a return to coaching.

“I never say never, but right now I am really enjoying what I’m doing,” Sanderson said. “And I have a few free weekends, which I wouldn’t have if I were still coaching.”

HOPING AND WAITING

Potosnak’s career was taking off when he lost his job at USC. A native of Pennsylvania, he had coached in South Carolina since 1992, building contacts throughout the Southeast. After stints at The Citadel and Furman, he was hired by Odom in 2005.

Potosnak, 42, was credited by people in the program for injecting energy into recruiting. He helped bring in big men Mike Holmes and Sam Muldrow, and Horn said he considered retaining Potosnak because of his recruiting ability.

When Horn went another way, Potosnak moved to Atlanta.

After climbing the coaching ladder, it was hard for Potosnak to look too far down when considering his next job; he wanted to join a high-profile program. This past offseason offered few such chances; only two head-coaching jobs opened in the SEC, at USC and LSU, and none in the ACC.

Potosnak passed on several opportunities at mid-major schools. He was one of two finalists for the Central Florida job, which Potosnak considered a good position because the Knights have established themselves as an upper-echelon team in Conference USA. But the school chose one of Potosnak’s good friends.

“I was looking for the right fit in terms of what fit me, and had some opportunities,” Potosnak said. “And as I looked at those, I looked at them and said in six or seven months I’d be looking for another opportunity. ... I didn’t think that would benefit me or the people that would hire me.”

These days, Potosnak is working at a lot of camps. It keeps him busy and pays the bills. He hopes the job market will bear better fruit in the spring.

“I’m going to keep in basketball any way I can, even if it’s without a team,” Potosnak said. “And when it comes next spring, hopefully there’s one that’s a good fit for me.”

‘IT’S A RE-BIRTH’

The basketball program at Grambling always has paled in comparison to its football counterpart, made famous by Eddie Robinson. The basketball team has a history of mediocrity; last season it finished 7-17 and was 328th out of 341 Division I teams in the Ratings Percentage Index.

Stepping up to challenge of turning around the program is Duckett, who was South Carolina’s top assistant the past six seasons. This is his third head coaching job, the previous two at Division II schools in North Carolina.

Duckett might have hoped to settle into a career with a high-profile team, even as an assistant. If Odom had stayed at USC, Duckett said he “possibly” still would have accepted the Grambling job. Odom said he would have recommended Duckett take it.

Either way, Duckett is starting over. “It’s a re-birth,” he said.

His family has followed him to the Bayou. Daughter Keigan, an 11th-grader, has made friends at her new school. Son Philip, 20, transferred to Grambling from a community college in Florida. And wife Letita has been what Duckett called “a perfect coach’s wife,” despite leaving behind most of her family and friends in the Carolinas.

“People look at athletics through the lens as a job and you’re supposed to win and you’re supposed to be successful,” Duckett said. “And they don’t look at it through the lens where people’s (personal) lives are at stake.

“If you’re an attorney or a doctor, you have to be successful. You’ve got to be able to put bread on the table and get business if you’re going to eat. Just because you’ve got a position where you’re visible as a coach doesn’t mean it’s any different.”

NEW BEGINNINGS

The four men remain in contact. Basketball staffs are naturally close, especially compared to football, whose staffs are larger in size and more departmentalized.

“In basketball, we’re all a network,” Duckett said. “We all do some of everything. Every day you’re interacting with each coach. So the relationships develop. You go out to lunch, you do things with your families.”

Each maintains interest in the Gamecocks, having recruited and coached all of the current players. But they also know it’s Horn’s show now. When Sanderson talks about wanting to attend games this season, he sounds more like a fan than a former coach.

But as practice gets ready to start, the feelings might vary. Sanderson and Odom could decide they want back in. Potosnak might discover he doesn’t need a big-time job. Duckett might turn Grambling into a success story.

None knows for sure — this is uncharted territory for all of them.

“I miss the relationship with the players. That was what I enjoyed the most,” Sanderson said. “And I’ll always miss a certain part of coaching, because it’s something I’ve been involved in all my life. And I can always get my fix through my friends who are in coaching. I can do it without the headaches.”

Sanderson laughs.

“I guarantee I won’t lose any games this year.”

Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.

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