Episode #152: Dawson Dickson

🎙️ Building Culture Fast: Why Dawson Dickson Is a Rising Star in College Basketball Coaching 

What does it take to build a winning culture when your roster changes every year?

This week, I sit down with Dawson Dickson, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Great Bay Community College (NH), to talk about leadership at the junior college level and why he’s quickly becoming one of the rising young coaches to watch.

In this conversation, Dawson shares:
 🏀 How to build culture and accountability quickly
 📈 Why progress matters more than the scoreboard
 💬 How high expectations and daily energy drive player growth
 👥 What it really means to mentor and motivate today’s student-athletes

If you’re a coach, athletic director, or leader who wants to build a program that develops people—not just players—this episode is for you.

And be sure to come back Monday for Part 2, where we shift the conversation to the junior college recruiting pathway and how athletes can use JUCO to advance to the four-year level.

🎧 Listen here: CoachMattRogers.com/podcast
▶️ Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@CoachMattRogers

#SignificantCoaching #CoachLeadership #NJCAA #JuniorCollegeAthletics #CoachDevelopment #BuildTheCulture #CoachMattRogers

Transcript

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On the latest edition of The Significant Coaching Podcast, a presentation of the coach Matt Rogers YouTube channel. Also available audio only everywhere you get your favorite podcasts. I'm your host Matt Rogers. Sometimes you can just tell a coach understands the idea of significance from a single moment. That moment for me came a few weeks ago when I read a post from this week's guest, Dawson Dixon, the head men's basketball coach at Great Bay Community College in New Hampshire. He shared the pride he had in his team after winning 10 games, the most in program history, not a championship, not a ranking, just 10 wins. The way he talked about his players, their growth, and what that progress meant, told me everything I needed to know. Dawson coaches with high expectations and isn't afraid to push his players to reach their potential, but what really stands out is the energy brings every day joy, belief, and inspiration. He was clearly born to mentor and motivate. Honestly. He's the kind of coach I would've loved to have played for. And I'll say this to any college ADSD or presidents who may be listening, and I know you are, if you keep a folder of potential coaching candidates for the future, Dawson Dixon is someone you should have in your men's basketball folder. This guy is the real deal. In this conversation, we talk about building culture quickly. Defining success the right way and leading young men in the junior college environment. He's a rising star in the basketball coaching world, and I believe we'll be hearing a lot more about him in the years ahead. Before we get started, you can find my books, my recruits journals. My blogs and information on bringing me to speak at your school or organization@coachmattrogers.com. Alright, let's get into my conversation with Great Bay Community College Head, men's basketball coach Dawson Dixon. Okay. Coach Dixon, thank you for being on the show. I've been kind of following you on LinkedIn. You've been posting some stuff and I was like. Gosh, that guy sounds familiar. It sounds like me 25 years ago, rebuilding a program from nothing and trying to compete and trying to get my kids to understand that, if we can just get to 10 wins for the first time, it's really a big deal. So I appreciate what you're going through so much and I wanted to talk to you, so thanks for being on the show. Well absolutely, and thank you so much for having me. This is great. Where did it start for you? Where did this love of the game, I know you played at Roger Williams, I know you played some D three, but where did the coaching bug start for you? So my dad grew up a youth CYO coach in Manchester, New Hampshire. And just so my whole life growing up I thought that was his full-time job coaching church league basketball, you know what I mean? So to everybody. I knew my dad was the basketball coach in town, in the area. You know what I mean? Right. Growing up I always just wanted to be like my dad and be a coach. And then as you got older, you realized, oh, that wasn't his full-time job. He had other jobs outside of it, and then he went to basketball. And so that's when I really, really in high school and learning more about the college level and making a living, coaching basketball. That's really, really what I wanted to do. Yeah.'cause Dad probably didn't make any money. He thought that was his job, but he wasn't making anything, doing the thing. He loved. He always talks about he, he spent more money coaching basketball than he ever did, made. Yeah. Never made a nickel, but he, you know, he had the most fun on anybody coaching. I think you and I could probably still relate to that, even though we, they call us professional coaches it's barely enough money to Absolute. Absolutely. When did you decide. That was gonna be your path.'cause I know for me, I grew up in a town of 2000 people. Hardly anybody went to college. There was probably five or six kids in the entire history of my high school that ever went and played some kind of athletics in college. So for me, my thought process was I'll go to college, I'll get a degree, maybe I'll come back and teach English and history and coach basketball. Maybe that's what I'll do. I'll be a high school coach. When did it start getting in your head? I gotta put a plan together'cause this is what I want. I, yeah. Honestly, really when I got to Roger Williams like I was saying, I, growing up I always wanted to coach basketball. But as soon as I got to the college level and was around college players and coaches and then just started talking and having a dialogue, I felt like I got confidence that I was on the right path. And like we were speaking similar languages, me and the college coaches, my assistant, my head coach, and I was like, all right, so this is. Intriguing to me, and this is something I can definitely see myself doing and wanting to pursue, and get better. I love it. Did your, did the coaches at Roger Williams, who'd you play for there? Mike Tulley. You still close with Mike? Yes. Yes. Good. Did Mike see that in you early on? Did he get that bug in your head or was it the other way around? It was honestly our top assistant at the time, his name was Dan Weidman. And we were just running through drills and stuff and not that I was like the freshman coming in, telling. The coach is what to do. Yeah. But just little minor things like, hey, his footwork is a little out of his hand positioning is a little outta place. And then that's when Coach Weidman was like, Hey man, I think this is a career. I think I can see you in. And I was like, okay. That's definitely what I want to do, you know? I love it. What does that experience having an assistant coach? That cared about you that much, that saw that? What has that done for these next 10 years for you? Oh, it's so much. It just, it, it instills a lot of confidence in you. And now I know I have players that want to get into coaching going forward. Yeah. So now it's like I'm trying to hand them the keys and put it in their mind that they can accomplish the same things. And if they want to get into coaching I might wanna start coaching them even harder so they can start understanding and getting better experience, I love that. That's what makes the job really fun when you can find those kids that just don't love playing the game, but they really love the game. They love every aspect of it. For you, let's talk a little bit about building this program at Great Bay. When you think about that first year and looking at what you had and what you didn't have. What were some of your priorities? You're like, this is what the foundation's gonna look like before we build the house. What was, what were those couple of things you said? I gotta have this first. To me, relationships are the most important right, because everybody talks about culture, but what is culture at the end of the day? It's the relationships that you have with your players, right? So I think relationships one is the most important because. Two. I am an extremely hard coach to play for in the sense of, I tell people the truth, I'm honest, and I coach'em hard,'cause I just, I don't beat around the bush, I don't think I don't think it benefits anybody lying and, or not coaching a kid. It only leads to future problems, I know I'm going to be straight up honest with the kid and he might not always be happy. And that's fine with me. I've accepted that and I'm not trying to make anybody happy. But at the end of the day, I think if I build solid, solid relationships at the beginning of the year before we even touch a basketball and that kid knows I care about him and I love him, it's a lot easier for me to coach him hard and hold him accountable. Absolutely. It's I'm having flashbacks. I feel like I've answered that question just the way you did years ago. So I love that about you and I just had a sense that's who you were as a coach. How do your kids react when you've loved'em? You've cared about'em, you've told'em this is how it's gonna be. You've been honest with the beginning, but you've said, Hey, I've got your back. I'm with you all the way through. How do they handle that, those first couple of weeks when you're. You're barking, you're pushing, you're challenging them. They're, you've pushed'em so far. The legs are gone. They're going, you want me to run another suicide coach? How did they handle that with you? There's definitely some resistance. You can call it at the beginning. And then once, but the thing I love so this year at Great Bay I brought three players with me that played with me at the previous junior college. I was out, out in Minnesota. And so they knowed me. Two of the kids have played for me for two years. You know what I mean? And I haven't changed at all. At all. You know what I mean? Right. If I can get, if I can get on the returners hard. Then, and then the freshmen and new guys can see, oh, this is how you're supposed to respond to adversity or this is how you act and this is how you're not supposed to respond or act you. And I think, I just think it's, it's it returners and coaching guys that, that you've had in the past and then using them as an example really, really sets the foundation for the program. And then you have to communicate with those players. Hey, everybody's looking at you. So you, I need you to especially if, let's say I get on you and it isn't your mistake. It isn't your mistake. Just take it. Just take the coaching, and then everybody else is gonna see that oh, Roderick Dominique, who's my captain, he just, he coached, got on him about something and it wasn't even his fault, but he took the coaching. He said, yes, sir, and he moved on to the next play. That's great. So great. I and I remember having those conversations and your program is headed in the right direction. When you've got a kid you can go to and say, Hey, I'm gonna be, there's a good chance. I'm gonna be really hard on you today. There's a good chance it's gonna look like I'm snapping my foot off on in you, and I need you to respond. Like it's nothing. I need you to respond. Yes, coach and keep going. And when you have kids like that, it's so easy for everybody to get it. Oh, this is. This is college basketball. I'm not back at the y I'm not at the, I'm not back at my high school anymore. This is college basketball and this is how it has to be. I gotta listen to the words and not the tone. Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. I love that that, that's, again, that's what makes what we do so much fun. When you get the opportunities like you have, you're changing lives for the better. Those are the kids that are gonna come back to you in 15, 20 years and go coach. I don't know what I would've done without you. I don't know who I'd be today if you wouldn't have taught me what I was capable of. Right. That's when we talk about it every day. Like I was saying, I don't care if they like me. My job isn't for you to like me now my job is for you to like me when you're 25, 30, 35 years old and then you have kids, or maybe you're coaching and you can see exactly what we're talking about. But exactly. I'm gonna eventually convince you. You can do both now. That they can like you now, and in 25 years I'll start working on you. That's what I struggle with. That's, I'd like to go back to that 26 to 30 5-year-old guy and say, Hey, they can like you and respect you. Now they can do both. Absolutely. It's okay. Let's talk about, let's talk about being a D three guy. And then you've coached at, you've coached some D three, you've coached at the four year level, and now you're doing juco. What's the biggest difference for you, for that family that's trying to figure out is juco Okay. Is D three? Okay. Is that a place where my son can grow? No it's crazy. The game is just changing so much right now with the transfer portal every level. So I was an assistant at the division two level at Southern New Hampshire University. In my first year there out of our 10 scholarships, we had eight division one transfers. That was our roster. We had eight division one transfers, and so pretty typical. Yeah. And then I spent two seasons there and I, luckily I ended up getting into the junior college route. But I knew getting into the junior college route that there's a plethora of high school kids all across the country and world that just weren't being viewed and looked at and recruited like they were 5, 10, 20 years ago. And. As we know, basketball is just a trajectory. It's getting better. Yeah. So there's tons and tons of under recruited, talented high school kids out there that just aren't getting the opportunity because of the transfer portal and guys getting older right now, you know? So like you're saying I think it's definitely interesting navigating the JUCO and, prep school scene. What I've seen now as a junior college coach, a lot more kids are interested in going the JUCO and junior college route than just going prep school or doing a post-grad year after, after college. I'm recruiting a lot of kids that I potentially we're up in the New England area, right? So there's tons and tons of prep schools up here, and I'm in the mix and talking with a lot of kids that should be probably D three. To prep school range that are now interested in the junior college route for what it can do for them, because colleges want older college ready guys. Yeah. So if you go to prep school right now, there's telling tons and tons and talented prep schools up here. But I'm just saying you're still in high school. Yeah. Right. So you don't have the college weight room, the college education the your college transcripts. Right. You're still going up against high school guys. It's different when you have to play against a 24, 20 5-year-old guy than an 18-year-old kid. It's just different. Yeah. I don't care if he's five star, four star, whatever star you got and the kid's 24 years old and he is a man. Yeah. I honestly I think what made me a decent ball player, if I ever was one, I grew up playing in men's leagues. I was 12 years old playing in a men's league. Yeah. And it just, the physicality and the pace and getting the body of your hands and, not standing around when the ball goes up and hitting somebody and running the floor. Those older guys wouldn't let me, I was gonna give up a layup every time if I wanted to play the way I thought I wanted to play. Right. You know? So I love that mentality of there's so many kids that are coming outta high school right now that have the talent can play D three NAID 2D one, but they're not ready. They don't understand that it may take a year, 18 months. For them to really learn how to play defense the right way. Not just be in the right position or where your feet should be, but the bumping and the physicality that comes with that. So I think that's really great advice to that, that needs to be an open-minded thing. We're gonna talk a lot about recruiting in our second segment, so I don't wanna dive too deep into it, even though my brain wants to go there. Let's talk a little bit more about what are the difference between D 3D, D two, and that now that junior college. What's the biggest difference between those three levels in your eyes? Honestly I think size like just guards are getting bigger. Yeah. At the division three level. You, i'm five foot eight and when I was playing division three, there was tons and tons of under six foot guys playing at the division three. Yeah. And lower smaller college levels. When I was an assistant at Keen State we brought in a kid. His name's Octavio Brito. He was the national D three player of the year last year. He's a six foot five guard. And that's where we're, that's what the high level division three guys are getting. You can look at Trinity College, who won the national D three Championship last year. Their starting point guard was a six foot four point guard. These guys are massive right now. That that the division three, the higher level really talented guys are getting, and then it just keeps going up. Like guys that are six foot eight to six foot nine, they can handle, pass and shoot it like, like 40%. You know what I mean? There's just the game is getting and is growing so rapidly. I think that's the biggest difference right now. So all of a sudden you might have a kid outta high school that's six foot two and he is off guard, two guard maybe plays three. He can play four. Now at the next level you have to do way more things than just score the ball. So you have to have other pieces to your game, not just, oh, I can shoot. Alright. Do, can you defend multiple positions? Can you, your point guard goes down. Are you able to bring it up or can you switch onto a forward at times? I just think the versatility of the game is changing so crazy right now. I remember graduating from the D three school that I played at. And I took a job at a D one coming outta college and I ran the dorms for the athletic department, so I was around the basketball players all the time and I got to know the coaches real well. Charlie spoon hour, God rest his soul. And Charlie add me in and I would run, I'd coach at all of his camps throughout the summer and he would let me come into every practice and ask he and his staff a million questions. But I would run with those guys, in the summer. And it was like, I don't know if you've seen the Jurassic Park movies, but it was like the Jurassic Park movies for me where you walk into the field and all these big dinosaurs are running by you. That's what it felt like for me from going to D three to now scrimmaging with D one guys. I was like. What planet are you guys from? Right? It's a different world. Yeah, it's a different world. And being five eight, I'm sure you scrimmaged with those guys that Me too. And it must have been an awakening for you as well. Oh the best story I have for you is so I was, when I was at Southern New Hampshire it was during COVID. So all of a sudden was 20 20, 20 21. It was like our first season back playing. All of a sudden we were being these COVID protocols, and you only have 10 scholarships at the division two level. We only had two walk-ons. We had 12 players on our team. I was practicing like every other day that you, and I was like 20, 27, 28 years old. I was going to Coach Perry. I was like, coach, I can't do this anymore, man. I was like, I'm washed up. I rolled my ankle. That was the last time I played. Yeah. My, my kids still ask me to play against them and stuff now. I rolled my ankle in practice when I was like 28 years old and I was like, coach. I swear to God, this is my last time practicing, I swear. Yeah. I've been there. I tried to play, I was a college coach till I was about 40 and I was still trying to play with the college kids, and pick up games and I blew out my ankle one week and then a month later I blew out my back. And when the back one, I was like, I'm done. I can't play with these guys anymore. Yeah. Not that I was really playing with'em at 40, but I could hold my own in terms of getting the ball outta my hands and halfway running down the floor every time. You know what I mean? So I get that let's talk about the junior college level because I always, I always talk about the levels D three NAI, D 2D one, and it's hard for me to put junior college in a particular spot. Because at the junior college level, you might have a six nine kid that can play division one. You might have a six four point guard that can play division two, and they're just not ready for it yet. Or, maybe their skillset, maybe their strength isn't there yet. Maybe their jumper's not there. Maybe their HighQ, their EQ isn't there yet. Their maturity isn't there yet. When you talk to families about the level that you're at now, what do you want them to understand about that level of play? Yeah, just gauging their interest of what they are looking for you, if you're looking junior college level. And particularly you're trying to get to the next level, the four year level, right? So what are your weaknesses? What are things that, are you trying to do that you need to get better? Is it getting in better shape? Is it getting quicker? Better jump shot, like whatever skill you need. Trying to identify what weaknesses and what things that you need to work on. Grades, right? Ha make some kids right now. Honestly, right now growing up during COVID, they're struggling academically. A lot of kids are coming into college right now, struggling academically, so that's one of the biggest pieces that we're seeing at the junior college level. Kids don't know how to do homework. Like they can't set aside right now an hour to do homework. So learning literally Hey, I can teach you how to study for a test. How do we break down? How do we get a good study guide going for a test? And just, I think it's the biggest piece is just identifying weaknesses. And identifying strengths. And just, and pushing boundaries and trying to get better. It is funny when I talk to college and university presidents, that's almost always where the conversation goes. Yes. How do we teach 18 year olds how to learn how to adult, how to be an adult, how to learn, how to communicate and you have it's not in your job description to teach those things, but it almost has to be to coach at that level. Any level of college because if you are not doing it, if you're not doing the adulting and learning and teaching'em how to learn, there's a good chance they may fail. And you recruited'em'cause you knew the potential was there. What are some of, what are some of the things you are doing, whether it be study halls or grade checks or tutoring, or just things that you're doing as a team that you're really working to try and build some of those routines and those executive function skills. Yeah so the biggest pieces we don't have dorms on campus here. So we have to be very what's the word I'm looking for? We just gotta be very, like with our time, we have to be very smart with our time, right? I have kids driving like 40, 40 minutes, 35 minutes just to get to campus, so I personally would feel terrible making a kid drive over an hour. Just to come check in Hey, all I have to do is read today, or, and or whatever, so what I'm trying to do now is a little bit better of like weekly one-on-one checkups and or reaching out and communicating with our advisors on certain kids if they need help. And then trying to put the kids in the right direction.'Cause we have a great on campus program in sense of of getting kids study tables and study halls and extra credit help in whatever they need. Now it's just me communicating to these kids and showing them all the resources that we do have on campus if they need help. And honestly the biggest piece is communicating honestly. A lot of these kids they struggle. They take a test and they get a F on a test. They don't pass in an assignment and they hide it.'cause they don't want coach to know, they don't want, they don't want so and so to be angry. And then all of a sudden they do, and then it's too late to make it up. All of a sudden, it's like you, you're three quarters of the way through the semester and you failed the test and then you never reached out to your, to anybody for extra help or anything. There's nothing we can do now, be honest with me. Like you failed a test. Come talk to me. Alright coach, what do I have to do to get better? Alright, let's go talk to, let's set up a meeting with your professor and then we can go from there. Yeah. Just open and honest communication about what's going on. I, I work with a lot of recruits across the country in all sports, but I try and tell all of them your number one job when you're being recruited is to build that relationship based on trust and honesty. I'll have a parent call me and go, Hey, Sheila turned her ankle, or Tommy's got a shoulder issue. He is gonna be out a couple weeks. What do we tell the college coaches? Tell'em you got an ankle issue and a shoulder issue and you're gonna be out a couple of weeks. I mean, that's not gonna turn them off. But the more they understand what you're going through, or that you've got an issue, the more they can help you with it, the more they can put a plan together. Let's say you do tear your ACL your senior, but they still want you, they can put you on a plane with the athletic trainer and the physical therapy right away, and they can make sure you're healing the way you need to. Absolutely. Yeah. I love that message coach. How important honesty and honest conversation is both ways and how that helps kids don't understand. The more you know the less problems you have down the road. Absolutely. You don't have dorms on campus, and that's, I would say, I'd say that's probably 40 to 50% of the junior colleges on in the country. So it's not unusual for you, you grew up in the D three world, you grew up in that at Roger Williams, and you were at Keen and New Hampshire. You understand what that does to you as a person? Conflict resolution, you know, having to set your watch and your calendars and time management. How do you build some of that when you don't have that, that built in community on campus? How are you, how do you do that with your kids to make'em understand this is still a family, this is still a place where you can learn off the court. Yeah, no, like you're saying it's definitely tough and that was like one of the first things when I took the job and. Not having a, this is the first coaching job I've had that there's no dorms on campus. Yeah. So the first two weeks I was on campus, I was like, this feels very weird, just'cause there's not a lot of kids around all the time. Like all of a sudden you just see. Kids all the time because they're living there and they're in the cafeteria and blah, blah, blah. But we, there's just, it's just different here, so like you're saying, as soon as the school year started, I said, all right, we have to be very direct in our approach of keeping our culture and keeping our guys around each other. So I think we did a really good job this year of going out to eat doing things outside of basketball doing things on campus just stuff together, and I think the, one of the biggest pieces that, that makes a group close is doing hard things together and then accomplishing hard things together. So you just, we we're right next to the ocean. So luckily we got the beach 10 miles away. So we spent a lot of time doing some workouts there in the off season. Nice. Doing some hard stuff and then fun stuff at the beach and when it's nice out and so we did a just some team camaraderie stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I used to take, I, I coached in Missouri, it was just river after river, oh camp. And so every summer we'd go camping for a couple of nights as a team, and I'd take'em on the river. We had city kids. That's awesome. I've never been on a river, never been out, like really out in the country. Going on hikes and going on the river and having to pull tubes out and making our lunches together and those man, I think that just changed who we were. We absolutely back to campus and all of a sudden we were brothers. Absolutely. We might not brothers when we took off, when we got down to the ocean. But when we left the ocean, we were brothers, absolutely. That's so much fun. I am, I've never coached at the junior college level. I've coached at every other level, but I haven't coached at the junior college level, and I'm, so it's a combination of envious and curiosity I have, because I say this all the time. If I could get a freshman within 18 months. To really understand how to play defense, to really understand how to run the floor, to really start using their brain to be an athlete. I was doing something right and then I had two and a half years with them to develop'em. You don't got that. You need the guys that you're bringing in. They need to be a part of that program and they need to learn really fast. Absolutely. How have you adapted to that abs? It's definitely difficult. And one of the early, things that I did as a coach is I identified that immediately, right? It's I need kids to come in and make an impact right away at the junior college level, right? Because you only have freshman and sophomores. So being a first year, my first year here, I wanted a lot of freshmen. And I was able to work with them and learn and fail and encourage failure. And when they fail, pick'em up and be like, Hey, this is exactly what we want, so we can learn from these opportunities, our record this year, we're 10 and 13 and we've lost seven games by one possession. That's awesome. I know. It's so it sucks. It's aw, it's awful. It's so good. But we're, it's just, it's exactly what we want, like in the sense of learning from it. And hopefully, these kids come back next year with a chip on their shoulder, a crack on their shoulder and remembering those opportunities and learn from these opportunities. And, we still have a playoff, we have a playoff push in front of us which we have, and we can use the adversity and. And that we've learned from this year. But I just think, I think these opportunities drive the program forward and learning from failure, learning from hard losses looking yourself in the mirror and saying, I just, I wasn't good enough tonight and I have to be better. And, ha handling hard together and then just makes you just so much more closer. My third year at Maryville in St. Louis. Are the, we went, we started the year one in 10. So we went into Christmas break one in 10 and really we had one non-conference game. We were gonna come back from Christmas and we were gonna play the number four team in the country. And then we were gonna play our conference season and my guys were just I was losing'em. They were. We'd lost. We played such tough schedule. I think we played six top 25 teams in the country to start the year, and a couple of nais and D twos on top of it. I just challenged the heck out, of'em the toughest schedule I could have put together and we had a conversation. Going into Christmas, I said, I want you to take these, whatever it was, four or five days, I want you to think about these things. They came back and they beat the number 14 in the country. We were one in 10. We beat the number 14 in the country. I think we won 12 of the next 13 games. Wow. We went to the national tournament. I think we went to the national tournament like 13 and 14 or 12. In 13. Wow. You didn't have a winning record. So you know, for me, I needed that as a coach. Because the messaging I was preaching, I needed them to see it through. I needed them to feel that, yes, you can do this if you just a little bit 1% every day, you can do that. And that's what I love about you, coach. I'm seeing all that. I'm seeing you doing those things. I'm seeing you build that. Is that instinctual for you or is it premeditated? I think a little bit of both. Just what's the, I'm trying to think of the word I'm looking for. Just like the animal kingdom, right? It's like lions need to hunt and it's it's just instinctive. Like you just have to, just to live and fight and, and claw. I just think I just think competitors that's the way the of life. And and I think at times it's, you can you could teach it. But I think at times just in competition, it just comes out of people. Yeah. It's, I. I'd like to say it's just for boys, but I've seen it with coaching women too, where it's okay I'm at this rung of the ladder. How do I get to that one? And the best way to put it is the cream always rises to the crop, right? Yeah. So the top the guys who want it the most will always be there at the end with whoever it is, whatever your record is, who, you know what I mean? Just the co the natural competitors and the instinctive people. The guys that just want it with fire. They're just always gonna be right there at the end fighting. Yeah. How do I get to that next level? Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Now how do I get there? Yes. Let's What's next? Let's go. Yep. Right? Yep. I love that. Um, what's the hardest thing for you as a junior college coach? What's, what are your big challenges? Not having seniors, not knowing I don't get to have these guys for four years. What else? I really don't. I actually, I really enjoy it. I think my job is to help kids. And, and when I was 18, 19, 20 years old I knew I wanted to try to coach in college, but I really didn't know what I wanted to do with life, so I think it's really cool I get to be around kids that, that are uncertain with their future and just try to mold them. And now it's like end of our season right now. And I love my, our, my team so much. And our group is just so connected, assistant coaches everybody. And so now it's just like heading into this week we didn't we weren't locked into a playoff spot like the start of this week, essentially it could have been our last week together. We just talked about like sense of urgency, how much we all care about each other, how much we don't want this to end, and so like it was after our game the other night or last night we lost to a number two team in the conference. Tough one close when we fought it was lost by seven. But after the game we officially. Clinched a playoff spot. And it was even though we lost, it was almost like a sigh of relief that we had to do a, we get another week to practice together. Yeah. It wasn't our last practice. It wasn't our last game together. And so now it's oh, thank God. Like we get to have still be around each other again and still fighting, yeah. And what's great about this? Somebody as a coached or there's a parent out there that's trying to understand the value of that junior college level. That what you're talking about didn't start a couple days ago. It didn't start a couple weeks ago. It started last July. Absolutely. You know, it started last June. It started last March in February. When you were recruiting, you were already putting those pebbles of that hope. That drive into your kids. Absolutely. That's what's really cool. And you're starting to see that now, you guys, I don't wanna leave. I don't want this to be Yeah. Right. Yep. I sent them we're on the New England area, so I sent them the 2011 Yukon Keball Walker story the other day. And then our end of our last night, our post game speech, I said something and then our Captain Rod brought in and started talking about Yukon. It was just like, just great, these guys just love each other. It's awesome. It's so cool. That is so cool. You just, the things you just talked about. I can tell as a coach you want that whatever level you're at. What are some of the cool joys of being a two-year coach? Are there things that you've learned that you're like, gosh, these are the things that really make this level special. Is there anything like that? I didn't realize how good coaching and some of the players are at this level. I haven't been so I was out in Minnesota in the min it was called the MCAC, Minnesota College Athletic Conference. And there are coaches in that league that have 75% win percentages. And I'm just like looking around and I'm like. Nobody's hiring there. So Riverland Community College, a guy named Derek Hahn, he just won his 20, he, they're 25 and one. Last year there were 30 and three. The year before that there were 30 and whatever he wins 25, 30 games every year. I'm like, why isn't somebody hire, like, how doesn't this guy get another job at the next level? Like this? Like some of the coaches at this level is just unbelievable. Yeah. Every level I've been to I've had that same experience where I'm like. Oh my gosh. This guy could coach a Duke take they so prepared. Right. They'd have no problem at Kansas. They'd have no problem at UConn. They would, they'd have the same results. Yeah. I'm doing some consulting and I'm working with AD and coaches out on the, in the northwest in the nw the Northwest Athletic Conference. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm spending time with these coaches and I'm. 12 straight years of winning 2020 to 5 25 games. I'm like, wow. It's unreal. Yeah, it's unreal. The depth of coaching in our country is ridiculous. And so much of it is at the lower levels that isn't on ESPN. Right. Right. And people just aren't aware of it. And that's a big part of why I do what I do. I, I'll have a D one coach on every couple of weeks, but for me, I it's teaching families the quality of the Dawson Dixons out there in the world that. Are just gonna make your son or daughter better, they're gonna leave a Coach Dixon's program, a better person their work ethic's gonna be better. They're gonna be happier adults.'cause they know how to overcome adversity. So you just, you're doing really good work, coach. I appreciate it. What's your future look like? What do you want it to look like? I don't know, just, I wanna be, I wanna stay coaching forever. I always want to be around basketball. And most importantly it's more of building the relationships. I personally like being a head coach, I can coach, I can be an assistant, I can be, I just want to be around the game. But I just I like helping kids and especially in tough times and adversity'cause I've. Been in it for years, just I can, I know I can handle it and I think I can help kids handle hard, better and, just push them in the right directions when it happens. I think you're a lot like me. I, once I got an opportunity to be a head coach, I couldn't see myself, and I've tried in my older years to go back and help high school coaches and it's hard to look over your shoulder and go, is this the way this coach wants it? Is it okay? To build this relationship with this kid. I said, all right, if I push this kid a little bit or. I give this kid a hug, it's a lot harder to go back to be an assistant because of that, your plan and your strategy and where your heart is, and I get it. Yeah. You're designed for it. You're built to be a head coach and you keep doing it as long as you can and appreciate it, sir. And you'll call me if you need help with it, and I'll help you get wherever you want to go to. I appreciate that you got me in your corner. Let's do a little rapid fire with you. You do All right. For some fun ones. Yes sir. One word that your players would use to describe you. Violent. We talk about vi being violent every day. Everything has to be violent. Yeah, I did too, man. We talked about post play. It was violent sweeps and guards. Absolutely violent sweeps of the ball and yeah. I'm with you. I love that word. Talent or toughness? Toughness. Seven days a week. Twice on Sunday? Yes, sir. Hardest part of being a head coach losing your players at the end of the year. I don't know. I can take criticism. I can take all the, I just, I think the relationships is the biggest part to me. Yeah it's always tough losing your kids'cause you're like, gosh, I built those kids. I got'em. I finally, we have a relationship where you want, now they're gonna go play for somebody else. I, I the hardest part for being a head coach for me, going from assistant head coach was that I realized that 90% of being a head coach wasn't on the floor coaching kids. You had to do all these other things that, or just come with a job. Yep. Most important habit for a junior college player. Being ready. What's that look like? Not knowing when your opportunity, it may be called it might be practice, might be a game, might be on the road, like whatever it may be. Just being ready for whatever opportunity comes your way. I don't know if you watched this, it was a small little indie movie. It was the Kurt Warner story and they, no, I haven't, his story and they showed'cause he finally got his chance. He got one chance with the Green Bay Packers. He was like the fourth or fifth quarterback in camp. And he just got there. He's on the field for five minutes and the OC goes, Warner, hop in. And he looks at him, he goes, coach, I haven't even seen the playbook yet. And he goes I don't know what the plays are. And he just froze. And they cut him. They cut him off. Oh, wow. And it was the biggest lesson that he learned was. They gimme an opportunity. I don't care what I know I know how to play football, right? Yep. So I love that advice. I love that message, culture or strategy, culture, best leadership advice you've ever received. Best leadership advice. I don't know. I used the quote from Tony Bennett when they lost uMBC. Yeah. Adversity. If you learn to use it the right way, it'll buy you a ticket to a place you couldn't have gone without it. So I just, that, I just revert back to that all the time. It's funny how often those two years of Tony in Virginia come up on this podcast? Really? I think Bill Cleary from St. Thomas ANDAs just talked about the other day. Oh, no way. Okay.'Cause the next year, what'd they do? You know they lost, yeah. They won the national championship. Yep. 15 to two. They were a two seed, weren't they? Or one seed. One. One seed lost to 16, one seed. 16 lost to 16. And then they won the national championship next year, right? Yep. Yeah. I love Tony. Earl, are you an early morning or late night guy? Right now I'm late night. Yeah, me too. Just in, in season, like outta season, I'm early morning. Yeah. Like in in season. I'm late night, like after games. I can't sleep until I can't, 3:00 AM I just can't do it. My wife knew if she needed me at two in the morning after a game, I was at Denny's down the street.'cause that was the only place that was still open that would serve me coffee.'cause I had to go over the stat for the 800 time and watch and then all of a sudden maybe preparing for tomorrow And your opponent and whatever rewrote the practice plan seven times. Yes. Yes. One thing your team does every day that builds your culture. Closeouts defensively we switch everything. So just switches. Everything's defense. I'm a big defensive minded coach. Rebounding, physicality those type of things that we do every day. I was such a kind of a Bobby Knight guy most of my career where we I physical get through every screen, get over top, get into the ball handler. We don't get picked. I, so at some point I'm gonna come to your practice and you're gonna teach me how to switch and how to teach switching.'cause I'm just, I'm awful at it.'cause I, my brain can't get past giving up on. Fighting through those screens. Absolutely. Absolutely. I need somebody to just work that out of my head. I need therapy. It's so bad. I've tried a hundred times to teach switching and I just can't do it. Oh it's definitely difficult to teach and, but yeah. I love it though. I love teams that do it well.'cause I'm like, oh, it's so much easier. It's so much more effective. And I I'm glad you do it. What separates good players from great ones. Their habits agreed. One piece of advice you'd give your younger coaching self. Don't worry about everything. Don't worry so much about the big picture. Just be day to day, be where your feet are. Being where my feet are. After my first year being a head coach, I was just so worried about everything else. I was worried about how people viewed me, how my players, how people in the community, blah, blah, blah. I should have just been where my feet were and just focused on the work that was at hand. We need to put that on a big piece of stone. Put it everywhere. On every, in every gym in the country. Great. Great advice. I wish somebody would've kicked me in the head with that one when I was 24, 25 years old. Coach, you are awesome. I'm so excited that we're gonna do a little bit more of this. We're gonna come back and talk recruiting in part two. I cannot wait to talk recruiting with you. But man, you have a big fan in me. I am so impressed with you. Whatever you need in your career, you call me and I will help you with it. Because man you're doing it the way it's supposed to be done and anybody tells you're doing it the wrong way. Send'em to me and I'll let'em know. So thanks for doing this with me today. No, it means the world to me. Thank you so much. That was Dawson Dixon head, men's basketball coach at Great Bay Community College in New Hampshire. What stands out about Dawson is the balance he brings to his profession, high expectations, daily energy, and a genuine belief in the growth of his players, not just on the floor, but in the classroom and out in life. He's not just building a team, he's building confidence and habits and direction for young men who are still figuring out what they're going to become. That's what coaching is supposed to be, and it's why I believe Dawson is a rising star in the basketball coaching world. We're gonna be hearing a lot more about him in the years ahead. Make sure you come back on Monday for part two of our conversation. We're gonna shift the focus to recruiting specifically the junior college pathway and how student athletes can use that experience to position themselves for opportunities at the four year level. If you're recruit a parent or a coach, you don't wanna miss it. And if you're looking for tools and resources to bring more purpose and perspective to your coaching or your recruiting journey, you can find my books, my recruit journals, our. Blogs, our podcasts and information about bringing me to your school organization@coachmattrogers.com. Until next time, stay focused on what you can control. Stay humble and keep chasing significance.