Dan Parker hired; CCC's womens' basketball back in rotation

Jul. 6—PLATTSBURGH — Everyone has a dream job. Ask someone and they'll tell you what they want to do. Maybe they already have it, or they're working towards it. Maybe it simply is a dream.

For Dan Parker, he might have found what he's looking for.

"I think it has the potential to be a dream as long as we can get some kids in," Parker said. "Yes, it's a dream job in that we're going to be building this up the way that I feel is appropriate. The big push is going to be: Let's get kids that share that dream of wanting to be playing college basketball and participate at the college level."

Sitting in his office at Clinton Community College, Parker was recently hired as the women's basketball program head coach at CCC.

While admittedly wishing he could have taken the job in January, Parker waited until school was out for the summer. The past four years, Parker served as principal of Boquet Valley Central School in Westport, with his primary focus on kindergarten to fifth grade.

It just means his feet hit the ground running when he officially started the job this summer.

Parker was able to go to AAU tournaments weeks ago near Rochester and spoke to several coaches about what their players' future looks like. He also reached out to coaches in western New York to inquire about not just high school kids, but college kids as well.

"I've reached out not for only high school kids that are looking for options in the fall and what that looks like for them, but also some of the college kids who maybe as freshmen didn't fit in where they wanted to, or it didn't really turn out how they wanted it to be," he said. "And for those kids, I would say this is a great place to have a reset. We're up here in a small college town in Plattsburgh."

He compared the size of Clinton to campuses at Albany, Binghamton or Buffalo, where he got his Bachelors and Masters degrees from. At those campuses, you could be lost in the thousands of kids, where it's easy to lose where you are and easy to not show up to class.

"If you're not showing up to class here, I'm probably going to hear about it," Parker said. "We're going to have a conversation about what our first and foremost goal and priority is here."

Parker is bringing experience in coaching basketball at all levels. He knew after getting his first job that he wanted to get involved in coaching.

He started his coaching at Holland High School, the first two years coaching boys modified basketball. The following year, he coached girls modified before moving to junior varsity. It wasn't long before he was tapped as the girl's varsity coach.

"Obviously, (I learned) some different lessons through the years and working with the kids but ultimately, I keep falling back on, "We're going to be a skill development program' no matter where I am," Parker said. "And, you know, the more skills we develop, the further the kids advance themselves, the better the team does."

It does bring a challenge to Parker that anyone could view as difficult — the task of bringing the Clinton Community team back from the ashes, with the program not having returned since being halted during COVID.

"We're really working to recruit and get it rolling again," he said. "I have great expectations and belief and the skill sets of the athletes around here.

"So I'm happy to bring them in and really grow the program and get to have them be recognized and look at what their futures are."

Teaching is something Parker has a huge passion for, and that falls right into the arena of coaching. It's an area where he gets to see the most comeback for what he puts in.

He gets the opportunity to see the development of skills in the players he coaches and see those kids he's helping grow over the years. Parker is able to lead conversations about how to orchestrate the offense or where to be on defense. He is able to see those kids, first in the program, start to recognize what he's been coaching and see it pay dividends.

"So, you know, as far as being able to teach the game," he said. "And having that reward of the kids having success is certainly a big piece of why I'm involved."

He's had 1,000 point scorers and 2,000 point scorers. He's also had kids that were on the team because they wanted to be part of the group. He enjoys watching them grow and really support each other.

"And then the other part is the reality of the X's and O's," Parker said. "I do like figuring out 'Where do I put these kids to be most successful?' And, you know, we develop those skills, so then it's my job to find a way to use those skills to help us out."

That's where the excitement truly comes from and where the fire still burns. It's why he's excited to help restart a program and see it succeed.

"I think one of the great lessons that we have is, X's and O's are good, but heart and desire are more important," Parker said. "Some of the realities are that just 60% of your points are going to come out of your offense.

"It's got to be a fast break. It's going to be a rebound. It's going to be steals. It's going to be a pass that didn't actually go where it was supposed to go and we scored anyways. So recognizing that, you know, your skills are important."

Not only does Parker need to sell the restart of the program, but also sell Clinton Community College as an institution.

"One of the great parts about community colleges, particularly in Clinton specifically, is our tuition is low enough where almost everybody can come for free," he said. "So you know, that's step one. So you can get two years of university education in the SUNY system for free.

"And then we can figure out as part of that, we can figure out what you're interested in, what you're good at, what your future wants to look at. Our programs and degree opportunities can really set kids up for success."

Parker gave the example of wanting to work towards being a teacher, saying you can go home and be at the top of everybody's list when they're hiring because of the New York State certification.

"Being able to provide kids with those opportunities, I think is one of the great aspects of junior colleges right now, being able to expand what they can do here," he said. "And having that opportunity to grow as well I think is something that I'm passionate about and I think that a lot of kids want to continue that opportunity."

But, for a program that's just resuming, success will mean first and foremost getting a team on the floor. In this case, there's not a returning team, so all spots are open for any player that comes out.

However, it begs the question: What does winning look like?

"Winning is going to look like first that we're able to have a team on the floor," Parker said. "And secondly, that we're consistently competitive.

"And then as we get through the year, we expect our competitive rate to increase so that as we hit the end of the year, we're being as effective and successful as we can be, and I will tell you, that's kind of the expectation every year."

As Parker put it, the rest of it — the wins and the tournaments — will take care of themselves.

But first, it requires getting the right kids into the program and preparing them for the fall. It comes down to making them feel comfortable and preparing them for the next step.

Parker said CCC provides the right opportunity to get things started or to reset yourself.

"It's especially if you're that kid who isn't sure what that experience is going to look like," he said.

"If you're a kid coming from a small town, this is a great place for you to really grow.

If you're a kid, even coming from the inner city, and you're not really sure what your competition was. So let's come up here. Let's figure out how good you are. and let's put you in a position to have success for the rest of your career. and maybe that means two years here, maybe it means two more after you graduate from here."