SPRING GARDEN – Teaching and coaching have been a part of Dana Austin’s entire adult life. The last 18 of those years have been at Spring Garden.
On June 1, she’ll be giving up the teaching side of her career following the recent announcement of her retirement. But don’t worry, Spring Garden basketball fans. She still plans on coaching the Lady Panthers in the foreseeable future.
On Friday morning, I spent a few minutes with Dana reminiscing a little about her high school basketball playing days, and as a Hall of Fame player and coach at Jacksonville State University. We also talked about coaching basketball with her husband Ricky at Spring Garden, and what the future holds.
Q: So I’m going to lead off with a selfish question here. Who’s going to send me your basketball stats after your games now?
A: “(Laughs) I am. I think that’s the reason it really hasn’t hit me that I’m retiring. Mr. (Brian) Clowdis and Mr. (Mike) Welsh are still allowing me to help coach. I’ll still be involved. I guess that’s why it’s not like I’m really going away from it. I’ll still be involved with basketball and helping coach as much as I can. That’s the whole goal of it anyway. I’m really just retiring from the teaching part.”
Q: What made you decide to become a teacher and a coach?
A: “When it first started, teaching and coaching was all me and (twin sister) Jana (McGinnis) knew. It’s weird. When we were young, my dad was a farmer and we always told our dad that was what we were going to be, a farmer. When we got the opportunity to go on to college and play, things just kind of changed. We knew we wanted to coach. Even during college, we would put on summer camps and work with young people. That’s really the only thing we’ve ever thought of is coaching and teaching. It’s just been a natural progression. My first job I went to White Plains and Jana went to Cherokee County. Then Jax State called and I was there for 10 years. When this job came open, it was a no-brainer to come back home to work with Rat (Ricky Austin) when we were having kids. It was the only thing we ever had a goal for, to teach and coach.”
Q: Being a part of Spring Garden’s first championship in 1987 as a basketball player, I know that’s priceless. Any championship has a positive effect on the community, but how did it affect you personally?
A: “It’s nice because you’ve left, I don’t know if you’d call it a legacy, but it is a memory that people remember. That was the first, and that’s what’s special.”
Q: You and your sister Jana have grown up and experienced a lot together. She was also an outstanding former player and is still an outstanding softball coach at JSU. How much of an influence has she been on you?
A: “It’s nice that we live about a quarter of a mile from each other. We get up every morning and run together. She coaches at Jax State and I coach here. That’s been special. We can always ask each other for advice. How would you handle this situation? And she does the same thing. She helps me and Rat as well. She’s been through a lot as far as seeing the good and the bad. She’s helped us a lot and I think we’ve probably done the same for her too.”
Q: I know you spent some incredible years playing and coaching women’s basketball at Jacksonville State. Obviously seeing your jersey hanging from the rafters at Pete Mathews Coliseum is pretty special. What are some of favorite memories from those parts of your life?
A: “Jax State has always been special. They’re the ones who gave us the opportunity. It’s kind of like Mr. Welsh. He gave me the opportunity to come back here. Jax State gave me an opportunity I wouldn’t take for anything. They kind led the path for Jana and I. Had we made the decision not to go to Jax State, our careers wouldn’t have been the way they have. Jax State has always been very special. We got to play with each other there and then we got to coach with each other there for 10 years.
“A lot of people don’t realize when we first started, Jax State softball didn’t really have assistant coaches. I would end basketball season and go travel with softball. We’ve been together for a long, long time.”
Q: Are there many differences coaching at the collegiate level and in high school?
A: “Not really. I think coaching is coaching. That’s the part I always enjoyed, the part on the court, the practices, the games. The biggest thing I got tired of at Jax State was the recruiting. When you’re a college coach, you never get to leave the job. Here, I’ve enjoyed every minute. Coaching different age groups, I’ve always enjoyed the coaching part and the strategy part. Here, when they leave at 3 o’clock, they go to their parents. At college, you never get to leave because you’re responsible for what they do at night. We still have a part in that at the high school level too, but you’ve also got a lot of help as well with the parents. We’ve been fortunate here. The success we’ve had here, we’ve had great kids, great parents too, who support the decisions we make and hold their kids accountable, just like we do.”
Q: There aren’t that many husband and wife coaching duos. How has it been coaching with Ricky?
A: “It’s been very special. I don’t expect it to stop. I have a lot of friends and a lot of people say ‘How do you teach and work with your husband every day’, but it’s pretty easy. The student teachers we’ve had come in and tell you it’s something special. We really don’t argue. I do my job. He does his job. I pull his load some. He pulls my load some if I need something. It’s been a very good relationship, both coaching and teaching. We’ve always worked very well together. We haven’t argued about things. Some friends say ‘I couldn’t work with my husband. He’d be telling me how to do my job.’ It’s never been like that here.”
Q: That’s the thing I think has led to the program’s success as a whole, how everyone works so well together. Don’t you think?
A: “Oh yes. We are so lucky here to teach with such great people. I teach with Coach (Jason) Howard and all the other coaches here, and not just them, but the classroom teachers. Everybody works so well together. It is like a family atmosphere. There’s not one only pulling for their program. It’s always been like that. I think that’s what makes Spring Garden so special.”
Q: Through the years you’ve been at Spring Garden, you’ve coached several of your family members, the latest being your own daughter (Ace). How special has that been to watch them develop?
A: “It’s been very special. I’d like to know all the kin folks we’ve actually coached and taught. It’s been special because you’ve watched them from the time they were in kindergarten all the way up. That’s the good thing about mine and Rat’s job. We’re hands on with them since the time they were in kindergarten. We get to do a lot with them, see how they progress. We see where they’ve come from all the way up. I think that’s special for us because we have that bond too when we get to coach them.
“Every one of our nieces have left with a state championship, not that that’s the most important thing, but it’s been special seeing them progress. I’ve always said sports teaches you a lot about life. We’ve got to see that. We’ve got to see them get out in the real world and use a lot of what they’ve learned from sports.
“I can say, too, even though I didn’t sit on the bench and coach (sons) Riley and Cooper, I had them in athletics. I had them in seventh and eighth grade. Me and Coach Howard put them through that. Even though I haven’t physically sit on the bench with them, I do feel like I’ve had a part of coaching them too, especially in their seventh and eighth grade years. Me and Coach Howard had them every day. It’s special to get to coach your own.”
Q: Ace is really something. To see some of the plays she makes at such a young age is just incredible. Do you see some of you in her?
A: “I do see a lot of me in her, but a lot of being a natural point guard I see Rat in her. I was more of a shooter, a driver, a post-up and a scorer than a point guard. Everybody says she reminds them of me and Jana. That’s something that makes us proud.
“She’s got a good mixture of both of us in her. You have to give credit to her brothers too, playing one-on-one in the back yard growing up, getting mad, playing physical with them. I think she had to learn how to score on them. There’s a lot of credit to Riley and Cooper.
“It’s fun to coach her because she does love it. If we were not so blessed to have three kids who didn’t love sports, it would be hard to coach your own kid. I’ve always said as a coach your kids really need to be the ones who put the most work into it. They really need to work hard. Ace has done that too. She’s easy to coach. She takes coaching from us. It’s not a head-butting thing like some relationships. It’s easy. She’s just got a good, easy-going personality. I hope she keeps that. She’s having fun. She’s never let anything really stress her out. She’s got that personality where she doesn’t get too uptight about things. I guess that’s what makes it easy.”
“It’s weird. We might be preparing for a state championship or a county championship. You go in that morning and she’s watching Sponge Bob, like a seventh grade kid would. She keeps things in perspective. She doesn’t get uptight over things. She has a lot of drive about her and wants to be the best, but she’s never been the type to stress over things.”
Q: The championship seasons are each special in their own right. Anything in particular you take away from those championship seasons?
A: “They’ve all been special in their own way. What people don’t realize is they are so much fun especially when they’re over with. Sometimes you don’t go back and enjoy the memories, the first one especially. It’s hard to remember the year, but the older Ricky and I get, we enjoy the whole process. I think that’s just age for us. The thing that sticks out to me is the relationships with the kids. It’s something special you can’t bottle up. You hear it when you watch TV, you hear coaches say they’ve got the ‘it’ factor. They might not have had the most talent, but it was special because of their closeness, their common bond working toward a common goal, their unselfishness. All that stuff goes into state championships. Every one of them have been special in a certain way.
“The thing about it is every one of those state championships had one of our kin folks on it. The one with Ace (in 2020) was special. You never know if you’re going to win another one. I never thought we’d win it the first year she was on the varsity, but we did and we were fortunate enough to. We had a lot of special players on that team, special people. It’s special to get to win one with your daughter.”
Q: So what now? I know you said you’re still going to be a coaching presence here.
A: “I’m not just going to retire and go home. I can’t. I still have two more kids (left to graduate). I am going to still be in schools working with coaches. I’m going to be working for Team Sports selling sporting goods equipment to coaches and schools.
Q: That seems like a natural progression for you doesn’t it? I mean there are a lot of similarities there.
A: “It is. It’s about relationships. When approached about the job, I’m not a salesman, but I don’t look at this job I’m going to be taking as selling. I’m there to meet the needs of the coaches, to build the relationship with the coaches and what they need. Coaches know what they need. It’s up to me to make sure I can meet their needs and give them the best price. It’s going to be fun because I’m going to get to go in schools and get to meet different coaches too, not just the ones I already know, and see them in a different light too. It’s going to be like we’re on the same team with each other.
“I’ve always enjoyed meeting people and getting to know people. Hopefully all the relationships I’ve had in the past, this can help further those relationships too.
“It was just an opportunity and time. I had 29 years in. When this opportunity came, with two more kids coming through, and Riley’s just about done with college, I thought this was a good opportunity to draw my retirement and make some supplemental income. I’m not like a lot of people who get ready to retire. I’m not tired. I’m not at the point where I just don’t like teaching. I still love it and I have plenty of energy left. It’s just the timing was right and it’s what’s best for me and Rat and our situation.”