RJ Allen is the Head Coach at Newman University. Coach Allen has grown himself in the industry, following his playing career at Hutchinson Community College, he started in a Graduate Assistant position at Concordia University. He grew in his role and ended up taking an assistant coach at Woodbury High School before being appointed the Associate Head Coach at Newman University and ultimately being appointed Head Coach, where he has been for 8 seasons. In this episode we talk about some bumps in the road as a first year head coach, how his coaching philosophy has evolved and on their growth so far this season.

Ryan Pannone is the Assistant Coach at the University of Alabama, Coach Ryan Pannone. Coach Pannone has worked his way up the coaching ranks holding positions in 5 countries including China, Slovakia, Israeli, Germany and South Korea as well as positions including Wallace State Community College, Erie Bayhawks, New Orleans Pelicans and currently the University of Alabama. Pannone has a strong coaching background and a wealth of knowledge for the game overall as you will come to learn. Pannone speaks on common threads amongst the different countries he has coached in, some of his favorite offensive actions as well as how to build a strong team culture in a program.

Rob Lanier is the first year Head Coach of Rice University, Coach Rob Lanier. Coach Lanier joins us with a current 141-135 Head Coaching record holding head stints at Siena, Georgia State, SMU and now Rice University. Coach Lanier started his coaching journey at Niagara University as an assistant and held various other assistant positions at St. Bonaventure, Rutgers, Texas, Virginia, Florida and Tennessee.On this episode, we talk about some takeaways Coach Lanier has learned working under legendary coaches Rick Barnes and Billy Donovan, how to grow and maintain a culture as a first year head coach and an overview of the style of play Rice has been looking to incorporate this year.

Carlin Hartman is the Associate Head Coach at the University of Florida. Following Hartman’s playing career at Tulane, he played a few years in a Semi Professional league and then right into his first coaching position at Rice. Following Rice, Hartman held various positions at McNeese State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Richmond, Centenary, James Madison, Columbia, Oklahoma, UNLV and currently The University of Florida. In this episode Coach Hartman talks about some of the biggest challenges he has faced in his growth as a coach, how the game of basketball has evolved over his years as a coach as well as how analytics plays a major role in basketball to this day.

Dedrique Taylor is the Head Coach at California State Fullerton University. Coach Taylor is in his 12th season as a head coach, all while at Cal State Fullerton. Coach Taylor started his coaching career following his playing career at UC Davis and pivoted into various roles at Loyola Marymount, Portland State, Nevada and Arizona State. Looking back on Coach Taylor’s coaching career, we take him back to his first year as a head coach and learn what he would have done differently as a head coach, we dig deeper into some of the biggest challenges he has faced as a head coach as well as how him and his previous teams as an assistant overcame the ups and downs of a season to learn and grow from things the next season.

Jason hart is the Assistant Coach at the University of Kentucky, Coach Jason Hart. Coach Hart joins us starting in the AAU circuit as well as High School ranks as a Head Coach at Taft High School following his 9 year NBA Career. Following Coach Hart’s year stint with Taft he has made coaching stops at Pepperdine University, USC, NBA G League Ignite and currently The University of Kentucky. Coach Hart talks to us on this episode about his experiences growing in the ranks from coaching in High School to one of the highest College basketball programs, some things Kentucky and Coach Pope have looked to instill into Kentucky their first year as a staff as well as some differences he has learned coaching in NBA in comparison to College.

Today, on the Rising Coaches Podcast, we got the pleasure of speaking with a legendary High School coach, USA National coach and USAB National Director for Coach Development, Coach Don Showalter. Coach Showalter has coached for 45+ years, achieving the status of a 10x gold medal winner with USA Basketball and 10x USA basketball development Coach of the Year awards. He has also received Iowa Coach of the year accolades 10 different times, and was inducted into the Iowa High School hall of fame in 2016. While with USA basketball, Coach Showalter's U16 and U17 teams have an international record of 62-0. Showalter's success is amazing in the industry and he currently helps to give back by helping other coaches learn and grow themselves. We are excited to learn more from a true great in the industry.

Jim Shaw is the Associate Head Coach at Stanford University. Coach Shaw joins us with a strong career of winning, while being a part of 19 NCAA tournament teams in his time making stops at Western Oregon State as a player, and holding various assistant positions at Idaho State, Oregon State, University of Portland, Oklahoma, University of Washington, Saint Mary’s, Washington State and Stanford, while also holding a Head Coaching stint at Western Oregon University and posting a 102-30 overall Record as a Head Coach. In this episode, Coach Shaw talks about some things he looks for when searching for that next assistant coaching position, some common threads amongst all of his successful teams and a breakdown of a typical college practice lay out.