UC Santa Cruz Head Women's Basketball Coach Todd Kent was part of a select group of head coaches who attended The Center for Coaching Excellence held at Columbia University from June 8-10.
Thirty-six college women's basketball coaches from across the country completed the invitation-only, two-and-a-half day elite leadership program. Kent was the one of the seven Division III coaches invited to take part in the program.
Using resources of Columbia University and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, The Center for Coaching Excellence utilized collaborative and interaction learning sessions, along with lectures and panel discussions featuring experts in college athletics, in addressing some of the most pressing issues in college women's basketball while also establishing valuable networking opportunities with their peers and top industry leaders.
A member of the WBCA, Kent completed his fifth year at the helm of the Slugs' program in 2014-15.
"The event is designed to help coaches develop a better understanding of how to be true to themselves. With the assistance of skilled facilitators and other coaches, we spent three days creating a game plan to identify our personal strengths and weaknesses and how to capitalize on that knowledge to benefit our student-athletes,"Kent said.
Coaches attending the June 8-10 session included Kyle Adams of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (II), Tennille Adams of Howard University (I), Jana Ashley of Clarion University (II), Fala Bullock of Armstrong State University (II), Jennifer Carleton of the University of Bridgeport (II), Anne Crutchfield of Emory & Henry College (III), Susan Darling of Northern Arizona University (I), Brian Donoghue of King's College (Pennsylvania) (II), Brianna Finch of New Mexico Highlands University (II), Juli Fulks of Transylvania University (III), Molly Goodenbour of California State University-Dominguez Hills (II), Lauren Hall-Gregory of New York University (III), Jenerrie Harris of the University of Massachusetts Lowell (I), Kiley Hill of Valdosta State University (II), Ron Hughey of the University of Houston (I), Heather Jacobs of Adelphi University (II), Todd Kent of the University of California – Santa Cruz (II), Tim LaKose of the Dominican University of California (II), Tina Martin of the University of Delaware (I), Caroline McCombs of Stony Brook University (I), Cassandra Moorer of Stillman College (II), Alisha Mosley of Washington College (III), Allison Nichols of Randolph College (III), James Oliver Jr. of Bluefield State College (II), Katie Pate of Lenoir-Rhyne University (II), JJ Riehl of St. Edward's University (II), Kristen Rogers of Lake Superior State University (II), Carter Shaw of California State University-Los Angeles (II), David Slifer of the University of Central Missouri (II), Charlotte Smith of Elon University (I), Jennifer Smith of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania (II), Polly Thomason of the University of Texas at Dallas (III), Tom Webb of Cameron University (II), Jaida Williams of Coastal Carolina University (I), Stephanie Yelton of the University of West Florida (II) and Mark Zacher of Norwich University (III).
Dr. Cathie T. Siders, a clinical psychologist, organizational consultant and executive coach, facilitated group-learning sessions. Other sessions featured panel discussions from a wide variety of leaders from both the college athletics industry and other sectors of industry.
"Being invited to participate in this select program and working with such tremendous faculty and coaches from across the country was humbling. It was the best professional development program I have ever attended and I would like to thank the NCAA, WBCA, Columbia University, and the Center for Coaching Excellence for the opportunity,” he said.
Faculty that contributed to this year's session included Anucha Browne, vice president for women's basketball, NCAA; Val Ackerman, faculty, Columbia University School of Continuing Education; Rich Ensor, commissioner, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; Jon LeCrone, commissioner, Horizon League; Bernadette McGlade, commissioner, Atlantic 10 Conference; Jody Conradt, head coach emerita, University of Texas; Harry Perretta, head coach, Villanova University; Stephanie Glance, head coach, Columbia University; Terri Williams-Flournoy, head coach, Auburn University; Muffet McGraw, head coach, University of Notre Dame; Marsha Sharp, associate athletics director for special projects and head coach emerita, Texas Tech University; Joe Tartamella, head coach, St. John's University and Coquese Washington, head coach, Penn State University.
