“Put yourself in a position to always learn from others.”
Justin Bauman, the former Director of Basketball Operations at Wake Forest University, sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 feet podcast going over how he got into collegiate athletic operations, some memorable travel experiences, and his advice to future collegiate athletes.
In this episode, we discuss:
How Justin got into athletic administration (0:23)
Justin’s favorite travel experience (3:52)
One thing that no one knows about Justin (6:40)
Justin’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (7:24)
Justin’s next adventure (10:56)
Justin Bauman’s Journey to Becoming A Coach
Morgan: Hey guys. Welcome back. It's Morgan. Today I'm sitting down with Justin Bauman. Thanks so much for joining us.
Justin Bauman: Thank you very much, Morgan. I appreciate you guys having me.
Morgan: Yes, we're super excited to hear from you today. And I guess just starting to get to know you better, you've had some experiences with college basketball. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about how you got to be a director of operations and things like that.
Justin Bauman: Yeah, so I've obviously been really fortunate. I graduated with my bachelor's and master's from the University of Kansas, and while I was there, I was fortunate to work with Roy Williams for three years and Bill South for another three years, and then after that, I realized that I really wanted to work in college basketball, and Rex Walters hired me for my first job at Florida Atlantic University. And then I spent around six years with Rex at Florida Atlantic University in San Francisco, and then Danny Manning hired me at the University of Tulsa and then brought me with him to Wake Forest University here recently. And I've obviously had great experiences in 12 years as a director of basketball operations, but that's how I got into it. A lot about getting into the college profession is a lot about timing, and that's probably the number one most important thing is timing. And then obviously you need to know people and it's important to have a quality work ethic and everything too.
Morgan: I'm curious, have you always wanted to do this?
Justin Bauman: Yeah, I have. I mean I grew up in Canton, Illinois, a small town just South of Peoria, Illinois, about two hours South of Chicago, and I grew up playing basketball, and it was something I knew I always wanted to do and I wanted to be a basketball coach and work in basketball, and ultimately my skillset as in the operation side in terms of handling the day to day environment of a college basketball program. And it's kind of like you're the chief of office or chief of staff for a basketball program is what my experiences have been, and that's what my skill set is driven to. I have been an assistant for about four years in my time in college basketball, but the majority of my time I have been a director of basketball operations.
Morgan: Yeah. Oh, wow. So what exactly does that entail?
Justin Bauman: So for me, my typical day ... I mean everything that could happen in a basketball program would come across my desk. I mean it could be everything from obviously travel arrangements ... I think that's what people normally think of when they think of a director of basketball operations, they think logistics, but everything from travel to scheduling, I handle all of our scheduling, game contracts, technology, and media contracts, obviously balancing the budget, all NCAA paperwork, all academic paperwork, any on-campus or community relations type stuff or marketing. And you wear many, many different hats. You have to be very good at multitasking. And obviously, college athletics can be a stressful environment at times and things can change abruptly and you have to be willing to adjust to changes. So those are the things that really I would deal with on a daily basis, and I've been fortunate to have great experiences with our program.
Coach Justin Bauman’s Most Memorable Travel Experience
Morgan: Oh, that's amazing. Well no, seriously, thank you for sharing your story with us. It's fun to hear how you get where you're at and what you're doing. So thank you. This next question I have for you, it's more on the side of travel, but what's been one of your most memorable travel experiences that you've had?
Justin Bauman: Oh gosh, dang. It's so funny, I've had many different travel experiences over obviously 20 years. And I remember probably the trip that stands out to me most was when I was at the University of Kansas. I had never done the college basketball program before, and so I flew separately, away from the team when I was with Coach Williams. Myself and another student manager flew to Hawaii ... I remember Maui and it was the first time I'd ever obviously left the main land and it was beautiful. The people were amazing, the environment was awesome. They put a Lei around your neck and the island was pretty cool. The food, the fruit ... I remember the fruit and the food being magnificent. And just the experience, for someone that had never really traveled before, that being my first trip in college basketball was amazing. Obviously I've had many funny trips over the years, but that's one that sticks out. That's one that definitely sticks out to me the most.
Morgan: As just a memorable time and awesome time ... that's incredible. I don't know, I feel like traveling in general is you learn so much and it's so fun and the world's so beautiful. So I'm glad you've been able to go so many places and have so many experiences.
Justin Bauman: Yeah, that's something that basketball ... I mean I've never sat down and tried to count all the different states or cities I've been to, but from being in the Big 12 Conference, the West Coast Conference, the Conference USA, now the American Athletic Conference with Tulsa, and obviously the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC, I've been able to experience some amazing cities, and New York being one. I think New York is a really special city, and the times we've been there to play in tournaments and stuff like that, it's been really cool and the people have been awesome, but so is Toronto Canada, so was Quebec, so was The Bahamas. I mean, you name it. Honolulu is another one that comes to mind. I've been there when I was with San Francisco, and I've been really, really fortunate and lucky to experience many different places and see many different places that I'm sure I’d love to visit.
A Little Known Fact About Justin Bauman
Morgan: There's so many beautiful places. Seriously, no so ... I don't know, I think college sports, it's true, they can take you so many places. It's incredible, but just in this next question I have for you, it's more about you, but what's something we don't know about you that you could share with us today?
Justin Bauman: Something you don't know about me. Well probably racing. I absolutely love racing. I grew up around racing. I spent my weekends at the race track with my father, and in terms of dirt racing, the world of outlawed sprint cars, and obviously I'm a fan of NASCAR. So that's probably something that people don't expect from me, but yeah, that's probably I guess you would say my second passion.
Coach Justin Bauman’s Advice to Future Athletes
Morgan: That's so cool. Yeah, no, we would have never known that, that you like racing. Wow. Seriously, I don't think I've heard anyone really tell me that ever, so I think that's awesome. Justin, there's a lot of athletes that want to play for a team or a university someday. What advice would you give them?
Justin Bauman: The biggest thing I would say is if you can identify that early, earlier the better, and definitely try to network and put yourself in a position to always learn from others and network with others, and I think a lot of people think when I say network that it's like they're networking for a job, and I'm not necessarily saying networking for a job for a student-athlete. What I'm saying is reach out to college coaches, reach out to high school coaches and professional coaches, if you have access, and try to get to know them and let them know your goals and ask questions. Ask questions to people like myself, or high school coaches, college coaches, whatever, and say, "Hey, this is my goal. I want to be a college athlete. What does it take in your vision to be part of your program? What does it take to play division one, division two, division three, NAIA, junior college?"
Whatever it might be, because those are the relationships and the way to get the word out in terms of having a quality recruitment, I think. It's changed a lot today to how to recruit, and kids I think have to network and put themselves out there more to be seen and to be known, because before, specifically in the college basketball world, and in quite honestly all other collegiate sports, coaches could go and evaluate talent and go to high schools and do different things to get in front of our kids and hear kids and their goals, but that's not happening anytime in the foreseeable near future. So I think it's really important for kids to put themselves out there more and really be smart on social media.
I mean coaches right now are looking at social media nonstop, trying to get to know the student-athlete, and kids really need to be smart about the content they're putting out there, and that's their brand. So perception is reality when it comes to that, and shape the narrative that they want out there about themselves and they want coaches to see, because that's the only way a coach has to get to know a student-athlete right now, is whether it be social media, a phone call, or a Zoom call. That's it. They can't come to your high school, they can't come watch an event. They can't do any of that, so if you want to be a student-athlete in college and have a career at that, a playing career like that, I think it's really smart to be smart with your social media. I use smart a lot there, sorry, but smart using social media and try and network and develop relationships. I think that's super important right now.
Morgan: No, it's true, because they're not just recruiting someone that's a good athlete. They're recruiting a well-rounded student-athlete who cares. They're going to represent the school, their team, family, things like that. So I think that's great advice. So thank you for sharing that.
Justin Bauman: Yeah, absolutely. No problem.
Justin Bauman’s Next Adventure
Morgan: Yeah, I think that's beneficial for any student-athlete wanting to play someday. So it's true, but I'm curious, Justin, what's up next for you? What's your next adventure?
Justin Bauman: I'm not sure right now. Obviously, when I was let go, part of coach Danny Manning and his staff here at Wake Forest University, and Wake Forest is a great place, but I'm not sure. I'm actually doing my homework and networking as much as I possibly can now, and hopefully, something will come up professional sports front office, or as I said, NASCAR is passion or racing.
Morgan: Yeah.
Justin Bauman: The NBA or something like that. So I'm lucky I have a little bit of time here to figure out my next steps, but I just continue to work hard and make sure that each day I put time into my future.
Morgan: Oh, that's amazing. No, it's true, and I feel like there's so many different paths you can take in so many different things. I don't know, I think it's awesome that you've had such time to be with sports and things like that and you've already had so much to do and so many awesome experiences. So seriously, no, thank you so much, Justin, for letting us get a glimpse into your life, the experiences you've had, the wonderful sort of basketball and the travels you've had. It's been a blast talking to you today.
Justin Bauman: Well, thank you very much for your time, and if I can ever do anything for you guys in the future, please reach out.
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Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions
Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle