There was a point last year when Chris Thompson, then in his rookie season as a forward for the Humber Hawks men’s basketball team, was on the brink of failing a course. A philosophy class had got the better of him and it was clear to Thompson he was in trouble. Fortunately for the health and fitness student, head coach Darrell Glenn was in his corner. The third-year coach arranged for a tutor to get Thompson through the rough patch and back on track.
“He’s school first,” Thompson said, while doing schoolwork in the coach’s office last week. “We’re always in here doing our homework,” referring to the many student athletes found in the office on any given day.
Along with his bench boss duties for the Hawks, Glenn is Humber’s only academic adviser for varsity athletes, a job he relishes as much – if not more – than coaching basketball.
“As much as I’ve coached, for me, it’s more about teaching. I look at myself as a teacher first, because that’s what I am. That kind of transfers itself into me as a coach,” he said.
Glenn, also a teacher at Oakwood Collegiate secondary school in Toronto, is working through his second-year as an academic adviser at Humber. It’s a role he assumed after former men’s basketball coach and academic adviser Mike Katz left to coach at the University of Toronto in 2004.
When Katz left, the position seemed to get lost in the shuffle. However, Glenn quickly realized during his first year at the helm of the men’s basketball team that the void needed to be filled.
“We started to see a pattern among a lot of teams that we needed somebody here to help,” Glenn said.
That pattern was players being declared ineligible to play because of spotty school attendance from first-year athletes and poor performances in the classroom, according to Glenn. The solution was simple, reinstate the adviser role with a dedicated staff member on campus to provide some guidance.
“There needed to be somebody here for at least half the day that can look after the needs, or at least monitor academic progress,” he said.
After discussions with Humber athletic director Doug Fox last year, Glenn arranged to reduce his teaching load at Oakwood and become a paid academic adviser for Humber Athletics.
For Glenn, it means his mornings are spent teaching at Oakwood and afternoons spent at Humber helping varsity players, like Thompson, develop strategies for success. It begins with academic orientations at the beginning of first semester and continuing with informative workshops throughout the school year.
“Darrell’s run a number of sessions on time management, career development, financial advising – he’s tried to not just do academic advising, although that is his primary concern – but if a kid’s having problems then how do we arrange, get on top of this quickly and help this kid survive,” Fox said.
“Let’s face it, I see this as a teacher, high school doesn’t prepare students for college or university in my opinion. High school does a lot of hand-holding. You get here and it’s every man for themselves and it’s a huge adjustment,” he said. “Some kids don’t make that adjustment well.”
Over the past two years, Glenn feels he’s making some progress. Thompson, for example, is now an honour roll student.
“We look at those kinds of successes and say, ‘Hey, this is working.’”
“There’s always gratitude,” Thompson said. “If there’s anyway we can help Coach, we try and help him as much as he helps us, whether it’s on the court or off the court. We’re all really grateful for what Coach does.”
Glenn stresses that he’s a resource for all varsity athletes though, not just those he coaches.
“This year, I’ve tried to build a better relationship with other sports. I’m starting to build a better rapport with other athletes, and they’re starting to feel more comfortable coming to see me about various problems.”
Fox said having Glenn fill the adviser role is a part of Humber’s plan to develop complete individuals.
“Our theme is building champions,” he said. “It’s building champions on the court and life as well. We’re trying to build people that walk out of here graduating with good grades and that are employable and with the proper character development.”
As for Glenn, his focus now is providing players with the guidance and advice they can use to get through final exams. Beyond that, he remains committed to Humber’s goal of preparing its athletes for the challenges they’ll face even after they graduate from school.
“We’re focused on preparing them for the next phase of their lives, when they leave Humber.”
- JS
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