Mr. Powell, otherwise known as Rashaad Powell, is a very important person in our school, Renton High. He is the dean of students, the coach of men’s basketball, and an inspiration to others. This year, he has won Coach of The Year and his team has also made it to the state championships. Today, we will be taking a glimpse into his coaching life and look at what it looks like to be the best coach in the district, with the best team in the district! 

Q: “How long have you been coaching for?” 

A:”I have been coaching since 2004-2005.”  

Q: “How did you get into the position of being coach of the men’s basketball team?” 

A: “I graduated from Renton High School, went on to play college basketball, then once I finished that, I came back. I always enjoyed coaching and being around the game, so I wanted to give back to my alma mater. I came back and started as a volunteer  assistant, and was given the opportunity to come back and get involved with coaching and I’ve been here ever since.” 

Q: ”What kind of mindset does it take to get Coach of The Year?” 

A: I think it starts with caring. I try to approach it from a stance of caring about my  student athletes, first as young men and people. I’m not necessarily overly concerned  with winning basketball games as much as I am about helping them improve and give  them tools that’s going to help them be successful in life. That extends longer than  basketball. So that’s the kind of mentality I lead with. And through that, I think, good  things happen.”  

Q: ”What does Coach of The Year mean to you?” 

A: “I think winning Coach of The Year for me, is not about me, because I have great  staff members that coach with me, and the student athletes are great, so a lot of  contributing factors on their behalf to make everything come together and work well. So 

It’s not just me sitting there doing this all by myself, it’s definitely a collaborative and  collective effort on behalf of the student athletes and the coaches. As well as following  our motto “Trust The Process” and everyone participating in that. In that, the most proud thing when I think about the rewarding part is that it’s not even basketball related. It’s the fact that academically, we don’t have any student athletes in our entire program that are on required grade checks. And that means everyone is taking care of their academic business in the 20 years that I’ve been coaching here. We have never had that. We’ve never had a scenario where a student athlete has had to turn in a required grade check. So that over anything is probably the thing I’m most proud of.“ 

Q: “As a coach what do you see in every single one of your players” 

A:”I think this particular year. I would say its resilience and contribution. Because we  have faced some adversity, we have faced some tough things, we’ve faced some things  that were not in our favor. And for us it’s been the ability to balance that out with  resilience. So i think that’s the thing, they compete, they fight, they work hard. The team  does a good job of embodying resilience with everything.  

Q: “Did you always want to be a coach after being a player?” 

A: “I never really thought about it. I wanted to remain competitive within basketball because I loved it. Basketball has done so many great things for me in my life and it  has taught me so many things about life outside of just sports, too. I love the competitive aspect and once you get older you can’t play like that anymore, so  coaching fills my competitive void that left me when I grew up and stopped playing basketball.”

Q: “Is there anything you want players to learn from you?” 

A: “How to be a good person, as well as acknowledge the life lessons that are associated with basketball above all because there are so many things about character, teamwork, work ethic, commitment, dedication, and trust. Every single one of those things are needed to be successful in life. LIke discipline, how to execute things, and getting work done. I try to always tell them about the parallels between what it looks like in basketball and what that’s going to look like in life because they’re going to be humans a lot longer than they’re going to be basketball players so just making sure they’re not just getting the experience of winning some  basketball games but what it took to win those basketball games. The preparations, the 

time, the attention to detail, the urgency, all those kinds of things are going to be things  needed to be successful in life.”

Q: “Is there anything else you think you should see more of on your team?”  

A: “Just the consistency, discipline, and execution because I know those things are  going to translate to them being successful people And again, even if we’re not able to win basketball games, if they were doing the right things within the court as well as in life that’s a win for me. Not everyone is going to make it big by playing basketball and that’s totally okay, but you gotta be able to make it far as a citizen and as a person in life. I think I have a unique role, opportunity, and position to make an impact in these young peoples’ lives and give them tools. Again, yes, we all love basketball and that’s the thing that brings us together, but now that I have an opportunity to teach you about these life lessons and habits, I hope they’ll help you be successful in life too.” 

Q: “is your team positive in the way the team is going and how they carry themselves” 

A:” for the most part they all get along with each other. They have their moments with  me though. I think because as a coach sometimes I get on them for different things  about whatever it may be and so through that i think there’s ups and downs more so  with me and they get upset with me. As far as them they are for the most part pretty  good with each other. They have their moments though like any team or family situation  you’re going to have disagreements and what not. They’re really good with moving on  beyond those things. I’ve also been; which I try to do every year but I’ve been really  intentional about the team building and team bonding and making sure that they’re  doing things together outside of basketball. Because them doing things together outside  of basketball is helpful for them in the big picture. If they can do those things it’s going to  help them be more successful in those moments. Back to your other question resilience.  When you get into those adversary and i look to my right and i see thats “my brother i  cant let my brother down” it hits different as opposed to “oh that’s just a dude on the  team i go to school with” you won’t have the same obligations there is to get something  done and so just being very intentional about that and building that chemistry which has  been very helpful for us so the locker room for the most part is really good. And theyve  all grown as young men in terms of not being selfish and reducing the selfishness to  where something will be about them and they will pout and be a bad teammate and have their teammates be able to get their head back in the game.  

Q: “Who do you model your coaching after”

A: “I’m going to go with my dad. My dad passed away in 2018 and it’s mainly been him but I try  to take a little piece of every coach that I have ever had because there are little bits of pieces about there approach, their knowledge, their perspective and that’s kinda molded me. So I’ve taken all my experiences and people and meshed them all into one so if I had to pick one I want my dad but then with all the pieces of my other coaches that I’ve always had. Then i try to watch those other coaches and what works and what does not work, what motivates guys. I think that a large part of coaching is finding out the correct, buttons to push and what strings to pull for 12-15 different personalities and attitudes and egos so you have to manage all those things for one person when they don’t work for every person so as a coach i have to balance around all that and using different approaches and strategies helps with that.  

Mr Powell is a basketball coach second but a mentor first taking care of his team to make sure  they excel in both basketball and life and though his hard work, patience and passion he is  undoubtedly coach of the year