Volume 1 Issue 1
Coyote Corner September 10, 2014 Volume 1
Issue 1
Lessons in Leadership-Missed Opportunities
Dexter Irvin Director of Athletics and Recreation
"I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with quality coaches and staff. We will work hard to take care of the present challenges and then provide leadership and vision for what the future of athletics can look like at CSN.” "Any changes require planning and hard work, but we must always remember that our greatest assets are the students in the Southern Nevada area. Using athletics to help local students achieve their success in higher education is the correct application of intercollegiate athletics." Dexter and his wife, Connie, have six children and 16 grand children.
Occasionally, I enjoy writing to express how athletics and life in general provide opportunities for us to grow, change, and hopefully reach our potential. Over the next few years I hope to provide some insight with this column that can benefit the student athletes at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) and any fans, parents, and community members that have an interest in our success. While I recognize that my writing skills may not be exemplary, I hope the message is clear and somewhat entertaining. In the spring of 1983 I was teaching and coaching men’s basketball at a small community college in northern New Mexico on a very limited contract. Connie, my wife, and I had put in a proposal to clean the local post office for the US Postal Service for some extra cash and we won the bid which meant three or four hours of extra work a day in addition to my full time job as a coach. To muddy the waters, Connie was pregnant with our fourth child in five years and she was due in October. In all of this intentional and anticipated pandemonium, we had planned and recognized that in order to accomplish our long term intermediate and even immediate goals, we needed to follow through with good groundwork and pursue a graduate degree.
Office of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation 700 College Drive Henderson NV 89002
Coyote Corner Feeling uneasy about leaving my family and all of the responsibilities with Connie for the summer, I sought out the counsel of a trusted friend. His advice was wise, clear, and concise; “get some nerve and conviction, follow your plan, and have no doubts.” “When an opportunity presents itself and we choose not to do great things, years later when our lack of courage manifests itself, well that my friend, that is my definition of hell!” Having made a major decisional mistake in my life and choosing not to serve a mission for my church at nineteen years old, I immediately recognized the truth and value in his statement. For the next two summers I left the love of my life to hold our family together and clean the post office while I completed my graduate degree and opened the magical doors of opportunity. As I move up the ladder in age and hopefully experience, I am beginning to recognize the importance of timing and how much it plays into the overall picture of opportunity. Our oldest two sons live and work in Las Vegas. One son bought a home during the economic boom and paid handsomely for his beautiful home. Today the value of that home is less than half of what he paid for it. The timing was terrible. In December the other son moved to Vegas with his family and bought a home twice the size of his brothers (with a pool) for half the price. The opportunity presented itself in the timing and both profit and future prospects were rewarded. Recognizing when the timing is optimal is the key to success; having the courage to take advantage of the opportunity is what separates mere mortals from superheroes. History is full of visionary, courageous, and opportunistic people both inside and outside of sport. People like Walt Disney, Henry Ford, John F. Kennedy, Ray Kroc and Albert Schweitzer are some of recent history’s most excellent opportunistic individuals. Look on the sports side of life and find John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson, who inserted themselves into opportunities and discovered long term measurable success. The common thread that binds these people and countless others is leadership. Leaders recognize opportunities that point to the common good, make judgments without bias, evaluate the risk/reward, and then render decisions to take advantage of opportunities. The best coaches, teachers, parents, and politicians possess these same characteristics while others allow fear and shortsightedness to manifest their destinies. Albert Einstein once said, “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” I think Albert was onto something!
Dexter Office of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation 700 College Drive Henderson NV 89002
Issue 1
Lessons in Leadership-Missed Opportunities
Dexter Irvin Director of Athletics and Recreation
"I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with quality coaches and staff. We will work hard to take care of the present challenges and then provide leadership and vision for what the future of athletics can look like at CSN.” "Any changes require planning and hard work, but we must always remember that our greatest assets are the students in the Southern Nevada area. Using athletics to help local students achieve their success in higher education is the correct application of intercollegiate athletics." Dexter and his wife, Connie, have six children and 16 grand children.
Occasionally, I enjoy writing to express how athletics and life in general provide opportunities for us to grow, change, and hopefully reach our potential. Over the next few years I hope to provide some insight with this column that can benefit the student athletes at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) and any fans, parents, and community members that have an interest in our success. While I recognize that my writing skills may not be exemplary, I hope the message is clear and somewhat entertaining. In the spring of 1983 I was teaching and coaching men’s basketball at a small community college in northern New Mexico on a very limited contract. Connie, my wife, and I had put in a proposal to clean the local post office for the US Postal Service for some extra cash and we won the bid which meant three or four hours of extra work a day in addition to my full time job as a coach. To muddy the waters, Connie was pregnant with our fourth child in five years and she was due in October. In all of this intentional and anticipated pandemonium, we had planned and recognized that in order to accomplish our long term intermediate and even immediate goals, we needed to follow through with good groundwork and pursue a graduate degree.
Office of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation 700 College Drive Henderson NV 89002
Coyote Corner Feeling uneasy about leaving my family and all of the responsibilities with Connie for the summer, I sought out the counsel of a trusted friend. His advice was wise, clear, and concise; “get some nerve and conviction, follow your plan, and have no doubts.” “When an opportunity presents itself and we choose not to do great things, years later when our lack of courage manifests itself, well that my friend, that is my definition of hell!” Having made a major decisional mistake in my life and choosing not to serve a mission for my church at nineteen years old, I immediately recognized the truth and value in his statement. For the next two summers I left the love of my life to hold our family together and clean the post office while I completed my graduate degree and opened the magical doors of opportunity. As I move up the ladder in age and hopefully experience, I am beginning to recognize the importance of timing and how much it plays into the overall picture of opportunity. Our oldest two sons live and work in Las Vegas. One son bought a home during the economic boom and paid handsomely for his beautiful home. Today the value of that home is less than half of what he paid for it. The timing was terrible. In December the other son moved to Vegas with his family and bought a home twice the size of his brothers (with a pool) for half the price. The opportunity presented itself in the timing and both profit and future prospects were rewarded. Recognizing when the timing is optimal is the key to success; having the courage to take advantage of the opportunity is what separates mere mortals from superheroes. History is full of visionary, courageous, and opportunistic people both inside and outside of sport. People like Walt Disney, Henry Ford, John F. Kennedy, Ray Kroc and Albert Schweitzer are some of recent history’s most excellent opportunistic individuals. Look on the sports side of life and find John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson, who inserted themselves into opportunities and discovered long term measurable success. The common thread that binds these people and countless others is leadership. Leaders recognize opportunities that point to the common good, make judgments without bias, evaluate the risk/reward, and then render decisions to take advantage of opportunities. The best coaches, teachers, parents, and politicians possess these same characteristics while others allow fear and shortsightedness to manifest their destinies. Albert Einstein once said, “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” I think Albert was onto something!
Dexter Office of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation 700 College Drive Henderson NV 89002
