1. Mission Statement
Since I graduated college in 2008, and finishing my volunteer internship in the St. Mary’s
College athletic offices in 2010, I’ve been looking to break into the college basketball game as
an assistant coach, and eventually become a head coach. I already have a cover letter, which
describes why I would be a good coach, and emphasizes my experience as a coach and
administrator. However, this is not a cover letter, but a mission statement about people like
me, who have more difficulty making it as a certified NCAA coach.
When I say people like me, I refer to people who lacked the physical ability and mental
fortitude, to become a stud athlete in college. I realized this when I was one of the first cuts for
my high school basketball my freshmen year, so I decided to try to get into coaching. I love
basketball, and I knew the game well enough that coaching was more realistic, so I
concentrated on playing water polo during the school year, and working summer basketball
camps. I realized that this could be a real possibility a few summers after that first summer
when I realized the man who kept rehiring me to work camps was one of the best high school
coaches in the country. I took this as major motivation and a huge compliment that he believed
in me enough to keep bringing me back.
I got my first real coaching job right before I started the fall semester of my freshmen
year in college, which almost contributed to my expulsion after failing to get a 2.0 GPA that first
semester. Luckily, I was able to get my grades up, so I was pulled off of academic probation, and
graduate, without having to quit coaching. After I graduated from St. Mary’s College, I worked
in the athletic offices for two years, which included being the videographer for the women’s
basketball team. After that time, I made a major mistake that I regret to this day, yet motivates
me even more. A classmate of mine was a junior college coach, and when he gave me the
opportunity to coach with him, I took it. I enjoyed my time working as a videographer, but I told
the coaches that this opportunity could potentially propel me to the coaching fraternity. After
that year, for whatever reason, I was not asked back to coach at the junior college. I was angry,
hurt, and embarrassed, when no explanation was given to me as to why I wasn’t coming back,
but I was not about to lose my cool, and damage my reputation by calling himout on it. What
made it worse was that, after that season, St. Mary’s hired another coach right out of college;
she happened to be a former college player, but I will get to that later. I know that if I stayed
with the St. Mary’s staff, I would have been an assistant coach there to this day. Since then, I’ve
been coaching high schools, sometimes with a bitter taste in my mouth, but more motivated
than ever.
Now here is my real purpose for my mission statement. I know the one thing holding me
back was my zero experience playing basketball in college, which I believe has. I’m thirty years
old, yet I’ve been coaching organized basketball for fifteen years. Not just children, but
adolescent boys and girls, men and women, yet I keep hearing about former college players

2. getting jobs right after graduating college. Again, another bitter taste in my mouth, but
someone not hiring me is not in my control. All I can do is push forward. High school has also
been tough as well. I’ve gone into interviews, and presented myself well, but was denied
because I was told that “I did not look like a coach” and the players would have difficulty
relating to me because of my race. After that, I said thank you for the opportunity and good
luck in the upcoming season. I understand that current and future coaches benefit by having
certain perquisites, and I don’t blame anyone for not hiring me, nor do I make excuses for why
someone didn’t bring me along. What was said in those two interviews were, in fact, said.
However, I do not believe being a stellar athlete automatically makes one a stellar coach. The
best coaches in sports were backup point guards, catchers, former interns, student managers,
one Super Bowl winning coach. I’m not going to say who, because I don’t know if there are any
legal ramifications for mentioning them.
I could say more, but then this statement would be a rant, and it probably is, but
considering what else I could have said, it’s not. I have no illusions about the difficulty of
coaching college. What the majority of people who see coaches, think that all coaches do is yell
at players on the sideline, and coach for the fame, money, TV time, exposure, and popularity.
I’d admit that I do fancy these things, but the big reason for me, is religion. I am a somewhat
religious person, not a church goer, and I admit, done some things that God frowns upon, but
to me, basketball is a religious experience. When I’m in the gym, I’m at peace. Everything is
easy and good. Most importantly, I’m happy. I’m the first in, last out, but thank God that gyms
do not have pictures of famous figures in them, otherwise it would fall under the violation of
the commandment of “worshipping false idols”. In a nutshell, I could easily give up and take a
job that would make me miserable, but that is something I will not do. I’ve invested way too
much time, energy, and money trying to make my dream happen, which I believe will become a
reality. All it takes is one person to believe in me and my abilities to coach.
Anyway, I hope you found this statement informative and enlightening, and I hope that
someone out there can I look past my shortcomings and understand that I do know what I’m
talking about. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.
Sincerely,
Coach Dimitri Evangelos Magganas,