The Press and Standard
Travis Garrett, now in his sixth year as the head men’s basketball coach at USC Salkehatchie, has worked steadily to build the team into a perennial winner since essentially resurrecting it in 2007. Garrett led the Indians in the 2011-12 season to a 21-12 record and a runner-up finish in the NJCAA Region X Tournament, which was statistically the best season in program history. Building and maintaining a successful program is never-ending work, but Garrett was able to take time out of his busy schedule this weekend to speak with The Press and Standard’s sports editor, Drew Tripp, about his career, what he likes to do in his free time, and his plans for the future.
Question 1: Describe yourself as a coach. How did you form your style?
Garrett: I take a little bit of my style from everybody I’ve played for and coached with — guys like Rudy Keeling (former head coach at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass.) who I coached under at Northeastern, and Glenn Wilkes, my college coach at Stetson. And, really, it goes back to my high school days when I played under Ben Trapp, and all the influences he had on me as far as trying to mold me as a basketball player and as a person, as well as playing for George Glymph, who is a legendary head coach in South Carolina at Eau Claire. Then, there was Monte Towe, a legendary player who won a national championship at North Carolina State and who’s in the college hall of fame. He gave me my first coaching job at Chipola Junior College in 1995.
I’m an intense coach on the court and in practice. I want guys to play at their optimum level, and make sure that they’re giving me everything they have, because I’m going to give them the same in return. That’s my personality as a coach. I’m much different off the court than I am on it. I’m very intense and passionate about what I do. In spite of what some people might think, I take this job here at USC Salkehatchie very seriously, whereas most people might not care about it the way I do. This is what I do for a living, and it’s what I love to do. I’m very passionate about it.
Question 2: You’ve been involved with basketball for a long, long time. What are some of your most outstanding memories from over the years from being both a player and a coach, good or bad?
Garrett: Playing in championships, or having chances to play in championships. As a coach, we won the (NJCAA) Region X Tournament Championship in my first year at Clinton Junior College. But, I’ve experienced a lot of heartaches in this game, too, and even though during most of my playing career my teams won a lot of games, I’m a lot like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Carl Malone — we won a lot of games, but we didn’t win the big ones. In high school at Eau Claire, C.A. Johnson beat us in the state championship. That was definitely a low point, because we were favored in that game. Then, when I played at Stetson, we lost in the conference tournament finals to Central Florida with a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Those are some of the things I constantly think about, especially when March Madness comes around, and I see teams we used to play against making the NCAA tournament.
There have been a lot of ups and downs, even here at USC Salkehatchie. When you’re building a program from scratch like we’ve done here, you don’t have the resources a lot of programs do, so you have to work harder and be creative in order to try and be successful. I think that us playing for the region championship last year is a good example of that hard work paying off, so I take a lot of pride in what we’ve been able to do. I wouldn’t trade my basketball experiences for the world. Basketball allowed me to get my education and get a degree, and I’m proud of what I’ve done.
Question 3: You certainly know a lot about the game from both a players’ and coach’s standpoint, but nobody knows everything. Even as veteran coach, who are the mentors and friends you still turn to for advice on game strategy, teaching the fundamentals, or dealing with young men in general?
Garrett: I’m a big John Chaney fan. I believe in a lot of things that he does and things that he stands for. I read a lot of books on him. As far as X’s and O’s, I a lot of times will reach out to my former head coach at Stetson, Dan Hipsher, who’s the assistant head coach at Alabama now. I’m always striving to be a better coach, so I try to talk to several coaches — Bob Huggins from West Virginia, Gregg Marshall at Wichita State, Anthony Grant at Alabama — as often as I can, so I can learn from them and emulate things they do in order to find every advantage I can on the court, but when I talk to them, it’s mainly pertaining to how you deal with the youth of the day — dealing with personalities and just trying to what I can do as far as motivating kids to do the right things. I just want them to be successful. Every kid can’t play Division I basketball, but if they come to USC Salkehatchie and work on getting their degree, and give themselves an opportunity to play basketball beyond here, then I’m satisfied.
Question 4: Like most coaches, I know you can be found either at the school or out on the recruiting trail nearly every day. But, when you have some free time, how do you like to spend it?
Garrett: Movies. I love movies. I like to get together and play cards with my friends and stuff, too. But, mainly, I spend a lot of time with my sons (Travis Jr., Travonte and Denari), just having family time and doing stuff together.
To read the entire story, go to http://www.colletontoday.com/sports/salkehatchie/five-questions-one-on-one-with-usc-salkechatchie-head-basketball/article_6e134fac-ba1c-11e1-84cf-0019bb2963f4.html
Question 1: Describe yourself as a coach. How did you form your style?
Garrett: I take a little bit of my style from everybody I’ve played for and coached with — guys like Rudy Keeling (former head coach at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass.) who I coached under at Northeastern, and Glenn Wilkes, my college coach at Stetson. And, really, it goes back to my high school days when I played under Ben Trapp, and all the influences he had on me as far as trying to mold me as a basketball player and as a person, as well as playing for George Glymph, who is a legendary head coach in South Carolina at Eau Claire. Then, there was Monte Towe, a legendary player who won a national championship at North Carolina State and who’s in the college hall of fame. He gave me my first coaching job at Chipola Junior College in 1995.
I’m an intense coach on the court and in practice. I want guys to play at their optimum level, and make sure that they’re giving me everything they have, because I’m going to give them the same in return. That’s my personality as a coach. I’m much different off the court than I am on it. I’m very intense and passionate about what I do. In spite of what some people might think, I take this job here at USC Salkehatchie very seriously, whereas most people might not care about it the way I do. This is what I do for a living, and it’s what I love to do. I’m very passionate about it.
Question 2: You’ve been involved with basketball for a long, long time. What are some of your most outstanding memories from over the years from being both a player and a coach, good or bad?
Garrett: Playing in championships, or having chances to play in championships. As a coach, we won the (NJCAA) Region X Tournament Championship in my first year at Clinton Junior College. But, I’ve experienced a lot of heartaches in this game, too, and even though during most of my playing career my teams won a lot of games, I’m a lot like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Carl Malone — we won a lot of games, but we didn’t win the big ones. In high school at Eau Claire, C.A. Johnson beat us in the state championship. That was definitely a low point, because we were favored in that game. Then, when I played at Stetson, we lost in the conference tournament finals to Central Florida with a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Those are some of the things I constantly think about, especially when March Madness comes around, and I see teams we used to play against making the NCAA tournament.
There have been a lot of ups and downs, even here at USC Salkehatchie. When you’re building a program from scratch like we’ve done here, you don’t have the resources a lot of programs do, so you have to work harder and be creative in order to try and be successful. I think that us playing for the region championship last year is a good example of that hard work paying off, so I take a lot of pride in what we’ve been able to do. I wouldn’t trade my basketball experiences for the world. Basketball allowed me to get my education and get a degree, and I’m proud of what I’ve done.
Question 3: You certainly know a lot about the game from both a players’ and coach’s standpoint, but nobody knows everything. Even as veteran coach, who are the mentors and friends you still turn to for advice on game strategy, teaching the fundamentals, or dealing with young men in general?
Garrett: I’m a big John Chaney fan. I believe in a lot of things that he does and things that he stands for. I read a lot of books on him. As far as X’s and O’s, I a lot of times will reach out to my former head coach at Stetson, Dan Hipsher, who’s the assistant head coach at Alabama now. I’m always striving to be a better coach, so I try to talk to several coaches — Bob Huggins from West Virginia, Gregg Marshall at Wichita State, Anthony Grant at Alabama — as often as I can, so I can learn from them and emulate things they do in order to find every advantage I can on the court, but when I talk to them, it’s mainly pertaining to how you deal with the youth of the day — dealing with personalities and just trying to what I can do as far as motivating kids to do the right things. I just want them to be successful. Every kid can’t play Division I basketball, but if they come to USC Salkehatchie and work on getting their degree, and give themselves an opportunity to play basketball beyond here, then I’m satisfied.
Question 4: Like most coaches, I know you can be found either at the school or out on the recruiting trail nearly every day. But, when you have some free time, how do you like to spend it?
Garrett: Movies. I love movies. I like to get together and play cards with my friends and stuff, too. But, mainly, I spend a lot of time with my sons (Travis Jr., Travonte and Denari), just having family time and doing stuff together.
To read the entire story, go to http://www.colletontoday.com/sports/salkehatchie/five-questions-one-on-one-with-usc-salkechatchie-head-basketball/article_6e134fac-ba1c-11e1-84cf-0019bb2963f4.html
