Student has become the teacher
Dylan Shields reflects on the coaches who shaped him
To work your way up to the top of any profession, one usually has to start at the bottom. For Parkers Chapel grad Dylan Shields, now an assistant coach at Blinn College in Texas, getting into the college basketball coaching business began when he became a student manager at Arkansas.
“That’s how I got my start in college basketball,” Shields said.
Having not played collegiately, the odds of reaching that goal can be tougher.
“Not playing college basketball, it’s harder to get into coaching,” Shields said. “You’ve got to grind your way from the bottom. It’s really hard and I still battle that today. Not only you didn’t play, which I did play.
“I played in high school, and basketball is basketball wherever you go. That’s neither here nor there. People say you didn’t play, so you don’t know or the big thing I’ve battled is, ‘You didn’t play, so you don’t understand.’ It’s like you can’t be empathetic or compassionate because you’ve never walked in my shoes.”
Shields got plenty of influence from Clancie Laymon, who coached him at Parkers Chapel.
“I definitely did,” Shields said. “Clancie was very disciplined, very detailed. He was the best at understanding what he had and playing to
his strengths. Clancie didn’t try to play an athletic style of basketball. We slowed it down and played to our strengths, and I think that’s the only way he was able to have success and win.
“Now I’m not saying I’m going to play or teach basketball like Clancie Laymon. You can’t do that everywhere, but it fit with what we did at Parkers Chapel. I think his style with Parkers Chapel was a perfect mold. What I learned from him was not necessarily to play that way, but to play to your strengths.
“He was really good about knowing who we were and playing to our strengths. He was very disciplined, very detailed, no nonsense. I think he found a way to make everybody believe. When it was tip-off time, we all bought in to what he was doing and that’s why it worked. I definitely learned a lot from him.”
Rob Evans, who coached at Mississippi and Arizona State, has been instrumental in helping Shields professionally. It was Evans who gave Shields his start at Arkansas.
“He’s helped me get where I’m at now,” Shields said. “He’s helped me since I’ve been here with different jobs I’ve been involved with. He taught me my most important lesson. The head coach works for the university, you work for the head coach. If you’re loyal and work hard, this business is all about relationships. I think I’ve built a couple of deep relationships in my time, and I hope they continue to carry me forward.”
Sports across the country were shut down back in March due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and Shields said the adjustment has been difficult.
“It’s affected it a lot,” Shields said. “They shut us down in March. A lot of times, we have guys on campus in the summer for workouts and classes. We’ve not had any on-campus students. I’ve not been allowed to go in the gym to my office. Everything has been remote. I’m working at home from my phone and my computer.
“Recruiting has been difficult because you can talk to kids, but they can’t come to campus. They can’t see. You’ve seen (Arkansas) coach (Eric) Musselman and them doing a really good job of doing virtual tours, but at that level, they have resources we don’t have in junior college, so it’s difficult because we can’t see them. We can’t meet them. We can’t go see them. It’s affected it in numerous ways. I’m hoping we get back to normal sooner rather than later.”