Carley Kuhns, the head coach of women’s basketball at Samford University, sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 Feet podcast and gives us insight into her journey as a basketball coach. During our interview, Carley talks about her experiences as a player which led her to become a coach, her first season as the head coach at Samford, and shares great advice for athletes wanting to play in college!

In this episode, we discuss:

• How this past season went for Samford Women’s Basketball team (0:15)

• How Coach Kuhns got into coaching (3:15)

• Carley’s favorite travel experience (7:40)

• One thing that no one knows about Carley (12:00)

• Carley’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (13:17)

• Carley’s next adventure (15:48)

Samford Women’s 2019-2020 Basketball Season

Morgan: Can you tell us about the highs and lows of your current season?

Carly: Yeah. It's my first season at Sanford, which is just a difficult thing to take on just because one, people just don't like change, myself included. And so, it takes some time to get teams adjusted to a new system, to a new style, to new people, especially when a head coach comes in and takes over a program. It just, is a lot of change. So I think the low part was, just kind of grueling through our non-conference season. We played a really, really difficult schedule. We played a bunch of power five schools. So we played at Florida, at Florida state, at Kentucky, and just kind of grueling through that while also trying to find our identity and honestly, not winning any games, but getting really, really close and just kept coming up short, kept coming up short.

And so, trying to teach a team how to win while not winning is very difficult, but I really think that playing a difficult schedule and just the stance that our staff took, which is just keep learning and growing. We're not paying attention to the wins and losses, we are paying attention to just the details and getting better and learning from it, new experiences and just remembering that it's a process and our process isn't over until the end of the season.

And I really think that, that helped our team. And so, the high is that, tomorrow we actually have an opportunity to play for the first-ever regular-season championship at Sanford in the history of the program, which is really special because there are eight teams at our conference, we were picked seventh of eight. And we just have completely transformed the program in a single year and are going to have a chance to cut down the nets on our home court at senior night tomorrow. So it's just, the highs, I would say is just kind of seeing all that come to fruition, kind of seeing all the hard work and kids that haven't had much success, have success. And the joy in their eyes and the joy in their face every day coming to practice and just living and going through that. It's just, it's a really, really neat experience to go through.

Morgan: Wow. No, there's nothing more rewarding than working your tail off and then seeing those results.

Carly: No doubt.

Morgan: And I can sense the passion in your voice for your team. And I'm just so excited for you guys for tomorrow too. You're going to do awesome.

Carly: Yeah, I know. I am too. Yeah. It's kind of a cool thing. I think we have eight seniors, which is a very heavy senior driven team and just to have that opportunity on senior night, on our home court, I think it's something that could be special.

Morgan: Wow. You have eight seniors.

Carly: Eight seniors. Yeah.

Morgan: Wow. That's a lot of seniors. Wow.

Carly: It's a lot of seniors. It's scary because you think, oh gosh, we're going to have to replace them. We have some really, really good players that we're losing, but yeah. It's just, it's kind of the world of athletics.

Morgan: It's true.

Carly: So, just constantly trying to re-invent yourself and bring the next team along.

Morgan: It's true. But it sounds like you're creating an awesome culture for your team, which that tends to carry. So I'm sure your team... It's going to be awesome. I'm so excited to see where your team goes.

Carly: Yeah, thank you.

Coach Carley Kuhns’s Start in Coaching

Morgan: How did you get to Sanford?

Carly: So I grew up in Atlanta, played at a pretty big high school in Gwinnette County, Park View High School, and then went on from there to play at Valdosta State, which was a division two in South Georgia and had a lot of success there as a player and as a coach and stayed on as a graduate assistant. I went from there to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. I was an assistant coach there for six years and that program has had a lot of success and we built something really special there. And because of that success, I had an opportunity to get my first head coaching job back at my alma mater.

Morgan: Wow.

Carly: I was there three years and had a lot of success there as well. We won a conference championship there and kind of actually very similar to what we're going through right now. Just year one, team bought in, ton of early success. And in fact, our conference tournament was actually held on Stanford's campus. A lot of division twos will go to different colleges and that's where their conference tournament is held. And so that's kind of how this whole thing happened was, the coach before me ended up retiring and he let them know about a week before our tournament was happening, but nobody knew. And so I just kind of felt like it was almost like I was in the right place at the right time and doors were opened for me. And I think the Lord works in mysterious ways. And so they were kind of there, interviewing me without me even really knowing, just watching me coach and watching our team and they came and people were just at practices and I assumed it was just people that were just working in the gym and they were actually, I think, watching.

And that's kind of how this all happened. And the next thing I know, two weeks later, I get a phone call to go on an interview and just a special place. And so it's just, I've been blessed to be in right places, at the right times. And yeah, I've been really, really lucky and really fortunate. And that's how I ended up here.

Morgan: See, I love listening to coach’s stories because I feel like every athlete comes from somewhere different. And I can just tell that you're dedicated to the sport and you worked to get where you're at and I think that's really going to translate to your team.

Carly: I mean yeah, it's a lot of work and a lot of time and if you don't love what you're doing, it makes for a pretty miserable experience. I mean, and that's in any profession. So, I'm still obviously young, it's my fourth year as a head coach. So I know, maybe in 20 years I can see how people aren't maybe as passionate or as excited as I am, in my young career, but it's just a neat experience. I mean, I get paid to coach basketball for a living. That's a pretty good gig.

Morgan: Oh no, I know. That's awesome. I'm like, I should have coached volleyball. That is, oh, that's so fun. I think it's so awesome that you have this opportunity to coach too, because there's nothing more rewarding than watching a team grow. And I think if anything, I can tell that you, along with winning, I can sense that you care a lot about not only that, but the team and building up the girls and building people not only good as athletes.

Carly: That's right. I mean, I think that is my favorite part of the job is, you kind of get to help mold and help shape women and hopefully help prepare them for life beyond college. And I think that's something that we really sell at our university anyways, is that, we are going to help you grow not only as a basketball player, but also as a person. And if you're not leaving our university better, then we haven't done our job and I really take that to heart. And I want my players hanging out in my office. I want them coming by and telling me if they had a bad breakup and let me help them through that, or they're struggling in class or just with anything. I mean, I think that's why I really enjoy this profession, is because you really get to invest time in these kids' lives and hopefully help prepare them for life after college.

Morgan: It's true. No, it's true. And I think you learn so much about hard work from sports that translates to real life too. So, yeah. That's awesome.

Carly: 100%.

Coach Carley Kuhns’s Favorite Travel Experience

Morgan: What's been your most memorable travel experience? I know you mentioned you took your team to New York City in the winter.

Carly: That's right. Yeah. I mean, typically teams travel somewhere every year. Some people take foreign tours. At the college level, you're allowed to do a foreign tour every four years. So a lot of schools do that. In fact, before I came in, the team that I coach took a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, and people in our conference had gone to Italy and just all over the place. But this year I walked into a really cool situation because the schedule was already done, but we got to go to New York City between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

And I mean, I had never been to New York so that in itself... And my husband and I got to leave our kids at home with my grandparents or with their grandparents. So we got to kind of have a neat experience together too, but just because neither of us had ever been to New York. But I mean, just bringing in a team there and bringing, I mean, some kids from South Alabama who might never have the opportunity to go to New York City and we took them to times square and we took them to a show and just seeing their eyes light up in the middle of times square and how neat that was. I think for me, that has been one of my best trips that I've had the opportunity to go on while coaching. And it's funny because all these teams are going to Italy or overseas and there's just so many neat places, even in our own country, that you might never have the opportunity to go to if basketball doesn't take you there.

Morgan: That is so true. I love that. So you went to New York. Do you know where you want to go next because it's every four years?

Carly: We are going to Chicago next year. Next year we're playing at a tournament in Chicago. Yeah.

Morgan: Fun.

Carly: So we took our team to Seattle. And so, I feel like I'm kind of a little bit selfish and bias because it's places that I've never been. I've never been to Seattle, lets go to Seattle. All the little places from TV shows or whatever that I watch and like, oh yeah.

Coach Carley Kuhns’s Advice to Athletes

Morgan: If you were an athlete and you're wanting to play for a team or university. What advice would you give them?

Carly: I think the biggest piece of advice I would give them is that, I think generations and people are changing and before, coaches would really only look for skill level, like who is the best player that I can bring into my school to help us win? And now it's just gone far beyond that. I think the first thing we look for is, is a kid going to act the right way? Are they treating their teammates the right way? Are they treating their coaches the right way? Do they make good grades? Are their parents going to be a problem? Are their parents going to be calling me every week, if they're not playing? Are they a good teammate? Will they dive on the floor? Will they do all those things first, and then are they a good basketball player?

So I think that's the biggest piece of advice I would give kids is that, if you want an opportunity at this level, that all those things far surpass just being good at a sport. Especially this day and age, because this whole transfer portal has taken over athletics in which kids just, they go somewhere and they're not happy so they leave and they transfer and honestly, I mean, it's kind of scary that 18 to 22-year-old females, honestly, are how I put food on the table for my family.

And when you think of it like that, you want to have good kids. You want to have good kids that... You want your parents, your family around, and your kids around. Are they going to make good decisions that, I can go to bed on a Friday night not worried about what my team is doing? And I think that is just the biggest piece of advice I would give kids is just, doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't check off all those boxes, a lot of places aren't going to even consider you.

Follow Samford University Basketball

• Samford Womens Basketball Team Facebook

• Coach Kuhns Twitter

Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle