Each Friday during the 2017-18 academic year, the conference office will release a SCAC Spotlight feature story. For the first 13 weeks, the focus of these feature stories will be former student-athletes who played at an SCAC institution and went on to become head coaches in the conference.
In this, the third SCAC Spotlight feature, we sit down with David Foley, a double-sport student-athlete while at Hendrix College, who now shows his athletes at Centenary College if they put in the work towards their goals, like he did, anything is possible.
Double-sport athletes in college are hard to come by but to Hendrix College student-athlete, David Foley, it was just life.
Foley wanted to continue his passions for playing baseball and basketball after high school, but he knew being a double sport athlete in college could be difficult. When he was deciding his future in high school he chose a school that would allow him to succeed both academically and athletically and Hendrix College was the one.
While being a double-sport athlete and doing well in school can be difficult for a lot of students, Foley's passion to do it all was what drove him. He balanced multiple practices and games among schoolwork and tests all four years of his time at Hendrix.
"It was the schedule, it was what I did," Foley said. "I knew I had to get up in the morning and go hit baseballs in the cage, then I'd have class, then I'd have practice for basketball and study hall and all those things. When I think back on it was it a lot of time? Yeah, it was a lot of time but that's what I wanted to do. All of us have choices in how we use our time and for me, having that opoortunity to do that was exhausting, was tiring, a lot of time staying up late and getting up early but it was what I wanted to do and I had the opportunity to do so."
Playing in the SCAC gave Foley a lot of memories and he was quick to answer about his favorite moment as his voice fluctuated as though he was speaking through a giant grin. Foley’s favorite memory was taking home the win in the 2009 SCAC Baseball tournament, a first for a Hendrix male team sport. The memories in the SCAC has stuck with Foley for life and he remembers them like they were yesterday.
In basketball, Foley and current Southwestern University head men’s basketball coach Janson Hightower were teammates. His voice fluctuating again as he spoke through another smile, Foley remembers some of the times he and Hightower worked together as a team. Now they’re both back in the SCAC replacing their jerseys on the court for button downs on the sidelines.
“I was really excited for Janson when he got the opportunity at Southwestern and now I’ve joined him here at the SCAC,” Foley said. “I’ve really enjoyed reconnecting with him and I’m glad to call him one of my friends.”
Foley is now back on the basketball court, coaching the Centenary College women’s basketball program in the conference.
Foley always wanted to stick around the game in some way which led him to coaching. He tried his hand at coaching at the Division I level as a graduate assistant at Central Michigan University, but wanted to come back to Division III for a multitude of reasons. The experience Division III athletes receive, the high caliber academics at their institutions, and their opportunities to explore other passions in addition to athletics all contributed to Foley’s return.
"I think there's a lot of factors that goes into all of us coaches," Foley said. "I'm starting my second year now as a head coach, and I have a lot of growing to do but the four years I spent in the SCAC at Hendrix really taught me what it means to really get in and work and do some of those things. When I look back on it and all the experiences I had since my SCAC days, all those things that going together really gave me that motivation to come in here and want to put Centenary and women's basketball on the map to have some of those accomplishments."
In 2016 Foley, who had just finished his first season with Centenary Women’s Basketball, was named to the Thirty Under 30 list by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association nominates coaches to “recognize up and coming talent in our coaching family.”
"In women's basketball especially, our coaches association is about growing our game and growing our sport of women's basketball, empowering young women to go off and really compete," Foley said. "Do the things we need to do. One, bring in the fans to watch us obviously, but also to enhance the sport and give as many young women opportunities to play as they can. One of my big things at previous institutions where I worked as an assistant coach is really marketing our game, and marketing our players and marketing our experiences and by getting involved. I think that being elected to serve on the assistant coaches committee as one of Divison III representatives throughout the country and then just getting to know other coaches helped build my reputation and what I was all about and it just so happened that was an award that came out. I was extremely honored and thankful for that opportunity to one, be recognized as still under thirty, I don't have that recognition any more, but also to be a top-30 young, promising coach in the game of women's basketball. It was a big reason why I got the opportunity here at Centenary and now it's up to me to prove that I am that and I'm getting better for my student athletes."
Centenary women’s basketball is in good hands with Foley's recognition and respect he's gained from his peers and it's Foley's experiences with the SCAC that made him the coach he is today. While his road to get to where he is now is a little bumpy, Foley's advice is to work hard for what you want.
“My advice would to be to be willing to work and be willing to learn,” Foley said. “Put yourself out there and [don’t] turn any experience down.”
Previous SCAC Spotlights:
10|06|2017 - Emily Daum, Trinity University
09|29|2017 - Ryan Dodd, Austin College
